Mario,
So, if I understand this correctly, the primary storage pool is LTO4,
and the copy storage pool is LTO4, and so the whole "backup stgpool" is
straight tape to tape.  Is that correct?

When you say the process becomes "idle" for 20 minutes, how can you tell
it is idle?  Do you mean the number of bytes copied doesn't get any
bigger?  The total byte count only gets updated at the end of each
aggregated file.  That is, if the copy stream hits a 300GB single file,
then the copy will proceed to copy that file as fast as tape performance
permits, but the total byte count won't increase until that huge file
completes.  And a multi-hundred GB file could easily take 20 minutes or
more.

Next time you catch it in this state, look at the size of the current
file, and do the arithmetic.  Is it possible that is what you are
seeing?

If you can look at the tape drives themselves, you can tell if the tape
drives themselves are reading and writing, or sitting idle, can't you? 
I suspect that the tape drives will be buzzing away, even though it
seems like you aren't making progress.

If I have misunderstood, and you can tell that the drives are really
idle, then I would look at drive firmware next, then at IBMtape drivers.
 Make sure you are up-to-date  We have 6 TSM Windows servers with IBM
libraries and drives, and we are not seeing the symptom you describe,
that is, periods of actual stalled backup stgpools.

Feel free to contact me offline if you have not done the firmware and
driver updates before, and need any assistance.


Best Regards,
 
 John D. Schneider
 The Computer Coaching Community, LLC
 Office: (314) 635-5424 / Toll Free: (866) 796-9226
 Cell: (314) 750-8721
 
 
  -------- Original Message --------
Subject: [ADSM-L] Backup Stgpool using 2 drives taking too long
From: Mario Behring <mariobehring AT YAHOO DOT COM>
Date: Mon, August 03, 2009 1:34 pm
To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU

Hi list,

The environment is TSM Server 5.5 running on a Windows 2003 box with a
IBM ULT3580-TD4 SCSI (2 drives) connected.

There is a backup stgpool process running on background for more than 12
hours (several schedules were missed during this time).

The process is using both drives, one reading the data and the other
writing, as expected. The problem is that, at some point, both drives
stay IDLE for more than 20 minutes...then start reading/writing again
(for a short time I might add).

The process would be long over by now if this was not happening...what
could be wrong and how can I put the drives to work non-stop, if
possible...??

Any process that uses both drives in this fashion, like an EXPORT for
example, is behaving the same way...

Thanks

Mario