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Re: Configuration of StorageWorks with unix

 
Reynaldo Celestino
New Member

Configuration of StorageWorks with unix

We have the StorageWorks MSL5026 Library backup device connected to our Sun SPARC Solaris 8 server, but we are not familiar on how to configure this device and the unix environment, so that we can backup our unix files to this tape library device.

How do you do this? Do you need to install unix drivers? I didn't see any on the package, it just have Windows 2000/NT drivers, even in the Compaq website.

Thanks.
5 REPLIES 5
Vincent Fleming
Honored Contributor

Re: Configuration of StorageWorks with unix

Solaris comes with the required drivers. Depending on how you attach the library, you may have to modify your configuration files, though.

Treat it as a tape drive(s) - it's not anything special. Your backup software should recognize and be able to use the robotics.

My solaris is a little rusty, but as I recall there are several config files that may need modification... /kernel/drv/st.conf comes to mind. (to define what targets/luns can be tapes) If you're using Fibre Channel, you may have others, such as jni.conf, in that same directory. There was also a file that defines tape drive capabilities (I think it was in /etc) by identification string - it defines capacity, and other such capabilities.

You probably want to look in your Solaris manuals for more details.

Good luck,

Vince
No matter where you go, there you are.
Reynaldo Celestino
New Member

Re: Configuration of StorageWorks with unix

I was told via HP help that the drivers for this StorageWorks MSL5026 are not yet available since it is still unsupported for Solaris 8. Can the current drivers in Solaris 8 make this work? I am not an expert in the Solaris 8 OS, can you provide more detailed steps for the solution that you have mentioned. Thank you much.
Vincent Fleming
Honored Contributor

Re: Configuration of StorageWorks with unix

You can ask Sun about how to get the tape drives working... ie: "Hello Sun? Hi, I have a SDLT tape drive connected to my Fibre Channel and I want to get it working with Solaris 8 - How do I do that?"

Good luck!

Vince
No matter where you go, there you are.
Duncan Greenwood
Trusted Contributor

Re: Configuration of StorageWorks with unix

Solaris doesn't yet have specific support for SDLT although the default tape driver will let you use the drive - you just may not get optimum performance.

You don't tell us what backup software you're using. Some products include their own drivers.

If you've successfully attached the device to your server, you should see some entries using the probe-scsi-all command from the ok prompt at the firmware level. Do a "boot -- -r" and Solaris will create a device for the tape drive under /dev/rmt, eg /dev/rmt/0m.

If you just want to use standard Unix utilities, you'll also discover that Solaris doesn't have any built-in support for robotic tape libraries.

You can get a GPL utility from http://sourceforge.net/projects/mtx.
This works well with the Solaris sgen driver.

Let us know if you have any more questions and tell us a little more about your environment.

hth

D
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Re: Configuration of StorageWorks with unix

We have a Sun SPARC Solaris 8. I ran the following command in the unix prompt: devfsdadm, in order to load device drivers without rebooting. I got the following error message: "FDDI driver is not active: Initialization of this driver cannot be completed." How do I fix this error?

Thanks.