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Re: TL892 on a MDR connected to OpenVMS Alpha

 
Rick Dyson
Valued Contributor

TL892 on a MDR connected to OpenVMS Alpha

I have recently moved a TL892 library onto a SAN MDR. This unit already has a MSL5026 that has been working just fine for a couple years. I wanted to be able to reach the TL892DLX with it's DLT8000 drives via my FC SAN.

I use OpenVMS and the MRU robot is able to see the drives and slots, but it does not seem to be able to tell me about itself. I.e.,

$ Robot Show Robot

always comes back blank. I can move tapes around smoothly. But, I am also getting failures when I try to INIT the tape. I don't know if this is related or not, yet.

Previously, when the TL892 was directly attached via SCSI, I had to load a driver at boot time in order to reference the robot. Something like this:

MCR SysMan IO Connect GKF0 /Driver = Sys$GKDriver /NoAdapter

but since I don't do anything like this for the MSL5000 and the TL892 robot already seems available, I am not doing anything with the $2$GGA2: device that is the TL892 robot.

I thought this library was qualified with an MDR on OpenVMS and it would be easy to setup and use. Is this correct?

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Rick
6 REPLIES 6
Uwe Zessin
Honored Contributor

Re: TL892 on a MDR connected to OpenVMS Alpha

Its been some time since I worked with MRU, but don't you have to tell it what the robot's device is? Something like:

$ define MRU_ROBOT $2$GGA2:
.
Rick Dyson
Valued Contributor

Re: TL892 on a MDR connected to OpenVMS Alpha

Yes. I did leave out those details for brevity.

I am using MRU v1.8.

I have found that I can not get the MDR to work with the TL892 library. Maybe I was incorrect in assuming it would work. The parity errors I was getting on tape INITs were consistent across nodes in the cluster and multiple tapes in the library. It does not seem to be a problem on the library, drive or tape.

I then reattached to the SCSI card on one of the AlphaServer nodes and the backup job is humming along smoothly...

As for the "blank response from MRU" problem I was reporting, I think that I might have had a syntax error. The command I was using was actually:

$ Robot Show Robot $2$GGA1: Robot
^^^^^

that last "Robot" parameter is not right, it shouldn't be there and MRU seems to not report a problem, it just returns a blank.

If I had wanted to see "Slots" or "Drive" status, you replace the last parameter with them. That is where I went wrong, I incorrectly generalized... :)

I am starting to recall some old docs that mentioned that MRU was picky about the name of the device you use for the robot. E.g., $ might not work but would, or vice versa...

rick
Cass Witkowski
Trusted Contributor

Re: TL892 on a MDR connected to OpenVMS Alpha

We have TL892s and they are HVD SCSI. I the interface on the MDR LVD SCSI?
Rick Dyson
Valued Contributor

Re: TL892 on a MDR connected to OpenVMS Alpha

You know, I can't recall, but I thought it was LVD... I am not the best SCSI expert, but I know I can plug the TL891DLX directly into an old KZPBA-CA (?). I know it as an UltraWide SCSI SE. I know it is a QLogic ISP1040B.

Does that help? To me that is Single ended, non-Diff SCSI.

rick
Rick Dyson
Valued Contributor

Re: TL892 on a MDR connected to OpenVMS Alpha

NEW Info! Duh on my part!

NOTE: I now see that the TL891DLX is supposed to be using a KZPCA-AA (UltraWide SCSI II or Ultra2 LVD) controller.

Wow! OK, so it should not even work with the KZPBA I am using... Opps. But from some specs I see, the KZPCA is a LVD system. The spec sheet I have on the TL891DLX lists: LVD, 68HD.

rick
Uwe Zessin
Honored Contributor

Re: TL892 on a MDR connected to OpenVMS Alpha

Watch out:
the "KZPBA" is available in 2(3) different versions:

SE: KZPBA-CA
HVD: KZPBA-CB (EOL) + KZPBA-CC
.