Ultrium 448 Autoloader- not finding drivers for the drive selector

[Sudhindra_2]

The autoloader is connected to a DL380G4. the tape drive is getting detected with proper drivers in the device manager of windows 2003. But the drive selector is showing up under unknown device. not received any driver cd. there are no drivers on the HP website. tried the generic driver file hptapedrvrs.exe for the 1/8 autoloader which installed the drivers for the tape drive and not for the drive selector.Backup Exec also fails to install the drivers for the drive selector.
Please advice

[David Ruska]

Sudhindra,

Which version of backup exec are you using?

The driver for the autoloader (not drive) is typically provided by the backup application vendor.

I believe the first version of backup exec that supports the 1/8 448 autoloader is 10.0.

[Sudhindra_2]

Using Backup Exec 10 and its not recognising the drive selector. HP website does not list any drivers for this Autoloader in the download section. usually we are able to find the drivers for all the tape drives when go to the drivers and software downloads link for that particular product.The Autoloader is just a tape drive as of now without the drivers.

[Marino Meloni_1]

It is correct to see the media changer as unknown media changer under windows device manager
the Autoloader with LTO 448 is supported by Bexec vers. 10.0
http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/274348.htm

see this link for more info
http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/278111.htm

Download here drivers package for Veritas Bexec

http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/277619.htm

marino

[Sudhindra_2]

Hello marino, thanks for those links. i downloaded the 25 MB driver file from the veritas website and tried it. no luck. the autoloader is still not recognised. my friend who has purchased this autoloader is now planning to return the drive to HP.
There is another drive in my friends office and that also has the same issue.that makes it 2 autoloaders not being recognised on different servers.

HP has not provided the driver cd and there are no drivers for this on the HP website. i am wondering how come HP is selling this product in the market without drivers and depending on Veritas software to recognise the autoloader. I am of the opinion that any OEM's should provide their own drivers.

[Marino Meloni_1]

There is no drives for the medium changer because the default one is who is embedded in the OS is valid for the few action Windows support on it.
Windows do not support libraries, and That is why you do not need a specific driver for the changers.
In order to use the autoloaders and the library in random mode, you need a Backup SW, and this SW provvide the drivers that will be able to manage the SCSI commands sent to the device.
Now if the device is discovered in the device manager with "unknown medium changer" this is ok, it is recognized by the os and should work. If the device is then not recognized/managed by Veritas, this may be due to the enquiry string not correctly recorded in the Bexec list, (on the web it is) and you may try to contact Veritas to see why it is not in this list

marino

[David Ruska]

Sudhindra,

You stated:
> The autoloader is connected to a DL380G4. The tape drive is getting detected with proper drivers in the device manager of windows 2003. But the drive selector is showing up under unknown device. not received any driv

And:
> I downloaded the 25 MB driver file from the veritas website and tried it. no luck. the autoloader is still not recognised.

Is the autoloader robotic (what you refer to as the drive selector?) device appearing on your system? It should appear with an ID string of "HP 1x8 autoloader", and the drive should appear as "HP Ultrium 2-SCSI".

In windows device manager, it will only say "Unknown Medium Changer device", but you can identify it by looking under properties and verifying it has the same hardware path as the drive, but at LUN 1 (e.g. "location: Bus Number 0, Target ID 5, LUN 1).

Perhaps the best way to verify your HBA is seeing the robotic controller is to install HP Library & Tape Tools (www.hp.com/support/tapetools), as it will show all the inquiry strings and associate the robotic controller and drive together.

What HBA are you using to connect this device?

The DL380G4 can have a smart array 6i controller installed. This card will NOT support the 1/8 448 autoloader because it requires SCSI LUN addressing to communicate to the robotic controller. You can look in the EBS compatability matrix to see which HBAs are supported (www.hp.com/go/ebs and then click on the compatability matrix link). You need an HBA that supports LUN addressing (e.g. multiple LUNs per ID).

The version of B.E. 10 mentioned (10.0.5484) is the tested and correct version to use with these autoloaders (also detailed in the above matrix).

You also stated:
> my friend who has purchased this autoloader is now planning to return the drive to HP. There is another drive in my friends office and that also has the same issue.that makes it 2 autoloaders not being recognised on different servers.

Please provide the details separately of those system configurations and we will identify what is wrong.

[Sudhindra_2]

thanks,
for these inputs.will inform about the progress.

[David Ruska]

Thank you Sudhindra.

If you do resolve the problems, please let us know where the issues occured. For example, is our product documentation incomplete or confusing?

We would like to eliminate similar problems others could have with these products.

HP Engineering

[David Ruska]

I had stated earlier:

> The version of B.E. 10 mentioned (10.0.5484) is the tested and correct version to use with these autoloaders (also detailed in the above matrix).

From another forum thread (http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/bizsupport/questionanswer.do?threadId=945677),

it mentions the need of version 10.0.5520 to obtain the proper drivers for the new 1x8 autoloaders. I will attempt to verify that.