Surestore 2/20 compatibility

[Ed Fair]

Hi,
I have recently inherited a C7201RA (2/20 tape library with one drive) that is not quite working. The robotics appear in reasonable working order -- they pass all tests invoked through the operator panel -- but I think I may have a defective or incompatible tape drive installed. I am out of troubleshooting ideas.

There is a hvd scsi library controller installed, and what looks like an SDLT 220 tape drive. The part number on the tape drive is TE-S11BA-ZZ. I can't find that part number anywhere on HP or Quantum web sites. I'm wondering if anybody can comment on this tape drive -- is it HVD or LVD?

When I attach the library and controller to the same scsi bus (with two cables and one terminator) I have all kinds of problems with SCSISelect timing out. If I attach just the library controller (with one cable and one terminator) SCSISelect can see the controller fine and the scsi bus behaves well. However, when I attach just the tape drive (again, with one cable and terminator) SCSISelect can't see any scsi devices, and the scsi bus experiences timeouts.

The tape drive will go online and offline from the control panel, but I can't make it work on my scsi bus. My adapter is an Adaptec AHA-2944UW.

Attached is the report from the library RMC... any assistance or comments would be greatly appreciated!

ed

[David Ruska]

You have an interesting combination of stuff.

The Surestore 2/20 library only supported DLT and LTO tape drives. The SDLT220 drive was supported in an OEM version of the product, but never in the HP version of the product.

The controller board you have says "C7145-8000" which is the controller board for the Surestore 1/9 tape autoloader (very similar architecture to the 2/20, but the code is slightly different).

The controller board for a 2/20 should ID as "C7200-xxxx".

The firmware on the controller board is nothing HP released for it's products (JM30). It should be 1.XX (2/20 family) or 2.XX (1/9 autoloader).

If the library is labeled as an HP Surestore and you want to make it a supported configuration, you want to find DLT8000 or LTO1 drives to fit it, along with the proper library controller card.

If the library is branded as an other OEM, then you want to follow-up with them regarding what is supported.

[Ed Fair]

Thanks for the excellent answer.

The box is branded as HP on the faceplate. I expect someone was performing vile experiments on this library :(

The library controller card is labelled C7200-60001, I looked up this part number, the suggested replacement part is C7200-60201, I think this is telling me I have the correct hardware for this library, just the wrong firmware. Any comments on the likelihood of success if I re-flash the firmware?

Thanks again!

ed

[David Ruska]

Ed,

The library boards are physically the same, and will have the same base part number (a C7200 number). The board will have a different FRU number between the two products, which will have the correct firmware associated with it.

[Marino Meloni_1]

look like the you need two different controllers:
AHA-2944 is a HVD controller, and you said it work with the controller but not with the drive,
the drive look like a LVD interface that is not compatible with HVD controller. so you need a new HBA LVD to test the drive

http://www.quantum.com/am/service_support/downloads/docs/part_numbers_sdlt220.htm

nice stuff to play with