Robotic Library with RAID controller

[Jason_McClellan]

Recently reformatted system, performing clean install of Windows 2003 server. System has Adaptec 2120s RAID controller, RAID 1 array for system, RAID 5 array for data, plus an Adaptec 39160 card for the tape devices. Before was running Backup Exec 9.1 no problem. Took the opportunity during reinstallation to upgrade to 10.1. Found that to get BEWS to recognize my single-drive tape library, it is necessary to select the 'Enable Robotic Library Support' installation option. After installing 10.1 with this option enabled, there is now an event log error, for example;

Event Type:Error
Event Source:Service Control Manager
Event Category:None
Event ID:7000
Date:6/1/2006
Time:5:13:46 PM
User:N/A
Computer:FILE
Description:
The aaccin service failed to start due to the following error:
The system cannot find the file specified.

System appears to continue operating ok, and things were busy so I didn't look into it too much... but I have found now that the system is having BSOD's (STOP 0xD1 in NTFS.SYS) occasionally - today 3 times - and this is surely related. aaccin.sys is part of the RAID controller driver package.

I have found that if I simply go in and uninstall the robotic library support, the aaccin service loads and the event log errors stop (and possibly, the BSOD's?) but then my library won't work, it just shows up in BEWS as a tape drive, even though windows recognizes it fine.

So, is there any way to get BEWS 10.1 to work with a single-drive library, without having 'enable robotic library support' turned on? clearly something is screwing up the adaptec service, and if I needed robotic library support I might be more inclined to fix it.. but I shouldn't!

Adaptec doesn't seem to have forums, or email support, only PAY phone support, since I've had these cards too long I don't qualify for free email support. I'm not about to pay to phone them and ask what this file does, especially since the tech that answers the phone isn't likely to know anyway.

thanks in advance for any help

[Jason_McClellan]

update.. I found that installing the Backup Exec tape device drivers results in BEWS recognizing the library again, even with the robotic library support option turned off.

Apparantly, if you install that option, then remove it, the uninstall routine rips out the library drivers. You have to reinstall the driver pack to get it back again.

But, after doing that, the AACCIN service problem reappeared. same problem. apparantly, if the BEWS library driver loads first, the AACCIN service will not. This is very bad as it seems it can result in system instability under heavy load (hard lockup, BSOD)

Possible Solution; make AACCIN load first. In registry key HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\aaccin change key 'Type' from value 1 to value 0. This will change it from a SERVICE_SYSTEM_START to a SERVICE_BOOT_START type, ensuring it always starts before the BEWS robotic library driver (service key SCSIChanger, Type 1) I tried using dependonservice, dependongroup, and grouploadorder, but changing the service load type was the only way.

At least, this has made the aaccin driver load error go away. I hope that will solve the BSOD's! :) we'll see. I have found numerous references to this problem online, but no solutions. Veritas/Symantec needs to recognize this problem - albeit appears to be only in a specific configuration, it could be a major issue for some people! The fix could be as simple as applying the proper driver loading order during installation for them, but for an end user trying to figure it out, it is hair-pulling. For a user without advanced registry skills, it would be impossible and they would be reduced to uninstalling the product. If I had called my phone support (which I could have) I would have wasted all kinds of time - I have zero confidence that they would have been able to solve this..

[Deepali_Badave]

Hello,

Thank you for an updtae.

However you can also refer the following technote:

http://support.veritas.com/docs/191488

NOTE : If we do not receive your reply within two business days, this post would be marked assumed answered and would be moved to answered questions pool.

[Jason_McClellan]

Wow, that was a wholly useless reply! Did you even read my posts? I specifically said that I had an Adaptec 39160 for the tape devices in addition to the RAID card. My tape devices are not connected to the RAID controller, the 39160 is a regular SCSI card.

[priya_khire]

Hello Jason,

Could you update us on this issue? Does the issue with the BSOD still persist? You could check the following steps:

- Check the hardware compatibility of the device with backup exec 10d from the link below:

http://support.veritas.com/docs/281670
- In case it is compatible, try loading the latest Symantec device drivers:

http://support.veritas.com/docs/282974

- In case the library isn't specifically tested with Symantec, you can use the OEM drivers.

- If the problem persists, check more for device or driver related errors in the system event logs. Also check the properties tab of the device
- Do you get any alerts in Backup exec when the device doesn't work properly?
- Could you descibe what the AACCIN service does?

Revert with details if the problem persists.

Note : If we do not receive your reply within two business days, this post would be marked �assumed answered� and would be moved to �answered questions� pool.

Regards.

[Jason_McClellan]

since my own solution with the registry load order hack, posted here on 06-02-06, there has not been another driver load error or BSOD.

This is with the Symantec drivers installed for both the library and drive, which are supported.

It would have been nice to know what the AACCIN service does, but I do not know. I can tell you that it was installed as part of the driver package for the Adaptec 2120s SCSI RAID card (not the 39160 SCSI card) but who knows what it exactly does. It would have been nice to ask Adaptec, but unfortunately they only offer support if you offer a credit card.

I hope this thread will help someone else solve their problem with this in the future! More importantly, I hope Symantec will take this info and correct this driver installation problem in a future version, so it won't be a problem anymore! Clearly there is a conflict with a specific hardware configuration, and the solution could be easy - during install, difficult after!