Error 84

[xfrenzy]

Hi all,
OS : Solaris 8
NetBackup 4.5FP_6: 2003.08.01

Recently, we're getting a lot of error 84s during our daily backup.
From " bperror" we manage to narrow down to :
drive index 4, I/O error
Then NBU will DOWN'ed the drive 4
We've tried replacing the tape drive, upgrade firmware, upgrade HBA card firmware, expiring the "suspected" faulty tape but the problem keeps coming up.

I think I'm gonna blow soon. Any pointers ?

[Stumpr2]

First ensure that all the firmware is consistent.for drives, switches, hba, libraries.You said that you upgraded the suspected one. It is best to upgrade ALL of them. Keep them consistent.
Next, try another port on the switch and change the zoning.
Finally enable the bptm debug log and report the errors.
Also provide the drive/HBA/switch information.

Here is a pdf document for NetBackup 5.0 but the principles are the same.
In-Depth Troubleshooting Guide for Exit Status Code 84 in VERITAS NetBackup (tm) Server / Enterprise Server 5.0 / 5.1
http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/273908.htm

[xfrenzy]

Thanks, Bob !
I'll go through the document and see if I can notice anything that needs attention.
Just an update:
Today's daily backup was successful, no error 84. Seems like it has a mind of it's own. LOLzzz ...

[Dan_Ryan_2]

Also, you might want to check to see if you have any polling going on your HBA's. At my old company, we ran into an issue with TapeAlert running HP-UX and fibre attached STK 9840x tape drives. It turned out the polling was happening during the backups and it was causing 84's on the backups. It may be something you might want to look into to, because it didn't cause 84's all of the time, but on jobs that lasted a while it did.



Hope this helps.

[Jeffrey_Redingt]

Keep in mind also that Windows 2003 servers that use the new plug and play for tape drives have an issue where they constantly poll tape drives with a Test Unit Ready check every second unless you are running the Veritas drivers which don't pass along the TUR or you have implemented the registry fix that Microsoft has provided. This can also lead to status 84's, performance issues and problems with drives dropping off a SAN fabric. There is a technote on this problem at the following link:

http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/268245.htm