Upgrade to Tandberg TS820 LTO3

[Hannesv]

Hi,

I have just upgraded from a Tandberg TS420 to a TS820 tape drive and am now getting some odd behaviour. It seems to partially work but not always.

Some problems are:

1. When I label an LTO3 tape it does label the tape with no problems but there is a yellow ? in front of the label name.

2. The Job setup is set to eject the tape on completion (which is the same job as before) but it now askes me to confirm when the tape is ejected.

3. When I try to Erase the tape it seems to fail.

4. In the properties of the tape drive (under stand-alone drives), the drive type shows as *** and the media type as ***_

I assume it is some sort of driver problem but am not sure where to start. I ran the Tandberg Diagnostics utility and it passed everything.

The infomation I have that may help is:

Vendor: Tandberg

Product ID: TS800

Frimware Version: 0410 (I upgraded from 0386 in the hope it would help)

Backup SW: Symantec SBS suite Version 11.0 Rev. 6235

OS: Microsoft Windows Server 2003 for Small Business Server Service Pack 2

Any assistance would be great.

Kind regards

Hannes

[Ken_Putnam]

Have you tried the latest Symantec driver?

from the product download page at

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/downloads.jsp?pid=15047

filter for v11d and drivers, then select the appropraite download

You might also consider the free upgrade to build 7170 + Service Pack

v7170  go here

https://www4.symantec.com/Vrt/offer?a_id=30140 

follow the links and select either 32 or 64 bit version

Then go back to the download page and grab the appropriate SP3

[Hannesv]

Hi Ken,

Thanks for the speady response. Sorry I took so long but the Tandberg utility used to test and upgrade the firmware destroyed my Raid Array's so I had to rebuild them.

I installed the latest driver and noticed no real change (that said a backup did seem to run and verify ok).

I then downloaded v7170 and ran the pre installation environmental checks wich gave this result:

Warning One or more devices on this computer are not supportable**.

Device: Tape0 This device is not supported.**

Product: TANDBERGTS800 0410
Device Type: SequentialTape
Service Name: tandberg
Current Driver Name: tnbg_lto.sys
Recognized by Symantec?: No
Symantec Driver Loaded?: No
SCSI Port: 4
SCSI BUS: 0
SCSI Target: 2
SCSI Lun: 0


**"Passed" is an indication that your current hardware configuration is recognized by Symantec Backup Exec for Windows Servers. To ensure your device is certified for use with Symantec Backup Exec, check the Device Compatibility List on the support site here or here.

So I went to the device compatability list which showed it is compatible and supported i.e.

820LTO (LTO-3 HH) [1] [3] TANDBERGTS800 SCSI LTO

So I assume perhaps the version of firmware I have is not recognised? The compatiblity list does not say which firmware version is supported though.

Do you perhaps have any suggestions as to my next step?

Thanks

Hannes

[Ken_Putnam]

went back and checked the v11d HCL.

Your TS420 is there, but no TS8xx at all

The v12 HCL does list a TS800

That being said, if you load the Tandberg drivers, and if NTBackup can see and access the driver, BackupExec should be able to also

[Hannesv]

Hi Ken,

Thanks. What is a bit odd is the doc I looked at (282249.pdf) called

Backup Exec 11d (11.0) for Windows Servers Hardware Compatibility Lists
Created on June 18, 2008

does on page 25 specifically mention the 820 LTO in the line

Device                                    Inquiry String            Interface    Media

820LTO (LTO-3 HH) [1] [3]    TANDBERGTS800   SCSI         LTO

This document was the one pointed to by the build 7170 pre-installation environmental checks.

That said, if I upgraded to version 12 would it then definitely work?

Thanks

Hannes

[Ken_Putnam]

Guess I had an ooooold HCL (2007-02-08)

The most recent one on the WEB site (2008-06-18) does indeed list it

That being said, I'm not sure that v12 would access it either

If you shut down all BackupExec services, does NTBackup see and access the library OK? 

if not, if you load the Tandberg drivers, does NTBackup see it then?

[Hannesv]

Hi Ken,

If I shutdown the services NTBackup sees it as LTO Ultrium (not sure if that means it sees it properly or not).

What I can see is that even after trying to upgrade the driver to Symantec the other day it remains Tandberg i.e.

