ACLS SL8500 configuration

[pylej]

Hi Guys,

I am tring to make sense on how to add a SL8500 robot which currently uses ACLS software to Netbackup. Has anyone done this before? Any help is appreciated. What are some of the big differences between adding this type of robot and any other robot with drives. The way I understand it so far, it that the ACLS software controls all media movements and Netbackup is like a client to this software. But when I actually configure it in NBU what would be some differences, I would think you add it as a Storage group as per normal.

Thank you

[Limey]

There is a StorageTec interface component that should be installed to allow ACSLS control over the SL8500, you'll register the tape drive serial numbers in Netbackup, and then you can create storage groups etc as normal!

[David_McMullin]

I have this same setup.

After you set up the robot and the acsls, and map all your drives to your media servers...

Before you scan, you should be able to use sgscan tape or scan -tape to see your drives at the OS level of your media servers, and tpautoconf -t should show them as well.

When you scan using the wizard, you can select your hosts and tell them you have an ACS robot, this will bring up a screen asking for the server name of the acsls once you add that it should scan and find all your drives.

Cleaning is done from the ACSLS, it cleans the drives automagically, you just need to monitor them and load fresh ones when they are used up.

Please get the acsls manual and read it, there are some nice commands available that will help you with tape and drive issues like manually mounting/dismounting tapes.

[Marianne]

For more information on ACSLS libraries, comms, config, inventory, etc,  read chapter 11 of the Device Configuration Guide.

[pylej]

Hi Guys,

I have been using the Device Config guide, but not really getting anywhere. I am able to do a scan and it see the drives. The problem is with the robot. I selected it as a ACS type robot, and it seem to find it however, after the scann it says Unusable.

Any ideas specifically related to robotics between netbackup and a acls sl8500 robot?

Thank you
Jim

[David_McMullin]

Check your networking between the master and acsls.

Where does it say unusable ?

[Nicolai]

Does acstest work ?.

# acstest -r {ACSLS  server} -C qserver

I don't think the wizard work with API controlled robots like the SL8500. The wizard work only with TLD controlled robots (as far as I can recall). I always configure my SL8500 manual.

[pylej]

Hi Nicolai,

acstest does not work. I have been able to start the process manuelly acsssi etc, but still no luck. Is there any special lincesing required for NBU to operate with a ACLS server?

I also used tpconfig and adding a the robot manuelly, but that seems to be no good, because NBU it not able to mount any tapes. So it is not working properly.

Thanks for everyones help and ideas with this.

[Marianne]

You did not mention the O/S of your Master/Media server(s)?
If Windows - have you installed STK LibAttach software?
The acsd and acsssi processes can only start once you have added drives in NBU.
Have you managed to map ACS drive locations to correct O/S device names? Once you have completed the mapping it is quite easy to use the GUI or tpconfig to add drives.

[pylej]

Hi Marianne,

It is Solaris 10 box. I have the drives added, no problem. But when I kick off a job it is not communicating properly with the ACLS server(Robot control) to get a tape to mount.

Any ideas?

Thank you

[Nicolai · Accepted solution]

The drive you have added, does it ever go in "ACS" status (see below)  ?

Please check :

• Does the master/media server have multiple network cards ?. If yes, you need to set ACS_SSI_HOSTNAME = { IP of NIC to use} in vm.conf
  
•  
• Any firewall involved ?. If yes, you need to configure ACSLS for firewall compliant operating.

Can you possible post the messages file from the Solaris box with any relevant ACSD/ACSssi messages. This will help a lot.

Drv Type   Control  User      Label  RecMID  ExtMID  Ready   Wr.Enbl.  ReqId
  1 hcart3   ACS               Yes   503146  503146   Yes     Yes        0
  2 hcart3   ACS               Yes   500437  500437   Yes     Yes        0
  3 hcart3   ACS               Yes   500199  500199   Yes     Yes        0
 14 hcart    ACS                -                     No       -         0
 15 hcart    ACS               Yes   600560  600560   Yes     Yes        0
 16 hcart    ACS                -                     No       -         0
 17 hcart    ACS                -                     No       -         0

[Nicolai]

If you are unsure about licenses do a "/usr/openv/netbackup/bin/admincmd/get_license_key". Select F and it should show at least show:

License Key:    xxxx-xxxx-xxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-x
Date Added:     Jun 12, 2008 at 17:16:58
Host:           HOST_XYZ
Product:        NetBackup Enterprise Server
Client count:   See license certificate.
Expires:        No Expiration Date
Feature:        Inline Tape Copy
Feature:        StorageTek ACS Robotic Libraries
Feature:        Fujitsu LMF Robotic Libraries
Feature:        IBM ATL Robotic Libraries
Feature:        ADIC DAS/SDLC Robotic Libraries
Feature:        Microsoft RSM Robotic Libraries
Feature:        Remote Media Server Support
Feature:        Robotic Library Sharing Support
Feature:        Remote Client Support
Feature:        Open File Backup

[Marianne]

In addition to Nicolai's suggestions:
Increase logging level by adding VERBOSE to /usr/openv/volmgr/vm.conf. Stop/start NBU. This will increase the amount of info that will be logged to /var/adm/messages.
Most problems when configuring ACS robots are related to network comms. Here is an excellent TechNote to assist with troubleshooting:
http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/267306.htm

Section 6 of this TechNote deals with comms:
6  COMMUNICATION
   6.1  REMOTE PROCEDURE CALL
          6.1.1  How to Start RPC on Different Operating Systems
          6.1.2  How to Verify that RPC is Running
          6.1.3  How to Verify the ACSSS Program Registration
          6.1.4  Basic snoop Output

6.1  REMOTE PROCEDURE CALL (RPC)

NetBackup uses RPC to connect to the ACSLS server, and rpcbind is the service that converts RPC program numbers into universal addresses. It must be running on the host to be able to make RPC calls on a server on that machine.  If this service is not running this could cause the root file system to fill up.  NetBackup could send data to the links in /dev and since they cannot connect to the drives the data will spool until the system runs out of disk space.  Since the links in /dev have no size it will be difficult to determine what is using up all the disk space on the file system.  

6.1.1  How to start RPC on different operating systems

Starting RPC is best accomplished using the operating system vendor startup scripts. The following are the ways of starting RPC on various operating systems.

a. Solaris

    i. Solaris (7,8,9)

    #  /etc/init.d/rpc start

 ii. Solaris 10

  #  svcadm enable svc:/network/rpc/bind:default

     #  svcadm restart svc:/network/rpc/bind:default

6.1.2  How to Verify that RPC is Running

The following commands will verify that the rpcbind is active and that the RPC service is functioning between the media server and ACSLS Library Server. From a terminal window on the media server, issue the following command to ACSLS. 

# rpcinfo

program version netid     address             service    owner

 100000    4    ticots    hotdog.rpc           rpcbind    superuser               
..........
....

You can test  tape mounts using robtest. Section 4 of above-mentioned TechNote explains how to use robtest.

This is the first step to confirm comms. If there are comms problems between the master and ACSLS server, an error will be displayed after selecting the ACS robot.
Error messages and explanation/trobleshooting is also covered in this TechNote.
If comms are fine, use examples in section 4 to test mounts/dismounts.

[pylej]

Thank you, It was a license. Problem

[pylej]

Excellent doc, Thank you very much. My problem turned out to be a license issue.