DDS Auto-changer

[gareth douglas]

Hi,
I'm trying to configure back-ups to a DDS3 external autochanger device. In particular I want to select tapes within the changer individually.
Having checked out the following:
http://docs.hp.com/hpux/onlinedocs/B2355-90684/00/00/89-con.html
it seems that there should be two directories containing device files for the autochanger devices, /dev/ac (block) and /dev/rac (device).
These dirs do not exist on my system and I'm wondering how to install them.
Any help appreciated,
Gar

[Duncan Edmonstone]

Gareth,

1. Does the device appear at all on an ioscan -f (you should see it as UNCLAIMED and UNKNOW)

2. Have you added the schgr device driver to the kernel? This can be done via the Kernel section in sam.

3. I am assuming this is a HP-UX11.00 box or higher. Older versions of the OS need to have the appropriate device driver associated with the hardware path manually (I seem to remember for most systems the driver required was the SCSI Pass-thru driver spt). Anyway, this link explains how to go about it if your on 10.X :

http://www.docs.hp.com/hpux/onlinedocs/B2355-90053/B2355-90053.html

HTH

Duncan

[Patrick Wallek]

Are the appropriate drivers for the auto changer configured in the kernel?

Typically an auto-changer will have a SCSI ID for the robotics, and each tape drive.

If you do an ioscan what is the SW State for the autochanger (robotics) device? Is it claimed, unclaimed, no_hw?

If it is claimed then the drivers are installed and you probably need to get the device files created for it. You can do this via 'insf -e'.
If it is unclaimed, then the drivers are not in the kernel. To get it fixed you will need to make sure the drivers are in the kernel. This will require a reboot.

If it is no_hw, then there are other problems, possibly with the unit itself.

If nothing is showing up for the robotics, then you got other problems on top of everything else. You'll need to figure out why it is not showing up.

[Lou Zirko_1]

How did you add the device to the system? If you just plugged it in you still need to have the system recognice the type of device it is. Easiest way would be through SAM. Command line methods would be to add the proper driver for the changer to the /stand/system file and gen a new kernel and then reboot. If the device files are not created then they would be created using insf. But in SAM just follow this path:

Periphreal Devices -> Tape Drives -> Actions -> Add

Lou Zirko

[gareth douglas]

Thanks for your help gents!

The auto-changer was plugged in by a HP engineer and left there to rot (ie he didn't bother installing drivers, etc.). It had been used as a single DDS drive by the developers and they asked me to check it out. It seems the "robotics" drivers have not been installed. As I'm new to HP (have some Solaris) I wasn't sure how to install it.
Having done a ioscan, I've noticed the following lines:
tape 1 0/1/3/0.3.0 stape CLAIMED DEVICE HP C1557A
unknown -1 0/1/3/0.3.1 UNCLAIMED UNKNOWN HP C1557A
I presume the 2nd line refers to autochanger "robotics"?
It seems the SAM will do everything for me (apart from re-boot the machine) so I'll use this to re-configure kernel when I get down-time.
Thanks again for your help,
Gar

[Michael Tully]

Hi Gareth,

To utilise the robotics you will may still
need to set up an additional device. Have a
look at the attached document that may
provide the missing link for you.

HTH
-Michael

[gareth douglas]

Thanks Michael
I can't seem to open or save the attachment on to my machine. Could you provide a link to the document or failing that mail it to me at gareth.douglas@eds.com

Cheers,
Gareth

[Wim Rombauts]

If you are not using OmniBack (or maybe another intelligent backup software) it's rather easy : Add the schgr driver to the kernel and the system will automatically add /dev/rac and some device file to control the robotics.
When that is done, you can use the "mc" command (Manage Changer) to load and unload tapes. You can lookup mc in the manpages.

if you are using OmniBack, you still need the schgr driver in the kernel, but you also have to configure the sctl driver to use the robotics. That needs a little more action in the kernel configuration that cannot be done in SAM.

[Frank Slootweg]

Because your tape drive uses the stape driver, the robot should use the sctl SCSI pass-through driver.

See the scsi_ctl(7) manual page how to do this.

Pay special attention to the "ii" field. This is the instance number of the *interface*, not of the robot/tape_drive. So, in the "ioscan -f" output, locate line for the robot. From there, go up until you see "INTERFACE" in the "H/W Type" column. Then go to the "I" (instance number) of *that* line and use that for the "ii" field of the mknod command.

You can test the robot device file with the test program mentioned under "All ready for use , try the sample program :" in the scsi_pt(7) manual page. Use only *that* part of that manual page, because the rest is for a *different* SCSI pass-through driver.

Once this works, you can test the robot with the mc(1) media changer utility.

If you want more advice on the backup part, we have to knows which backup software you have/use.