DLT tape drive for K420

[hpt_1]

I would like to add a HP SureStore DLT40e to our existing K420 server running HPUX 10.20. Pls. advise if this is supported and what SCSI bus should I use?

Any software patch required?

[Leif Halvarsson_2]

Hi,
Is there a 50 pin narrow SE SCSI connector on the K420 (I belive it is).

If I remember correct the DLT40e has a 50 pin Centronics connector so you need a 50 pin Centronic to 50 pin HD cable.

The DLT40e is supported in HP-UX 10.20.

[hpt_1]

The DLT40e is a SE SCSI device and I have tried connecting it to the 28655A SE SCSI adapter on the HP-PB bus. The device can be recognised as /dev/rmt/c5t5d0BEST by HPUX but when I tried to do a tar operation, an "I/O error" occurred.

Or do I need a specific model of DLT40e for HPUX? What should be the right P/N?

Pls. help.

[Leif Halvarsson_2]

Hi,
I have used the DL40e on a D class server and HP-UX 10.20 without any problem, I can't think there should be any difference with a K class.

The DLT40 drive was sold with two different product numbers from HP but tecnical it was the same drive they where adressed to different markets.

Is the drive listed if you do a ioscan -f.

[Vincent Farrugia]

Hello,

Please specify the product number of the DLT40e drive you have.

It could be that you have the Narrow Differential version, which require the 28696 (FWD) card, not the 28655 (SE) card.

Vince

[hpt_1]

Hi, the drive is C1579A and the controller card is 28655A, both are SE SCSI with 50 pins connector. An "ioscan -f" recognise the drive as /dev/rmt/c5t5d0BEST but I just cannot get it worked.

Is it possible that only FWD DLT drive will work with K420? If yes, pls. suggest the correct P/N of the drive and controller.

[Leif Halvarsson_2]

Hi,

If DLT devices works on a K420 (and I am sure it does) it should work regardless if SE or FWD SCSI, (assuming there is no mismatches with the interfaces).

Check first that the drivers are loaded and the devices is "CLAIMED". Below in the output from ioscan -f on one of our systems with a C1579A connected to the external SCSI bus (the ex. is from an A400 system, your driver an HW path may be different).

ext_bus 2 0/0/2/0 c720 CLAIMED INTERFACE SCSI C87x Fast Wide Single-Ended
target 5 0/0/2/0.0 tgt CLAIMED DEVICE
tape 2 0/0/2/0.0.0 stape CLAIMED DEVICE Quantum DLT4000

Of course there cam be a hardware problem (with the HBA or the drive). Is it possible for you to:
- Try another SCSI-device on the K420 (connected to the 28655A HBA)
- Try the drive on another system (not necessary a HP-UX).

[hpt_1]

Hi,

I have just tried to connect another external tape drive, SUN DLT4000 (Quantum OEM), to an 28655A HP-PB SE SCSI-2 Host Adapter in our test machine K210 (HP-UX 10.20) with a LD50-HD50 pin cable (2.5 feet). I suppose this drive is equivalent to DLT40e. When I boot up the system, I found that the drive can be CLAIMED but with the device name, /dev/rmt/c9t5d0BEST loaded with the driver "tape2". I realised that it is not the usual name we got, which is /dev/rmt/?m.

Anyway, when I do a tar operation to test it, I got the following error.

# ioscan -funC tape

Class I H/W Path Driver S/W State H/W Type Description
======================================================================
tape 10 10/4/16.5.0 tape2 CLAIMED DEVICE SUN DLT4000
/dev/diag/rmt/c9t5d0 /dev/rmt/c9t5d0BESTn
/dev/rmt/c9t5d0BEST /dev/rmt/c9t5d0BESTnb
/dev/rmt/c9t5d0BESTb

tape 1 10/12/5.0.0 stape CLAIMED DEVICE HP C1533A
/dev/rmt/1m /dev/rmt/c2t0d0BEST
/dev/rmt/1mb /dev/rmt/c2t0d0BESTb
/dev/rmt/1mn /dev/rmt/c2t0d0BESTn
/dev/rmt/1mnb /dev/rmt/c2t0d0BESTnb

# tar -cvf /dev/rmt/c9t5d0BEST /usr
a /usr/bin/mediainit 96 blocks
Tar: end of tape
Tar: to continue, enter device/file name when ready or null string to quit.

Tar: couldn't open
Tar: to continue, enter device/file name when ready or null string to quit.

User entered a null name for next device file.
#

I've tried with serveral new tapes, same result occurred. Actually similar error occured when I tested with DEC TZ88 SE SCSI tape drive, as well as the HP DLT40e. Sometimes I even just got the following message only.

tar : cannot open /dev/rmt/c9t5d0BEST

The driver automatically loaded by the OS is "tape2" rather than "stape". Is it correct? If not, how can I fix it?

[Leif Halvarsson_2]

Hi,

The Sun DLT4000 is hardware equvivalent to HP DLT40 but SUN hs put some own software in it, that's why the drive is recognized as a SUN DLT ... not as a QUANTUM and this is perhaps why HP-UX uses the wrong driver tape2 (this is a DDS driver).
You can try to create your own devicefile for testing:
mknod /dev/rmt/SUNDLT c 205 0x0nnn00 (use the same numbers as in the current devicefile to replace nnn).