Backup Central

About this issue maybe can help you the following:

With 2.4.29 being the latest (and most stable) stable kernel, we have to
wonder why so many major distros are still shipping with 2.4.21 or 2.4.22
kernels.

At this point, all we can offer is this: if you are using SCSI tape drives
under Linux with a 2.4 kernel, the use of a kernel prior to 2.4.24 will
result in SCSI errors and failed tape I/O operations. This has been tested
with tar, cpio, dd, and afio with the same results - 2.4.23 and earlier
kernels still have serious SCSI tape I/O flaws that will affect your backups
(and more importantly, your restores).

For a quick step-by-step guide in Linux Kernel building, visit: Adding a
secondary kernel to your Linux system

Additionally, folks using Adaptec controllers should be aware that the
aic7xxx_old driver is actually more stable for use with tape drives than the
default aic7xxx driver. If you are receiving SCSI errors under 2.4.24+,
please try using the aic7xxx_old driver. Other options include replacing the
Adaptec controller with an Advansys if you only require Ultra Wide
connectivity, or an ATTO Technologies UL3S for Ultra 160 performance. For
most single tape drive scenarios, the Advansys or similar Symbios-based card
will work fine, but for multiple tape drive configurations, configurations
that include LTO-2, LTO-3, AIT-4, SAIT, or SDLT drives, the Ultra 160 ATTO
UL3S is the better solution.

That you can find at follow: http://www.linuxtapecert.org/

-----Messaggio originale-----
Da: Legato NetWorker discussion [mailto:NETWORKER < at > LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU] Per
conto di Carl Bergmann
Inviato: giovedì 7 aprile 2005 8.59
A: NETWORKER < at > LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU
Oggetto: Re: [Networker] Red Hat Adaptec driver

I'v used the 6.3.9 driver from adaptec for 3 months now. Most scsi-bus
reset and errors (that I hav with 6.2.36) has gone. Another thing to do
is to disable CDI on the jukebox-devices.
You can download the source-code for the 6.3.9 driver from adaptec and
the make the driver to the latest kernel (I.m running RHEL Es. V3u4
kernel 2.4.21-27.Elsmp). Remember to make a new initrd image otherwise
you will get the old driver at boot.
P.s. You can also ger the source-code for 2.6 kernel so you are able to
run on RHEL ESv4
Carl Bergmann
Risoe Nat. Lab
DK

-----Original Message-----
From: Dave Mussulman [mailto:mussulma < at > CS.UIUC.EDU]
Sent: 6. april 2005 18:43
To: NETWORKER < at > LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU
Subject: Re: [Networker] Red Hat Adaptec driver


On Tue, Apr 05, 2005 at 09:05:06AM -0600, Librado Pamintuan wrote:
Hello all,

The new driver for the Adapter 39160 (v6.3.9) is now available on
Adaptec website. There are several rpm package available for various
release of Red Hat.

Question is:
Did someone already used and applied this driver? are there any
improvement or does it poses new problems/errors?

In particular, I'm running Red Hat ES 3 on Linux O/S (Intel server),
Legato NetWorker v7.1.2

There were some recent posts (maybe January 2005?) about this driver.
I'm running it in the same environment and versions as you, and am not
having any problems. The latest kernel it supports is 2.4.21-4, which
is not the latest available, but it works.

I was having problems with the adaptec driver that ships with RHEL AS 3
-- timeouts and bus errors. When I upgraded to the 6.3.9 version, my
problems went away.

Dave

Note: To sign off this list, send a "signoff networker" command via
email to listserv < at > listserv.temple.edu or visit the list's Web site at
http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/networker.html where you can also
view and post messages to the list. Questions regarding this list should
be sent to stan < at > temple.edu

Note: To sign off this list, send a "signoff networker" command via email
to listserv < at > listserv.temple.edu or visit the list's Web site at
http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/networker.html where you can
should be sent to stan < at > temple.edu

Note: To sign off this list, send a "signoff networker" command via email
to listserv < at > listserv.temple.edu or visit the list's Web site at
http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/networker.html where you can
should be sent to stan < at > temple.edu

Something else you might try, linux's st buffers are abysmally small by default and caused me no end of issues with my Scalar 1000 until I set them to something larger.

