BE 8.5 and Sony SDT-11000

[Brant_Burrow]

Hello!

Long story short - a few years ago, we had a problem with a tape drive. When we contacted Veritas Support, they were helpful - to a point. They *did* help us determine that our issue (at *that* time) was a drive/hardware problem - which we got resolved (new drive). But, they did *not* assist us in getting the Veritas drivers installed for the SDT-11000 drive. Since the Sony drivers appeared to work, we just "got on with our lives".

Now, we've got another tape problem and as part of the troubleshooting, we're trying to get the latest Veritas drivers installed for the tape drive - a Sony SDT-11000. We're using driver set 29a for BE 8.5 ... but they refuse to recognize the drive. The installer indicates "Some hardware not matched".

I've done some deep digging into this issue, and what I've found is an *apparent* lack of entries for SDT-11000 in the install files (i.e. I've looked inside the "vrtstape.inf" file in the InstallShield data1.cab file, etc.). The entries go up to SDT-9000 ... but nothing beyond.

Veritas (Symantec) indicate that the SDT-11000 (and 10000) are fully tested and supported.

I call Veritas (Symantec) support today, and they told me that BE 8.5 is no longer support by phone, and they suggested that I post to this forum. So, here is my posting .

The server is running WinNT 4 (SP6a), Exchange 5.0, and BackupExec 8.5. Any help/insight that anyone can give me will be very much appreciated. This is a very small business client who will eventually be updating the server to something much more current - but for many logistical reasons, it just can't happen right now. So, we're stuck trying to get the existing platform up and running again.

Thanks in advance!!!

Brant

[Ken_Putnam]

http://support.veritas.com/dsl/lists/device_ddProduct_BEWNT_media_all_prod1_NT85.htm

The HCL for v8.5 stops at SDT-9000 as you discovered. There is no reason that the manufacturer drivers should NOT work, but you drive is too new for Veritas to have tested drivers for it.

[Brant_Burrow]

Hi Ken,

Thanks for the speedy reply. Yes, I had already consulted the HCL for 8.5, but I found that the SDT-11000 is supported - unless I'm totally mis-reading the chart.

If I scroll down (quite a way down) to the group of Sony drives, the SDT-11000 is the 3rd entry in the group (first one is LIB-152, second one is the SDT-10000, and the third my SDT-11000) - and it shows as being a 4mm SCSI device, non-library (the "X" in the second-to-last column), and tested/audited by Veritas (i.e. the "T" in the last column).

I'm convinced that they just goofed when they assembled the driver package - the various INFs etc. don't contain anything higher than a 9000 reference. I would go head and add the entries to the INFs - but I don't have the InstallShield development platform, so altering the package is basically impossible.

Any other ideas/thoughts?

Brant

[Ken_Putnam]

You're right.

Again, there is no reason that BackupExec should not happily use the Sony drivers.


Install the Sony Windows drivers, boot if necessary, then run the device configuration wizard, tell it to remove any devices it doesn't find, and use existing drivers when it finds the drive

[Brant_Burrow]

I agree - the Sony drivers should work. In fact, they have been working for over 2 years. But now, with no other changes to the setup (and I know a lot of people always say that ... but I really do mean it; the server is never touched from one day to the next), we are getting various tape backup related errors.

Sometimes the backup will report I/O errors during backup. Other times, the bakcup phase it fine, and then it reports CRC errors during verity. We've tried different tape cartridges (including brand new ones), and the symptoms are the same.

Between you and I, I'm pretty sure it's a drive problem (again). And, there is still a little bit of the warranty left. But I just remember the last time I went through all of this business of trying to prove that it is the drive ... and one of the main "sticking points" was (initially) that we were running Backup Exec, but we were not running the Veritas drivers.

So, I just wanted to get all of my ducks in a row this time, before starting the fight to get the drive replaced. I've dug even deeper into things now, and what I've found is that inside "sonysdx.sys", there are indeed visible references to STD-9000, SDT-10000, TSL-10000, and TSL-11000 ... but no SDT-11000. I'm beginning to think that someone goofed, and left out the (critical) SDT-11000 reference when the driver was built. I've tried adding the 11000 reference to the "vrtstape.inf" file, but that doesn't help.

I can't beleive my luck ... that no one else found (during the official support period) the that the Veritas driver was missing support for the SDT-11000. I guess I'm just simply out of luck, eh?, in getting the Veritas drivers to work. Like I said, I know the Sony drivers will work ('cause they have been) ... I guess I'll just have to explain the whole situation (again) when I call to get the drive replaced (again).

Unless you can think of anything else, now that I've provided this detailed info???

Brant

[Ken_Putnam]

My only suggestion would be to grab the latest Sony Diagnostics, and run several passes. If they all succeed, it may be time to bite the bullet and upgrade BackupExec

If they fail, and your drive is within the warantee period, I'd say that you get a free drive.