How to change drive type from HCART3 to HCART ?

[Mekkalki]

How to change drive type from HCART3 to HCART ?

We are using netbackup 7.0 & We have HP LTO4 ultrium tapes.

Currently drive type is HCART3 but whenever we do some configuration like delete drive & add again by default it come as HCART then manually we have to change to HCART3.

We have read some forum which is saying for HP LTO4 ultrium tapes drive type shuld be HCART.

Currently all backup tapes which we are using is with HCART3 

Please advice how best we can change drive type from HCART3 to HCART ? 

Regards,

Mekkalki.

[Marianne]

Are you using LTO3 media in your robot? Or LTO4 tapes with LTO3 labels. That will probably explain why NBU adds media as hcart3.

It is perfectly supported, but in NBU the densities MUST match.

The problem is not with changing drive type - it's with your media. All media written up to now as HCART3 will not be used in HCART drives. Density of Assigned media cannot be changed - only unassigned media.

HCART is certainly the default in NBU for LTO4 (nothing says it MUST be) but to work with your HCART3 tapes it is necessary to change the tape drives to HCART3.

You should not need to run device config wizard on a regular basis, unless something is wrong in the OS/hardware/SAN environment. 

As long as you are using LTO3 media (or labels) in your environment, you will have to live with this...

[mph999 · Accepted solution]

Following on from Mariannes excellent post ... - think of the densities as colours ...

A green tape goes in a green drive

The densities are the same, an hcart tape will ONLY be loaded into an hcart drive.

a 4mm tape will only go into a 4mm drive  and so on.

However, any type of tape or drive can be given any density, so my LTO4 drive I could call '4mm' if I wish, and, providivg I call my LTO4 tapes 4mm also, it will work fine.

The density has no technical meaning, it is just a label - that is all.  NBU has no understanding of a LTO tape, or a 4mm tape, it does not know the difference.

In fact thinking about it, if the tape densities were replaced with colours it would be so much easier to understand.

Martin

[Mekkalki]

Thanks for update.

We have two tape types & two tape library

Media   Drive Type

LTO3     HCART3

LTO4     HCART3

LTO3 is having LTO3 labels & LTO4 is having LTO4 labels.

So for LTO3 it is HCART3 is ok but for LTO4 why it is showing HCART3

Is it create any problem (like performance or at the time of upgrade)?

Regards,

Mekkalki.

[mph999]

As Marianne and I explained, the 'density' can be set to anything you like.

The reason your LTO4 drives are showing as 'HCART3' is becasue that is what they were set to, but as I tried to explain, it doesn't mater if you LTO4 drives are hcart, hcart2, 4mm, or dlt,, the only thig that is important, is that the tape media you physiaclly wish to be used in the drive, is set to the same density as the drive.

The density has no technical meaning.  NBU does not understand different tape drives, it knows nothing about the difference between an LTO2 drive or an 4mm drive, it thinks they are the same, because, NBU is NOT writing to tape.  The tape operations are completely handled by the operating system - NBU does nothing at all, apart, from specifiy the blocksize and load the tape of 'density x' in to the drive with the same density.

Martin

[Mark_Solutions]

Hi

It is not good practice for your LTO3 and LTO4 drives to have the same density in NetBackup.

However, at the moment i assume that they are all in the same storage unit and if you change the LTO4 ones to be HCART you would need seperate storage units for each type which may impact on your polcies / SLPs / DSSUs etc.

The danger you have is that an LTO4 tape should not really be put into an LTO3 drive - so it would be best to change them.

So at that point you get what you want with HCART3 LTO3 drives and HCART for LTO4 drives and the device configiration wizard will always work properly when you need to run it.

You also then need to ensure your bar code rules etc. always make the LTO4 tapes as 1/2 inch and the LTO3 tapes as 1/2 inch 3.

BUT, what you also have is all of your used LTO4 tapes known as HCART3 in NetBackup so they will no longer be put in the LTO4 drives!

To get around this (and i have done it without any issues - and it is quick) you need to just make a list of all existing LTO4 tapes and change their density to HCART.

To do this use the command (use a script to run through them all quickly):

install_path\Volmgr\bin\vmchange -h <EMM_server_name> -new_mt hcart -m ABC123

Do bear in mind though that LTO3 tapes will no longer be used in LTO4 drives (which is OK) and vice-versa (which is not OK)

Hope this helps

[Marianne]

"for LTO4 why it is showing HCART3"

We need to know more about your environment...

When inventory was done the very first time after LTO4 drives were added - what was drive density set to?

Are you 100% sure that the labels are LTO4? (L4 at end of media-id).

Do you have any Barcode Rules in place?

Any defaults changed in Inventory -> Advanced Options -> Media Settings?

[Omar_Villa]

If you can share the command:

vmoprcmd -h mediaserver -devconfig -l

we will know more about the environment, but is for sure you better change the hcart of your lto4 drives, vmchange can help you with this or you can do it through the GUI. About the tapes, check your rules sounds to me that your rules are pointed to HCART for all tapes and thats why you need to manualy change the medias.

hope this helps.

regards.

[Mekkalki]

When inventory was done the very first time after LTO4 drives were added - what was drive density set to?

--- We are not sure about drive density when we have done inventory first time after LTO4 drives were added.

Somehow it is HCART3 from begining.

Are you 100% sure that the labels are LTO4? (L4 at end of media-id).

----Yes, labels are for  LTO4 tapes only it ends with L4.

Do you have any Barcode Rules in place?

--- We have not set any barcode rules.

Any defaults changed in Inventory -> Advanced Options -> Media Settings?

---- All settings are set to defaults.

[Mark_Solutions]

Hi

I think you are talking about the device configuration wizard setting the drives as HCART automatically when your tapes are HCART3

NetBackup will decide which density (HCART / HCART2 / HCART3) based upon the scsi enquiry string it gets when it runs the detection so if this is the case it wont be connected with the barcode label.

If you want to change things then follow my earlier post

Hope this helps

[Genericus]

Bar code rules will set it temporarily, to set it permanently you will need to update your vm.conf file.

[cgoliver]

I have four different types of tape drives and currently trying to add the newest. The device configuration wizard finds them as hcart, but we are already using hcart for a different type tape drive.

How do I change or force netbackup to see these tape drives as dlt during the configuration.

Yes, I know about vmchange, but that has nothing to do with the drive. At least that's my experience.

Thanks,

Chris

[Marianne]

See workaround in this TN: http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH75821

[Will_Restore]

change media type:

  vmchange -new_mt

change drive type:

  tpconfig -update -drive -type

[cgoliver]

That tpconfig command is what I need.

[cgoliver]

Doesn't work. We have hundreds of TB's already on T10B tapes labeled as hcart. What should work is changing the drive type to dlt.

Thanks,

Chris

[cgoliver]

Running tpconfig -update -drive -type would need to be done on each media server?