BackupExec 11d and Quantum Autoloader Nightmare

[dlimanov]

Hi all,
I've been dealing with this nightmare for about a year now, on and off, eversince we've moved to Quantum SDLT 320 autoloader and (in turn) had to upgrade to 11D since older version did not support the hardware.
Issue is relatively simple, but I wasn't able to resolve it to this day: after about 500-600Gb worth of backup, job will fail with the following error message:
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Error category: Backup Media ErrorsError: e00084ec - A tape read/write error has occurred.  This is usually caused by dirty read/write heads in the tape drive.  Clean the tape drive, and then try the job again.  If the problem persists, try a different tape.  You may also need to check for problems with cabFor additional information regarding this error refer to link V-79-57344-34028
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At the same time, the following errors are present in Application event log:
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Adamm Mover Error: Write Failure!
Error = ERROR_CRC
Drive = "QUANTUM 1"
   {95D0C804-C0D9-44F2-8C6D-1E831B343303}
Media = "DLT000002"
   {5F140C84-B5BC-4585-AC9E-C2FC4E722C1F}
Read Mode: SingleBlock(0), ScsiPass(0)
Write Mode: SingleBlock(1), ScsiPass(1)
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followed by:
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An unknown error occurred on device "QUANTUM 1".
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I have followed every single KB article on the subject of troubleshooting robotic library. BackupExec is up-to-date with the latest patches and device drivers. I have used brand new data and cleaning tapes, updated firmware for autoloader, SCSI controller and have tried 4 different SCSI controllers to eliminate that possibility. I have reinstalled BENT11d on 4 different machines to eliminate possible OS issue. No matter what I do, not a single job will ever finish succesfully, all resulting with "tape read/write error".
I have spent hours with Quantum tech support doing load tests of the autoloader, all of which it passed. I can use native NTBACKUP and backup data without any issues, save for manual tape swapping, which defeats the purpose of $20k autoloader.
Is there anything that anyone can think of? I am ready to revert back to our trusty 5-yo BENT8.5 and 8-tape DDS-4 loader at this point.
Thanks in advance,

Dimitri

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[Don_McQuade]

I use a Quantum autoloader with v10d and had to use the Quantum native drivers. If I use the Symantec Backup Exec drivers my throughput drops from 1.7GB/s to 4MB/s. I also was able to run a native NT backup successfully. Have you tried using the native tape drivers to see if that makes a difference?

[thegoolsby]

Dimitri,

I would agree with Don. See what type of behavior you get using the Quantum drivers. You should be able to use the Quantum drivers with Backup Exec.

Now, you said in your post that you’ve “been dealing with this nightmare for about a year now, on and off.” You also state that “not a single job will ever finish succesfully, all resulting with "tape read/write error".” So, are you dealing with this issue 100% of the time, or does this happen off and on?

One thing to keep in mind is that Backup Exec does not generate tape alerts, we only report them.  The CRC error which you are seeing in your event logs occur when the blocks of data that are sent to the tape to be written do not match the number of blocks of data that actually got written to the tape.

I’d like to point you to the following tech note:

"Data error (cyclic redundancy check)" is reported in the Backup Exec job log during a failed backup/verify operation”
http://support.veritas.com/docs/192216

If you look at the steps we suggest you take to resolve these issues, you’ll notice that all of them deal with troubleshooting the hardware, and not the software. That is due to the fact that it is highly unlikely that our software is causing the issue, because as I said before we only report the hardware alerts and do not generate them. The errors come from the hardware.

It’s also highly unlikely that our software would not install correctly and cause issues on 4 different servers, as you stated that you have tried.

The one constant in all of your tests has been the drives. Has Quantum ever replaced the hardware?