AVRD Hangs on SCSI drives
Created: 07 Feb 2013 | Updated: 11 Apr 2013 | 13 comments
This issue has been solved. See solution.
I have a legacy environment. Netbackup 3.1 on a HP-UX B 11.00 A. I am unable to perform any backup or restore activity on the machine as the drive go in AVR mode. when i try to bounce netbackup services AVRD hangs and will not get killed. It eventually goes off after a day or if rebooted. I read an article where it was suggested that could be a communication issue. But the solution was pointing to a FC connected device. I have a SCSI environment. I have tried rebooting the tape library and the server. Had the drives checked and power cycled. I also had the connection checked out just in case. I have tried deleting and reconfiguring the drives still the same situation. any suggestion please..
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Netbackup 3.1 on a HP-UX B 11.00
I am just curious, why you have not tried to upgrade the netbackup?
:-) It was a Legacy when i got in.
I have seen this many years ago (more than 10 years) where something at OS level was holding on the drive.
Proof that it was at OS driver level was that commands like 'mt -f /dev/rmt/<device> status' was also hanging.
Even my 'archives' do not go back far enough to tell how it was solved.
Bottom line - you are going to battle to find any sort of OS level fixes and definitely not for NBU 3.1.
See the 'NetBackup v3.2 and prior (UNIX Platforms)' section of https://sort.symantec.com/eosl/show_matrix
Supporting Storage Foundation and VCS on Unix and Windows as well as NetBackup on Unix and Windows
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AVR means communication issue between robot and botob control host.
Are there any relevant messages in syslog? Parallel SCSI I/O issue sometimes cause process hang(system call does not return).
If you have spare HBA and cables, try to replace them for hardware trouble isolation.
Authorized Symantec Consultant(ASC) Data Protection in Tokyo, Japan
Start at basics and prove drive is good by physically loading the tape and then mounting it using OS. Do a tar command to write and then read the data. Once you know the tape drive, the media and the scsi are good then proceed to troubleshoot the library.
Reinstall the drivers and check the result...
Netbackup Admin (Unix)
Reinstall drivers? On HP-UX?
How?
Supporting Storage Foundation and VCS on Unix and Windows as well as NetBackup on Unix and Windows
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Thanks for all your suggestions... I have noticed something. Even though the drives were in AVR. I was able to go in the Robtest and was able to move the media from slots to Drives. But when i try other way it fails. Says medium not present. I ran ioscan -fnC tape about 30 mins ago still no output.
If robtest connects to the library, which it does, but then you have some further iss when running commands - you have a library issue.
ioscan hanging may be part of this, or may be some other issue. POwer off the library, does ioscan then work ?
There is no control over robtest in NBU, apart from defining the path to the library, which is proven to be correct.
Time to call hardware type people ....
Martin
Did you remember to 'unload d# ' before doing 'm d# s# '?
BUT if ioscan takes 30 minutes to come back, your problem is not with avrd.
Your OS-level device problem is causing avrd to hang (as I've tried to indicate in my first reply).
Supporting Storage Foundation and VCS on Unix and Windows as well as NetBackup on Unix and Windows
Handy NBU Links
My first reply was similar. Go back to basics and prove tape loads, mounts,writes, reads tar file. then checkout the changer.
Good point Marianne, some drives need an unload command in robtest before trying to move the tape.
I always manage to forget that minor detail ...
I always compare it with old-fashioned VCR and human hand with the tape library's robotic hand.
When a tape is loaded in the VCR, there is no way that the human hand can fetch it and put it away. You need to press the 'unload/eject' button first.
Supporting Storage Foundation and VCS on Unix and Windows as well as NetBackup on Unix and Windows
Handy NBU Links
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