Re: Exabyte VXA-2 PacketLoader

Progress.

My main problem was the library is at sg3 not sg6. sg6 is the tape drive...duh !

My next problem was that the scsi driver for the symbios scsi card did not work correctly on this alpha/linux server. I was using the newer -2 driver, but now reverting back to the ncr driver. I might try the symbios-1 driver. It is nice to have a choice with Linux, but this problem is hard to diagnose.

Now the problem is unloading the previous tape and loading the next. It seems when I issue a

amtape new slot next

or

amtape new slot eject

or

amtape new slot 7 (if going from slot 6)

I get the following error message to the console:

amtape: could not load slot 6: Unloading Data Transfer Element into Storage Element 6...mtx: Request Sense: Long Report=yes

Then I must repeat the command again. It actually unloads, but then does not load the next tape. It could be a timing problem of some sort.

I also have to manually issue a "mt -f /dev/nst1 rewind" command that the end of the amlabel command prior to the amtape new eject.

Just a little rough. I need to get this into production mode for someone who knows little about linux just to load tapes, etc.

On Wed, 2005-02-02 at 13:38 -0500, James D. Freels wrote:

I finally have time to work on this new tape drive (vxa-2-packet-loader). I am having difficulty since this is my first autoload-type system. I have amanda running fine for years with a single manually-loaded tape drive. Here are a few questions:

1) it appears that I must get mtx to respond correctly as a first step. My drive is /dev/nst1 (/dev/nst0 is the other manually-loaded drive). The loader is at /dev/sg6 (several other scsi devices on the system including the tape drive itself). I have bar codes on 10 tapes and 10 tapes imported. I have one tape from slot 1 loaded into the drive. No cleaner is in the loader at this time (keep it simple).

If I issue "mtx -f /dev/sg6 inquiry" I get

Product Type: Tape Drive
Vendor ID: 'EXABYTE '
Product ID: 'VXA-2 '
Revision: '2100'
Attached Changer: No

If I issue "mtx -f /dev/sg6 status" I get

mtx: Request Sense: Long Report=yes
mtx: Request Sense: Valid Residual=no
mtx: Request Sense: Error Code=70 (Current)
mtx: Request Sense: Sense Key=Illegal Request
mtx: Request Sense: FileMark=no
mtx: Request Sense: EOM=no
mtx: Request Sense: ILI=no
mtx: Request Sense: Additional Sense Code = 20
mtx: Request Sense: Additional Sense Qualifier = 00
mtx: Request Sense: BPV=no
mtx: Request Sense: Error in CDB=no
mtx: Request Sense: SKSV=no
READ ELEMENT STATUS Command Failed

So, what is wrong here ?

2) My /etc/amanda/new/changer file looks like

firstslot=1
lastslot=10
cleanslot=-1
driveslot=0
havereader=1
autoclean=0
poll_drive_ready=10
max_drive_wait=240
initial_poll_delay=10

Is this right ?

3) "amtape new reset" give me

amtape: could not reset changer: no slots available

I think nothing at the AMANDA level will work until I get the lower levels working correctly, no ?

Something missing somewhere.

Here is the output from sginfo -l

/dev/sda /dev/sdb /dev/sdc /dev/nst0 /dev/nst1
/dev/sg0 [=/dev/sda scsi0 ch=0 id=0 lun=0]
/dev/sg1 [=/dev/sdb scsi0 ch=0 id=1 lun=0]
/dev/sg2 [=/dev/sdc scsi0 ch=0 id=2 lun=0]
/dev/sg3 [scsi0 ch=0 id=3 lun=0]
/dev/sg4 [scsi0 ch=0 id=4 lun=0]
/dev/sg5 [=/dev/nst0 scsi0 ch=0 id=5 lun=0]
/dev/sg6 [=/dev/nst1 scsi0 ch=0 id=6 lun=0]

On Fri, 2004-12-17 at 11:52 +0100, . wrote:
Joe Benson schrieb:

> Has anyone had any experience running Amanda with the Exabyte VXA-2 
> PacketLoader?

The changer device can be controlled with the mtx program, tape drive 
seems to be a common VXA2/V23 device on which mt and tar can be used. 
Amtapetype yields unusable results for the tape length and a filemark 
size of 0, though.

I´m just now trying to set up amanda with the Packetloader, getting an 
error message:


backup@prometheus:~$ /usr/sbin/amlabel condor condor-01 slot 1
amlabel: could not load slot "1": changerdev (/dev/null) may not be the 
null device


The config file for the changer (chg-zd-mtx) is as follows:


number_configs	1
eject		1	# Tapedrives need an eject command
sleep		60	# Seconds to wait until the tape gets ready
cleanmax	20 	# How many times could a cleaning tape get used
changerdev 	/dev/sg1
#
# Next comes the data for drive 0
#
config		0
drivenum	0
dev		/dev/nst0	# the device that is used for the tapedrive 0
startuse	0	# The slots associated with the drive 0
enduse		9	#
statfile 	/var/lib/amanda/tape-slot  # The file where the actual slot is 
stored
cleancart	10	# the slot where the cleaningcartridge for drive 0 is located
cleanfile	/var/lib/amanda/tape-clean # The file where the cleanings are 
recorded
usagecount	/var/lib/amanda/totaltime

#
# This is the end


Any ideas? The ´changerdev´ is set to /dev/sg1, but amanda seems to 
think it is /dev/null? Why?


GH