Strange Issue with Hardware not been detected by Netbackup

[Uncle_Bob]

I am having problems getting Netbackup 6.5.2 master to see hardware devices on a new media server,  basically I am getting 'no devices found' when running the device configuration wizard.

The media can be seen under devices>media servers as 'active for tape and disk'  on the master server, but I think this is not a correct reflection of the status.

The media server is question is running:

Windows 2008 SP1 64bit
Netbackup 6.5.2 64bit configured as a SAN Media Server
Fibre attached with an Emulex HBA
Has visibility of 2 medium changers (ML6000's + 7 LTO 3 drives)  Fibre Channel devices
This can clearly be seen by the OS in Device Manager and also under HBAnywhere application
Devices have been persistently bound as well.
When running the SCAN command it from C:\Program Files\Veritas\Volmgr\Bin..     it reports nothing back (no changer or drives, it as if the not there)

The Windows Firewall has been disabled as well,  but still the same.

I have not come across this issue before and I am a bit confused, since the OS and HBA can see the devices which have been correctly zoned in,  however Netbackup is not seeing any of them.

The media servers mentioned above were built using Windows 2008 R2 64bit but this is not compatible with SFW HA DR 5.1, so I have rebuilt them on windows 2008 SP1 and I have noticed the above mentioned issue.  On Windows 2008 R2 everything was fine and Netbackup was fully configured with the exception of having to open ports on the Windows Firewall.

Any help on the above would be welcome, only thing I need to check on is the removable storage manager and not even sure if this is a service like on Windows 2003,  which was disabled when installing Netbackup.

[Anonymous]

What OS is your Master Server.

FWIW I would update your Master to 6.5.4 and then the Media Server also.

A lot of additional support for Windows 2008 started around 6.5.4

Depending on your version of the Windows 2008 Server OS it might not even be supported yet.
6.5.5 due iminently starts support of Win 2008 Enterprise R2

Consult the OS Compatibility List. Its regularly updated.
http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/325328.htm

I am surprised SCAN does not pick up anything it just uses SCSI commands.

Make sure you can see the properties of your devices in Device Manager. I had a situation this week where after Windows patches, my devices in NetBackup went DOWN.
All looked good from Device Manager, until you right click properties of the devices. Had to delete devices and reload devices/drivers.

Look at making sure the device mappings are up to date. If this hardware is newer than the release date of 6.5.2 then maybe it doesnt know about them.
6.5.2 release June 2008
http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/308719.htm

Summary:
Consult OS and HCL compatibility lists (ftp://exftpp.symantec.com/pub/support/products/NetBackup_Enterprise_Server/00_index.htm)
Consult hardware vendor for latest firmwares (Library and Drives, HBA's)
Update to 6.5.4 or 6.5.5 (Master then Media)
Device Mappings up to date

[Marianne]

I have seen a similar problem when the 32-bit version of W2008 was installed. On the 32-bit O/S the Volume Management Service failed to start.
Netbackup server is supported on X64 as from 6.5.2. New install media was released with 6.5.2.
I know you said that the O/S is X64, but the symptoms sound similar.
One more thing - you have confirmed that RSM is disabled?
BTW - NBU 6.5.5 will be released in about 10 days as well as SFW/HA 5.1 SP1 that will both support W2008 R2.

[Uncle_Bob]

Stuart

Thankyou for taking the the time  to respond to my message.

The Master server is running on Windows 2003 Enterprise 32bit.
I have checked the properties in Device Manager and everything shows correctly.
Windows 2008 SP1 64bit is on the list of supported operating systems and strange thing is that the later version of Windows 2008 R2 64bit was fully configured and working fine and the only reason I have had to go back a version of Windows is for SFW HA DR 5.1.

This is not supported at present and SFW HA DR on Windows 2008 R2 and will be supported officially from 1st Dec approx onwards, since I have a deadline to deliver a production system, I have opted to rebuild and encountered the above issue.

I have checked to see if RSM is disabled but 2008  differs quiet a bit from 2003 and I have not been able to identify this service as yet.

I have disabled the firewall and updated drivers since it has been indicated that this could be an issue,  I have also downloaded a tool from the IBM site for checking the drives  http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=ssg1S4000662 

This works like the Dell LTO TDX tool and identifies drives through a DOS based aapplication and offers various tests. This tool can see the drives without a problems and reports back all the serial numbers.

The netbackup scan command reports what it sees from the OS to netbackup and this is used as part of the configuration process.  Since this see nothing,  this is where we are failing.

I have been in touch with support and they are at a loss and looking into issue further.

I am awaiting an update to see if there are any other things that I can try.

[Uncle_Bob]

Marianne

Thankyou for your response,  but I am in touch with support since I have gone through all the actions mentioned by both Stuart and yourself and had no luck.

Netbackup does work with Windows 2008 R2 64bit perfectly well and therefore I was expecting it to work on Windows 2008 SP1 64bit,  I think this is one of the scenarios where it will be something and nothing but it is identify the issue and resolving it.

Only thing I did not do when rebuilding the servers from Windows 2008 R2 to Windows 2008 SP1 was to delete all references from the Netbackup Master Server.  I do not think this should affect anything since all hostnames and IP are the same.  Any path mappings in the EMM database would be updated on running the device configuration wizard.

There are no communication issues between media and master server, since this was checked by the support engineer.  Also checked for a lock file in the folder C:\program files\veritas\volmgr\misc,  renamed this folder and started the device manager service but no change.

The problem I have still remains and time is an issue,  I may even have to rebuild the servers using Windows 2003 R2 x64, which is a tried and tested configuration and working in our Netbackup environment.

I have escalated the issue with support and will await for an update and further actions to try and resolve the issue.

[Uncle_Bob]

Fixed by applying 6.5.2A update patch, issue was down to Master and Media running on 6.5.

[Marianne · Accepted solution]

Exactly as I've said:
Netbackup server is supported on X64 as from 6.5.2. New install media was released with 6.5.2.