The file that'll do this is /etc/modules.conf. Mine looks like the follwing:

[dylanv < at > backup /etc]$ cat modules.conf
alias scsi_hostadapter aic7xxx
options st buffer_kbs=128

90% of the issues I was having were eliminated by adding the buffer_kbs line.

-Dylan Vanderhoof
Semaphore Corporation


-----Original Message-----
From: Antonio Ettorre [mailto:vot4anto < at > GMAIL.COM]
Sent: Friday, April 08, 2005 12:00 AM
To: NETWORKER < at > LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU
Subject: [Networker] R: [Networker] Red Hat Adaptec driver


About this issue maybe can help you the following:

With 2.4.29 being the latest (and most stable) stable kernel, we have to
wonder why so many major distros are still shipping with 2.4.21 or 2.4.22
kernels.

At this point, all we can offer is this: if you are using SCSI tape drives
under Linux with a 2.4 kernel, the use of a kernel prior to 2.4.24 will
result in SCSI errors and failed tape I/O operations. This has been tested
with tar, cpio, dd, and afio with the same results - 2.4.23 and earlier
kernels still have serious SCSI tape I/O flaws that will affect your backups
(and more importantly, your restores).

For a quick step-by-step guide in Linux Kernel building, visit: Adding a
secondary kernel to your Linux system

Additionally, folks using Adaptec controllers should be aware that the
aic7xxx_old driver is actually more stable for use with tape drives than the
default aic7xxx driver. If you are receiving SCSI errors under 2.4.24+,
please try using the aic7xxx_old driver. Other options include replacing the
Adaptec controller with an Advansys if you only require Ultra Wide
connectivity, or an ATTO Technologies UL3S for Ultra 160 performance. For
most single tape drive scenarios, the Advansys or similar Symbios-based card
will work fine, but for multiple tape drive configurations, configurations
that include LTO-2, LTO-3, AIT-4, SAIT, or SDLT drives, the Ultra 160 ATTO
UL3S is the better solution.

That you can find at follow: http://www.linuxtapecert.org/

-----Messaggio originale-----
Da: Legato NetWorker discussion [mailto:NETWORKER < at > LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU] Per
conto di Carl Bergmann
Inviato: giovedì 7 aprile 2005 8.59
A: NETWORKER < at > LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU
Oggetto: Re: [Networker] Red Hat Adaptec driver

I'v used the 6.3.9 driver from adaptec for 3 months now. Most scsi-bus
reset and errors (that I hav with 6.2.36) has gone. Another thing to do
is to disable CDI on the jukebox-devices.
You can download the source-code for the 6.3.9 driver from adaptec and
the make the driver to the latest kernel (I.m running RHEL Es. V3u4
kernel 2.4.21-27.Elsmp). Remember to make a new initrd image otherwise
you will get the old driver at boot.
P.s. You can also ger the source-code for 2.6 kernel so you are able to
run on RHEL ESv4
Carl Bergmann
Risoe Nat. Lab
DK

-----Original Message-----
From: Dave Mussulman [mailto:mussulma < at > CS.UIUC.EDU]
Sent: 6. april 2005 18:43
To: NETWORKER < at > LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU
Subject: Re: [Networker] Red Hat Adaptec driver


On Tue, Apr 05, 2005 at 09:05:06AM -0600, Librado Pamintuan wrote:
Hello all,

The new driver for the Adapter 39160 (v6.3.9) is now available on
Adaptec website. There are several rpm package available for various
release of Red Hat.

Question is:
Did someone already used and applied this driver? are there any
improvement or does it poses new problems/errors?

