StoreEver Tape Storage
1748020 Members
4319 Online
108757 Solutions
New Discussion юеВ

MSL50 Adding Extra Tape Drive

 
Mike_523
Advisor

MSL50 Adding Extra Tape Drive

I have a MSL5030 Tape Library connected to one host with one LTO Tape Drive, I have another LTO drive to add to the Library. The Configuration Examples show the SCSI connectivity for 1 host/2 Drives however there is a note suggesting that the configuration is not recommended for the Ultrium 460 Tape Drives.

What is the recommended connectivity and do I have to configure anything else when adding the 2nd drive to the Tape Library? Presumably this all has to be done offline?
8 REPLIES 8
Claudio Ruzza_1
Valued Contributor

Re: MSL50 Adding Extra Tape Drive

When Using Ultrium 460 you must keep drives on different SCSI buses. If you have a SCSI card with dual bus (or two scsi cards single bus), please connect scsi bus 1 to robotics daisy chained with first drive, then put a terminator on the remaining connector of the drive; then connect scsi bus 2 to the second drive, then put a terminator on the remaining connector of the drive.
Ultrium 2 must use a dedicated bus because of their performance and SCSI band consumption.

When you'll insert the second drive in the library, you should check with OCP if teh drive is recognized. Just press status, and check if you see one drive or two. This is independent from the SCSI cabling, is just an internal check of the library

Hope it helps
Claudio
Mike_523
Advisor

Re: MSL50 Adding Extra Tape Drive

Hi Claudio,

Thanks for responding.

One point I failed to mention is that the Server and Library are connected to a SAN switch via fibre therfore there are no SCSI connections to any hosts.

Currently on the Library I have a teminator on the top connector(1), connector (2) goes to bottom connector on Drive1 then top connector on drive1 goes to connector (1) on Library fibre card.

Presumably this configuration will make a difference to adding the second tape drive?

Will I be able to distinguish which jobs go to particular drives?
Will I be able to run two jobs at the same time?

Is it ok to Insert the 2nd drive into the Library whilst powered up?

We are using Backup Exec
Claudio Ruzza_1
Valued Contributor

Re: MSL50 Adding Extra Tape Drive

Mike,
you just need to put a termiantor in, let's say, upper (or lower, doesn't make big difference) connector of second library drive and put a short SCSI cable in lower connector of drive to the second bus of your NSR1200 card (SCSI to FC router). That's all! You will have a configuration with two LTOII drives splitted in two SCSI buses. Please remember to check if your SCSI to FC mapping is consistent (via the NSR e1200 web interface).
My personal advice is to insert the new drive when the library is down, even if MSL supports hot-swap drives.
Of cuorse you can control which drive to use in a particular backup job. This is one of the benefits of using a Backup software tool. In your case, with backup Exec, you can use at the same time your drives running two different jobs. You cannot use two drives for a single job (multi-streaming) with backup exec, because this software doesn't offer such a capability. If you have huge file systems that you need to save to multiple drives at the same time you need a Backup Software that support it: HP Data Protector, Legato Networker or Veritas Netbackup
Hope it helps
Claudio
Mike_523
Advisor

Re: MSL50 Adding Extra Tape Drive

Hi Claudio,

I have plugged the 2nd Tape drive in the library sees the second drive on the status screen. The Es1200 router SCSI set-up sees the 2nd drive ok but the servers can only see one tape drive. Where else should I be checking SCSI-Fibre mapping?

P.s I powered off the tape library whilst doing the upgrade and I have restarted one of the servers connected to the SAN but still can only see the original tape Drive.

SCSI Device Display Menu
BUS 0 - LOCAL DEVICE LIST:

TARGET DEVICE at Bus 00 Target 01 Lun 00 is UP
COMPAQ MSL5000 Series Revision: 0414
ANSI SCSI Revision: 2 Type: Medium Changer

TARGET DEVICE at Bus 00 Target 02 Lun 00 is UP
HP Ultrium 1-SCSI Revision: E38W
ANSI SCSI Revision: 3 Type: Sequential Access

BUS 1 - LOCAL DEVICE LIST:

TARGET DEVICE at Bus 01 Target 02 Lun 00 is UP
HP Ultrium 1-SCSI Revision: E38W
ANSI SCSI Revision: 3 Type: Sequential Access
Claudio Ruzza_1
Valued Contributor

Re: MSL50 Adding Extra Tape Drive

Mike,
have you re-run your Windows "Scan for new hardware" or HP-UX ioscan, or any other UNIX discovery tool? If your mapping is OK, you should see your new drive.

In case your mapping needs upgrading as well I give you some steps.

-Gain access to the NSR e1200 web interface.
-On the left pane, choose mapping. Enter user/pwd as usual.
You'll see on the page a list of detected servers' WWNs and a list of available maps.
-View/edit your server(s) to see which map this server is using. Remember used map(s)
-View/edit one at a time the map(s) used by server(s)
-clear map clicking the appropriate button
-Fill the map clicking the appropriate button
-Save everything clicking on the button "Activate mapping changes"
-Re-discovery your new hardware in your server(s)

Let us know
Claudio
Mike_523
Advisor

Re: MSL50 Adding Extra Tape Drive

Hi Claudio,

Yes I have run the scan. on the E1200 router
I used the indexed maps and used the fill option so now the 2nd tape is seen.
FC Port 0
Indexed

Lun Protocol Bus Type Status Device Specific Address
0 PSCSI 0 CHGR UP Target= 1 Lun= 0
1 PSCSI 0 TAPE UP Target= 2 Lun= 0
2 AF CTLR UP Lun= 0
3 PSCSI 1 TAPE UP Target= 2 Lun= 0

If I reboot the e1200 router will I disrupt anything other than the Tape Library?

There does not seem to be an option to save the updates is this normal?

Thanks
Claudio Ruzza_1
Valued Contributor

Re: MSL50 Adding Extra Tape Drive

When you are finished editing a map, close its window and look for a button named "Activate mapping changes"

Click on it and you're OK

Claudio Ruzza

Mike_523
Advisor

Re: MSL50 Adding Extra Tape Drive

Thanks Claudio

I can see the other drive ok now.

Thanks for your help