Provider: Tandberg Data ASA

File Version: 1.7.0.0

The driver is called tnbg_lto.sys and tpfilter.sys

So I am not sure why running that driver file you suggested I use did not change anything. Is there any special process I should follow (or that you recommend)?

I tried deleting the driver in windows and then running the file be6235RHF12_32bit_289147.exe (which I think is the new drivers) and that did nothing.

Thanks

Hannes

[Hannesv]

Hi Ken,

I just had a look at the version 12 drivers and I see there are some that were released in June 2008. Although they did not come up in my search for 11d would they perhaps work? They were:

BE1364R300831_32BIT_302874.EXE - Symantec Backup Exec for Windows Servers 12 (12.0.1364) - Device Driver Installer (20080415) - (x86-32 bit)

Publish Date: 06/13/2008
Type: Driver
 
BE1364R303324_32BIT_304743.EXE - Backup Exec 12.0 for Windows Servers revision 1364 hotfix 303324, Device Driver Installer DDI20080615 (June 15th, 2008) - 32bit download.
 
Publish Date: 06/12/2008
Type: Driver

Thanks

Hannes

[Ken_Putnam]

Well, the read-me specifically states

Affected versions
Backup Exec 12.0 revision 1364 32bit Media Servers
Backup Exec 12.0 revision 1364 x64bit Media Servers

but I guess you could try it

When you upgraded before, did you just run the update?

You could also try uninstalling the device from Backup Exec, then removing it from Windows Device Manager (if it is still there) then boot, cancel any auto-install prompts, and run the latest v11 drivers and test again 

[Hannesv]

Hi Ken,

Thanks for the prompt response as always. Sorry I took so long but getting time to reboot the server is difficult.

In terms of the readme of that version 12 driver file, what it says is quite correct. It does not install with version 11.

As to the installation I did install remove the old, install the new drivers (by file) and then ran driver install wizard. The bad news is that without the original Tandberg driver it did not find the tape drive (I could not reboot with no driver as it always put the old driver back and did not tell me that it had found new hardware).

I am starting to feel that the driver file that I originally downloaded as per your suggestion ties up with your compatibility list (as they are both about the same age) i.e. the driver is not available for 11d.

I think the new compatability list (the June one I found) needs a new driver file which is maybe not available?

Thanks

Hannes

[Ken_Putnam]

At this point, about all I can think of would be to upgrade to build 7170, and use the latest driver for that (almost a year newer than the 6235 driver pack)

v11d.7170 here

https://www4.symantec.com/Vrt/offer?a_id=30140

Service (SP3 and Hot Fixes) here

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/downloads.jsp?pid=15047  filter for Patch

drivers (32 and 64 bit) here

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/downloads.jsp?pid=15047 filter fior Driver

Just download and install on top of Build 6235

 

[Hannesv]

Hi Ken,

I have now upgraded to Backup Exec version 12 (I had a maintenance agreement).

The good news is it now seems to see the drive properly (it was also known in the environmental assessment). The bad news is I still have a ? on the tape. I think it may now be some other problem. As usual I guess one has to fix one problem at a time.

There is now an alert which I assume may be related. It is:

RSM cannot manage library Tape0. The database is corrupt

Any luck one this one?

Thanks

Hannes

[Ken_Putnam]

Not specific to your error, but see http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/292479.htm

[Hannesv]

Hi Ken,

Still having problems I'm afraid. I thought the driver was working ok and while the stars are gone from the Drive type, if I click on the actual tape, under media type it still says ***_

So I guess there is still a problem but less then before.

Re the RSM problem there are lots of cases on the web so I am trying some of those solutions. As usual I have to reboot the server so will wait for tonight again.

Thanks

Hannes

[Brian_Plumb]

I believe I found a workaround - under Backup Exec 12 (not sure if this works for 11/11d). If you go to the properties of the media itself under the media listing you can assign the type of tape to remove the "?". I was having the same problem with the same tape drive and it has been driving me crazy trying to restore some information from an Exchange backup. Specific steps:

1) Go the Devices Tab

2) Right-Click on the Media in the tape drive and choose "Properties"

3) On the "Media Type" click on the option button "..."

4) Choose "LTO" media type and set to "LTO3 (680m, 400GB)

After setting this the "?" went away and now a tape icon shows next to the media. I have not tested the restore as of this posting.

[Hannesv]

Hi Brian,

thanks for this. It worked for me also.

Kind regards,

Hannes