In particular, I'm running Red Hat ES 3 on Linux O/S (Intel server),
Legato NetWorker v7.1.2

There were some recent posts (maybe January 2005?) about this driver.
I'm running it in the same environment and versions as you, and am not
having any problems. The latest kernel it supports is 2.4.21-4, which
is not the latest available, but it works.

I was having problems with the adaptec driver that ships with RHEL AS 3
-- timeouts and bus errors. When I upgraded to the 6.3.9 version, my
problems went away.

Dave

Note: To sign off this list, send a "signoff networker" command via
email to listserv < at > listserv.temple.edu or visit the list's Web site at
http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/networker.html where you can also
view and post messages to the list. Questions regarding this list should
be sent to stan < at > temple.edu

Note: To sign off this list, send a "signoff networker" command via email
to listserv < at > listserv.temple.edu or visit the list's Web site at
http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/networker.html where you can
should be sent to stan < at > temple.edu

Note: To sign off this list, send a "signoff networker" command via email
to listserv < at > listserv.temple.edu or visit the list's Web site at
http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/networker.html where you can
should be sent to stan < at > temple.edu

Note: To sign off this list, send a "signoff networker" command via email
to listserv < at > listserv.temple.edu or visit the list's Web site at
http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/networker.html where you can
should be sent to stan < at > temple.edu

We were having horrible SCSI bus reset problems with our Red Hat box and
Adaptec SCSI cards. I was literally rebooting that silly storage node
every day because when the problem would occur, the picker, and/or at
least one drive in the attached libraries, would simply disappear.
Nothing would bring them back except a reboot. you can only imagine the
frustration and utter chaos this was wreaking on our backups and tapes!

We tried everything, and nothing worked. I don't think we ever tried
increasing the st buffers, though. Anyway, we finally gave up and just
bought some LSI Logic cards. The cards we purchased were the LSI
22320-R. This is an ultra 320 MB (160 per channel) dual SCSI SE/LVD
card. Presto! No more problems. In fact, the machine has been so stable,
it's unbelievable!

The funny though is that we've had good success with Adaptec as far as
RAID, but very poor results with tape. I would be hesitant to ever use
Adaptec products for tape ever again, never mind the fact that Adaptec,
for whatever reasons, seems to have become the ubiquitous, omnipresent
SCSI card that comes defacto with just about anything you buy these
days. We just could never make it work. If it's that hard, why bother?

George

Dylan Vanderhoof wrote:

Something else you might try, linux's st buffers are abysmally small by default and caused me no end of issues with my Scalar 1000 until I set them to something larger.

The file that'll do this is /etc/modules.conf. Mine looks like the follwing:

[dylanv < at > backup /etc]$ cat modules.conf
alias scsi_hostadapter aic7xxx
options st buffer_kbs=128

90% of the issues I was having were eliminated by adding the buffer_kbs line.

-Dylan Vanderhoof
Semaphore Corporation

-----Original Message-----
From: Antonio Ettorre [mailto:vot4anto < at > GMAIL.COM]
Sent: Friday, April 08, 2005 12:00 AM
To: NETWORKER < at > LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU
Subject: [Networker] R: [Networker] Red Hat Adaptec driver

About this issue maybe can help you the following:

With 2.4.29 being the latest (and most stable) stable kernel, we have to
wonder why so many major distros are still shipping with 2.4.21 or 2.4.22
kernels.

At this point, all we can offer is this: if you are using SCSI tape drives
under Linux with a 2.4 kernel, the use of a kernel prior to 2.4.24 will
result in SCSI errors and failed tape I/O operations. This has been tested
with tar, cpio, dd, and afio with the same results - 2.4.23 and earlier
kernels still have serious SCSI tape I/O flaws that will affect your backups
(and more importantly, your restores).

