Kent,

I don't think your problem is block size settings at all. You have spent
a lot of effort in diagnosing the problem based on the text of the error
messages, but you have shown that 128KB block sizes are being written to
the tape, so this is probably not the problem.

The clue is that the Windows storage node reports the error. Whatever
the block size setting for this, it should consistently write the same
block size. Also, the block size issue is not usually a problem with the
Emulex fibre HBA on Windows, its driver has quite a high limit (512KB?)
on block size.

What I think you are seeing is some kind of error in communication on
your SAN. There are many possible causes of this, but it is likely that
it is caused by other machines connected to the SAN, perhaps sending bus
resets or other packets. These types of problems are difficult to track
down, but you can help by setting up zoning on your SAN. I suspect part
of your problem is that you are using the same HBA for disk and tape, it
could be that communications to your disks are interfering with tape
communications.

Sorry not to be able to be specific, but it should help you to know that
it is probably not block size settings causing the problem. The message
you are seeing means that it is reading back a block of an unexpected
size, and that is probably caused by a SAN based error.

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