Backup to Spectra Logic T50e

[danatk]

We have Veeam 7 working with the Spectralogic T50e library (great little library by the way).

We couldn't get it to work at first, but after some experimentation we managed to get it going - just wanted to share this:

- Update to the latest spectra firmware using their package system

- Use the IBM ITDT tool to update drive firmwares to latest version

- Use the IBM installer to update the windows drivers for the tape drives, use the 'Non-Exclusive' mode installer

- The 'unknown medium changer' will appear in windows device manager, this doesn't work with Veeam - you need to download the Spectralogic medium changer driver from Spectra's website.

- Once you have the spectra media changer showing, create a new partition on your T50e and configure it as Quantum P7000 emulation - this is the trick we needed to get everything working nice and stable. Without this emulation mode the library would keep going offline randomly.

Hope this helps someone, and if anyone has any other tips for the Spectra library + Veeam please share...

[veremin]

You’re right.The device being showed correctly in Device Manager and usage of vendor-provided Windows drives is a requirement for Veeam tape functionality. Also, some of the users have already reported requirement of using non_exclusive for IBM tape drivers.

Anyway, thank you for sharing useful information regarding special trick that make Spectralogic device work properly; much appreciated.

[ShawnKPERS]

I just wanted to say thank you as this was a huge help getting our T50e working. Without your recommendations I was able to see the library but did not have the option to import tapes from the media loader.

[Chris@SCI]

Registered just to post this - thanks a ton for providing that info! Spectra Logic support rep had never even heard of Veeam. Hehe, even the Veeam guy wasn't aware of this.

As a side note, I haven't done the new partition yet - I wonder if that 'randomly offline' issue is due to the resync stuff Veeam has for the tape drives as default (in the user guide).

[veremin]

As a side note, I haven't done the new partition yet - I wonder if that 'randomly offline' issue is due to the resync stuff Veeam has for the tape drives as default (in the user guide).

Hi, Chris,

VB&R does perform regular tape drive/library scan. However, I'm not sure whether this is a root cause of corresponding library going offline.

Fortunately, in emulation mode everything seems to be working fine.

Thanks.

[lightsout]

danatk,

Thanks for the info, its been helpful, but I've been unable to stop the random offline issues on my T50e. Can I ask:

1. Is your FC or SCSI connected?
2. What version of Windows are you using?
3. Is it LTO-6 based?
4. Did you use soft addressing?
5. Anything else you can think of that'd help!

Thanks!

[ShawnKPERS]

After running on V7 with the T50e for the last 6 months using Danatk's advice things ran smooth most of the time but I too also ran into the random offline issues even with the partition set to Quantum P7000. I have spoken with Veeam and Spectralogic's support and they recommended to update the tape drive firmware and windows drivers. I thought this was a cop out answer but it did get me to think when rereading Danatk's post, did I use the `non-exclusive` drivers the first time I set it up. Not 100% sure but I made sure I did this time and I have been running it for a week now with no issues. That was not abnormal but I will keep an eye on it and if I remember I will post an update letting everyone know if I ever ended up running into any issues.

[veremin]

Most likely, the problem doesn't have to do with exclusive/non-exclusive drivers, as you have been archiving backups to tapes successfully for about 6 months. If it had been about drivers type, you would have got various issues much sooner.

So, I recommend you taking a look at how it goes for some time, and raising the issue with support, if it shows up again.

Thanks.

[lightsout]

After running on V7 with the T50e for the last 6 months using Danatk's advice things ran smooth most of the time but I too also ran into the random offline issues even with the partition set to Quantum P7000. I have spoken with Veeam and Spectralogic's support and they recommended to update the tape drive firmware and windows drivers. I thought this was a cop out answer but it did get me to think when rereading Danatk's post, did I use the `non-exclusive` drivers the first time I set it up. Not 100% sure but I made sure I did this time and I have been running it for a week now with no issues. That was not abnormal but I will keep an eye on it and if I remember I will post an update letting everyone know if I ever ended up running into any issues.

I've done:

1. The library firmware.
2. The drive firmware.
3. The non-exclusive drivers.

Nothing has helped...

Can I just ask, which Windows version are you using? We're using Server 2012....

[veremin]

I'm wondering whether you started having issues all of a sudden or you just couldn't make it work. In the latter case, is the spectra media changer shown properly in Windows Device Manager? Thanks.

[lightsout]

I'm wondering whether you started having issues all of a sudden or you just couldn't make it work. In the latter case, is the spectra media changer shown properly in Windows Device Manager? Thanks.

I've got a ticket open on it 00529622 - but for me, it has never worked. I've got two Veeam servers, and two Spectra libraries and they both go offline randomly.

So I'd like to isolate what is different between my system and the rest, as other people seem ok with it.

[veremin]

The proper emulation mode (Quantum P7000 emulation) has helped people previously to solve random "library going offline" issues with Spectralogic T50e.

So, I'm not sure what might be wrong in your particular case. Most issues we've seen so far with tape functionality are more or less environmental specific. Probably, the support team will be able to find the root cause, once the confirm your environment.

Thanks.

[danatk]

Quick update on our progress with the T50e and Veeam.

For the most part, it is working OK. The steps I posted at the start of this thread are still working for us and the tape library doesn't go offline.

However, we do have issues with Veeam losing track of which tapes are in certain slots/drives. We think we nailed this down to the Spectra auto-cleaning moving tapes but not notifying Veeam, so Veeam then found tapes in drives etc that it didn't expect and jobs failed.

To resolve this, we turned off the auto-cleaning, which seemed to work but then we have to manually clean the drives which is a real pain.

Our latest experiment is to configure the Veeam jobs to eject the tape after every job, and have re-enabled the auto-cleaning to see if this combination works better. We still seem to be having some problems but not as bad as before.