For a quick step-by-step guide in Linux Kernel building, visit: Adding a
secondary kernel to your Linux system

Additionally, folks using Adaptec controllers should be aware that the
aic7xxx_old driver is actually more stable for use with tape drives than the
default aic7xxx driver. If you are receiving SCSI errors under 2.4.24+,
please try using the aic7xxx_old driver. Other options include replacing the
Adaptec controller with an Advansys if you only require Ultra Wide
connectivity, or an ATTO Technologies UL3S for Ultra 160 performance. For
most single tape drive scenarios, the Advansys or similar Symbios-based card
will work fine, but for multiple tape drive configurations, configurations
that include LTO-2, LTO-3, AIT-4, SAIT, or SDLT drives, the Ultra 160 ATTO
UL3S is the better solution.

That you can find at follow: http://www.linuxtapecert.org/

-----Messaggio originale-----
Da: Legato NetWorker discussion [mailto:NETWORKER < at > LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU] Per
conto di Carl Bergmann
Inviato: giovedì 7 aprile 2005 8.59
A: NETWORKER < at > LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU
Oggetto: Re: [Networker] Red Hat Adaptec driver

I'v used the 6.3.9 driver from adaptec for 3 months now. Most scsi-bus
reset and errors (that I hav with 6.2.36) has gone. Another thing to do
is to disable CDI on the jukebox-devices.
You can download the source-code for the 6.3.9 driver from adaptec and
the make the driver to the latest kernel (I.m running RHEL Es. V3u4
kernel 2.4.21-27.Elsmp). Remember to make a new initrd image otherwise
you will get the old driver at boot.
P.s. You can also ger the source-code for 2.6 kernel so you are able to
run on RHEL ESv4
Carl Bergmann
Risoe Nat. Lab
DK

-----Original Message-----
From: Dave Mussulman [mailto:mussulma < at > CS.UIUC.EDU]
Sent: 6. april 2005 18:43
To: NETWORKER < at > LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU
Subject: Re: [Networker] Red Hat Adaptec driver

On Tue, Apr 05, 2005 at 09:05:06AM -0600, Librado Pamintuan wrote:
Hello all,

The new driver for the Adapter 39160 (v6.3.9) is now available on
Adaptec website. There are several rpm package available for various
release of Red Hat.

Question is:
Did someone already used and applied this driver? are there any
improvement or does it poses new problems/errors?

In particular, I'm running Red Hat ES 3 on Linux O/S (Intel server),
Legato NetWorker v7.1.2

There were some recent posts (maybe January 2005?) about this driver.
I'm running it in the same environment and versions as you, and am not
having any problems. The latest kernel it supports is 2.4.21-4, which
is not the latest available, but it works.

I was having problems with the adaptec driver that ships with RHEL AS 3
-- timeouts and bus errors. When I upgraded to the 6.3.9 version, my
problems went away.

Dave

--
Note: To sign off this list, send a "signoff networker" command via
email to listserv < at > listserv.temple.edu or visit the list's Web site at
http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/networker.html where you can also
view and post messages to the list. Questions regarding this list should
be sent to stan < at > temple.edu

--
Note: To sign off this list, send a "signoff networker" command via email
to listserv < at > listserv.temple.edu or visit the list's Web site at
http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/networker.html where you can
should be sent to stan < at > temple.edu

--
Note: To sign off this list, send a "signoff networker" command via email
to listserv < at > listserv.temple.edu or visit the list's Web site at
http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/networker.html where you can
should be sent to stan < at > temple.edu

--
Note: To sign off this list, send a "signoff networker" command via email
to listserv < at > listserv.temple.edu or visit the list's Web site at
http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/networker.html where you can
should be sent to stan < at > temple.edu

Note: To sign off this list, send a "signoff networker" command via email
to listserv < at > listserv.temple.edu or visit the list's Web site at
http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/networker.html where you can
should be sent to stan < at > temple.edu

Hello George,
We are planning to purchase this card, but we want to find ut first if it
will work on our server and tape library.
We have a Dell PowerEdge 2850 as the backup server and ADIC Scalar 100 tape
library.
Is the LSI Logic 22320-R card/adapter compatible with the server and tape
library?

thanks in advance,
Librado



On Fri, 8 Apr 2005 09:26:12 -0400, George Sinclair
<George.Sinclair < at > NOAA.GOV> wrote:

We were having horrible SCSI bus reset problems with our Red Hat box and
Adaptec SCSI cards. I was literally rebooting that silly storage node
every day because when the problem would occur, the picker, and/or at
least one drive in the attached libraries, would simply disappear.
Nothing would bring them back except a reboot. you can only imagine the
frustration and utter chaos this was wreaking on our backups and tapes!

