We've been having the same problem with drive discovery.  In our case it's a
problem with Linux vs Netbackup SSO.  If the drive is reserved by another
server, then Linux doesn't identify the drive as reserved, it seems to ident
it as down or similar.  It then doesn't build the drive into the sg & st
links.

Since the Linux start routines for volume manager runs this discovery every
time, it rebuilds the links every time and various drives come and go.

I opened a ticket with Veritas/Symmantec and after bopping around inside
their org for a couple of days the response was basically, "Yep, that's the
way it works".  The official work-around is to quiesce every drive, identify
the drives, then comment the discovery part out of the start routines so it
doesn't do it every time.

I stared at it awhile and managed to build in the missing drives by hand.
Theoretically it's possible to do that every boot so you don't have to mess
with the editing the discovery stuff out (and potentially having it replaced
every upgrade & patch).

We're also having driver issues with our LTO drives on the v20 Sun Opteron
boxes.  The moment the data starts to flow, the box crashes.  I don't blame
Veritas on this, just adding it here for good measure.

Right now, I'd not suggest Linux for anything other than a dedicated drive
arrangement (no shared drives).

-M

-----Original Message-----
From: veritas-bu-admin AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu
[mailto:veritas-bu-admin AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu]On Behalf Of Jeff
Lightner
Sent: Wednesday, October 05, 2005 6:57 AM
To: Jerry; veritas mailing list
Subject: RE: [Veritas-bu] Linux as a master/media server


We attempted to use Linux (RedHat EL AS 3) as a media server for our
setup which is SAN using Connectrix and Surestore to an L700.
Unfortunately it doesn't seem to discover all the drives correctly so we
gave up and do network backups on it.   This despite the fact we were
able to get the Linux server to access the Clariion array storage over
the fibre SAN. 

Oddly enough the other night I attended the local Unix users group
meeting which has many of the same members as the local Linux users
group.   I asked about this very issue and was told that Linux doesn't
do well with fibre.   They said that it appears that it recognizes
devices by a very specific array of information so subtle differences
such as the firmware level on one device can make it undiscoverable.

I'm not saying it's impossible but it appears that unless you buy an out
of the box solution designed specifically for Linux you may not be able
to do it.  I think Dell may sell this as in our installation they were
surprised to find out we weren't going to be using their library.   They
do have documentation for how to setup their library for Linux.

-----Original Message-----
From: veritas-bu-admin AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu
[mailto:veritas-bu-admin AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu] On Behalf Of Jerry
Sent: Wednesday, October 05, 2005 12:09 AM
To: veritas mailing list
Subject: [Veritas-bu] Linux as a master/media server

I'm considering replacing my aging Solaris box with a
Linux system.  Does anyone have any opinions on how
well Veritas supports Linux as a Master server, Media
server, or both.  In the past it seemed some features
were only available in Solaris, but I can't recall
specifics.

Currently I have an L700e with ACSLS for library
control.  I'm especially interested in any of the tape
drive whackiness that might exist in Linux since
Veritas is relatively new to Veritas on Linux
(compared to Solaris).

How about mixing media/master servers.... keeping my
master server as a Solaris box, with Linux media servers???


                
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