What's the difference between SCSIport and Storport Drivers?

[noldi]

Hello,

we recently had a situation where in a W2k3
server as a DP 5.5 Cell Manager we had pro-
blems to talk to the MSL5052 tape lib.
after upgrading the SAN Drivers from
SCSIport to Storport (FCA2214DC HBA).

What is the difference between these drivers
and when to choose which?

Thank's & Regards,

Arnold

[Steven Clementi]

Arnold:

Generally speaking, you would use the STORport driver when your server is Booting from the SAN, and the SCSIport driver anytime else.

The difference is in the way the driver interacts with Windows. I had an article on it somewhere, but don't have access to it at the moment.

I will post again if I come across it.


Steven

[Muthukumar_5]

Check this:

http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=876569
http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=893690

hth.

[noldi]

There's an indepth document from Microsoft
(found here: http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/6/6/5664b85a-ad06-45ec-979e-ec4887d715eb/Storport.doc )
that describes these two.

So it seems that the Storport driver in
W2k3 is more reliable and performant and is
also new (and maybe not yet tested in all
environments).

The Storport driver seems also to be a
requirement on MPIO installations.

Is there a problem with the Storport driver
in Tape/Backup server environments where
the backup library is connected through the
SAN?

Thank's again & Regards,

Arnold

[Steven Clementi]

STORport is NOT a requirement. I am running SCSIport with FF MPIO with absolutely no problems. MPIO didn't complain or anything.


There have been issues with Win2k3 SP1, STORport driver and Tape Libraries.


One thing to look at also is how your Fabric Zoning is configured. Are your switches zoned so that only one hba on your server can see only 1 storage port OR tape port? (In this case, each server needing access to both storage and tape would have 2 distinct zones per fabric, "single initiator zoning" as some call it) Or are you a bit mixed?


Steven

[Steven Clementi]

That was one of the docs I was referring to. I thought I had another from HP as well. WIll continue to look.


Steven