We tried everything, and nothing worked. I don't think we ever tried
increasing the st buffers, though. Anyway, we finally gave up and just
bought some LSI Logic cards. The cards we purchased were the LSI
22320-R. This is an ultra 320 MB (160 per channel) dual SCSI SE/LVD
card. Presto! No more problems. In fact, the machine has been so stable,
it's unbelievable!

The funny though is that we've had good success with Adaptec as far as
RAID, but very poor results with tape. I would be hesitant to ever use
Adaptec products for tape ever again, never mind the fact that Adaptec,
for whatever reasons, seems to have become the ubiquitous, omnipresent
SCSI card that comes defacto with just about anything you buy these
days. We just could never make it work. If it's that hard, why bother?

George


Note: To sign off this list, send a "signoff networker" command via email
to listserv < at > listserv.temple.edu or visit the list's Web site at
http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/networker.html where you can
should be sent to stan < at > temple.edu

I would recommend calling LSI and checking with them. They do provide
drivers, but it might depend on your OS. For example, if you're running,
say RedHat Linux, then they may or may not have an RPM for your
particular kernel release. However, they should have the code so you
could build it into the kernel. Alternatively, the OS might just work
with it as is if the kernel already has support for it.

This particular card has two external VHDCI (Very High Density Connector
Interface) female connectors. However, unlike the Adaptec cards, LSI
places channel A on the bottom and channel B on the top. No biggie, but
just something to keep in mind when you're hooking up cables. We're
running two libraries on the Dell Linux storage node: a Quantum P1000
with 2 SDLT gen 1. drives and a Storagetek L80 with 4 LTO Ultrium 1
drives. Both of these libraries have the standard 68 pin Micro-D female
connectors, so we needed Universal SCSI cables that had a 68-pin Micro-D
male connector on one end and a VHDCI male connector on the other.

Another thing I should note is that on both libraries, we do have the
picker daisy chained to drive 1 respectively. We didn't feel this was a
big deal since the traffic to the picker is minimal, so we saw no need
to put the picker on its own SCSI bus. However, on the Storagetek, we do
have drives 1 and 2 on their own SCSI bus, i.e. they are daisy chained
to the picker, and all three devices share the same SCSI cable to
channel A on the LSI host card. Drives 3-4 are on their own SCSI bus,
too, so they are daisy chained to each other, and both of these devices
share another SCSI cable to channel B on the host card. So, for the
Storagetek, we have two SCSI cables, each connected to a separate
channel on the host card. We figured putting each device on its own
channel was overkill, but having no more than 2 drives per channel
seemed wise. For the P1000, we did the same thing. This was probably
unnecessary since we only have one drive per channel, but we figured it
couldn't hurt. So, the P1000 uses a separate host SCSI card. This works
for us because the host has several different SCSI buses. Of course,
just because a host has say x number of SCSI slots doesn't mean it has x
number of separate buses since often times several slots may share the
same bus.

One thing I do see from time to time, though, is that we will get these
"Device or resource busy messages" on a device. It seems random and
appears to move around, never affecting the same drive in any
predictable manner. It occurs on both the libraries. We will also
sometimes see something like: "read open error. Device or resource
busy". I'm not sure what causes this. I've checked the NetWorker logs,
and I don't see anything suspicious other than the fact that it was
trying to load or unload a tape, but the tape will work fine later. It
seems that these messages eventually go away when the device gets used
again later. These "device or resource busy" messages, however, were
also occurring back when we were using the Adaptec cards, long before we
purchased the LSI cards. The only thing I know is that I rarely have to
reboot the host. Even when these messages occur, NetWorker is always
able to see the picker and all the devices unlike before when we were
using Adaptec cards. Back then, it seemed that often times NetWorker
would loose communication with the picker and sometimes one of the
devices. It also seemed that there was an unusually high coincidence
between these incidents and the "device or resource busy messages".