Ideally, we would like to see a cleaning job feature in Veeam so that only Veeam is running jobs on the library. This would surely be much more stable.

[Dima P.]

Hello,
Thank you for the great feedback!

We are looking at the opportunity to implement both slots handling and some cleaning media additional care in the upcoming versions of the tape service. Meanwhile, we have to take care of major features so I can’t really say when this functionality would be provided.

[lightsout]

I will say I found a solution for me as well. Between Veeam & Spectra, we found some registry keys for both Veeam and the IBM tape drivers, and between them they've fixed. Library is nice and stable now.

[veremin]

It will be appreciated, if you can share those regkeys along with the short descriptions for the convenience of future readers. Thanks.

[lightsout]

Here is what I was told:

•Add two values for each drive (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Enum\SCSI\sequential&ven_ibm&prod_ultrium-hh6\5&4db5b45&0&000400\DeviceParameters\StorPort\ and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Enum\SCSI\sequential&ven_ibm&prod_ultrium-hh6\5&4db5b45&0&000300\DeviceParameters\StorPort\}
•Value – BusyRetryCount, Type – DWORD, Data - 1000 Decimal
•Value – BusyPauseTime, Type – DWORD, Data - 1000 Decimal
•Disable LOG SENSE (normally used by Veeam to get changer alerts, but should not be needed)
•At HKLM\Software\Veeam\Backup and Replication, create DWORD value SkipTapeAlerts = 1
•Extend the polling interval at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Veeam\Veeam Backup and Replication\TapeDeviceWatcherTimeoutSec
•DWORD – polling interval in seconds (set to decimal 300 = five minutes)

Some info:

1. The "5&4db5b45&0&000400" is custom, and depends on your exact library.
2. I had to create the storport key as well.
3. The two Veeam keys I created in both HKLM\Software\Veeam\Backup and Replication and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Veeam\Veeam Backup and Replication.

Out of all of that, I suspect "TapeDeviceWatcherTimeoutSec" is that one that did it, but I never applied them separately to find out.

Since them, my libraries have behaved perfectly!

[veremin]

Thank you for the valuable information. You've made the life of your peers easier.

[lightsout]

Just an update.

I had an issue with my tape backups backing up too much data. It was actually the IBM tape drive drivers that were causing the issue, so I'm now back on Microsoft's drivers and it seems to be running fine still.

The only registry change I did was for "SkipTapeAlerts" and "TapeDeviceWatcherTimeoutSec" and my T50e is working fine.

[veremin]

Thank you for updating the thread with your recent findings; much appreciated.

[dgapinski]

We are just trying to get our library recognized right now, and I am not able to load the drivers, where 2012 R2 recognizes the "Unknown Media Changer" as the right one ("The best driver software for your device is already installed". Would you mind posting your registry key locations and what you did with them to get yours working?

[dgapinski]

Never mind, I reread and saw what you meant. Thanks. Still having a problem opening the cab off of Microsoft's site, and am wondering if anyone has figured this out:

I ran it this way:

DISM.exe /Online /Add-Package /PackagePath:'c:\temp\AMD64_X86-en-20246909_9247eb5143a0785f0d027d80d1e0de3c36cab2b1.cab'

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 6.3.9600.17031

Image Version: 6.3.9600.17031

An error occurred trying to open - c:\temp\AMD64_X86-en-20246909_9247eb5143a0785f0d027d80d1e0de3c36cab2b1.cab Error: 0x80070002

Error: 2

The system cannot find the file specified.

The DISM log file can be found at C:\Windows\Logs\DISM\dism.log
PS C:\users\dgapinskia\desktop\T50 Medium Changer Driver>

[dgapinski]

Please disregard that last post, I was using the DISM command in the wrong context.

[lightsout]

I just extracted the CAB with 7-Zip, and used device manager to force the choice of the driver. It'll give you a warning, but you can just say yes anyway.

[dgapinski]

Hmm - doesn't work that way for me. Keeps saying "The best software for your device is already installed", meaning the Unknown Media Changer. Have to figure a way to convince it otherwise.

[lightsout]

You need to do "update driver" in device manager and pick "browse my computer for driver software" and then "let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer", then "have disk" and then browse to the library drivers.

Why SpectraLogic doesn't update it I don't know. I submitted a ticket on them to do so, and they said no plans to do so as it still works under 2012 R2.

[D4T]

Hi all,

Its a bit off topic but I'm hoping someone can help. I have a Spectra T50e that is only just out of support but sadly has a corrupt SD card. Spectra Logic aren't being helpful at all and want thousands of dollars to buy a support contract in order to send out a new SD card. The card is actually fine, its just got no system on it!

I'm wondering if its possible someone can image theres and send it to me so I can revive my T50e?

Unless of course this 100% won't work as I must admit I'm not too familiar with the T50e and software.

[seadave]

So when this is done, what is your library identified as? When I browse the available Windows drivers, I seem to have a ton of IBM changers to choose from (I've downloaded the WHQL 6255 driver set released 11/5/15). Which is the right one? It is so frustrating and insane that companies won't pay some coder a few grand to write a proper INF file. This has always been a PITA when it comes to tape backup automation.

[Dima P.]

Which is the right one? It is so frustrating and insane that companies won't pay some coder a few grand to write a proper INF file.

Some vendors use the hardware components from other vendors (for instance, like Dell uses the IBM drives). The best place to search the proper windows driver is: http://catalog.update.microsoft.com/

[lightsout]

I use this driver, per Spectra's recommendation.

http://catalog.update.microsoft.com/v7/ ... 154ad9f089

It is a Windows 2008 tape library driver, but if you manually pick it, then it still works in Windows 2012 R2.