StorageTek FibreChannel 9840 Tape Configuration
HPSS Operational Service Bulletin
Date: 8/11/00
Rel./Patch: AllSubject: Configuration of fiberchannel StorageTek 9840 tape drives
Summary:
If the fiberchannel (FC) version of the StorageTek 9840 Eagle tape drive is connected to an IBM RS/6000 host via an IBM PCI FC adapter, a number of configuration issues arise, mostly having to do with device drivers.
Detailed Description:
Four FC StorageTek 9840 Eagle tape drives were tested on an IBM RS/6000 model S80. These drives have native FC interfaces; they are not SCSI drives with copper interfaces attached to a SCSI-to-FC converter.
The S80 has an IBM Gigabit Fiber Channel PCI adapter (feature code 6227, type 4-S). All four tape drives, plus the 6227 adapter, were connected via pure fiber to a FC hub (StorageNet Fibre Channel Hub 1000, from StorageTek). The S80 is running AIX 4.3.3 with most of the latest PTFs.
The various configuration scenarios were:
With the IBM FC drivers for AIX alone (no Gresham/OMI drivers), normal autoconfiguration of the 9840s succeeds. The drives are configured in the order of their FC PA addresses (set via the menu buttons on back of the drives). Attempts to do manual reconfiguration to change device names failed. SMIT is not able to manually add a drive. The drives are usable, but the added OMI driver functionality is missing.
With the OMI SCSI driver, version 1.7.4, added to the IBM FC drivers, autoconfiguration of the 9840s fails. Drives are configured, but left in a "Defined" state. Attempts to make the drives "Available" fail. Attempts to manually configure the drives fail. The drives are unusable. This is especially bad, because this is probably the first scenario that would be tried by most HPSS sites installing these drives.
The IBM 6227 adapter is actually an Emulex LP7000 FC adapter resold by IBM. Drivers written by Emulex are available for free, and work on AIX systems. The latest driver, version 3.3.9.19, was downloaded from the Emulex ftp site and installed on the S80 (after removing the IBM drivers). The Emulex driver allowed SCSI IDs to be assigned to drive PAs via an ASCII configuration file. Once this was done, manual configuration with mkdev was needed to configure the drives. The OMI driver works, because the Emulex driver makes the 9840s appear to be SCSI drives. It was noted that upon reboot, the tape devices were still defined, but not "Available". A startup script may be necessary to make the devices available after reboot.
It was learned that a new OMI driver with FC support was available from Gresham. A demo copy was downloaded (version 2.0.0.3) and installed with the IBM drivers (the Emulex driver was removed). The new OMI driver in conjunction with the IBM drivers allows the 9840s to be manually configured as "fcp" devices instead of "scsi" devices. Again, rebooting caused the devices to be in a "Defined" state, so a startup script may be needed to complete configuration.
The drives were successfully tested in HPSS using the third and fourth of these scenarios. It is believed that the Emulex driver may provide some advantages, because it also supports the Emulex LP8000 (the 64-bit version of the LP7000), provides flexibility via its ASCII configuration file, and provides two very useful FC diagnostic utilities.
For more information contact: Dan Million, milliondl@ornl.gov, 865 574-4256