LTFS LTFS11175E Cannot read ANSI label: expected 80 bytes, but received 4096

[marcurling]

Hello, using a HP Ultrium 5-SCSI S/N HU1146KJB6on CentOS7/RHEL7 with HPE-SOS-3.4.2-9.x86_64
aka HPE StoreOpen Software https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/sw ... 829a71d915

Whatever the tape, I always get these errors and I'm unable to mount it:

# mkltfs -d /dev/st0[...]LTFS20096I Diagnostic dump complete
LTFS20024W Cannot store attribute 0x820 (-1)
[...]
LTFS15024I Medium formatted successfully
# ltfsck /dev/st0[...]LTFS11175E Cannot read ANSI label: expected 80 bytes, but received 4096
LTFS11170E Failed to read label (-1012) from partition 0
LTFS11009E Cannot read volume: failed to read partition labels.
LTFS16080E Cannot check volume (8)

# ltfs /mnt/ltfs
[...]
1f0a LTFS11005I Mounting the volume
1f0a LTFS11175E Cannot read ANSI label: expected 80 bytes, but received 4096
1f0a LTFS11170E Failed to read label (-1012) from partition 0
1f0a LTFS11009E Cannot read volume: failed to read partition labels.
1f0a LTFS14013E Cannot mount the volume

Any help would be greetly appreciated !

My best wihes for 2022, Marc.

[NarayanKK-SO]

Hello @marcurling 

From the error you have posted, it looks like the utility is unable to read valid LTFS Label/signature from the tape.  A valid LTFS tape will have specific signature at the beginning of the tape. LTFS LABEL is one of such signature. The size of this particular block on a valid LTFS tape is exactly 80 bytes, and we expect only 80 bytes. This error indicates that when LTFS tried to read this block from the tape, it got 4096bytes (~4KB) bytes instead of 80 bytes. I see two possibilities :

1. Unsupported HBA. 

2. Or the tape initially formatted with LTFS has been overwritten by another application. 

1. Does a brand new tape exhibit the same behavior? 
2. Is the HBA firmware drive supported and if yes, are they running the versions listed in the compatibility matrix?
3. Have you tried testing this config on another Windows server (if available)

Additional References:

HPE StoreOpen and Linear Tape File System (LTFS) Software - Document List
https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docLocale=en_US&docId=c05001914

Troubleshooting document (ltfsck):
https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docLocale=en_US&docId=c04998414

SPOCK (Compatibility Matrix and requires HPE passport sign in)
https://h20272.www2.hpe.com/SPOCK/Pages/spock2Html.aspx?htmlFile=hw_storeever.html
https://h20272.www2.hpe.com/spock/utility/document.aspx?docurl=Shared%20Documents/hw/nearline/StoreEver_DAPRMatrix.pdf 

[marcurling]

Primo, thanks for your time answering but

Primo  "it looks like the utility is unable to read valid LTFS Label/signature from the tape" it even looks like it's unable to write it.

Secundo, answering your questions :

1. as I said : Any tape - even new - has this behavior.
2. I don't know the commercial name of the drive and then unable to check the compatibility matrix. I gave the S/N # of the drive so maybe you can help me with it.
3. This config runs on CentOS 7 because HPE_StoreOpen_Software_3.4.2_WINx64_Z7550-02504 can't be installed on Windows Server 2012 R2 (LTFSshellext.dll failed to register) and HPE refuse to answer me without a contract.

At last, your last link is dead for me https://h20272.www2.hpe.com/spock/utility/document.aspx?docurl=Shared%20Documents/hw/nearline/StoreEver_DAPRMatrix.pdf 

Regard, Marc.