SCSI device not detected

[O.]

Hi

We have a new Proliant DL 380 G4 server built from smartstart with W2K3 Enterprise edition.

When we connect an HP Storageworks tape device and reboot the smart array 6i controller does not detect the SCSI tape drive and reports no errors at that point.

In the eventlog however, there is an error Event ID 117 - Source cpqcissm - The driver for device \Device\Scsi\cpqcissm1 detected a port timeout due to prolonged inactivity. All associate busses were reset in an effort to clear the condition.

The scsi cable has been checked, cpqcissm driver changed but we still cannot get the server to pickup the scsi device.

Any help appreciated...

Thanks

[Linda Ruiz · Accepted solution]

Hello,

It's been awhile, but I had the same or similar error on a DL380 Gen 3 using the builtin SmartArray 5i controller. To solve that:

(1) I had to add a two new Ultra3/320 SCSI controller cards and move the two sets of tape drives to their own cards.

(2) I found that I cannot mix RAID drives (even on different channels) with Tape drives (DLT IVs and SDLT 320s).

(3) I also found that I had to separate the DLT IVs from the SDLT 320, as the DLT IVs used a slow Centronics-50 connector (and slower SCSI bus) than the SDLT-320 which supported Ultra320.

(4) For the DLT IVs I also had to shorten my cable to the shortest possible on my chained set of tape drives to 18" (between chained drives) to keep the total cable length under the 5' limitation (fuzzy memory).

I did each of the four above separately, so I know that it required all four due to my setup - as I implemented each one the frequency of resets diminished. Once I finished with all four did the SCSI bus reset errors stop, and my backup jobs ran until completion. I have up to 4 jobs running at the same time - and only one pulls data from the local server, the rest of the data is pulled across our 100-Base-T network.

I also recall one of the KB articles stating that one of the SmartArray controller models, could not be run using both the internal and external connections.

Hope that provides some insight.
- Linda Ruiz :)

[e4services]

That is correct. You can not connect a TAPE drive to the RAID controller. The RAID controller MUST create logical drives in its BIOS for configured devices, which is not compatible with a Tape drive.
As recommended above, move it to the onboard SCSI controller.

[O.]

Hello

Thanks for taking the time to reply to my post.

Both the DL380 server & HP tape drive are brand new from the box and we currently have the same setup with another DL380 and the same model HP tape drive which has been working fine for months.

The server can see the tape drive when you look at the One Button Disaster Recovery option but still doesn't detect it normally at boot up unless it's configured as the OBDR option??

Do you think I need to fit another SCSI card even though this setup works on our other server OK?

Thanks again...

[Steven Clementi]

Is the old server s G4 as well? or a G3/G2?

If it is older, you can not base the fact that the "setup works" on it since the g4 has a newer Smart Array Controller in it.


Eitherway, the best suggestion is to have a separate SCSI controller for BEST performance. Connected to a Smart Array controller, the Tape drive will experience poor performance.


Steven

[O.]

Hi

Thanks for the reply...

The older server is also a G4.

I take your point that performance wise it would be best to use a seperate controller but should it still not at least pick up the tape drive?

I may just need to admit defeat and use a seperate controller.

Thanks for you help...

[O.]

Hello

Thanks for all the replies. HP warranty advised that the 6i controller works intermittently with the tape drive so they recommend we purchase a seperate SCSI HBA.

Just what everyone had already suggested...

This also explains why we had the same setup working on the same server generation and tape drive model.

Thanks