UBC Physics & Astronomy
HP Ultrium 215 Tape Drive

Purchased from Varsity computers April, 2001.  3yr warranty.  hp registration home:  www.hp.com/go/tapereg, parachon/p....p

HP Tech support:  800-474-6836 or 970-635-1000,  Warranty valid until Jul 10, 2004  
HP tape utilities are installed in/opt/ltt; executable is hp_ltt
Netvault info:  Server machine ID: 3-G9TG-B1A,   1-877-955-2663 

HP Ultrium-215 attached to one Adaptec 29160 SCSI controller, sync at 80MB/sec, 68-pin HD LVDS connector Ultrium-215: 100/200Gb, 16MB Buffer, Sustained rate 7.5 MB/s (27 GB/hr) native, 15 MB/s (54 GB/hr) compressed, Burst rate of 80MB/s, data rate-matching range 6-7.5MB/s

Mech. Serial Number: HUC3E008SP, Model:  C7421B, Firmware Revision: N26D
MFG P/N:  C7421-60020  USE TAPES C7979A

04-06-18 - Received the new unit from HP a few days ago.  Old info for reference: Mech. Serial Number: HUC3E008SP, Model:  C7421B, Firmware Revision: N26D, MFG P/N:  C7421-60020.

I installed RHEL V3 and the new tape drive.  Installed Netvault V7.1.   When I went to install my server key it would not work, my Server amchine ID has changed from 3-JEVG-B5B to 3-G9TG-B1A.

04-06-02 - More problems with the tape drive this AM.  I appeared to me that the tapes we becoming corrupted only after marking them for re-use or blanking them.  When blanking the tapes, it would not overwrite the label currently on the tape.  While diagnosing the problem with the netvault engineer, the tape drive stopped accepting tapes; it would just spit them out after a few minutes of making noises.  At that point, I phoned HP support.  We tried to install the latest firmware and it failed so they are going to send me a new drive.  After talking to the HP tech person, I rebooted the computer and then I was able to install the new firmware.  I used new tapes and was able to run the backup.  The old tapes were still unusable.

04-05-17 - More problems with the tape drive this AM.  Phoned HP support and they helped me check out the drive.  Seems OK, but I don't know why so many tapes are failing.  They will replace six tapes under Case ID: 3206214253 (RMA number as well).  Have to send tapes to:
Production Technologies
423 Sanford Road
Lavergne, Tennessee  37086
Attn: HP Media Exchange
(615) 793-4100

We agreed to keep case number open and I will monitor situation for signs of more problems.  I re-installed the firmware.

04-04-06 - I have been having the same problems as a year ago, namely the LTO would try to read tape header and fail, said "BAD" where normally it would say the tape label (in the netvault software); this is with tape PHYS-019 (HP).

Tried a second tape (PHYS-020) and got same problem.  Called HP, said to install newest hp_ltt (v3.4SR1).  Did so using install script which just calls rpm -ivh (after first using rpm -e to remove old version) and then updated firmware again (N26D).  Did this and then got the following with tape PHYS-020 (HP):

- Test 'Test Script' started on device 'HP Ultrium 1-SCSI' at address
  '0.2.0[0-/dev/sg0]'
  - Passed
  - Operations Log
    - Executing Rules Based Analysis (rules file is /tmp/LTT_TLa3svN.tst)
    - executing LTO acceptance test...
    - unloading tape...
    - Getting drive information...
    - Getting Mech EEPROM data...
    - Getting other drive information...
    - Getting other drive information...
    - retrieving nonvolatile fault log data...
    - filtering log data...
    - checking fault log rules...
    - writing device analysis history log...
    - loading tape...
    - SCSI parity check...
    - writing ...
    - writing block 8683 of 86836...
    - writing block 17366 of 86836...
    - writing block 26049 of 86836...
    - writing block 34732 of 86836...
    - writing block 43415 of 86836...
    - writing block 52098 of 86836...
    - writing block 60781 of 86836...
    - writing block 69464 of 86836...
    - writing block 78147 of 86836...
    - writing block 86830 of 86836...
    - rewinding ...
    - Getting drive information...
    - Getting Mech EEPROM data...
    - Getting other drive information...
    - Getting other drive information...
    - unloading tape...
    - SCSI parity check...
    - Test passed
  - Analysis Results
    - Script is unable to verify if this device is using latest firmware - revision
      data was not loaded from web.
    - There were unrecoverable write errors while writing to tape .
    - Please make sure that the drive has the latest recommended firmware installed.
    - The drive write/read performance is sub-optimal.
    - However, the same tape (Serial Number: 1020000595) was used when this was last
      reported.
    - Please try using a new tape.
    - Device Analysis has checked the historical information and some problems were
      found.
    - Testing has completed and no problems were found.

