An update:
We had another drive/sled go to a failed state. I was able to open the
library and reset the drive and, so far, its working again. We've also had a
severity 1 email sent about a failed robotics control unit which is working
fine. ADIC support is checking into both issues...
We had the same issue with delivery - no loading dock and wouldn't fit
through the doors. ADIC had us refuse delivery and rescheduled for a time
when they could have a tech here to unpack everything. They'll be doing the
same for our expansion module that should be here on Tuesday...
As far as the Adaptec issues, I also had problems with the drivers not
syncing properly with Exabyte M2 drives. The old driver included with Win2K
seems to work well here...
-----Original Message-----
From: McDougal, Philip H [mailto:PMcDougal AT jenner DOT com]
Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2003 10:15 AM
To: Legato NetWorker discussion; Willeat, Todd
Subject: RE: [Networker] Anyone using an ADIC Scalar i2000
The Product:
I agree, the unit seems nice. As for the noise, it's not nearly as loud as
the Compaq TL895 I used to have ;-) so I'm happy there. I had encountered 1
DOA tape unit (out of 6) and then a week later another one failed (LTO-2).
It was quite a nuisance also, since it failed over the weekend which is our
only backup window. But for the last week, so far so good. I had some
issues with the 39160 cards and the library though. I installed the cards
with the included CD and drivers and while everything was okay, the tech
told me there was an issue with the cards, LTO-2 and that driver version and
I had to turn down the bus speed in the scsi bios to 80MB/S instead of the
160. Fine, whatever. I called Adaptec and they gave me the "latest and
greatest" and of course it blue screened my machine (Win2K SP4). After a
few days of frustration, and a case call to Adaptec, I have the new "latest"
driver and it works fine with the bus speeds back up to 160. I am now
seeing the promised speeds of between 25 and 40MB/S native.
Support:
The engineers that came to install it seemed like this was the first time
they saw one. First off, the unit arrived without a technician to unpack it
from the crate and our dock doors were 3 inches smaller than the unit on the
pallet. Needless to say, it took me 2 hours to get approval to get if off
the pallet so I can bring it into our office without voiding the warranty.
Frustrating, but I digress ;-)
The techs were very nice but I thought they would be more knowledgeable.
They were very diligent and not only had 3 techs here onsite but were in
constant communications with the engineers in Redmond and Denver to solve
the issue. I just thought they should know more of the ins and outs of the
box and the OS's they are attaching them to.
Sales:
This was also my first experience with ADIC and it was quite pleasant. The
sales people were knowledgeable about the system and weren't throwing tech
specs in my face or calling me every 2 hours but they answered my questions
in a timely fashion or got me a response from an engineer when I needed one
on the weekend. The only thing I had issues with was the 220V 30A power
requirements which we weren't made aware of when the engineer was here and
told where the library would be located. Not a big deal to get an
electrician to run a new outlet but it could have been installed before the
unit arrived.
There are some things I find annoying.
1. When closing the door, the unit does an automatic inventory. But the
inventory on the GUI takes 5-10 minutes to be updated.
2. There are 3 buttons on the GUI that show you the exact same info. The
Cooling button is quite annoying. It would be nice if it would give details
to library/fan/drive temps or something. But it gives you the System Status
which only tells you about robotic movements and info related to the robot
or the drives.
Overall, I really like it so far. My throughput has been fantastic which
has allowed me to stop babysitting the jobs, tapes and drives. Some of the
features I thought were good for me were...
1. Not only did they give us the expansion module, but they also gave us an
additional slots to use at no additional charge. (luckily, we had enough
space for it)
2. It's Quiet (compared to my old library) and fast.
3. Notifications from the GUI about drive status or library status (came in
handy when the drive failed on a Saturday night) and can display and email
events or stats.
4. The virtual partitioning of the drives and slots.
I hope this helps others one way or the other if they are looking into new
libraries.
