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TS3100 Cannot Get Tapes Add To Library

  • 1.  TS3100 Cannot Get Tapes Add To Library

    Posted Tue February 08, 2022 03:44 PM
      |   view attached
    Hello,
    When I am trying to add tapes to our AS400 iNavigator Library it starts to process that show a status bar until eventually we get an error stating Connection was dropped unexpectedly (see attached). When the library is accessed on the web portal the tapes do show there. Please let me know if you have suggestions on where we can start to fix this problem to get the tapes into the library. If you need more information please let me know.
    Thank you.

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    John Booze
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  • 2.  RE: TS3100 Cannot Get Tapes Add To Library

    Posted Mon February 28, 2022 09:45 AM
    Can anyone at least point me to a site that can best assist me with this issue?

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    John Booze
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  • 3.  RE: TS3100 Cannot Get Tapes Add To Library

    Posted Tue March 01, 2022 12:26 PM
    I would open a ticket for BRMS with IBM software support. They may be able to help with this error.

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    Gary Keith
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  • 4.  RE: TS3100 Cannot Get Tapes Add To Library

    Posted Fri March 04, 2022 10:30 AM

    Hi Gary,

     

    We would need to have a service contract in order to open a ticket, correct? When I enter our serial number I cannot proceed.

     

    Thank you,

     






  • 5.  RE: TS3100 Cannot Get Tapes Add To Library

    Posted Fri March 04, 2022 11:07 AM
    Yes, a software maintenance agreement with IBM would provide support for BRMS. It is possible this is a hardware issue, so a hardware maintenance agreement would let you approach it that way. But I would start with software (if you have a contract) and see if they tell you it is a hardware problem. If you don't have either one of those maintenance contracts then you will have to debug this on your own. Perhaps try the green screen version of adding tapes to BRMS. Reboot the tape library. Check the status of the tape library using WRKMLBSTS and options available there. Sometimes the adapter card gets messed up and has to be reset. We have been thru a couple of situations where we had to IPL an LPAR because of adapter card issues and there have been some PTFs issued for those issues. Haven't had that on 7.4 ... so far! So I guess if rebooting the library doesn't work then last resort would be to IPL the i. Not the best of answers but may be worth a try if you can deal with the down time.

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    Gary Keith
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  • 6.  RE: TS3100 Cannot Get Tapes Add To Library

    Posted Sat March 05, 2022 12:38 PM
    Thanks Gary, we do not have any contreact so I will try some of the suggestions you mentioned to get this up and runnung. I don't know what you mean when you said that our last resort may be to "IPL the i.?" John

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    John Booze
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  • 7.  RE: TS3100 Cannot Get Tapes Add To Library

    Posted Mon March 07, 2022 10:39 AM
    "IPL the i" means to perform a power down system optionally with restart. The reason is that is one way to reset the IOP / adapter for the tape library. We had a problem where the i would not vary off or reset the adapter and had to IPL to get it to reset.

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    Gary Keith
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  • 8.  RE: TS3100 Cannot Get Tapes Add To Library

    Posted Mon March 07, 2022 03:07 PM
    @John Booze I am not knowledgeable with IBMi, but I did find documentation which might be helpful, if you haven't already found it.
    IBM Docs - IBM Documentation
    https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/i/7.1?topic=media-initializing-volumes

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    Kevin Butt
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  • 9.  RE: TS3100 Cannot Get Tapes Add To Library

    Posted Wed March 09, 2022 03:56 PM
    Thank you. I will take a look. Some of the adivce I have been getting points to the adapter needing to be reset. We, of course, powered down the drive and tried to get it to work that way, but it was mentioned that we may try to perform a power down system optionally with restart. Is that different than just removing the power?

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    John Booze
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  • 10.  RE: TS3100 Cannot Get Tapes Add To Library

    Posted Wed March 09, 2022 04:57 PM
    You didn't specify whether "removing the power" refers to the tape library or the IBM i partition. When referring to power cycling (reboot) the library I meant powering down the entire library but yours may not require that; perhaps a power cycle of the drive does the same thing. When I referenced "the adapter" I am referring to the adapter on the Power hardware / IBM i LPAR. For our situation we had to IPL the IBM i LPAR. That is the power down system command (PWRDWNSYS) typically with RESTART(*YES) thus power is not removed from the hardware. We run a multiple LPAR system so we rarely "remove power". If you are running a single LPAR system then RESTART(*NO) will power down the hardware as well as the partition. However, RESTART(*NO) was not required with the error we experienced. Perhaps you should post the model of your Power system hardware, the version of IBM i you are running, and the model of your tape library. That may help with any additional conversation around this.

