As an update to this thread, for the sake of posterity, things are working well these days.
[root@vz1 ~]# uname -a
Linux vz1.home.arswiki.org 2.6.18-8.1.15.el5.028stab047.1ent #1 SMP Tue Oct 23 16:11:08 MSD 2007 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
From /var/log/messages:
Nov 9 23:53:29 vz1 kernel: cciss0: No appropriate SCSI device detected, SCSI subsystem not engaged.
Nov 9 23:53:29 vz1 kernel: scsi0 : cciss
Nov 9 23:53:29 vz1 kernel: Vendor: COMPAQ Model: SDX-500C Rev: 1.32
Nov 9 23:53:29 vz1 kernel: Type: Sequential-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Nov 9 23:53:29 vz1 kernel: scsi 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 1
Nov 9 23:53:29 vz1 rc: Starting tape_st: succeeded
Nov 9 23:53:29 vz1 scsi.agent[12320]: tape at /devices/pci0000:07/0000:07:04.0/host0/target0:0:0/0:0:0:0
Nov 9 23:53:29 vz1 kernel: st: Version 20050830, fixed bufsize 32768, s/g segs 256
Nov 9 23:53:29 vz1 kernel: st 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi tape st0
Nov 9 23:53:29 vz1 kernel: st0: try direct i/o: yes (alignment 512 B)
Thanks,
Axton Grams