RE: BRMS with SAS Tape MLB -- MIDRANGE-L

To all,

Below is our FC config.

3573 library attached to 2 LPARS via Brocade 300 SAN fiber switch, with 8 gb ports.
Fiber switch configured using zones, each drive in its own zone, so each LPAR can see all four drives.
We also used the 2nd port on the 577D, each LPAR has two connections to the FC switch, for redundancy and load balancing.

2 drives per port of the 577D IOA.
All 4 drives with control paths.

SYSA IOPA Port1 sees both PORT5 TAPE1 and PORT6 TAPE2.
SYSA IOPA Port2 sees both PORT7 TAPE3 and PORT8 TAPE4.
SYSB IOPB Port1 sees both PORT5 TAPE1 and Port6 TAPE2.
SYSB IOPB Port2 sees both PORT7 TAPE3 and Port8 TAPE4.

Below are some LTO5 vs LTO7 performance comparsisons.

BRMS AutoDup saw the biggest savings.
BRMS Save was next.
BRMS RSTLIBBRM saw the least savings.
The DASD subsystem is also a significant factor.
Both systems basically idle when all tape jobs were run, little or no impact from other jobs.
With the added 4X capacity of the LTO7 volumes, all active LTO7 volumes (12 years' worth) can remain in the library.
No need to manually load a tape for any restore.
LTO5 LTO7
Production LPAR P7 740 82051-E6C
V7R1 Latest CUM, TR11
155 gb mem
1.5 CPU
5913 PCIe2 1.8GB Cache RAID SAS Adapter Tri-port 6Gb
100% SSD
Disk response time - 2 ms no wait time
577D 8 Gigabit PCI Express Dual Port Fibre Channel Adapter

BRMS FULL SAVE While Active (approx. 2.4 tb) 2 hour 15 minutes 1 hour 15 minutes
BRMS AutoDup for above (252 seq) 5 hours 2 hour
BRMS RSTLIBBRM (534 gb) 43 minutes
BRMS AutoDup for full LTO5 volume 10 hours 4 hours 45 minutes

R&D LPAR P7 740 8205-E6C
V7R1 Latest CUM, TR11
80 gb mem
1.0 CPU
5913 PCIe2 1.8GB Cache RAID SAS Adapter Tri-port 6Gb
100% 10k spiny
Disk response time - 8 ms 1 ms wait time
577D 8 Gigabit PCI Express Dual Port Fibre Channel Adapter

BRMS Incremental SAVE While Active (approx. 2tb) 3 hour 10 minutes 1 hour 55 minutes
BRMS AutoDup for above (131 seq) 3 hours 10 minutes 2 hour 10 minutes
BRMS 20 RSTLIBBRM (1 tb) 2 hrous 20 minutes 1 hour 54 minutes

Paul

-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Erik Dabrowsky
Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2017 11:27 AM
To: 'Midrange Systems Technical Discussion'
Subject: RE: BRMS with SAS Tape MLB

Rob, Steve, Paul,

Just thought I'd give a follow up in case anyone was curious.

Using a fibrechannel switch did the trick. I'm running a single fc cable from the 5774 FC HBA to the switch, then two cables from the switch into the tape library.
After that, it shows up as I would expect (in WRKMLBSTS and SST) as a tape library with two tape devices associated with it.

Based on these observations, here are my conclusions:

If you plug the tape drives in the library directly into the FC HBA, and the library is configured with just one control path and one logical library, it shows up as a tape library with one tape device and a standalone tape device.
If you enable the control path option on both drives (still just one logical library), it will show up as two tape libraries each with one drive.

If you plug one cable from the FC HBA into the switch, and then run a cable from each drive in the library to the switch, you get a single library with multiple drives in it.
If you plug two cables from the FC HBA into the switch, it will appear as two libraries each with one drive in it (even though the library is configured with one logical library and one control path).

With SAS and a cable to each drive (no SAS switch) it appears to work as you would expect where it shows up as a single library with two drives (assuming the library is configured for one logical library and one control path).

Thanks,
Erik Dabrowsky

-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Steinmetz, Paul
Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2017 7:34 PM
To: 'Midrange Systems Technical Discussion'
Subject: RE: BRMS with SAS Tape MLB

Erik,

Do a WRKMLBSTS.

Screen should look similar to this.
Mine will look different.
I have a fiber switch with 2 LPARS.

Device/ Job
Resource Status Allocation name
TAPMLB01 VARIED ON
TAP02 OPERATIONAL UNPROTECTED
TAP01 OPERATIONAL UNPROTECTED
TAP04 OPERATIONAL UNPROTECTED
TAP03 OPERATIONAL UNPROTECTED
TAPMLB02 VARIED OFF

If you made any changes, either recycle the library and/or the IOA to ensure it reports it with the updated changes.
If recycleing the IOA, ensure on disks attached to the IOA that controls the library.

QSYS/WRKHDWRSC TYPE(*STG)

CMB03 577D-001 Operational Storage Controller
DC02 577D-001 Operational Storage Controller
TAPMLB02 3573-040 Operational Tape Library
TAPMLB01 3573-040 Operational Tape Library

Paul

-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Erik Dabrowsky
Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2017 7:41 PM
To: 'Midrange Systems Technical Discussion'
Subject: RE: BRMS with SAS Tape MLB

Steve,

Number of logical libraries is currently set to 1 and library mode is set to random.

I have the control path option checked only for drive number 1 at this time.

Here's how it's showing up in SST/Hardware Service Manager:

Logical Hardware Resources Associated with IOP

Type options, press Enter.

2=Change detail 4=Remove 5=Display detail 6=I/O debug

7=Verify 8=Associated packaging resource(s)

Resource

Opt Description Type-Model Status Name

Virtual IOP 5774-001 Operational CMB06

Storage IOA 5774-001 Operational DC03

Tape Unit 3580-003 Operational TAP02

Tape Library 3573-040 Operational TAPMLB13

Tape Unit 3580-003 Operational TAP01

The one that's appearing as a standalone drive is drive number 2.

Should I try doing a factory reset on the tape library?

Thanks,

Erik Dabrowsky

-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Steve Pavlichek
Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2017 5:56 PM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: RE: BRMS with SAS Tape MLB

Sounds like you have the tape library configured as 2 virtual libraries and one of them is in sequential mode. You will need to change the TS3200 config to be just a single library with both drives. This can be done via the front panel but is easier via the GUI.

From: Erik Dabrowsky< <mailto:erik.dabrowsky@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
mailto:erik.dabrowsky@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2017 6:38 PM

To: 'Midrange Systems Technical Discussion'< <mailto:midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx> mailto:midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>

Subject: RE: BRMS with SAS Tape MLB

Thanks Rob.

I was able to get parallel saves done with the SAS attached tape library. I just had to tell BRMS to use TAPMLB01 and set min/max devices to 2.

Now I'm trying a TS3200 with two fibrechannel drives on a different system, and things look a bit different.

I'm trying to get it to appear as a single library with two drives.

I have both tape drives in the library connected directly to a 5774 HBA on the iSeries.

It's showing up as a tape library with one drive in it and the other tape drive is appearing as a standalone drive.

I tried enabling the control path for both drives and after that it shows up as two tape libraries each with one drive in it.

Do I need to use a fibrechannel switch?

Thanks,

Erik Dabrowsky

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