L&TT 4.30 Fails to Detect MSL6480 Libraries and Drives

[Alpha_1_1]

Hi,

I'm troubleshooting an issue involving Veeam Backup and Recovery V10, whereby the software is having difficulty writing to an LTO-6 drive in one of two StoreEver MSL 6480 libraries.

The library devices are connected via Brocade FC to our SAN environments, and zoned to be seen by 4 Windows servers, 3 running W2012 R2; the other, W2016 Std.

All drivers and firmware are up-to-date.

I have a support case open with Veeam, who want to confirm that vendor-supplied tools are successful in conducting write tests to the problematic device. Thus far I have only run the library's own onboard tests, which don't appear to include a write verification process.

I've installed HPE L&TT v4.30 on each of the Windows servers zoned to see the libraries; however, when I run either the Installation Check or the Utility itself, the scan fails to identify the library, medium changer or drives.

The one thing that did work was that the utility identified a Data Protector service that was active on one server. It didn't identify the Veeam services on any of the 4 servers, though.

I've used every combination of settings available - thus far, none work.

Is anyone else having a similar issue? Am I missing something?

I'd appreciate any insights anyone may be able to share.

Thanks,

Bob

[tapelibraryfixr]

maybe try run as administrator or compatibility win7.

[Alpha_1_1]

Hi,

Thanks for the suggestion. I gave it a go but no joy, sorry to say.

One thing that did seem to work was the System Configuration Utility. If I run it, it sees the HBAs and attached devices, but all a scan seems to see are SCSI adapters and logical devices.

I'll keep playing with it, see if a solution presents itself...

Thanks,

Bob

[Alpha_1_1]

Further research has shown that on a 6480, a connection is made to the individual drives (rather than to the library) via Ethernet - the drive, when attached, is supposed to pass an IP address in the 10.16.9.x range to the connecting device.

We haven't been able to get this to work either, and the accompanying documentation is vague when it comes to troubleshooting.

There has to be a way to get this to work - or is L&TT simply past its useful lifetime?

[Curtis_Ballard]

I'm not sure what you were referencing with the "further research" but LTT does not normally make a connection to the drives in an MSL 6480 through Ethernet.  There is a little used capability in LTT where it is possible to direct connect a computer to the Ethernet port on a drive and run some diagnostic functions but that is mostly used in the lab.  If you want to use that connection it is described in the online help for LTT and it can run a read/write test that is built into the drives but it can't test that the host can read/write to the drive.

The normal connection for LTT 4.xx is through the primary storage interface (SAS or Fibre Channel) on the host computer running LTT.  As has been discussed, it should be run in administrator mode.

You don't provide any details on what LTT found when you ran it on a computer with SCSI access to the MSL6480.  Under the Scan tab you can look at the scan details which shows all of the interfaces LTT identified that might be attached to storage devices and what was found on each.  The normal "By Product" display will list a summary of all of the storage devices that LTT found.  Sometimes tape and library devices show up under "Other Devices" which almost always means that some service running on the system has those devices locked for exclusive access.

[Alpha_1_1]

Thanks Curtis.

The online help for LTT (there doesn't appear to be much in the way of other resources) clearly states that connection is made to the Ethernet port on the tapedrive on a 6480 rather than to the library:

"For the 1/8 G2 Tape Autoloader and MSL2024, MSL4048, MSL6480, MSL8048, and MSL8096 tape libraries, connect to the Ethernet port on the tape drive, as shown in the figure Ethernet port on LTO-5 tape drive in the 1/8 G2 Tape Autoloader and MSL libraries ." (Underline/italics are mine, bold is taken from the document)

When I was unable to connect to the library by normal means (Fibrechannel - SCSI not available) from three different Windows servers, or by Ethernet connection from a laptop, I enlisted the help of a HPE engineer who works with us and has extensive experience of systems like ours. He had no more success than I - the library controller did not automatically assign an IP address (I note I was mistaken about the address range in my earlier post), and assigning one manually had no effect.

The software, when run, scans for the library but returns an empty tree in the result window. This would be a Hardware Scan, I/O Mode Ethernet, Tape Library selection MSL6480 (other combinations have also been tried, without success).

I'm in the middle of a tape backup cycle at the moment, so any additional testing will have to wait until that completes.

Curiously, a reboot of the library (power cycle, not soft) seems to have kickstarted it into some semblance of normal operation, although it's had no effect on LTT. I'm hopeful that tape jobs will proceed without undue delay, after which I'll be able to resume diagnosis.

In the meantime, I'm going to test the software against my Data Protector environment where I use MSL8096 libraries, to see whether that behaves differently.

I'll post results as I get them.

Cheers,

Bob

[Curtis_Ballard]

The text you refer to about connecting using Ethernet with the MSL6480 is inside of the section on the optional method of using Ethernet.  I poked around in the manual a bit and I agree that it isn't very clear that this is just one possible method.  When connecting with Ethernet you have to set up the laptop network routing tables so that it can connect to the 16.1.9.x address or you have to set a static IP on your laptop that is in the same range.  If your laptop is using DHCP you have to wait for the DHCP to fail then the laptop will assign an auto-ip address then you can edit the routing tables and manually add a route that can get to the tape drive.  I don't recommend using Ethernet unless you really need to.

For best results if it is possible I'd recommend running LTT on a host that has SCSI data path access to the drives.  If the drives show up in your Windows registry then LTT should be able to at least detect them.  One thing to check is to make certain that when you first start it the options in the startup dialog are set correctly.  The Scan Mode should be set to "Hardware Scan".  LTT will try to used Saved/Manual Scan so it doesn't disrupt activity in process.  The Saved/Manual scan will give you an option to "Scan Hardware Now" but unless you do that it won't offer anything that wasn't seen last time.

If LTT is really doing a hardware scan and you are on a host with SCSI data path access but no tape or changer devices show up you can email the EventLog.ltt file from the installation directory log file (probably C:\Program Files (x86)\HPE\HPE Library and Tape Tools\logs) to the ltt.team@hpe.com email address and they should be able to figure out some more tips.  If you email them send a link to this thread so they can look at it.

[Alpha_1_1]

Hi Curtis,

Thank you for the advice - the software is behaving the same on a server in my Data Protector environment.

I've had a look at the Registry, and although I can see references to changers and drives, etc., it's possible that there may be a configuration issue to be ironed out.

I've taken an EventLog as you suggest and I'll prepare an email for the L&TT team - perhaps they''ll spot something.

I'll post back with an update as I get one.

Cheers,

Bob