Topic: SCSI Tape Drive Recogniiton Problems

[jahlewis]

I've recentely migrated my SME 6.0.1-01 server to new hardware.  I use a SCSI DLT tape drive, which worked fine on the old box.

On the new box, the BIOS recognizes the drive prior to linux boot.

Here's what I've done to activate the adaptec modules (which worked on the old box)

inserted into /etc/rc.d/rc.local:
# load DAT Tape Drive SCSI modules
insmod aic7xxx
insmod st

when I do a: /sbin/e-smith/do_backup I get:
Backup terminated: pre-backup failed - status: 256

Here is what is /ver/log/messages:
Apr 27 20:17:51 gluon kernel: (scsi1:A:5): 20.000MB/s transfers (10.000MHz, offset 15, 16bit)
Apr 27 20:17:51 gluon kernel: st0: Block limits 2 - 16777214 bytes.
Apr 27 20:17:51 gluon kernel: st0: Error with sense data: Current st09:00: sense key Hardware Error

So I tried to change the drive from ST0 to NST0 (which was what I did on the old box...):
/sbin/e-smith/db configuration setprop backup Device /dev/nst0
/sbin/e-smith/signal-event conf-backup
flexbackup -test-tape-drive

which continues to give input/output errors.

So in synopsis, the hardware recognizes the drive, but the software doesn't...

Any suggestions?  Thanks.

[smeghead]

hmm, based on the log messages it would seem that the h/w is unhappy (sense error), are you sure this drive H/A combo is terminated properly?

It might pay to load up 6.5RC1 or 7a5 on another HDD and see what drivers they load and how they recognise the tape.

If you have several cards in the box you may need to paly around with the order somewhat; this changes the cards assigned IRQ on the PCI bus.  I have built a system before that used every slot and it took a whole w/e to get the hardware order correct and the software load order correct.

HTH

[jahlewis]

Turns out it was the drive that was bad...

Word of warning, if you own a dlt drive, don't power it down and up with a tape installed.  This is what I was doing when switching between servers, and then troubleshooting.  I found that warning in the manual... buried.

now I'm getting strange noises and flashing lights...

What are you all using to backup now? 20-40 gigs...

-JL