Regards,
Phil McDougal
-----Original Message-----
From: Willeat, Todd [mailto:TWilleat AT MHP.SMHS DOT COM]
Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2003 5:55 PM
To: NETWORKER AT LISTMAIL.TEMPLE DOT EDU
Subject: Re: [Networker] Anyone using an ADIC Scalar i2000
OK, I've had my i2000 for a week now, so here are my thoughts...
The Product:
So far, the library seems nice. I really like the interface and the remote
console software looks exactly like the touchscreen. The robotics seem
pretty quick and have worked perfectly so far. However, its pretty loud when
it grabs a tape. According to the engineer that installed it, that's just
the clips locking onto the tape and is normal. Since this is my first
experience with LTO-2, I'll have to trust him... The only other problem I've
had was a drive/drive-sled that went bad after 3 days (Friday night, of
course). Unfortunately, this basically locked up my entire Fibre Channel
bus, preventing access to everything. Once it was replaced, everything
worked normally again.
Support:
The engineers that installed it seemed fairly knowledgable and got it
working pretty quickly. The engineers that replaced the drive took much
longer than I would expect (2hrs?!?), but I think they wanted to test (and
learn) everything since its still new to them. They did not have a drive
available in St. Louis, so an engineer from Kansas City got one there and
drove over 200 miles to St. Louis to replace it. I also got a call from an
engineer in Minneapolis that was going to fly to St. Louis to replace it. I
let him know that someone was coming from KC and he said he would call the
KC engineer to see which one (or both ??) of them would be coming. I guess
this is why support contracts cost so much...
Sales:
This was my first ADIC purchase, so I hope this isn't the norm for them. The
library didn't ship until over a month after it was supposed to. They kept
asking if they could ship early, but without the I/O blade. I told them that
was fine as long as they brought the I/O blade for the installation. Then
they told me that waiting for the I/O blade to be installed before shipping
would be faster. In talking with the pre-sales engineer, I found that
redundant power was an option. After a couple days, they finally agreed to
give us the redundant power at no charge since they "did not make it clear
that it was an option" (i.e. - all they ever mentioned was 2N power -
BEWARE!). Of course, when we received the library, the redundant power was
NOT included. They ended up overnighting it to us...
Hopefully this is helpful to you...
-----Original Message-----
From: Rodriguez, Jane [mailto:JRodriguez AT verisign DOT com]
Sent: Thursday, July 03, 2003 4:14 PM
To: 'Legato NetWorker discussion'; Willeat, Todd
Subject: RE: [Networker] Anyone using an ADIC Scalar i2000
Please keep us posted on your success. I too am looking at the i2000 and
the SpectraLogic's Gator 64K. I haven't made up my mind yet but I am
leaning towards the i2000 because I can run it with two different drive
types, thereby moving to new media less painfully.
-----Original Message-----
From: Willeat, Todd [mailto:TWilleat AT MHP.SMHS DOT COM]
Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2003 7:53 AM
To: NETWORKER AT LISTMAIL.TEMPLE DOT EDU
Subject: Re: [Networker] Anyone using an ADIC Scalar i2000
We just ordered a Scalar i2000 and should have it running in a few weeks. We
compared it to IBM's 3584, STK's L700e, and SpectraLogic's Gator 64K. The
built-in intelligence and monitoring is what put it over the top for us...
-----Original Message-----
From: McDougal, Philip H [mailto:PMcDougal AT JENNER DOT COM]
Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2003 9:07 AM
To: NETWORKER AT LISTMAIL.TEMPLE DOT EDU
Subject: [Networker] Anyone using an ADIC Scalar i2000
Hello all!
I have recently 'extorted' some funds from the budget for a new tape
library. I have been looking at the Adic Scalar i2000. Of course, sales
reps and Adic engineers are always biased, so I thought I'd see if anyone on
this list might have some experience with one (pros/cons). I've also been
looking at HP's ESL9322. Does anyone have a preference to either one of the
above mentioned libraries.
Thanks in advance for any input or advice.
Regards,
Philip McDougal II
Data Center x6275
Work: 1-312-222-9350 x3276
Cell: 1-312-622-4832
Pager: 1-877-803-2940
Email pmcdougal AT jenner DOT com
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