So, it appears the tests ran OK.  The analysis results are weird but I think they are related to the old tape (PHYS-019). 

After updating firmware, I rebooted, ran cleaning tape through unit, and then put in a new (fuji) tape.  Ran acceptance test again:
                                                                                                   
Main > Drive Information > Test > Viewer >
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Test 'Test Script' started on device 'HP Ultrium 1-SCSI' at address '0.2.0[0-/dev/sg0]'
  - Passed
  - Operations Log
    - Executing Rules Based Analysis (rules file is /tmp/LTT_TnAKoKw.tst)
    - executing LTO acceptance test...
    - unloading tape...
    - Getting drive information...
    - Getting Mech EEPROM data...
    - Getting other drive information...
    - Getting other drive information...
    - retrieving nonvolatile fault log data...
    - filtering log data...
    - checking fault log rules...
    - writing device analysis history log...
    - loading tape...
    - SCSI parity check...
    - writing ...
    - writing block 8683 of 86836...
    - writing block 17366 of 86836...
    - writing block 26049 of 86836...
    - writing block 34732 of 86836...
    - writing block 43415 of 86836...
    - writing block 52098 of 86836...
    - writing block 60781 of 86836...
    - writing block 69464 of 86836...
    - writing block 78147 of 86836...
    - writing block 86830 of 86836...
    - rewinding ...
    - Getting drive information...
    - Getting Mech EEPROM data...
    - Getting other drive information...
    - Getting other drive information...
    - unloading tape...
    - SCSI parity check...
    - Test passed
  - Analysis Results
    - Script is unable to verify if this device is using latest firmware - revision data
      was not loaded from web.
    - There are indications of problems reading the tape servo data.
    - However, the drive has not been cleaned since the last occurrence.
    - Please clean the drive with a cleaning cartridge.
    - There were unrecoverable write errors while writing to tape .
    - The drive write/read performance is sub-optimal.
    - However, the same tape (Serial Number: 1020000595) was used when this was last
      reported.
    - Please try using a new tape.
    - Device Analysis has checked the historical information and some problems were
      found.
    - Testing has completed and no problems were found.

So, I still see errors listed under the analysis results but it also says the testing has completed and no problems were found.  HP engineer confirmed these failures shown in analysis results are from old tests (tapes).  He said to use the

03-06-24 - Info from HP engineer: Want to use a separate SCSI controller for the Ultrium.   Try to put the controllers on separate PCI buses.  Try to use 64-bit 3.3 volt bus (not 5 volt or rate will be limited).  In software, set buffers and block-sizes to 64Kb.  Put the LTO as last on the SCSI chain.

03-05-27
- Received new LTO.  Attached to NT system and updated firmware from N23D to N26D.
Drive info:
Total Data Written: 738.62 Gb
Total Data Read: 114.16 Mb
Write Errors: 11
Read Errors: 61
Date last cleaned: 2003/04/14
Time since last cleaned: 1032 hours 16 min
Data transferred since last clean: 603.24 Gb
Time in use since last clean: 34 hours 45 mins
Soft errors since last clean: 72
I ran the new cleaning tape and got an error at the end saying the cleaning tape was exhausted! The cleaning stats from Netvault did not change from those above.
Current drive configuration:
Media block size: 32 Kb
Amount of memory to assign for the transfer buffers: 257 Kb
Number of media blocks to write at a time: 1
Number of media blocks to read at a time: 1
Lock transfer buffer in memory is on


Old LTO info:  Mech. Serial Number: IE81B00374 Model:  C7421A Firmware Revision: N0BD / OEM

03-05-23
- LTO would try to read tape header and fail, said "BAD" where normally it would say the tape label (in the netvault software).  Then the tape error light would come on and the tape cleaning light would flash.  I tried cleaning it then using another tape, same results.  Did this three times with three different tapes - same result.  Put the LTO on a windows box and upgraded the firmware - no change.  New firmware requires a new kind of cleaning tape (orange case).  Phoned HP tech support and after running a test with the hp_ltt utility he decided the tape was bad.  Case number is 3201970038.


01-05-03
Downloaded file ultrium_1-scsi_e12d_disty.frm, which is a firmware upgrade version E12D dated 04-Apr-2001.  It is always a good idea to utilize the latest available firmware to take full advantage of ongoing improvements made during your product's life. Note: Downloading this file to an HP tape drive requires the use of HP Library and Tape Tools, http://www.hp.com/cposupport/information_storage/software/ltt_27_eng.exe.html (Win NT/2K only).

Used Tape tools, downloaded latest firmware updates.  They apparently are not needed as they show up as having the "wrong personality"  or the "wrong prefix".