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Re: MSL5026 SDLT320's not seen by DL380G3 with NW6 SP3 and ARCserve

 
Cameron Todd
Regular Advisor

MSL5026 SDLT320's not seen by DL380G3 with NW6 SP3 and ARCserve

I have received a new HP Proliant DL380 2RU server with MSL5026 (S2) Tape Library and have installed NetWare 6.0 (Service Pack 3) and both ARCServe 7.0 for Netware and subsequently ARCServe 9.0 for NetWare but neither can see the tape devices.

When ARCserve starts, the PreFlight Check initially scans for devices (using CANWPABD)and finds the MSL5026 and both SDLT320 drives on the SCSI bus (direct connected to the VHDPCI-SCSI port on the back panel which seems to be the second channel on the internal SmartArray5i HBA running the RAID HDD's - suss??) however, then the PFC soon returns "one (1) device found" instead of expected three and then when the Tape Server loads (TAPESRV and TAPEALRT NLMs) it raises an error notification because there are "no tape devices found", and shows only the "MSL5026 changer" as the sole device detected.

As well, then loading the SCSISCAN NLM shows only the MSL5026 and one SDLT, of which none of the device ID's match the actual SCSI ID's set on the devices. (Library controller is set to ID #4 and the two SDLTs to #5 and #6, respectively - I changed them from the factory defaults of 0,1 and 2 after reading a recommendation on the ca.com support knowledgebase recommending not to run ID's less than #2 on tape devices, but this change did not make the slightest difference to the original problem)

The fact that both ARCserve 7 and 9 fail in an identical way suggests that the fault is not with ARCserve. (I think)
Certainly, neither software app has failed on our earlier Proliant servers and dlt changers.

When I run the ARCserve Tape Library Option Installer to configure ARCserve for these devices there are no tape devices appearing in the pick list in which to select for controlling by the MSA5026 (which it *does* see) therefore it seems to be as though there was a hardware/SCSI error, but obviously there isn't - at least initially.

I have daisy-chained the Library and SDLT drives to the DL380 HBA as per the recommended configuration diagrams in the Installation Manual and with the supplied 0.5m cables so shouldn't be a physical SCSI bus problem, (especially given that the three devices are picked up as ARCserve first begins loading) and there are no errors whatsoever on the MSL5026 LCD panel or via the Remote Management Interface. (It is on-line and idle, tapes inserted into the unit move, load/unload and barcode scan as expected; it just never gets spoken to from the HBA)
The MSA firmware revision is as delivered on v414.

help!

4 REPLIES 4
Ron Sutton
Advisor

Re: MSL5026 SDLT320's not seen by DL380G3 with NW6 SP3 and ARCserve

Hi,

I have not run with SP3 but did with SP2. Check the CA web site and patch up to 9.01 and get the latest device file patch file too. Also we do not have support for the internal SmartArray on Novell, suggest you use one of the supported HP HBA's. See ftp://ftp.compaq.com/pub/products/storageworks/techdoc/ebs/EBSMatrix-0404.pdf for limitations and supported configurations. Adding another device on to the smart array may give you disappointing backup performance even if you can configure its operation. One last idea check the ARCserve log files, to see if any non device errors. I have had problems with tsa600.nlm being installed before.

Ron Sutton
Cameron Todd
Regular Advisor

Re: MSL5026 SDLT320's not seen by DL380G3 with NW6 SP3 and ARCserve

Thanks Ron. I have already ordered a separate HBA, since running out of options and admit that there may well be a difference in the NetWare drivers for a separate HBA compared to a separate channel on the existing dual channel Smart Array adaptor, as far as ARCserve is concerned.

Could you detail what the issues were you had with TSA600? I do load that (v6.00.05 Feb 6, 2003) but wouldn't have thought there should be a problem. I also verified that no old CDM drivers such as NWtape, DLTTape, EXAtape, SCSI2Tp and NWASPI are ever loaded.

Note that the base NetWare 6.0 product wouldn't even install onto the new DL380G3. It would totally abend after loading SLPTCP.NLM and this is why required the SP3 files. (Possible issue with the Q57.LAN HP Gigabit adaptor driver as well, so it was also updated - then once the server actually loaded and was running, could do the SP3 update fully)
Ron Sutton
Advisor

Re: MSL5026 SDLT320's not seen by DL380G3 with NW6 SP3 and ARCserve

Hi,

With the tsa600, it was not being loaded via autoexec.ncf. Could have been a problem in the AS pfc.ini file too. Sometimes I get the different version of Novell mixed up.

Ron
Cameron Todd
Regular Advisor

Re: MSL5026 SDLT320's not seen by DL380G3 with NW6 SP3 and ARCserve

Problem resolved. The dual-channel U320 SCSI HBA arrived (part 268351-B21) and I reinstalled the OS and all software, (NW6, SP3, Arc7, ARC7 Q033421 patches, which includes updated pfc.ini to base ARCServe directory) including updated drivers for the Compaq Gigabit NICs (Q57.L**) and the new HBA (LSIMPNW*.HAM etc).

This time CANWPABD found all the devices and the Tape Library Option install was also instantly successful.

Certainly looks like the external VHDCI on the array controller will not support tape library controllers.

Thanks for your help.