cannot get external tape drive to work on integrity system

[Peter A. Berger Jr.]

I am having difficulty in getting an Integrity system (rx4640) to see/use an external HP DDS tape drive.

Physical setup: (HP part numbers in parenthesis)

DH68 black SCSI cable (C2362B) connected to the host server's LVD SCSI card (A6829-60101 Ultra160 Wide LVD) in the back of the server.
Other side of cable plugged into a 3U Rack Mount Adapter (CLB18B) with the SCSI DIP switch set to 4 (top-left bay when looking at it from the rear).
I have a SCSI Terminator (A4986-63008 Wide-SE/Wide/LVD) and when I terminate the other SCSI connection on the rack mount adapter, the terminator LED turns RED (SE Act Negation).

The tape drive (C6365A - SE SCSI DDS4 drive) is powered on before the server booted. I ran an "ioscan" an "insf -e" multiple times after server boot. I still cannot get the host to see the drive.
I checked the kernel settings and the "stape" driver is in a "static - static" state.

I even tried to add the tape drive using SAM. Nothing. System is running 11.23.
Any help/411 would be great.

thanks -- an Integrity newbie.

P.S. This thread has been moved from HP 9000 to Servers > Integrity. -HP Forum Moderator

[Andrew Rutter]

Peter,

A great descrption and one that would seem flawless. connected correctly with correct cable aswell.

It would almost seem like a clash of scsi id's, but if its the only thing on the chain?
Have you tried changing the id? also you need to power off the drive and back on for the new id to take effect. then do a full ioscan,insf

A couple of questions though

The connection on the back of the server, is this the core IO scsi port or an optional extra pci card?

If its on the core io, this can be configured in two ways internally.

it can be two channels internal so your 2 disks are on seperate buses or one channel internal and one channel external.

Also is the controller seen correctly at ioscan?

Andy

[Peter A. Berger Jr.]

The SCSI LVD card connecting to the tape drivc is external in Slot 4. It is the only thing connected to this external card.The core i/o SCSI has port blockers on it that says "see product manual" -- I'm guessing they are connected/used inside the box.

I tried each SCSI ID on the DDS4 drive from 1-7, each time powering off and ioscan; insf -e; ioscan -fnC tape each time. nothing.

here's an excerpt of my ioscan:


# ioscan -fnC ext_bus
Class I H/W Path Driver S/W State H/W Type Description
============================================================================
ext_bus 0 0/0/3/0.0 side CLAIMED INTERFACE IDE Primary Channel
ext_bus 1 0/0/3/0.1 side CLAIMED INTERFACE IDE Secondary Channel
ext_bus 2 0/1/1/0 c8xx CLAIMED INTERFACE SCSI C1010 Ultra160 Wide LVD A6829-60101
ext_bus 3 0/1/1/1 c8xx CLAIMED INTERFACE SCSI C1010 Ultra160 Wide LVD A6829-60101
ext_bus 11 0/2/1/0.97.4.19.0 fcparray CLAIMED INTERFACE FCP Array Interface
ext_bus 5 0/2/1/0.97.4.255.1 fcpdev CLAIMED INTERFACE FCP Device Interface
ext_bus 12 0/2/1/0.97.8.19.0 fcparray CLAIMED INTERFACE FCP Array Interface
ext_bus 6 0/2/1/0.97.8.255.1 fcpdev CLAIMED INTERFACE FCP Device Interface
ext_bus 13 0/2/1/0.97.13.19.0 fcparray CLAIMED INTERFACE FCP Array Interface
ext_bus 7 0/2/1/0.97.13.255.1 fcpdev CLAIMED INTERFACE FCP Device Interface
ext_bus 4 0/3/2/0 c8xx CLAIMED INTERFACE SCSI C1010 Ultra Wide Single-Ended A6828-60101
ext_bus 14 0/4/2/0.97.4.19.0 fcparray CLAIMED INTERFACE FCP Array Interface
ext_bus 8 0/4/2/0.97.4.255.1 fcpdev CLAIMED INTERFACE FCP Device Interface
ext_bus 15 0/4/2/0.97.8.19.0 fcparray CLAIMED INTERFACE FCP Array Interface
ext_bus 9 0/4/2/0.97.8.255.1 fcpdev CLAIMED INTERFACE FCP Device Interface
ext_bus 16 0/4/2/0.97.13.19.0 fcparray CLAIMED INTERFACE FCP Array Interface
ext_bus 10 0/4/2/0.97.13.255.1 fcpdev CLAIMED INTERFACE FCP Device Interface
[root]@phlhup05[/]

[Andrew Rutter · Accepted solution]

Peter,

I take it that the dat drive comes on and you can see the power led on the front and hear the dat drive start moving. Just to prove that this works, no other or amber lights stay on the front do they?

Another thing, have you just installed the card or used it before? You have to be careful when installing cards in these newer systems as you can sometimes turn the power off to the slot quite easily and not turn it back on. next to the pci slots there is also and led, is this lit? amber for attention.

check this manual for details on turning power on and off to the slots
http://www.docs.hp.com/en/A6961-96011/A6961-96011-en.pdf

page 54

Also I would double check you dont have a bent or missing pin on the cable, at the dat drive enclosure, easily done. And make sure the drive is fully in the enclosure and making contact at the back. You should see the fan in the dat drive right upto the back of the C4318B box



Andy

[timmy b.]

Peter,

I have not installed the 3U model, but I have installed the 1U version. The cable that runs inside the Rack Mount Adapter (between the tape drive and the rear bulkhead) is self-terminating, meaning I didn't have to use any external terminators. Check your installation and try your setup without the A4986-63008 terminator.

You could also try booting off of your Offline Diagnostics DVD and running Mapper2.

Good Luck - Tim

[Peter A. Berger Jr.]

I checked and the DDS drives doesn't have any amber LEDs. Neither does the SCSI card. I have verified slot #4 is powered on and there are no faults. It has path 0/3/2/0 and an ioscan says it's running and claimed (/dev/rscsi/c4t7d0).
There are no bent pins in the cable. I also tried with the terminator out of the picture.
Still nothing. bummer.
thanks for the help so far. any other suggestions? much thanks...

[Andrew Rutter]

hi peter,

the only other thing you could do is to try and connect something else to the card.

do you have another device you could use? ext dvd,dat or disk, or naything else in the C4318B enclosure you could use temporarily for a test.

either that or move the dat drive into another slot in the enclosure and try it. this could rule out if the drive is faulty or just not connecting correctly with the pass through connector.

check the drive is getting power and insert atape, the leds should go green on the front then.

if another device isnt picked up it could be the card itself or the cable at fault

ANdy

[Bernhard Mueller]

Peter,

I think you should check the driver settings in the efi_shell. it is explained in the install guide. you will need downtime...

http://docs.hp.com/en/A6829-96002/ch02s06.html#cjcijaji

Regards,
Bernhard

[Peter A. Berger Jr.]

All: thanks for your suggestions/help. I have resolved my issue.
I moved the DDS drive from the top-right (front-facing) to the top-left bay in the 3U enclosure and it worked. I guess something with the SCSI pass-thru connector in the tray went bad?
As soon as I moved the drive and powered it on, it found the drive as /dev/rmt/0mn.
Now I can do my Ignite-UX's.

thanks again. It show just shows how great the HP forum community is in helping out peers with issues.