tape not responding

[rosa maria_1]

Hi everyone !
I have an issue with my server tape. Trying to restoring information it`s sending:
frecover(5403): Unable to open or identify device at /dev/rmt/0m
frecover(5405): unable to open /dev/rmt/0m
frecover(5406): Do you wish to continue? (^[yY]/^[nN]) frecover(4302): frecover
interrupted, continue? (^[yY]/^[nN])

but checking this device with ioscan, I found the address isn`t responding:

ioscan -funC tape
Class I H/W Path Driver S/W State H/W Type Description
=====================================================================
tape 1 0/0/2/1.0.0 stape NO_HW DEVICE HP C1537A
/dev/rmt/0m /dev/rmt/c3t0d0BESTb
/dev/rmt/0mn /dev/rmt/c3t0d0BESTn
/dev/rmt/1m /dev/rmt/c3t0d0BESTnb
/dev/rmt/1mb /dev/rmt/c3t0d0DDS
/dev/rmt/1mn /dev/rmt/c3t0d0DDSb
/dev/rmt/1mnb /dev/rmt/c3t0d0DDSn
/dev/rmt/c3t0d0BEST /dev/rmt/c3t0d0DDSnb

my HP9000 has 11.0 o.s. version, one week ago we had an issue, the IP was unconfigure, technical support said it was because of new bundle to install.

does it can be for the same reason??
can I restore my information in other way ?? before installing bundles?

Thanks in advance

[Torsten. · Accepted solution]

NO_HW indicates it WAS there, but it is no longer present.

Check for bad drive, bad cable, bad terminator, bad HBA.

[Efrain Valencia]

Hello Rosa,

Whenever I see a something like this on a UX box, I try to check the hardware first,

Perhaps verify the connections for the tape drive are OK, (cables in good shape and properly seated)

Also verify the tape drive for any unusual LED indicators, check if there is no media stuck in the drive, etc.

I doubt the drive has stopped responding to the OS due to a missing bundle.

Regards,

[rosa maria_1]

Hi there !!

Actually, the drive is internal to the server. There isn´t media stuck in the drive, it doesn´t have HBA. LED indicator isn´t working, only the server´s LED indicator for attention is blinking.

The person who made the backup said it was working and it sent a message to continue with this process, but it didn´t work neither with a new tape nor cleaning tape.

[Torsten.]

What server model is it?


Sounds like a bad (dead) drive ...

[rosa maria_1]

it is an HP server rp5400 server (A5576B). Today the status changed, it is CLAIMED. I tried a backup with a new tape, but this is the error message:

ioscan -funC tape
Class I H/W Path Driver S/W State H/W Type Description
=====================================================================
tape 1 0/0/2/1.0.0 stape CLAIMED DEVICE HP C1537A
/dev/rmt/0m /dev/rmt/c3t0d0BESTb
/dev/rmt/0mn /dev/rmt/c3t0d0BESTn
/dev/rmt/1m /dev/rmt/c3t0d0BESTnb
/dev/rmt/1mb /dev/rmt/c3t0d0DDS
/dev/rmt/1mn /dev/rmt/c3t0d0DDSb
/dev/rmt/1mnb /dev/rmt/c3t0d0DDSn
/dev/rmt/c3t0d0BEST /dev/rmt/c3t0d0DDSnb

/etc/fbackup -f/dev/rmt/0m -v -g/home/etc/diariocel
fbackup(1421): no history is available for graph file /home/etc/diariocel (below level 0)
fbackup(1004): session begins on Mon Apr 12 09:46:02 2010
fbackup(3038): output file /dev/rmt/0m is not a valid device file for backup
fbackup(3019): would you like to enter a new output file?
n
fbackup(3022): would you like to continue this session?
n
fbackup(3004): writer aborting
fbackup(1002): Backup did not complete : Reader or Writer process exit

Thanks !!

[Torsten.]

Strange, you have /dev/rmt/0m and /dev/rmt/1m.

Consider to do an rmsf and insf again.

[BUPA IS]

Hello ,
The ioscan currently thinks this tape instance 1 so the /dev/rmt/1m may work.
I think this happens because there is some intermittent fault on the drive and when the system was restarted it thought incorrectly that a new drive had been installed.

Because of the sometimes it is CLAIMED and sometimes it is NO_HW I would get your hardware engineer to check and possibly replace the drive .

Mike

[S.N.S]

Hi Rose,
As the experts say, you would need to check the H/W....

However, temporarily this may work out (I have faced a similar, but not Exact issue - with some of the errors overlapping..) ---->
I had tried two ways - it was with the ignite tape. I was successful with both...I'm not sure it will work for you - but You sound quite in a need for getting the files from the tape...

A. using tar
1. cd to any dir that has space
2. then tar xvf /dev/rmt/0mn path of the file you need to recover WITHOUT / at the start
eg...for getting /etc/lvmtab from ignite back up into dir
tar xvf /dev/rmt/0mn etc/lvmtab...
[tar took me a lot of time - beware, u may need to run it in the background using &]

OR

B. sam>Backup&Recovery option.>Interactive Backup and Recovery
and specify any dir to which U need the files to be copied...

Try it - you never know..

HTH
SNS

[rosa maria_1]

event.log file has:
Nov 29 22:28:45 2009 Tape at hardware path 0/0/2/1.0.0 : Media failure dm_stape SERIOUS 100038
Apr 10 23:13:46 2010 Tape at hardware path 0/0/2/1.0.0 : Hardware failure dm_stape CRITICAL 100057

The recommendation is:"... Repair or replace the device" as you said.

Before to take this option, I have a question, what implications can be using rmsf command?