Setting up a SCSI external back up Drive

[Sean Curt]

I am atempting to set up a new Back up drive on my ProLIant ML310 G2 server. It is an external drive that need a SCSI ID putting on it and I have a smart array RAID controller. I am a little confused on what I need to do to set the Back up driver up.

Can anyone help?

[Samnang]

Hello Sean;

can you descript about your back up device and your SA controller version?
how many external port of your SA?

regard

samnang

[Sean Curt]

I have got a Dell PowerVault 110T LTO-2-L external back up device and I have a Adaptec SCSI 39160 controller card with 4m VHDCI-68 pin cable

[Brian_Murdoch]

Hi Sean,

The Adaptec 39160 is a 64-bit PCI device so it should go in PCI slots 1 or 2 on the ML310G2 server (64-bit slots).

The 39160 is also a dual-port device so if you only intend attaching the Dell LTO drive to it, use external port 1 (or A) depending on how the ports are marked. The external box should have a small push-button or rotary SCSI ID switch on the rear panel. You can set the SCSI ID here for the LTO drive although it won't really matter what it's set to (except ID 7 which is reserved) if this is the only device attached to that SCSI port on the controller.

When the system POSTS you should see the Adaptec 39160 banner and the attached LTO drive reported on the bus at the same ID as you set.

If you have Windows 2000 or above, the Adaptec driver should be loaded automatically. You should see the controller under SCSI devices in the device manager and the tape drive under tape devices.

Veritas and Arcserve backup software have their own drivers for LTO2 drives but if you want to use the HP drivers you can load them from here.

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/DriverDownload.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodNameId=238685&taskId=135&prodTypeId=12169&prodSeriesId=238671〈=en&cc=us

I hope this helps.

Brian

[Sean Curt]

That helps a lot and have now got that far. I have set an ID of 8 but when I pluig it in and boot it seems to pick up the device but then does not boot usingthe smart array. If I press ctrl+M I get an option to configure slot A or B. Do I need to set the SCSI device up in this screen somehwere?

[Brian_Murdoch]

Hi Sean,

It might be a termination problem.
Do you have a terminator on the back of the LTO box in the SCSI OUT connector?
I'm also not sure why you'd press CTRL-M, it's usually CTRL-A with any Adaptec controllers.

Use the attached 39160 ref guide to set the controller up. You can disable the HOST Adapter BIOS if its only a tape drive attached (the bios is only used for disks). You can also force termination on port A or B with a jumper if this is the problem area (see page 21).

Make sure that the Smart Array is the defined first boot device in the ML310 BIOS "Boot Controller Order" section.(Press F9 to enter BIOS).

Are you saying that the Adaptec reports itself OK and the drive is seen OK and then it hangs? Does it get beyond the Adaptec controller and just simply won't boot?

A couple of other points. Make the SCSI ID something less than 7 (Say 6, which used to be the default for Compaq tape drives).
The two PCI slots 1 and 2 are on different PCI buses. If possible make the Smart Array slot 1 (if it's a 64 bit model) and the 39160 slot 2.

Let me know how you get on.

Brian

[Brian_Murdoch]

Sorry,

Reference Guide attached now.

Brian

[Sean Curt]

Ok thanks for your help. I will have a go later when everyone is off and letyou know how I go