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    Gary Keith
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  • 11.  RE: TS3100 Cannot Get Tapes Add To Library

    Posted Thu March 10, 2022 11:27 AM
    We have had a problem of just keeping the drive online. I had to unplug it twice and then was able to logon to it on the web. Once logged in on the web interface I thnk we tried rebooting it from there and that did not help our "tape not initializing" problem. Should I try powering down from the LWSI Master menu using the PWRDWNSYS command and will that effect other processes than the tape backup? Below is the infomation pertianing to our device. Thanks, Gary.
    Library Identity
    Serial Number 78D0104
    Product ID 3573-TL
    Currently Installed Library Firmware E.80 / 3.20e
    Bootcode Firmware Revision 0.60
    Barcode Reader CSE600
    Library Mode Random
    WWide Node Name 2000000E111109B9


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    John Booze
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  • 12.  RE: TS3100 Cannot Get Tapes Add To Library

    Posted Thu March 10, 2022 01:59 PM
    @John Booze If you are having troubles keeping the drive online (I assume that means online to the host), I recommend checking the cables connecting the drive to the host to ensure there is no problem with the cables/connectors.​

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    Kevin Butt
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  • 13.  RE: TS3100 Cannot Get Tapes Add To Library

    Posted Thu March 10, 2022 02:59 PM
    Hi Kevin,
    We use BRMS to accesss the tape drive through iNavigator. The tape drive itself has a static IP where you can log directly into it on the web (this is what I mean when I say online). I have checked and double checked the connections to the tape drive, but we still cannot initialize a tape. 
    Thank you

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    John Booze
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  • 14.  RE: TS3100 Cannot Get Tapes Add To Library

    Posted Thu March 10, 2022 04:55 PM
    Let's separate the two systems/devices.

    1. The Power system hardware + IBM i LPAR:
    PWRDWNSYS is an iBM i green screen command that will power down the LPAR thus terminate all applications and running processes. This is the equivalent of a reboot of a Windows VM. This should be done ONLY under controlled circumstances when down time has been planned. It sounds as if you probably don't know much about IBM i so I would encourage you to find a resource that does before you attempt any corrective action from the LPAR.

    2. The tape library:
    If you are having problems with keeping the drive visible / on-line to the library web interface then the drive is having a problem staying connected to the library. It is possible you will need to repair/replace that drive to fix this problem; hard to know without further testing. Perhaps you could swap the two tape drives (I'm assuming there are at least 2 in your library) and see if the problem moves with the drive (i.e., problem appears on same drive in a different slot). If it does it would be a problem with the drive. If the problem appears on the swapped drive (i.e., the problem remains in the same drive slot of the library) then it is a problem in the library, possibly with the connector the drive plugs into. If this points to the library then you will need to get someone to repair or replace.

    The problem with not having hardware maintenance on your tape library is that you don't have access to firmware updates. If you are running LTO-4 tapes I suspect your library is pretty old. May be time to invest in a replacement.

    If you need a good resource for hardware and software I can refer you to the guy we use.
    I think that is about the best I can offer!
    ​​

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    Gary Keith
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  • 15.  RE: TS3100 Cannot Get Tapes Add To Library

    Posted Mon March 14, 2022 10:03 AM
    Yes, I am brand new to working with IBM systems and am not going to do anything unless I know what's going on for sure. I am working with my predecessor who has had expereince working on the system, and he to does not have an answer yet either. When you talk about trying a tape in a different drive you are not talking about swaping tapes between magazines, right? We have one TS3100 drive with two magazines. There has been talk about replacing this drive, but I don't know for sure if/when that's going to happen. Thank you.

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    John Booze
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  • 16.  RE: TS3100 Cannot Get Tapes Add To Library

    Posted Mon March 14, 2022 10:52 AM
    Since it only has one tape drive then swapping the 1 drive out (i.e. replacing it) would be the alternative test.

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    Gary Keith
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  • 17.  RE: TS3100 Cannot Get Tapes Add To Library

    Posted Mon March 14, 2022 12:35 PM
    This is beginning to sound like a fibre channel issue.  Drive dumps and switch logs will show you more, but you'll need technical support to have these checked.  The alternative is if you have them, just replace parts until it works.

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    Michael Long
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  • 18.  RE: TS3100 Cannot Get Tapes Add To Library

    Posted Wed March 16, 2022 11:29 AM
    Hello, I appreciate all the reponses to our issue. It has been suggested by our server consultant, after researching this, that the resloution to this problem points to replacing the adapter card. Is there a way to find out what the part number is to the adapter card so we can determine if is still available? Thanks.

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    John Booze
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  • 19.  RE: TS3100 Cannot Get Tapes Add To Library

    Posted Wed March 16, 2022 05:36 PM
    I got a reply from Michael Long with a link to an inbox that I could not open suggesting that there are dozens of HBA adapters it could be, and that I should use the IBM support channel to find out which one we have. The problem is we do not have a service contract on this device with IBM.

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    John Booze
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