Backup Exec and LTO-6 Drives

[WTyndall]

So, I am having some problems with some tape backups. I have a Symantec Backup Exec Appliance and an HP Proliant Server, both running Windows Server 2008. The BE Appliance is running Backup Exec 2014 and the HP server is running 2015. Both machines are running backups of mulitple other servers to Disk, and then duplicating to Separate HP LTO-6 Tape Drives (connected directly to the server/appliance via SAS cable). On both servers, the jobs will run fine for a while, then, randomly, I start getting Read/Write errors on the Duplicate Portion of the job, which results in failed jobs and the "Clean" light flashing on the tape drive itself. I have tried mulitple things to fix this, including cleaning tapes, new data tapes, uninstalling/re-installing the drives, etc. Eventually, it will get to the point where the tape drive will no longer hold a tape. If you insert a tape, new or old, it will try to read it for a while, then eject it. At this point, I will call HP and they will send me a replacement drive.....and the whole process starts all over. With the BE Appliance, I have replaced the drive that is connected to it MULTIPLE times. Recently, I replaced the entire Tape Drive Enclosure, including all power cables, SAS cable, SAS Card, etc. and the problem still returned. I have many other servers running Backup Exec and backing up to HP LTO drives, and they all run just fine. Only the two that are using LTO-6 drives have this problem.

Has anyone else had problems with LTO-6 drives? Does anyone have any advice? 

Thanks in advance.

[CraigV]

You might actually want to check the TN below relating to the dedupe folder instead of the tape drive itself...

https://www.veritas.com/content/support/en_US/article.TECH130478.html

From a hardware perspective, HP has Library and Tape Tools which you can download, and after stopping the BE services, run the device self test and a write test to rule out hardware issues. If HP LTT passes the devices, then the problem lies with BE.

THanks!

[WTyndall]

Thanks for the response. I have checked this TN before with no help. I have HP LTT installed on both of the mentioned servers. I use it to make sure all tape firmware is up to date, and to check the status/health of the drives. Once it gets to the point where the drive will not hold a tape, I call HP and they want to run HP LTT to see if the drive is ok. Of course, at this point, there are errors, so they say the drive is defective and send a replacement. I have replaced the drive connected to the BE Appliance close to 10 times. The last time I replaced it, it worked fine for a week before giving poblems. The time before that, it only worked for one night. I just find it hard to believe that that many tape drives are messing up that fast.

[CraigV]

OK, and you're connected to a SAS HBA and not a RAID controller, correct?

[pkh]

If you are running any HP Insight software, uninstall them.

Check that your HBA does not support RAID.  If it does, check whether it is listed in this document

http://www.veritas.com/docs/000038683

[pkh]

Have you also check whether there are some external factors causing the problem, like unstable power and/or cooling hotspot

[WTyndall]

Correct

[CraigV]

Matter of interest, but if you swop the drives between the appliance and the server, do you get the same errors? I would then say that if you do, you might have 1 of 3 things:

1. A faulty SAS cable which is easy to swop out (even between the appliance and other media server);

2. A faulty SAS card;

3. Log the call with Veritas and get them to check BE logs for you.

Thanks!

[WTyndall]

Thanks for response...

I have already tried switching the cables between the two servers and still received the same errors.

I am going to look into replacing the SAS card on the BEAppliance next, to see if that resolves the problem.