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Re: MSL5026 Tape Library Terminator light red

 
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Mohamed  K Ahmed
Trusted Contributor

MSL5026 Tape Library Terminator light red

Hi all,
I have a tape drive library MSL5026 with 2 tape drives connected to ES40 system running Tru64 Unix V 5.1b through a 3X-KZPCA-AA card.
I can see the drives fine and access them as well, but looking at the back of the drive, I noticed that the terminator led is red.
Any comments?

Mohamed
8 REPLIES 8
David Ruska
Honored Contributor

Re: MSL5026 Tape Library Terminator light red

Which terminator are you using?

If you are using an LVD/SE terminator, usually red indicates SE mode, and green indicates LVD.

Is there a single-ended device on the bus, or a single-ended terminator on the other end?
The journey IS the reward.
Mohamed  K Ahmed
Trusted Contributor

Re: MSL5026 Tape Library Terminator light red

well, I don't know if there is other SE on the bus, All I know that it is connected to a KZPAC-AA. I have an identical system but the Terminator led is green, and it is the same configuration.
Will this be like a jumper on the KZPAC board that I have to set for LVD termination?
Will this cause any problems to the operation of the tape drive on the long run?

Thanks
Curtis Ballard
Honored Contributor

Re: MSL5026 Tape Library Terminator light red

With the terminator HP ships a red light means the system is operating in SE mode. Your performance will be poor at best when running in SE mode.

SE mode is an autodetect setting. If any device on the bus is SE then the whole bus has to run SE. Neither the drives or the library are SE. Your HBA shouldn't have an SE setting. If there are no other devices on the bus and it is still in SE mode then you might have a bad cable.
Mohamed  K Ahmed
Trusted Contributor

Re: MSL5026 Tape Library Terminator light red

Hmm.......Well, I have 2 identical systems, and the tape library works OK with a green terminator light on one of the systems.
The point regarding the bus concerns me, I have the KZPCA on the same bus as KGPSA and another SCSI card. I don't know if any of them is SE or LVD. In the weekend, I will move the KZPCA connected to the tape drive to a bus by itself and see if this would help.
In the mean while, I have checked the cables, and yes they are different. The working system has cable with part number 110942-001, while the system that gives me red terminator light has BN38C-05 cable. Can you tell if they are different?
Curtis Ballard
Honored Contributor

Re: MSL5026 Tape Library Terminator light red

I'm not certain I understand your cabling configuration. You have a 2gig FC HBA and a 1gig FC HBA and state they are on the same bus??? That can't be?

Somewhere there must be a FC-to-SCSI bridge, I would guess as N1200 storage router. Everything in the library should be behind the routers. If you have a red light on one of the terminators then the problem is somewhere between the router and the library. If you do not have the library connected to a storage router then how do you have the library connected?

The BN38C-05 cable is an Ultra SCSI 20MB/sec cable. It is possible that may be your problem since the drives are LVD and should be using a multimode cable.

The length of the cables you mention suggest that you may be using direct SCSI attach to the host. Typically a 2meter cable isn't used anywhere if the library is fibre connect.
Mohamed  K Ahmed
Trusted Contributor

Re: MSL5026 Tape Library Terminator light red

Can some one please tell me what is the difference between KZPCA-AX and KZPCA-AA .
When I connect the MSL5026 tape library to the KZPCA-AX, the system hangs, till I remove the cable from that board.
Any thoughts?
Curtis Ballard
Honored Contributor
Solution

Re: MSL5026 Tape Library Terminator light red

Well when I look up the specs both the KZPCA-AX and the KZPCA-AA are supposed to be single channel LVD Ultra2 SCSI HBA's. The AX card is a service part and the AA part is a factory ordered part but they should be exactly the same other than the label. I shouldn't have just asked my neighbor who told me those were fibre channel adapters. The FC adapters have similar names.

So it looks like you should have the correct HBA's for the system. The only possibility I see from what you have told me is that one cable that isn't rated for LVD.
Mohamed  K Ahmed
Trusted Contributor

Re: MSL5026 Tape Library Terminator light red

OK, I knew that the cable is the faulty part from the beginning, but I just wanted to make sure.

Thanks all

Mohamed