I would be curious to learn if the LSI cards solve your problem, so if
you buy them, and they work, please post a follow-up. I think there may
very well have been a way to make the Adaptec cards play nice, but we
just could never figure it out. Another important thing to keep in mind,
too, is that because the Adaptec cards typically ship with the Dells,
you can be reasonably sure that they will be OEMed through Dell. So,
what happens if Adaptec issues a patch, but Dell doesn't have it yet?
They warn you about installing patches (flashing firmware) on an OEM
card if the patch is not from the same vendor and vice versa. As a
result, you might not be able to reliably patch the firmware on an OEM
card to make it work, unless Dell also has the patch, but what if they
don't? I mean, if you're using Dell RAID and you have OEM Adaptec cards
through Dell well ... natch, but when you're not using Dell
peripherals/equipment, and you're hanging it off a Dell OEM card then
... you see where I'm going. I wonder if a Dell tape library would have
worked?

Sorry to be so long winded.

George

Librado Pamintuan wrote:

Hello George,
We are planning to purchase this card, but we want to find ut first if it
will work on our server and tape library.
We have a Dell PowerEdge 2850 as the backup server and ADIC Scalar 100 tape
library.
Is the LSI Logic 22320-R card/adapter compatible with the server and tape
library?

thanks in advance,
Librado

On Fri, 8 Apr 2005 09:26:12 -0400, George Sinclair
<George.Sinclair < at > NOAA.GOV> wrote:

We were having horrible SCSI bus reset problems with our Red Hat box and
Adaptec SCSI cards. I was literally rebooting that silly storage node
every day because when the problem would occur, the picker, and/or at
least one drive in the attached libraries, would simply disappear.
Nothing would bring them back except a reboot. you can only imagine the
frustration and utter chaos this was wreaking on our backups and tapes!

We tried everything, and nothing worked. I don't think we ever tried
increasing the st buffers, though. Anyway, we finally gave up and just
bought some LSI Logic cards. The cards we purchased were the LSI
22320-R. This is an ultra 320 MB (160 per channel) dual SCSI SE/LVD
card. Presto! No more problems. In fact, the machine has been so stable,
it's unbelievable!

The funny though is that we've had good success with Adaptec as far as
RAID, but very poor results with tape. I would be hesitant to ever use
Adaptec products for tape ever again, never mind the fact that Adaptec,
for whatever reasons, seems to have become the ubiquitous, omnipresent
SCSI card that comes defacto with just about anything you buy these
days. We just could never make it work. If it's that hard, why bother?

George


--
Note: To sign off this list, send a "signoff networker" command via email
to listserv < at > listserv.temple.edu or visit the list's Web site at
http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/networker.html where you can
should be sent to stan < at > temple.edu

Note: To sign off this list, send a "signoff networker" command via email
to listserv < at > listserv.temple.edu or visit the list's Web site at
http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/networker.html where you can
should be sent to stan < at > temple.edu

Well put. And this goes back to my original point. Should you decide
that the reason you're having problems is because you need to update the
driver then what happens when you discover that Adaptec first recommends
that you patch the firmware on the card? In looking into the patch,
*maybe* you see a warning that if you're using this on an OEM card then
you're swimming without a lifeguard! Then you check Dell's page, but
find that they don't have such a patch for their OEM version of this
card, and since you're using the Adaptec driver and not an OEM driver
then what do you do? Seems like your stuck.

If, however, you're using a card directly from the manufacturer that has
not been OEMed then you should be able to patch it using their patch
without this problem.

George

Note: To sign off this list, send a "signoff networker" command via email
to listserv < at > listserv.temple.edu or visit the list's Web site at
http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/networker.html where you can
should be sent to stan < at > temple.edu