RE: LTO backup drive failing?

I performed an IPL over the weekend and the drive is functioning normally again. Hopefully it stays that way.

Thanks for everyone's input.

Bob Cagle
IT Manager
Lynk, Inc.

-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Steinmetz, Paul
Sent: Sunday, February 1, 2015 1:22 PM
To: 'Midrange Systems Technical Discussion'
Subject: RE: LTO backup drive failing?

Bob,

1) What is the status of below command? (should show varied on).

WRKCFGSTS CFGTYPE(*DEV) CFGD(TAP02)

2) If varied on, below is a quick test if the drive is at least communicating successfully.

DSPTAP DEV(TAP02) VOL(*MOUNTED) DATA(*SAVRST)

Paul



-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Bob Cagle
Sent: Saturday, January 31, 2015 12:27 PM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: RE: LTO backup drive failing?

1) PTFs current: No - on 7.1, but a bit behind on PTFs. Current level is 12279. Yes, I need to update. Was holding out hope for new 7.2 machine.

2) Did you try a different tape?: Yes

3) Vary off/on IOP reset *yes: Performed an IPL instead (again: very, very small shop) Will see if it had any effect come next backup (Monday morning)

4) Which LTO 3,4 or 5?: Not sure; does it really matter?

5) Fiber, SCSI, SAS?: SCSI

6) Tape firmware current?: Probably not; haven't updated it since I got it. Not sure how to even do that yet.

-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Steinmetz, Paul
Sent: Friday, January 30, 2015 3:50 PM
To: 'MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx'
Subject: RE: LTO backup drive failing?

1) PTFs current
2) Did you try a different tape?
3) Vary off/on IOP reset *yes, make sure no disks on same IOP
4) Which LTO 3,4 or 5?
5) Fiber, SCSI, SAS?
6) Tape firmware current?

Paul

-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Bob Cagle
Sent: Friday, January 30, 2015 12:04 PM
To: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: LTO backup drive failing?

I have an external IBM Ultrium LTO drive - 3580-003, attached to an i5 520 that I *think* might be failing. The last three mornings the backup job has been stuck in an EVTW status with the drive's activity light blinking. The job log shows that only the first library has been saved. My guess is that it's attempting to write the library to tape, but the tape is just spinning. The only thing I can think that I did different is that I actually cleaned it with a cleaning cartridge the day before this began. Yes, I've cleaned it before, with the same cartridge, about 6 months ago...

The backup job is just a CL that begins with SAVLIB *ALLUSR, then does a SAVDLO, SAVSECDTA, SAVCFG, and SAV. The backup normally takes around 3 hours to finish completely, but it is getting stuck on this first library for over 5 hours. (We're a really, really small shop)

There are no obvious errors that I can find. After some digging, I found the Service Action Log in the Hardware Service Manager of SST, and two NEW entries are shown here for both resource DC03 and TAP02 (which is the problem drive). So I guess that is proof that *something* is wrong.

My next step is to place a service request with IBM, but thought I would post here to see if anyone had any ideas what might be wrong. The tape drive was purchased used almost two years ago.

Thanks for any input.

Bob Cagle
IT Manager
Lynk, Inc.