Veritas-bu

[Veritas-bu] tape eject after backup - a script that might work for you too....

2000-11-30 19:28:35
Subject: [Veritas-bu] tape eject after backup - a script that might work for you too....
From: Joshua Fielden jfielden AT excitecorp DOT com
Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2000 16:28:35 -0800
On Thu, Nov 30, 2000 at 03:32:22PM -0600, John_Wang AT enron DOT net spake unto 
the multitudes:
> 
> Seems to be a pretty good library though the 18 slot mail slot doesn't have a
> detachable carrier.   Would've been nice if all 18 cartridges could be pulled
> from the drawer and swapped with another carrier but that doesn't seem to be 
> the
> case.    

Yes. :(

> Also the drawer doesn't seem to have any locks on it so it is possible
> to pull the drawer out before the robot is really prepared to let you have it
> and you wind up with an annoying alarm sounding off.
> 

The drawer does have locks -- I've never seen this problem. Maybe you should 
take it up with ADIC? The padlock LED is for just this purpose.

> Although the picker seems to move very fast, there's a noticeable time delay
> between when I issue a command and when the arm starts to move.   Also, I'm 
> not
> conviced that speed is really an issue with an automation product i.e.: any
> speed is better than paging me at night for a tape change.
> 

When you put 14TB/week through one, and are injecting/ejecting on a 3hour 
rotation, it helps. :)

> The unit has a marketing mode where it just moves the arm around and looks 
> busy
> during which the entire unit is offline and unusable.   Management and
> particularly sales types tend to leave the unit in marketing mode whenever 
> they
> can which is really annoying cause then no production can occur.    It 
> would've
> been nice if an actual request could interrupt marketing mode to service the
> request.
> 

My solution was to never tell them the library could do that. ;-)

> The keys for the front door is different from the keys for the back door.   A
> bit unnecessary in my opinion.
> 

Yes and no. We have operators on-site 24x7, who I want to have access to the 
cabinet -- "I have 20 tapes coming back from ARCUS in an hour for an emergency 
restore, and don't want to come in - go dump them in any empty slot". 
Unfortunately, the 'element move' feature is slow and hard to explain to 
Tier-2, so that's not an option. At the same time, I don't want them anywhere 
near my FCR's or SCSI busses, just in case -- all tucked away with the key in 
my desk.

> When power is dropped, the arm free falls to the bottom with the only drag 
> being
> that of the pulleys.   It would've been nice if the arm had been better 
> counter
> weighted or had some kind of brake to support it's weight in the power off
> situation, at least nicer than hearing that unsettling whine followed by a
> thunk.

Are you using the 'shutdown' procedure from the panel, or just pulling power 
after the JB is quieted?

-- 
"Any man page that includes the words "USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. BEWARE OF DOG. 
SLIPPERY WHEN WET" means trouble" - Michael Lucas
Joshua Fielden, Senior Systems Administrator and Backups Team Lead
eXcite@Home, Inc. jfielden AT excitecorp DOT com 650-556-3316