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media tape frozen with IBM TS3100

tuannanh
Level 3

Dear all,

 

Our company has a trouble with Netbackup. It's random error with media tape frozen although we replaced tape drive. Please help me make a solution. Here are error details:

  

 

********08/02/12***********

 

03:02:41.390 [6928.3556] <2> manage_drive_attributes: MediaPool [THURSDAY], MediaLabel [MEDIA=RD0003;]

03:02:41.390 [6928.3556] <2> io_open: file C:\Program Files\Veritas\NetBackup\db\media\tpreq\drive_IBM.ULT3580-TD4.000 successfully opened (mode 2)

03:02:41.390 [6928.3556] <2> write_backup: media id RD0003 mounted on drive index 0, drivepath {3,0,4,0}, drivename IBM.ULT3580-TD4.000, copy 1

03:02:41.390 [6928.3556] <4> report_throughput: VBRT 1 6928 1 1 IBM.ULT3580-TD4.000 RD0003 0 1 0 0  0 (bptm.c.20529)

03:02:41.390 [6928.3556] <2> io_read_media_header: drive index 0, reading media header, buflen = 65536, buff = 0x117f008, copy 1

03:02:41.390 [6928.3556] <2> io_ioctl: command (5)MTREW 1 from (bptm.c.8175) on drive index 0

03:02:41.406 [6928.3556] <2> io_read_media_header: ReadFile() failed, read 0 bytes, The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error. (1117)

03:02:41.406 [6928.3556] <16> io_read_media_header: tapemark or blank tape encountered reading media header, drive index 0

03:02:41.406 [6928.3556] <16> write_backup: non NetBackup media found in drive index 0, FREEZING RD0003

03:02:41.406 [6928.3556] <2> send_MDS_msg: MEDIADB 1 81369 RD0003 4000222 *NULL* 6 1342098000 1343846013 1345055613 0 144130100 49 46 1 11 0 1 1024 0 2252156 0

03:02:41.406 [6928.3556] <2> io_close: closing C:\Program Files\Veritas\NetBackup\db\media\tpreq\drive_IBM.ULT3580-TD4.000, from bptm.c.18970

03:02:41.421 [6928.3556] <2> drivename_write: Called with mode 1

03:02:41.421 [6928.3556] <2> drivename_unlock: unlocked

11 REPLIES 11

mph999
Level 6
Employee Accredited

There is the issue:

03:02:41.406 [6928.3556] <16> io_read_media_header: tapemark or blank tape encountered reading media header, drive index 0

This tape does not contain a NetBackup header, therefore NBU will not use it and will make it frozen.

If you run <install>\veritas\volmgr\bin\vmquery -m <media id> you will see some information for the tape, and it will show the status.

If the status shows as 0x1 , this is an 'old' cold catalog tape, and this explains the issue.

If the status shows as 0x0, then we cannot say for sure, but it would appear the tape has been overwritten, possibly outside NBU, or, is just a 'bad' media.

Martin

tuannanh
Level 3

Thanks for your solution.

So we will run <install>\veritas\volmgr\bin\vmquery -m <media id> for information about the tape.

If status as 0x1, next step we will do is replace tape media, right ?

If the status shows as 0x0, what we will do next ?

 

mph999
Level 6
Employee Accredited

No, if status is 0x1 - follow http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH56392 to recycle it.

If status is 0x0, just relabel it - this should allow it to be reusued.

I am presuming it is not assigned at the moment, that is, it does not show in the output of bpmedialist -m <media id> (should say volume not assigned ...).

If it is showing in bpmedialist then post the output up here.

Martin

Marianne
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP    Accredited Certified

Cold Catalog tapes will be in NetBackup pool.

The one tape is in Thursday pool and other one in Saturday pool, both with some data previously written to it.

Something that I have seen before:

More than one tape drive in robot. 
Faulty tape drive gets replaced. New tape drive's firmware is higher than other drives in robot.
New tape drive writes a backup successfully. Still space on tape and next backup requests the tape to append to it. Tape gets loaded in one of the tape drives with older firmware. Old firmware cannot read tape created with newer firmware, reports error similar to what you see.

You can verify firmware on tape drives with the following command on one of your media servers:
tpautoconf -t
(in volmgr/bin folder)

Please understand that NBU is merely reporting the error, not causing it.


As an application, NetBackup has no direct access to a device, instead relying on the operating system (OS) to handle any communication with the device. This means that during a write operation NetBackup asks the OS to write to the device and report back the success or failure of that operation. If there is a failure, NetBackup will merely report that a failure occurred, and any troubleshooting should start at the OS level.

mph999
Level 6
Employee Accredited

Ahh, yes, good point marianne - won't be cold cat tape ...

Good idea on the firmware, certainly, different levels of firmwar on drives can cause all manner of issues.

I didn't make something clear ...

My previous post, I did highlight  if you relabel the tape it will allow it to be reused.  I didn't make it clear that this would overwrite the data on the tape - it should have made this more clear.

Martin

tuannanh
Level 3

Dear marianne,

May I explain clearly about the problems:

- We have a tape library TS3100 with 2 tape drive.

- First, it has a problem with frozen media as above.

- We replaced the tape drive ID 1, 3 weeks ago.

-  Now it occur problem again with tape drive ID 0.

- The error occur sometimes 1 week, sometimes 2 weeks.

Please kindly guide me how to fix this problem. It due to hardware or software or tape media.

Thanks.

 

mph999
Level 6
Employee Accredited

what does tpconfig -d show on the media sever

Kiran_Bandi
Level 6
Partner Accredited

Have you verified the firmware versions of both tape drives as advice by Marianne? She looks spot-on with it. If both of your tape drives have same level of firmware then try the below to confirm the hardware functionality.  

If the server which is connected to tape library is windows, check in event viewer for Event Ids 5,7,9,11 or 15. These indicate hardware issues.

Download IBM diagnostic toll ITDT from IBM site, install it on server that connected to tape library. Stop NBU services and run the tests. Make sure you include write test also while running the diagnostics. If the toll detects any issue, contact vendor.

General Tape device issues: https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/blogs/facing-any-issues-your-tape-device-try

tuannanh
Level 3

Dear all,

Firmware of 2 tape drives are the same. We had updated same version for these tape drives when we replaced tape drive ID 1. We also run the IBM diagnostic but it don't show any hardware problem. This error occur occasionally, not frequent, about 1-2 weeks a times.

Thanks.

mph999
Level 6
Employee Accredited

Has this happened on a tape, that has only been written since the drive change.

or

Is it happening on tapes that were written when the drives were at the old firmware

Martin

tuannanh
Level 3

Dear all,

 

Now, my company have plan replace the chasis include robotic for this TS3100. Please guide how to replace it step by step. Note: this TS3100 have 02 tape drive.

 

Thanks.