SLES 11 sp2 unable to recognize SAS Dell tape drive

SUSE Linux Enterprise Extensions SLES Hardware
1

All H/W are make sure no problem due to I had tested the tape drive working fine on below system after installed FreeBSD 9.

System spec.:

OS: SLES 11 sp2 or sp1
Server: Dell PE R200 w/ 2GB RAM
Dell 6Gbps SAS HBA (mpt2sas0)
Dell TL2000 SAS LTO5 tape auto-loader

Anybody has such experiences about it and has solution?
Is there any driver or package need to installed before get it work?

Thanks!

2

Hi wtchan,

at what level is the tape not recognized? Application layer or is it already missing in lsscsi? Assuming that the tape drive was connected during system restart - what’s in syslog / boot.msg about the SAS adapter and / or tape drive? Does Dell recommend using a specific driver for that adapter and if yes, is it installed?

Regards,
Jens

3

[QUOTE=jmozdzen;10610]Hi wtchan,

at what level is the tape not recognized? Application layer or is it already missing in lsscsi? Assuming that the tape drive was connected during system restart - what’s in syslog / boot.msg about the SAS adapter and / or tape drive? Does Dell recommend using a specific driver for that adapter and if yes, is it installed?

Regards,
Jens[/QUOTE]

Hi Jens,

Thanks for your reply!
The Tape drive is unrecognized in OS level! No tape drive found by lsscsi. The tape drive well connected to the server before boot up.
Dell support said no driver need to install for Linux, SAS HBA is recognized during boot up w/o additional driver.

Please refer to below dmesg for your reference.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/crl8q7dbenbqu0m/~dmesg

Best regards,
WT

4

Hi WT,

your dmesg log is full of error messages concerning the SAS devices. What’s hanging off that adapter? Seems like the driver sees 8 disk units (LUN 0 - 7), but has trouble communicating with these.

[ 13.822959] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Unit Not Ready [ 13.848273] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Sense Key : Illegal Request [current] [ 13.873686] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Add. Sense: Invalid message error [ 13.932886] sd 0:0:0:1: [sdb] Unit Not Ready

Are these really disk devices?

I’m unfamiliar with that specific adapter - does it have some BIOS that will allow you to check i.e. the SAS devices the adapter actually sees? Is the tape drive / auto-loader lib known there?

Is the adapter firmware at the latest level? Might be worth updating that, in case an up-to-date driver in SLES11SP2 triggers “situations” in older firmwares.

With regards,
Jens

5

[QUOTE=jmozdzen;10672]Hi WT,

your dmesg log is full of error messages concerning the SAS devices. What’s hanging off that adapter? Seems like the driver sees 8 disk units (LUN 0 - 7), but has trouble communicating with these.

[ 13.822959] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Unit Not Ready [ 13.848273] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Sense Key : Illegal Request [current] [ 13.873686] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Add. Sense: Invalid message error [ 13.932886] sd 0:0:0:1: [sdb] Unit Not Ready

Are these really disk devices?

I’m unfamiliar with that specific adapter - does it have some BIOS that will allow you to check i.e. the SAS devices the adapter actually sees? Is the tape drive / auto-loader lib known there?

Is the adapter firmware at the latest level? Might be worth updating that, in case an up-to-date driver in SLES11SP2 triggers “situations” in older firmwares.

With regards,
Jens[/QUOTE]

Hi Jens,

For the SAS HBA I only connected a Dell TL2000 tape auto-loader.
For the SATA port that connected a HDD & DVD-ROM.
I can’t update the firmware to latest version due to it has error during installation on Linux.
The SAS HBA is able to recognize the Dell TL2000 tape auto-loader during the system boot up.

Best regards,
W.T. Chan

6

Hi W.T.,

For the SAS HBA I only connected a Dell TL2000 tape auto-loader.

then something is definitely going wrong with that adapter/driver combo. I recommend to check with Dell support what firmware level is required for the driver version you’re using.

For the SATA port that connected a HDD & DVD-ROM.

yes, these are in your log, the disk is recognized there as “/dev/sdi”, die DVD is /dev/sr0.

I can’t update the firmware to latest version due to it has error during installation on Linux.

That’s something Dell support should be able to help you with. I strongly recommend to resolve that problem first, then re-check if the tape drive is detected and those phantom disk drives (/dev/sda to /dev/sdh) are gone.

I’m sorry that I can be of no further help at the moment :frowning:

Regards,

Jens

7

[QUOTE=jmozdzen;10816]Hi W.T.,

For the SAS HBA I only connected a Dell TL2000 tape auto-loader.

then something is definitely going wrong with that adapter/driver combo. I recommend to check with Dell support what firmware level is required for the driver version you’re using.

For the SATA port that connected a HDD & DVD-ROM.

yes, these are in your log, the disk is recognized there as “/dev/sdi”, die DVD is /dev/sr0.

I can’t update the firmware to latest version due to it has error during installation on Linux.

That’s something Dell support should be able to help you with. I strongly recommend to resolve that problem first, then re-check if the tape drive is detected and those phantom disk drives (/dev/sda to /dev/sdh) are gone.

I’m sorry that I can be of no further help at the moment :frowning:

Regards,

Jens[/QUOTE]

Hi Jens,

Thanks for your advise!
I will solve the firmware of Dell HBA before proceed.

Best regards,
W.T. Chan:confused: