OpenVMS 8.4 $ BACKUP/LOG DISK:[TEST...] MGA0:TEST.BCK/SAVE not working

[Sepp Stadelmann]

We received the following alerts this morning, and it points very much to an area we beleave now we have problems with.

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c02910650&jumpid=em_alerts_us-us_Jul11_xbu_all_all_1355694_90723_optionsandaccessoriesstorage_critical_006_0

LTT tool-suite-kit ---- used to test disk and tape drives and to upgrade controller firmware.

NONE OF THE LTT TESTS ARE RUNNING TOWARD OUR LTO TAPE

EVERY TEST RETURNS AFTER 5 SECONDS A STACK DUMP.

 So we called for an on-site support now.

Sepp

[Sepp Stadelmann]

who knows it?

Is the  LTO Drive Assessment Test on OpenVMS used to run; Does it run to its end

We have rx2800 2i server and attached via SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) a HP Ultrium Tape attached..

The LTO Drive Assessment Test when launched from the LTT Tool Suite

aborts with a Cartridge not found error.

But I can

$ mount/noassist/foreign $2$mga0:

and the tape mounts OK.

Sepp

[Hoff]

Patch your version of OpenVMS I64 to current.  

Consider testing with a more current OpenVMS I64 version, patched to current, if there is one. 

See if either your storage controller or your tape drive device firnware need updates.  (While you've linked to an advisory, you've not listed the firmware revision currently in place in your (HP P212 SAS?) controller.)

Then confirm that your particular SAS/SATA controller and tape drive configuration is considered supported via an HP SPOCK StorageWorks configuration support database search.  Support varies (widely) by operating system.)

Then (if it's supported, current, and still not working) call the HP Support Center.

Yes, you might get lucky with an HPSC posting.  (But then this particular issue has been posted for two weeks, too, so I don't know what you expect here.)  Put another way, further HPSC discussions here will likely only serve to delay resolution further.  (Unless you don't have HP Support, and that's probably not going to be a viable support strategy for production OpenVMS servers in the current era.)

[Sepp Stadelmann]

Patch your version of OpenVMS I64 to current.

++> done ! at latest level 

Consider testing with a more current OpenVMS I64 version, patched to current, if there is one. 

++> done ! at latest level

See if either your storage controller or your tape drive device firnware need updates.

++> latest FW is installed for HP Ultrium 1840 Standallobne Tape Drive

  (While you've linked to an advisory, you've not listed the firmware revision currently in place in your

(HP P212 SAS?) controller.)

our rx2800 i2 has a PCIe 2P P411/256 SAS Controller on board to connect to the external stand allone HP ultrium 1840 drive

Then confirm that your particular SAS/SATA controller and tape drive configuration is considered supported via an HP SPOCK

++> you may wonder again, have you ever looked at SPOCK; selected OpenVMS OS to limit the length of the resulting list; then try to find just one entry for rx2800 i2 in conjunction with a HP Ultrium 1840 SAS tape Drive

"it is just not yet there, that is to say, good old coordinated information at HP lakes the one or the other way.

StorageWorks configuration support database search.  Support varies (widely) by operating system.)

++> OK, what does it help us?

Then (if it's supported, current, and still not working) call the HP Support Center.

++> what we did in the past 3 weeks?

Yes, you might get lucky with an HPSC posting.  (But then this particular issue has been posted for two weeks, too, so I don't know what you expect here.)  Put another way, further HPSC discussions here will likely only serve to delay resolution further.  (Unless you don't have HP Support, and that's probably not going to be a viable support strategy for production OpenVMS servers in the current era.)

++> that is exactly why we post here, to get a wider auditorium to potentialy get new information, to get new insigth and maybe help from otherusers and HP OpenVMS experts.

Our todays activity has shown the following (reported to a HP open case already)

1, we toke the same tape type our rx2660 server and connected it to the rx2800 i2 server

2, we configured it

3. we tried to make the BACKUP command found in the subject line of this hot topic

4. as it fails

5. we tried to run the LTO drive assessment test and it reportsd the same rubisch after 5 minutes

    Aborted ...

    Cartridge could not be found

So we have a machine where HP said test are not running AND

where the $ BACKUP as shown in subject does not run.

And yes, we have HP support, asking us about to take the Device Manager (Windows) on a OpenVMS System, proving how they do not understand a OpenVMS System.

josef stadelmann

alias Sepp

[Hoff]

Thank you for posting the requested hardware configuration details.

If the device is not listed in HP SPOCK or in the SPDs (and the SPDs will list only very few recent products), then the device or the device configuration is not usualy considered to be tested by and supported by HP, at least until and unless a representative of HP specifically tells you otherwise.

(And it looks like you might now know why it's not listed as supported in SPOCK.  But I digress.)

Consider escalating this support call to HP support center management and probably also to OpenVMS management, and consider starting the process to replace the storage controller in this server and potentially also to replace the tape storage device, or to replace the server with something that you can obtain the required level of support for.  

You might well try using an entirely different PCIe SAS/SATA storage controller here, for instance.   Determining which ones are supported for this configuration involves a trip through SPOCK and the SPDs, unfortunately.

If you're not getting what you want or need or expect here from this server and from your existing support, then your options are comparatively limited.  Wholesale platform migration is an expensive undertaking of course, and usually either a last-resort approach, or as part of an on-going and long-term and incremental migration strategy. 

[Bob Blunt]

Sepp, when you call HP for support and try to swim through the phone response system and finally get a person ask immediately to be transferred to OpenVMS backline (or second level) support.  Most of the agents should have access to transfer information.  It might not be exactly where you want to go but the people who work on that team should know storage-centric people who are more OpenVMS-savvy than most of the people that you'd normally get using the telephone system prompts and trying to find them directly.  I'm not sure in which specific geography your business exists so I don't know if you'll end up speaking with the team that used to work out of Colorado Springs or not.

Unfortunately this won't *magically make your tape and controller work on your server running OpenVMS* but you should at least be able to find someone who can talk that OpenVMS talk and probably help you find the right path to follow without asking you to load PC-centric tools on your server.

bob