Dell 6gbps SAS HBA and Powervault TL4000

Question

Hello.

We have a Poweredge R620 server with Windows 2008 R2, two Dell 6gbps SAS HBA cards installed and Simpana 9.0 R2 backup software.

We also have a TL4000 with two IBM drives, all firmwares are up-to-date.

Each SAS HBA card is connected to each drive of the library via one SAS cable.

I can see the cards in the Device manager of the server.

The library is working, but when I monitor the drive status from the web interface of the ilbrary, both port A and B seem "not ready, not connected".

I tried to use Simpana to detect the library. But it cannot detect anything after tens of trials and different scenarios.

What am I doing wrong? I can provide any information you want.

Thanks in advance.

Ahmet Unal · Accepted Answer

Problem has been solved with the help of Bestami Bayramoglu from Dell Tech Support team.

I took some photos of the back panel of server and library and sent them to Bestami.

They analyzed and told me that SAS cards were not inserted and locked as they should be.

These cables have a locking mechanism and they do not work if they are not inserted and locked correctly.

Another issue for readers; the part number of SAS cards inside my server R620 is j53x3. This card's metal slot is not compatible with my rack server. The correct one's part number is 3ddjt.

Bestami told me about this and we will order the correct one.

Thanks for your support.

DELL-Sam L · Answer

Hello Ahmet Unal,

When you check in device manger do you see the tape drives or Medium Changer? If not then do you have anything that is listed under other devices? If you do then you may need to install the drivers for the TL4000. Here is a link to the drivers just in case you need them. http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/DriverDetails/Product/powervault-tl4000?driverId=MNFYH&osCode=WS8R2&fileId=3332845538&languageCode=EN&categoryId=TA

Also might need to check and make sure that the TL4000 is set to random & not Sequential mode. You can check that by going to Configure Library MenuàGeneral Menu & make sure that it is selected to random for Logical Library 1.

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Ahmet Unal · Answer

Related to the SAS cards, tape drives or the library, I only see two Dell 6Gbps SAS HBA cards under storage controllers in device manager.

I just installed the driver that you gave. It finished with a message like "Program Successful".

Now, what should I do? What should I see in the device manager to be sure that everything works? Shall I restart the server or the library, or both?

Because, after the installation, I see nothing different in the device manager...

Ahmet Unal · Answer

By the way, TL4000 is already set to random.

DELL-Sam L · Answer

Hello Ahmet Unal,

Once the drivers have been installed if you can reboot the TL4000 first & wait for it to come to an ready state then once at a ready state then reboot the server. Also check in the web utility & make sure that you have a control path drive selected. You can do this by going to Configure Library MenuDrives & make sure at least 1 drive has the box checked for control path. While the server is rebooting you should be able to see it scan the SAS 6gb cards and find the TL & the tape drives. Once the server comes backup then you should be able to go back into device manger and see Medium Changer & Tape Drive & if you expand them it should show the TL4000 under medium changer and the 2 IBM drives under tape Drive. If you are still not seeing either the medium changer or tape drives listed in device manger then I would recommend that you contact support & open a ticket so that they can pull some logs & see why it is not getting seen by the server.

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Ahmet Unal · Answer

Done what you told but still no change.

May the problem be related to BIOS settings of SAS cards?

Maybe, you already know, there are 3 options (handled by bios (enabled), handled by bios and os (enabled) and handled by os (disabled)). Now, they are set to "handled by bios and os" and seem enabled but do not work.

Should I change this setting?

DELL-Sam L · Answer

Hello Ahmet Unal,

What I would do is to set the HBA bios setting back to factory. Once that is done then let the server post & make sure that when it scans the SAS card that it finds the TL 4000 & both drives. If the TL4000 still is not being seen then I would suggest that you contact support as they will need to look at the server & pull some logs from both the server & TL4000 to see where the issue is.

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Ahmet Unal · Answer

I set the factory settings (Handled by OS) and it says "Adapter(s) disabled by user" after rebooting.

Anyway, I restarted the library and then the server. Still no change. I need somebody to help me finally.

PowerVault

Dell 6gbps SAS HBA and Powervault TL4000

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