ADSM-L

Re: [ADSM-L] Looking for SAN/tape experts assistance

2010-10-18 16:58:38
Subject: Re: [ADSM-L] Looking for SAN/tape experts assistance
From: "Hart, Charles A" <charles_hart AT UHC DOT COM>
To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
Date: Mon, 18 Oct 2010 15:57:55 -0500
This may be a dumb  response but this behavior is similar in Windows and
or Solaris, I thought if the person that zoned the device enabled
persistent binding these devices would not re-order on but as it scans
the FC.  

Did I completely miss it? 

-----Original Message-----
From: ADSM: Dist Stor Manager [mailto:ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU] On Behalf Of
giblackwood
Sent: Monday, October 18, 2010 1:26 PM
To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
Subject: [ADSM-L] Looking for SAN/tape experts assistance

Mr Forray,

I know a lot about this problem you are dealing with.  My name is George
Blackwood.  I was a Systems Engineer with IBM for 30 years.  Among other
things, I was a SAN, tape, and TSM specialist.  I have been retired for
2 years, 1 month.  I have my own consulting business doing what I did
when I was an IBMer.

When Linux is rebooted (RedHat, SLES, whatever), it will scan and
re-discover its SCSI and FCP (Fibre Channel Protocol) tape resources
without regard of what it knew about those same devices before the
reboot (this is not the case with some UNIX systems).

So, unless you have one changer and one tape drive, you have no
guarantee that the Linux device numbers will be the same after reboot.
So, chances are IBMtape0 will be IBMtape20 the next time you reboot.

IBM's answer is to set "SANDISCOVERY ON".  This works sometimes for a
small number of drives (under 20), and will sometimes work for more.
But after 18 months of being in and out of IBM PMRs and "CritSits", I
have given up on sandiscovery to fix this issue.

I wrote a BASH script to fix this issue.  A current customer of mine has
8 RedHat Linux servers sharing 12 TSM instances (we can move them around
as need be).  Two instances are Library Managers.  All instances have
access to 4 EMC EDLs.  Each EDL has 80 drives.  So that comes to 3890
drives paths, plus 4 Library paths to maintain.

The script I wrote discovers what TSM instances (Library Servers and
Clients) are running on a given Linux server that has just been
rebooted.  It compensates for any drives that may be mounted, or any
Libraries that are in use, and re-defines all the Library and drive
paths for any TSM instance on a given Linux server.

So if one of the 8 servers needs to be rebooted, the script is run on
that server after reboot.  There is no need to unmount and quiesce
Libraries.  The only requirement is the Library Managers must be up.
The script will also find what drives are in a SCSI reserve "lock out".
And, it is safe to be run during full production time.

I can give you a few pointers to write a similar script (for free), or
for a fee, write it for you.  I guarantee my work.

George Blackwood
Blackwood Data Protection Consulting, LLC
785-218-9961
georgeblackwood AT sunflower DOT com

+----------------------------------------------------------------------
|This was sent by georgeblackwood AT sunflower DOT com via Backup Central.
|Forward SPAM to abuse AT backupcentral DOT com.
+----------------------------------------------------------------------

This e-mail, including attachments, may include confidential and/or
proprietary information, and may be used only by the person or entity
to which it is addressed. If the reader of this e-mail is not the intended
recipient or his or her authorized agent, the reader is hereby notified
that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is
prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the
sender by replying to this message and delete this e-mail immediately.