BE 2012 with Dell TL2000 SAS

[Jeffrey_Sweeney]

I've downloaded and installed BE 2012 as we are considering upgrading both our server OS's and the corresponding version of BE so as to be compatible with the new OS.  As a test I installed BE 2012 on a Win 2008R2 server.  The install was bumpy as best because there was reminance of a BE 12.5 install on the server still.  Having gotten past that hurdle, I was able to get BE 2012 up and running to an extent.  At this point in time it recognizes the tape library, sees the drive in the library but says there are no tapes in the device.  I've installed 15 new tapes complete with bar code labels.  Running an inventory of the unit from the unit shows the tapes in place.  However, when I look at the slot contents within BE it shows every slot as Empty.  I 'm scratching my head.  Any ideas?

[VJware]

See if this applies - http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH188506

And are you using Symantec device drivers ?

[Jeffrey_Sweeney]

Final error: 0xe0008113 - Physical Volume Library Robot not found.

Final error category: Backup Device Errors
Completed status: Failed:When I try to initialize the library I receive the following

Based upon this error I tried:

1. Right click on each tape drive in the library and uncheck enable.
2. Right click on each tape drive again, and select delete. Confirm the deletion.
3. Right click on the library and uncheck enable
4. Right click on the library again and select delete.
5. Go to Tools - Backup Exec Services
6. Select restart all services.

The hardware discovery process didn't find my TL2000.

[Jeffrey_Sweeney]

Thank you for your reply VJware. This certainly looks promising. The changer and drive were there and they disappeared. Strange.  Now I can't get the OS to recognize the changer.  I will continue to fight with it.

[Jeffrey_Sweeney]

OK, I'm feeling really stupid here but I've finally gotten the OS top recognize the drive and changer again. I can't install the Symantec drivers or they disappear.  I now can see the tapes etc. I've assigned the tapes to a media set but I can't tell BE what type of tapes they are (by adjusting the Media type).  That option is not available. 

As things stand now the drive and library are on line.  There is no tape in the drive and I can't seem to get BE to put one in there. I suspect because the Media Type isn't set.  Now when I create a job it just sits there spinning its wheels and eventually the log file shows the following error:

[Insufficient online or nearline media is available to start job.]

[VJware]

Do not assign tapes to a media set..new tapes would automatically be associated with the scratch media set & depending upon the opp/app settings, BE would pick these tapes from scratch media automatically..

[Jeffrey_Sweeney]

Still fails.  Is there a way to tell if the invenotry actually occurred?  I woudl think it woudl show up as a job or something.  Nothing that I can see is present.

[Jeffrey_Sweeney]

I have tried setting up things so that upon starting BE a full inventory of the robotic library is performed.  That doesn't appear to have accomplished anything.  I have to say in terms of user friendly applications, this ranks pretty low on the scale.  The help file points you to many deadends or functionality that isn't enabled.

[Larry_Fine]

Is there a way to tell if the invenotry actually occurred?

look in the Storgae tab, then your library tab, then the job history tab

[Larry_Fine]

I suspect your hardware didn't get discovered correctly, especially if it disappeared from the OS for a bit.

I suggest disabling the library & drives, deleting htem, stopping & restarting the BE services.  Then test your library with an initialize or a scan job.

[pkh]

In the Windows Device Manager, your library should appear as an Unknown Medium Changer with a Microsoft driver.  Your tape drive(s) should appear with the manufacturer's name with a Symantec driver.

Use the manufacturer's diagnostic utility against the tape library.  Make sure that you select the write test and that you have stopped all the BE services beforehand.

[Jeffrey_Sweeney]

Ok, so everything points to the driver installatin process failing.   From what I have read the default Os driver won't work and the Symantec driver for rthe drive needs to be installed.  When I attempt to install the driver the following happens:

Finding tape devices
Finding plug and play tape device names
Hardware ID = SCSI\SequentialIBM_____ULT3580-HH4_____89B1
Finding IDE plug and play device instances
Finding SCSI plug and play device instances
Hardware ID = SCSI\SequentialCERTANCEULTRIUM_2_______1785
Hardware ID = SCSI\SequentialQUANTUM_ULTRIUM_4_______2210
Finding Symantec device drivers
Hardware scan complete.

