Can we connect 2 server simultaneously on LTO7 SAS Tape media drive ?

[Mustafa53]

Hi ,

one of my customer want to connect two server on LTO 7 Tape media drive .

is this possilbe to connect both of them on single LTO 7 Tape media ?

if not so what is the option ?

[SanjeevGoyal]

Hello,

You can connect only one server.

I would request could you share the complete detail of the LTO-7 tape drive. for more clarification

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Regards,

.

[Curtis_Ballard]

I regret to say that the one response I see on this posting is innacurate.  While it is highly unusual it is possible to physically connect 2 servers to an LTO-7 SAS tape drive.  The tape drives have 2 SAS ports and both are routed to external connectors so a maximum of 2 simultaneous connections are physically possible. 

The two ports are called out in the user's guides as Port A and Port B.  For example see the MSL3040 user's guide at: https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docLocale=en_US&docId=a00037685en_us

It however is not possible to have two hosts simultaneously using a tape drive so it is essential that 2 hosts are only connected when the environment is well understood and either the host software managed the tape drive access so only one host at a time uses the tape drive or the administrator has to configure the system to make certain that there are no usage conflicts. 

The normal recommendation for using two ports on a tape drive for SAS or FC is the same, it should only be done by an expert that understands the implications and how to safely use that configuration.  Documentation will typically state that using only Port A is recommended.