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Re: Ultrium 448 and NetRAID 1M

 
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Corrado_2
Occasional Advisor

Ultrium 448 and NetRAID 1M

Hi all
I have an old HP server TC4100 with Netraid 1M SCSI controller
I want to change my old DAT 24x6 Surestore with a Ultrium 448 device
Is it possible to connect External Ultrium 448 with Netraid 1M controller ?
Thank you
Corrado
9 REPLIES 9
Jaclyn Rothe
Trusted Contributor
Solution

Re: Ultrium 448 and NetRAID 1M

The short answer is no.

Tape drives are not compatible or reliable with raid. Raid is single ended, and does not communicate with differential devices.

For best reliable back ups use a PCI HBA and avoid RAID.

Typically what you can see is detection issues on POST or in the OS and intermittent problems with CRC and IO issues. It can also cause the drive to turn on the cleaning light for no apparent reason and cause the drive to start rejecting media tapes.

Many manufacturer's won;t even bother to troubleshoot or offer assistance for tape devices connected with RAID cards.

DOCUMENTS:
Sony - Why is it recommended that tape devices should not be connected to RAID controllers?
http://sony.storagesupport.com/cgi-bin/sonysupport.cgi/fYj-tC=UL8Ev=QHf=DPZXE=HZha-UeQ7/faq/view/769

How to resolve hardware communication/detection issues with Backup Exec (not supported with RAID)
http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/237047.htm

RAID are single ended, and don't support differential devices:
http://www.windowsitpro.com/articles/articleid/217/RAID_Enhanced_Disk_Storage_for_Windows_NT.html

SCSI information
http://www.scsimasters.com/basicterms.html

More SCSI Arcitecutre info
http://www.public.asu.edu/~kxglw/scsi/scsi.html

Corrado_2
Occasional Advisor

Re: Ultrium 448 and NetRAID 1M

Thank you for your quick answer but...
I have another question ...
I think that now my DAT 24x6 surestore is connected to this controller and it's working...
Am I wrong ? maybe I need to open this server and check better ?
Thank you
Corrado_2
Occasional Advisor

Re: Ultrium 448 and NetRAID 1M

Attached there are two little screenshots of my server configuration (windows device manager and ho library tape tools)

Thank you
Corrado_2
Occasional Advisor

Re: Ultrium 448 and NetRAID 1M

I attached my image file but it doesn't appear...
Jaclyn Rothe
Trusted Contributor

Re: Ultrium 448 and NetRAID 1M

Yes you MIGHT get some results from connecting to a RAID card, afterall it is a SCSI card... however you will not continue to get reliable results. Also, you can destroy your tape unit by keeping it connected to a RAID card because you will eventually cause premature wear on the drive head and media due to shoe shining (repositioning of the media on the heads while the drive tries to keep up with the RAID throughput), it's a bit like connecting a rocket engine to a tricycle, especially for a DAT product that has a burst rate of 10.8mb/s.
Corrado_2
Occasional Advisor

Re: Ultrium 448 and NetRAID 1M

I found on my server hardware configuration also a LSI Logic 53C1010 device
I found (Google) that it's LSI53C1010
PCI to dual-channel Ultra160 SCSI controller

Maybe 24x6 surestore is connected to this and not to netraid...

The question is the same: can I connect an Ultrium 448 ?
Thank you
Jaclyn Rothe
Trusted Contributor

Re: Ultrium 448 and NetRAID 1M

If the controller is an Ultra 160 then yes. It's not THE recommended card, and you might get results.

The LTO 448 specs are; 160 mb/s burst rate, 24mb/s native throughput (48mb/s compressed)

The LTO 448 is well suited to an Ultra 160 HBS (non-raid) controller.

Review these links for HBA's:

HP recommended HBAs (see the section 3/4 of the way down the page)
http://www.hp.com/products1/storage/compatibility/tapebackup/ThirdParty/index.html


Recommended SCSI HBA Adapters for Tape Products
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&objectID=lpg50063

Corrado_2
Occasional Advisor

Re: Ultrium 448 and NetRAID 1M

I suppose it's an Ultra 160 SCSI device; now it's connected to a 24x6 dat surestore (SCSI-II library)

Yes you are right, it could not be the best card but at the moment the most important thing is that it works

On saturday I will install it and try

Thank you VERY MUCH for your help
Jaclyn Rothe
Trusted Contributor

Re: Ultrium 448 and NetRAID 1M

You are welcome.