Removing the IDR CD-ROM burner driver (drvmcdb.sys) association for tape drives.
Updating Symantec inf file
Installing Symantec "halfinch.sys" for "SCSI\SequentialCERTANCEULTRIUM_2_______1785"
Driver load failure 0x800F020B for SCSI\SequentialCERTANCEULTRIUM_2_______1785
The device instance does not exist in the hardware tree.

Installing Symantec "halfinch.sys" for "SCSI\SequentialQUANTUM_ULTRIUM_4_______2210"
Driver load failure 0x800F020B for SCSI\SequentialQUANTUM_ULTRIUM_4_______2210
The device instance does not exist in the hardware tree.

Installation complete.

[Larry_Fine]

Assuming your TL2000 has IBM LTO4 drives, that doesn't look bad.  I assume you had Quantum or Certance drives connected at some other time.  If you check the "Delete entries for tape devices that are unavailable, removed or turned off" when you run tapeinst, you can get rid of those messages.

[Jeffrey_Sweeney]

Finally got around to reinstalling the OS as that was a Symantec recommendation.  Everything looks fine and shows as being Online, I see the Robotic library (IBM 3573-TL), the Tape drive (IBM ULT3580-HH4), a scan tells me there is media in the library but the Tape drive shows (No media).  I can not get any tape to load.  I've tried creating a really small one time backup job and it sits in the queue - even though there is no job running. 

In reviewing the summary screen within the storage section, all Tape/disk Cartiege Media Sets and Vaults have a capacity of 0 bytes free.

[Larry_Fine]

re: a scan tells me there is media in the library but the Tape drive shows (No media)

If a scan job from within BE shows media or bar codes for each slot, then at least you have basic communication and recognition.

The tape drive will show "(no media)" unless there is a tape in the drive, like for a backup.

What happens when you run an inventory job?  That should mount each tape in the drive and then update the capacity information.

[Jeffrey_Sweeney]

I kicked off an inventory last night at 8 pm and it has been running for 18 hours with 0 files, 0 direcotries etc.  Still says No Media as well. 

[Larry_Fine]

An inventory job should take about 3-5 minutes per slot, so something is wrong.

I would start with http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH24414 and http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH49432

[pkh]

I would suggest that you re-install the tape drive.

1) Stop all the BE services.  Go to the BE installation directory and use tapeinst.exe and delete all references to the library and tape drive from BE

2) Stop the media server and the library

3) Start the tape library

4) Start the media server

5) Ensure that the library and tape drive is recognised and functioning correctly in the Windows Device Manager.  The tape library should be shown as an Unknown Medium Changer with a Microsoft driver.

6) In BE, install the library if necessary.  After the tape library is installed in BE, check the Windows Device Manager, the tape drive should have a Symantec driver.

6) Try again.

[Jeffrey_Sweeney]

Updated all the firmware per one of the links Larry sent me. Everything else checked out fine.  Restarted and the Library and tape unit stay on line with the Symantec drivers for about 5 minutes and then they disappear.  From within BE they library and tape start off off line, I believe when I force them on line in BE is when they ultimately disappear from the OS (and shortly thereafter they go offline with an error message from BE). 

Tape Library driver:  Microsoft 6.1.7600.16385 (tpfilter.sys)

Tape drive driver: Symantec 5.1.36 (halfinch.sys), Symantec 0.0.5056 (tpfilter.sys)

This behavior can be duplicated time after time. 

Seems odd that both devices are using the same driver tpfilter.sys, yet the OS shows one being the MS version and one the Symantec version.

To confirm that it is the BE process that is interacting with teh OS and causing the library adn drive to disappear, I set the BE services all to manual, restarted the server and monitored the status of the device manager.  The library and tape unit remained on line. 

While all this was going on I monitored the library from another machine via the web interface.  The library was on line and active.  I'm at a loss at this point in time as now I can't even get the OS to keep seeing the devices.

[pkh · Accepted solution]

What is the HBA that you are using?  BE does not support HBA with RAID capabilities.  See the document below

Support policy for HBA that feature RAID