Tape Library Drivers

[Lawrence_Kosin]

Running Windows Server 2003 (Enterprise) Fully Patched

BE 11d Fully Patched.

Tape library is an HP 4 chassis MSL6030 with 8 SDLT600 drives.

Using the Symantec drivers for the drives.

I don't understand why, if I start multiple jobs, one will start and assign a drive.

The other jobs will stall with a "Ready, no idle devices available" message until the first one completes it's snapshot processing.

This is seriously impacting my ability to get backups done in the available window.

Any idea as to how to make better use of my resources???

Thanks in advance.

[Rick_Eveleigh]

IMHO, use the latest manufacturer drivers rather than the Symantec ones.

Rick

[Lawrence_Kosin]

Thanks for the suggestion.

I tested HP's drivers last night.

Overall they seemed to work ok but didn't make any difference in the way the jobs start.

I still get the "Ready, no idle devices available" when multiple jobs start.

[Troy1]

did you find an answer to this?  we are having a similar issue with our IBM LTO drives, one job will be running the other job just sits there "queued" and the other LTO drive is not being utilized at all.  they are setup in a pool for the robotic library and sometimes it will work... sometimes not.

[Lawrence_Kosin]

Haven't found anything useful yet.

I'm thinking I might try installing build 7170.

Nothing else I've tried seems to make any difference.

[Lawrence_Kosin]

Sure wish Symantec could provide an answer.

With Version 10, I could get all of my backups done in 3 - 4 hours.

With Version 11, it has stretched to 8 - 10 hours.

Same jobs, same amount of data.

I'm wasting time and resources (tape drives) every night.

I guess I'll have to put a request in for funding to switch to another product.

The support for this product has been practically non-existent.