Backup software cannot see TL4000 library

Question

Hello,

I am a new member and this is my first post - hope I have entered it correctly. We have a new server with a new TL4000 SAS attached tape library. Windows device manager can see the SAS 5e card, the library and the two tape drives. The library also looks ok in the RMU. The backup software, CA BrightStor ArcServe Backup 11.5 SP4 can see the drives, but cannot see the slots in the tape library. The tape library was setup by Dell in July 2008, and all hardware including the cables were purchased from Dell together. At first ArcServe could not add the drives to the tape library in its own device configuration wizard - we can now do that, but the software still cannot see the library slots. We are running with the Windows device drivers disabled because we get SCSI errors with them enabled. We also disable the Removable Storage service. I realize that Dell does not support ArcServe, but was hoping someone else may have seen this issue. We still have an open case with CA and continue to try their suggestions, but of course they point to the hardware...

Server: PowerEdge 2950

OS: Windows Server 2003 R2 SP2, x64

SAS card: Dell SAS 5e, driver ver 1.24.04.40

Library: TL4000, SAS attached, two LTO4 drives

Library firmware: 6.60

Drive firmware: 8371

Backup software: CA BrightStor ArcServe Backup 11.5 SP4

Thanks for any help you can offer,

Mary

Mary_B · Answer

Hello,

Thank-you for the fast response. I did omit that the library is set to Random mode. Windows Device Manager does see the Medium Changer, the SAS card and both LTO4 tape drives. We have to disable those drivers in the Windows Device Manager, but they are installed. The drivers and firmware that we have loaded are newer than the minimum level listed on the CA Certified Device list. ArcServe does see the drives and the library, but cannot see any slots in the library.

Thanks again,

Mary

mot99 · Answer

According to the Certified Device List from CA - https://support.ca.com/irj/portal/anonymous/phpdocs?filePath=0/4536/115/4536_115_cdl.html#base_library they show the following firmware revisions as

being certified to work with Arcserve 11.5:

Drives Certified for Dell TL4000 SAS

Model Media Type Drive Firmware Drive Capacity Library Firmware

IBM Ultrium TD4 SAS Gen 4 LTO 74H8 800-1600 GB 4.50

Also make sure you can see medium changer in the device manager, if not then the library may be

incorrectly configured in Sequential mode instead of Random.

mot99 · Answer

Sounds like a driver-firmware communication issue. There has been instances in the past where the latest patch or driver for Arcserve isn't always 100% compatible with the latest firmware on Dell libraries, and a downgrade of f/w is necessary for it to work. Thats why I suggest downgrading the library to the versions posted by CA as being successfully tested with v11.5.

To prove that the hardware is ok - download MTX for windows and run the command

"mtx -f Changer0 status" in a command window, and you should see a list of all the slots on the

library. Remember to stop the Arcserve services first and you may need to double check the scsi

mapping name for the medium changer in the registry. It isn't always called Changer0.

Here you can download the MTX package.

http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=4626&package_id=288547&release_id=621062

You can also load and unload tapes using this command.

demo2hr · Answer

Have you tried disabling the medium changer and drives in device manager?

Start with MTX to verify that the hardware is working correctly. When doing this it is best to disable all the CA services and then rebooting your server.

Mary_B · Answer

Thanks all! We do run the Windows device drivers disabled. We have quite a few other Dell tape libraries running with BrightStor in our environment and have found that those drivers need to be disabled except for the ones with the StorPort HBAs. I will post an update as soon as we are next able to work on suggestions from both this forum and CA. Right now the application team is also working on the box, so our work windows are limited.

Thanks again,

Mary

Mary_B · Answer

Update on this issue. We built an identical test server - same server hardware and HBA, same OS and connected the library. Without installing any drivers for the library or tape drives, BrightStor can see the library slots. We will have to test uninstalling the drivers on the production server. One issue remains with the test server though - we use 12 character barcode labels including the L4 suffix and we cannot view the entire barcode in BrightStor. There are only two label length options on the library - 6 or 8. We have 8 selected now.

Mary_B · Answer

This issue was resolved by uninstalling the drivers from the server for both the tape drives and the library in Device Manager.

The second issue for the barcode labels is simply that the library is not capable of reading barcodes of more than 8 characters. Our older PVT136T and PVT132T tape libraries can read 12 character barcodes as does our ML6020, so we were not expecting that the newer libraries would have this limitation.

Thanks to all for your input!

:emotion-1:

PowerVault

Backup software cannot see TL4000 library

Was this post helpful?