Trying to install HP Storageworks G2 Tape on Debian (no drivers at HP.com)

davidstvz · 04-14-2010, 11:51 AM

The title says it pretty well. I'm trying to install an HP Storageworks 1/8 G2 Tape Autoloader onto my Debian Lenny machine. HP has "drivers and software" listed only for very specific versions of Linux and even then it's seems to be management software not drivers that is available.

I'm a little on the green side of things still though getting better. This would be the first time I've had to go out of my way to make a piece of hardware work on a Linux server, so I'm not familiar with much. I found another thread ran some programs like lshw to get info and didn't see anything helpful.

It's connected via SCSI card that is connected via PCI express. I'm starting to wonder if that SCSI card itself is not being detected and that problem has to be dealt with first.

I will investigate that problem and report back. If anyone can offer additional advice in the meantime I would appreciate it.

For example, is there any hope to get this running if HP only supports it for specific Linux OS's (Redhat, Suse Linux etc.) but not Debian?

business_kid · 04-14-2010, 03:18 PM

Linux is linux, but some things have version conflicts. A good general guide is age; If your drivers are for recent distros, they have recent versions. Try to match the age of your distro approximately with the drivers.

The toolchain is gcc, the kernel headers (/usr/include/linux) and glibc. Depending on what you have, gcc --version, uname -r, & ldd --version give you your own versions.

strick1226 · 04-15-2010, 10:03 AM

As you pointed out, I'd verify the SCSI card is being seen first. Try looking through dmesg and see if it's listed anywhere in there...

Or, perhaps, one step before that: is the autoloader being seen by the SCSI card? More than likely, the SCSI card has a ROM setup utility you can enter via some form of keyboard shortcut during BIOS initialization (ctrl-A if Adaptec etc.). Verify the device actually is seen by the SCSI card first; if not, there could be a cabling or termination issue, which needs to be dealt with first.

Hope this helps.

davidstvz · 04-26-2010, 01:21 PM

Thanks for the suggestions. I haven't had time to look at this again until now. Here's what I have in dmesg (lines with scsi SCSI or LSI, let me know if you have other suggestions):

Code:

[    1.384634] Block layer SCSI generic (bsg) driver version 0.4 loaded (major 253)
[    1.855496] SCSI subsystem initialized

[    5.146598] scsi0 : ioc0: LSI53C1020A A1, FwRev=01032700h, Ports=1, MaxQ=255, IRQ=16

[    1.870649] Copyright (c) 1999-2007 LSI Corporation
[    4.616800] ioc0: LSI53C1020A A1: Capabilities={Initiator,Target}
[    5.146598] scsi0 : ioc0: LSI53C1020A A1, FwRev=01032700h, Ports=1, MaxQ=255, IRQ=16

So that means the LSI is on scsi0? But I don't see that in the /dev folder.

The SCSI hard drives are all on /dev/cciss/c0d0p1 and so on.

Nothing else in the dev folder is striking me as possibly being either the scsi controller or the tape. Any ideas on where to look next?

Maybe I'll have to try and install the LSI driver (only available for Redhad and Suse naturally). I guess the latest versions would be the best fit for Debian's Lenny distro.

EDIT

Oh the driver package for the LSI card contains mptlinux-4.00.43.00-src.tar.gz ... hmm

This is all a little new to me, but that gives me some ideas.

business_kid · 04-27-2010, 02:58 AM

You Know what SCSI stands for, of course? System Can't See It.

Seriously, get some facts for yourself. And check the terminator and tell me to shut up that uit's fine and successfully terminates another box, or put a meter on it and check values.

davidstvz · 04-27-2010, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by business_kid

You Know what SCSI stands for, of course? System Can't See It.

Seriously, get some facts for yourself. And check the terminator and tell me to shut up that uit's fine and successfully terminates another box, or put a meter on it and check values.

Ok... the previous sysadmin hadn't installed the terminator yet...

Still I don't think the LSI card has a working driver. I'm not sure how to verify this, so call it a hunch at the moment.

strick1226 · 04-27-2010, 12:03 PM

From your dmesg output it looks like the kernel is seeing it (sees firmware level etc.); I think the LSI53C1020A is Fusion MPT chipset. Not completely sure on the support for it--there might be support for it in the kernel by now?

In any case... have you verified the library actually is seen/detected within the LSI ROM setup utility? If not, that's definitely the next step--especially if you've just modified the cable terminator configuration. Reboot the box when you get a chance and take a look...

davidstvz · 04-27-2010, 12:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by strick1226

From your dmesg output it looks like the kernel is seeing it (sees firmware level etc.); I think the LSI53C1020A is Fusion MPT chipset. Not completely sure on the support for it--there might be support for it in the kernel by now?

In any case... have you verified the library actually is seen/detected within the LSI ROM setup utility? If not, that's definitely the next step--especially if you've just modified the cable terminator configuration. Reboot the box when you get a chance and take a look...

Sounds good, I'll definitely give it a try the next chance I get and let you know how it goes.

davidstvz · 04-28-2010, 12:34 PM

Ok, the card was installed automatically by Debian. The problem was the previous sysadmin hadn't put the scsi terminator on the tape drive yet and I didn't double check it. After a reboot, the tape loader is showing up now as it should. Thanks for reminding me to check the obvious.

strick1226 · 04-28-2010, 12:37 PM

Sounds like there are reasons he is now the previous sysadmin.

Glad to hear things are working now!

davidstvz · 04-28-2010, 03:29 PM

Best not to go into that

...but it is pretty odd that he purchased all the hardware, installed the LSI scsi card, connected the cable to the tape autoloader, but didn't put a terminator on.

So there are a couple more questions worth asking (and some info worth stating in case anyone else stumbles upon this thread in the future). After reboot several devices were created. I know what the normal st0 variety mean and that can easily be Googled, but the auto-changer devices aren't as clear. The following were added

Code:

crw-rw---- 1 root tape 86, 0 2010-04-28 12:18 sch0
crw-rw---- 1 root tape 21, 0 2010-04-28 12:18 sg0
crw-rw---- 1 root tape 21, 1 2010-04-28 12:18 sg1

I had to install the mtx package first and then I could run:

mtx -f /dev/sg0 inquiry

...which tells me that it is the "Tape Drive" and gives some other details. Perhaps this is only here to get information and configure the device (because you write using st0, nst0 and so on, and you rotate types with sg1)

mtx -f /dev/sg1 inquiry

...tells me that this is a "Medium Changer". This is used with the mtx command to move tapes around

The sch0 is a complete mystery. The mtx command say it's not an sg device. Perhaps this is for HP's GUI program to issue proprietary commands. Google gives me nothing.

In any case, I've got enough info to change tapes and already knew how to write them, so I'm happy.