SL 500 Tape Library

[PorcoDio]

Hi,

 On my netbackup enviroment i've configured 2 tape library (StorageTek SL 500) on one there's LTO2 tape on the other LTO4.

I've configured in same method but tape have LTO2 work fine the other, if i run a policies on that tape, return always error 96 (unable to allocate new media for backup, storage unit has none available).

Yesterday i called Symantec support and after 2 hours whit the technican (from Mumbai) he say the tape library is non compatible......

I thinks is not possible because two tape are egual, have the same fw and same model, change only tipology of tape.....

Some ideas????

Regards

[PorcoDio]

Hi Marianne,

 i've use the same xls to create label for LTO2 (named LT2XXX) and LTO4 (LT4XXX) so i think if in first case library work correctly, like in second case must do same no???

[Marianne]

STK robots need specific suffix on the labels. You cannot use 'home made' labels on these robots. Please discuss robot label requirements with your STK/SUN/Oracle support team.

Again - this is not NBU issue but media label/robot compatibility issue.

[mph999]

The standard for LTO labels are that the last two characters must end with the tape type:

EG.  AA1234L1

AA1234L2

AA1234L3

AA1234L4

... where L4 is the LTO version.

Some libraries actually need this to work correctly, which I think includes STK.

Looking at the case dertails, I see even robtest fails with the incompatible media error - this shows for certain thatt he issue is outside NBU.

[PorcoDio]

@ Marianne

 i understand that isn't NBU problem.

About home made label, 1 works fine.........

@mph999

thanks, i'll try to make new label whit your instruction.
 

[mph999]

Sure, I appreciate that one works ok, but the other doesn't so we have to consider possible causes even if they don't seem valid.

Appreciate your understanding ...

Martin

[Marianne]

PLEASE ask your robot support team about label requirements. Labels are fairly cheap, why not purchase labels that are compatible and that contain the correct L4 suffix?

You have mentioned everything working correctly with Tivoli. I bet you were not using home made labels, right?

[Gerald_W__Gitau]

I also use SL500 and had issues configuring LT03 to work. SL500 is definitely supported and works 100%. Remember to correctly configure the storage unit:

Robot type TLD

Density: hcart - 1/2 Inch Cartridge

You can also media ID generation rules to trim the last two charcters from the label if so desire for example if you label is AA1234L4 and you want it to display as AA1234 then on media ID generation rule enter as follows:

Barcode lenght: 8

Media ID generation rule: 1:2:3:4:5:6

This will extract only the first 6 characters on the label.

[mph999]

From Sun/ Oracle docs ...

Media ID Labels
The media ID label is the way a particular type of tape cartridge is identified by the library.
To make sure that the correct media type is installed in the correct tape drive in an Any Cartridge, Any SlotTM library, a method to identify the type of media was needed. The use of media ID labels allows a single library or library complex to mix drive types and media types.
The first tape cartridges to use the media ID in StorageTek libraries was the StorageTek Timberline 9490 Extended tapes called “E-Carts.” Since that time mixed-media libraries have always required tapes to include a media ID label.
Enterprise class cartridge tapes were the first to have a special recess molded into the cartridge to accept a unique single character label. Currently, almost all of the 36 alpha-numeric characters have been assigned different media-type IDs to date.

Linear Tape-Open (LTO) labels were designed to be an eight-character label which includes the six-character customer-defined label plus a domain type (seventh character) and the media ID (eighth character).
The addition of a domain type with the media ID now allows the library to more accurately represent how the information is reported to the host—where the domain type represents the tape technology (for example LTO) and the media ID represents the version of that technology (for example generation 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5).

LTO Labels:
LTO tape cartridges require an eight-character label.
Like the T10000, this label includes a six character customer defined volume serial number
or the cartridge’s function, such as diagnostic (DG) or cleaning (CLN). The other two
characters identify the media domain or tape technology, and the media ID or version of
that particular technology.