Monday, January 09, 2006

Network Administration: Backup Exec 9.1, Dell Ultrium LTO 2 issue

This past weekend I added an external Dell PowerVault 110T tape drive (Certance Ultrium LTO 2) to a server, in order to replace an aging drive. The new server is a Dell PowerEdge 2850, with an Adaptec 39160/3960D – Ultra 160 card cabled to the external tape drive.

After getting the machine built, installing Veritas Backup Exec 9.1, including the latest firmware for the tape drive, I ran into an interesting problem. The tape drive appeared to be recognized by Backup Exec; it came up under the devices tab and was identified as “CERTANCE 1”. However, when a tape was inserted, Backup Exec 9.1 acted as though there was no media, displaying a message of .

Test backup jobs would just fail with a status of “failed”, having no error code or additional explanation. Running an inventory on the tape would result in the following error message: “a0008101 - Invalid Physical Volume Library Argument.”

I found a number of references to running “tapeinst.exe”, but this really didn’t apply to a new installation – though I did go through the recommended steps. Considering this is a new model drive, and that backup exec 9.1 isn’t the latest version available, this was leading me to believe that the latest driver I was using from the manufacturer wasn’t something that Backup Exec liked, as BE9.1 really prefers you use Backup Exec provided drivers.

Fortunately, Veritas does provide a driver update pack, which I found here. Worth noting is that it doesn’t specifically say my drive is supported; though on installing the driver pack, it does detect the drive and installs a new driver, which seems to resolve the issue.

6 comments:

Nick said...

This post seems to get a fair amount of traffic… if this helped you out (or even if it didn’t), take a second and comment. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Nick,

Ive just found your post and am trying the driver pack to fix the problem with my exact same setup so i hope (fingers crossed) it does the trick after a lunchtime reboot.

Will report back.

btw, symantec/veritas are worse than hopeless when it comes to support...

Anonymous said...

FIXED!!!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

Cant believe it was a simple driver issue...

Nick said...

Keith,

Glad I could be of help! I remember fighting this issue... couldn't believe it when it turned out to be just a driver.

Anonymous said...

Found the veritas driver page the exact same time I found this page. At least I know that while I'm downloading this 23M beast, that it's going to fix the problem.

Anonymous said...

Allthat Keith said, plus even more thanks....Fixed on a Dell 2900 LTO II