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BE15.0.3 and Win2012R2; no tapeinst.exe ?

Roeland
Level 3

I've recently installed the latest firmware to our (iSCSI) Dell TL4000 and LTO6 drives. Ever since backups have limited (228MB/min) throughput.

Dell support tells me to use tapeinst.exe because of hidden drivers/devices which are not deleted bij BE. But as of Win2008 this tool is no longer available, I've used hotswap.exe to install the correct drivers (after removing the hardware from the Win hardware list) but it did not help.

The tape drives have been cleaned, all hardware tests were successfully passed.

I've disconnected the library and drives in the iSCSI initiator, also removing the devices from the favourite targets list.

The drives are listed as IBM ULT3580-HH6 SCSI seq dev, device provider Microsoft (2006). The tape library is listed as Unknown Medium Changer, also Microsoft as driver provider. I've read somewhere this should be Symantec?

I have deleted the tape drives from BE, but haven't deleted the library yet (as this will affect all the job definitions and I have two tape libraries).

In trying to come up with a solution I have had some (IO) issues connecting to the library and drives. At some point the target id's of the devices changed (were different than mentioned in BE).

I have a case with Veritas but so far they've asked me for the results of a sas.exe (?)

I guessing it has to do with invisible devices/drivers and TUR, but not sure how to solve this, anybody ?

 

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions

Roeland
Level 3

Problem solved !

Main problem was the old drivers/devices which were kept (hidden) by Windows, once those were deleted (and after power cycling, rebooting iSCSI) all worked fine again.

Thanks for your suggestions !

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17 REPLIES 17

pkh
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tapeinst.exe was removed because there is no need to install kernel-mode drivers for the newer OS, like Server 2012.

Your tape library should appear in the Windows Device Manager as an Unknown Medium Changer with a Microsoft driver and the tape drive should have a Symantec driver.

Have you tried deleting and re-installing the tape library and tape drive in the BE console?  If not try this

1) On the Storage tab,  delete all occurances of the tape drives and tape libraries

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 library should appear as an Unknown Medium Changer with a Microsoft driver and the tape drive should have a Symantec driver.

6) Target your jobs to some other device, save it and then target it to the tape library again.

Roeland
Level 3

Thanks for your advice.

I did delete the drives from BE and executed a power cycle. But have not done this with the library because all the job descriptions would be impacted. Seen all other actions did not help I'll go for deleting all drives and libraries from BE and do a power cycle.

 

Roeland
Level 3

Removing all tape libraries and drives fom BE, and power cycling did not help.

I still have Microsoft mentioned as driver provider for the tape drives.

CraigV
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Try installing the manufacturer's drivers manually then and see if this helps...

Thanks!

Roeland
Level 3

Thanks for your advice.

One of my first attempts to rectify was to use the drivers offered by Dell (vendor) and those of the manufacturer (IBM).

Can someone acknowledge that the driver provider (if tape drive installations by BackupExec is performed correctly) should read 'Symantec', in my case it always reads Microsoft (unless I install the IBM drivers) ?

 

CraigV
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Yes it would show Symantec as the driver.

 

pkh
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This is a long shot, but try using the procedure in this document to see whether you can get the Symantec drivers.

http://www.veritas.com/docs/000037173

Roeland
Level 3

Thanks for your advice.

I've used it to try to switch the tape drive driver, but no other driver is available. Also forcing Windows to search in the Backup Exec directory does not offer another driver.

Maybe the correct drivers are installed, and Microsoft is the correct provider for library and drives, and the bandwith cap is caused by the SAS hardware ?

I have added a screen shot of the hardware list and driver details (same for libary and drives).

pkh
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All BE certification tests are done with Symantec drivers. If you use other drivers, there is no guarantee that you would not encounter problems

Larry_Fine
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Can someone acknowledge that the driver provider (if tape drive installations by BackupExec is performed correctly) should read 'Symantec', in my case it always reads Microsoft (unless I install the IBM drivers) ?

 

With Windows Server 2012 and up, there is no tapeinst.exe and there are no Symantec drivers to bond to the tape drive.  Generally, the Microsoft driver is suggested for the tape drives.  So, you should be OK there.

There is some good info at the very top of the HCL about drivers.  https://www.veritas.com/support/en_US/article.000024527

 

I've recently installed the latest firmware to our (iSCSI) Dell TL4000 and LTO6 drives. Ever since backups have limited (228MB/min) throughput.

If this is the ONLY thing that has changed, have you investigated going back to the old firmware to see if maybe the new firmware is broken?  What speed were you getting before, when things were good?

Are you using the Dell iSCSI blade for that library or some other ISCSI-SAS converter?

What type of firmware did you install?  for the iSCSI blade? the library?  the drives?  all of the above?

Since the library and drives are pretty popular, I wouldn't be too worried about those, but there are no guarantees.  The iSCSI blade is not as common, so that would be my area of focus.  Any chance that you could test this temporarily without using iSCSI and only using simple SAS?

Roeland
Level 3

Had a confirmation of Dell yesterday that the new firmware has a bug, which has implications on only a minority group...

--> In the next version this will be rectified.

The functionality I was looking for (in tapeinst.exe) is possible in Win device manager, just opt for showing hidden devices...

--> This revealed drivers I was sure to have deleted.

 

So, I've uninstalled all drivers (especially hidden ones) and I'm installing the old firmware. I'll let you know if this solves the problem.

pkh
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If the manufacturer's driver is available, is this preferable to the Microsoft driver?

Roeland
Level 3

VERITAS and Dell (for that matter) stated one should always use the backup exec drivers.

Roeland
Level 3

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

=> the tape driver should also have Microsoft as provider, in fact all driver properties are the same as for the library

Roeland
Level 3

Problem solved !

Main problem was the old drivers/devices which were kept (hidden) by Windows, once those were deleted (and after power cycling, rebooting iSCSI) all worked fine again.

Thanks for your suggestions !

Larry_Fine
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Had a confirmation of Dell yesterday that the new firmware has a bug, which has implications on only a minority group...

This is a firmware bug in what device and what firmware version?  Did you go back to the old firmware?

Did this bug limit performance?

What performace are you getting now?

DavesParker
Level 2

If this is the ONLY thing that has changed, have you investigated going back to the old firmware to see if maybe the new firmware is broken?  What speed were you getting before, when things were good?