Ultrium 1760 SAS on linux

[ipv4]

Having trouble changing media

I have an Ultrium 1760 SAS tape drive connected to a HP SmartArray P800 controller -- inside a DL380 G6.

I have put the following in my /etc/rc.local script to initialize the drive on startup.

# modprobe osst
# echo "engage scsi" > /proc/driver/cciss/cciss1

I am able to work with the drive using mt and tar commands at this point. Whenever I change tapes I am unable to use the drive anymore without doing a full reboot.

This is regardless of whether I do a "mt -f /dev/st0 offline", or eject, or just press the eject button.

What is the proper way to change media?

When I put a new tape in all commands fail like the following...

# mt -f /dev/st0 status
/dev/st0: Input/output error



And i see the following in dmesg:

[ 2950.990393] cciss1: resetting tape drive or medium changer.
[ 2953.520103] cciss1: a power on or device reset detected
[ 2953.525308] cciss1: a power on or device reset detected
[ 2953.530512] cciss1: device is ready.
[ 2953.534588] st0: Error 6 (driver bt 0x0, host bt 0x0).

[ipv4]

After switching tapes I have been able to get the drive functional again after performing the following.

# ./rescan-scsi-bus.sh --forceremove
# mt -f /dev/st0 retension
# mt -f /dev/st0 status

This workaround was found with a significant amount of trial and error. I still don't feel this is how the drive _should_ function.

After issueing the above commands i see the following in dmesg as the drive is coming back to life.

cciss1: resetting tape drive or medium changer.
cciss1: a power on or device reset detected
cciss1: a power on or device reset detected
cciss1: device is ready.
st0: Error 6 (driver bt 0x0, host bt 0x0).
st0: Block limits 1 - 16777215 bytes.


Anybody found a better way to switch tapes?

[AnthonySN]

I would use a separate scsi card rather than HP Smart Array P800 and leave it for raid funtionality alone.

[Rob Leadbeater]

Hi,

I would normally say the same, however as this is a SAS drive rather than SCSI, options are limited.

According to this page:

http://www.hp.com/products1/storage/compatibility/tapebackup/ISS/Detail/16-0046-0190.html#CONTROLLERS

The HP ProLiant DL380 G6, G7 does not have a suitable integrated controller available for connecting the HP StorageWorks Ultrium 1760 SAS.

Please use one of the following compatible adapters:

462828-B21 - HP Smart Array P212 Controller HP RECOMMENDED
462830-B21 - HP Smart Array P411 Controller (External only)
381513-B21 - HP Smart Array P800 Controller


What version of Linux are you running ?
It may be that an upgrade to the cciss driver would help...

Regards,

Rob

[JoeJoeDan · Accepted solution]

I have the exact same behaviour.

Proliant ML150G6, Smart Array Card P410 256MB with only the Ultrium connected to it. Ubuntu 10.10 64 bits

Most of the time, I can use the tape after doing:

echo "rescan" > /proc/scsi/cciss/4
mt -f /dev/st0 rewind
mt -f /dev/st0 status

I only reboot when the device is offlined, dmesg shows

...rejecting I/O to offline device.

[ipv4]

Rob - I have tried several vendor supplied kernels in the RHEL 5 range and the latest release from kernel.org compiled myself. Same behavior using every release.


I've very disappointed in the behavior I am seeing from this raid card and tape drive. I can't help but thinking there is a very simple workaround.

I'm wondering if commercial backup software would have the same behavior using this hardware combination. I find that a little hard to believe.

[JoeJoeDan]

If you're using Debian,
http://wiki.debian.org/HP/ProLiant describes a way to use the newer hpsa driver instead of cciss.

I have it loaded on my box and report back if it solves the problem or not.

[JoeJoeDan]

I've been using the new driver for two days now (backup, restore) and it's been working so far.

[Marino Meloni_1]

could this be related ?

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?lang=en&cc=bg&taskId=110&prodSeriesId=63986&prodTypeId=12169&objectID=c02236321

[ipv4]

I don't think that issue is related because I'm using an HP P800 controller which goes through the cciss driver to access the Tape drive as a SCSI device.

If i was using a SAS HBA that issue would be something to consider.

Thanks.