A Headache that shouldn't be this big
Preface/Disclaimer Info:
Had BackupExec on a Sun box, not under warranty. It blew up so had to migrate NetBackUp to a Windows box. It’s a standalone system so downloading firmware/drivers/etc is a pain (but has already been done for OS, BIOS (both server 2003 and the tape drive which is a Dell T2000), etc). tape drive is connected to server via SCSI cable. Backups worked great for several months so we know the configuration worked at one time. Device Manager for the server is clean as well as event viewer (as best it can be for Windows Server). ... Ran the BE_SupportTool.exe and all is green. … Web interface to tape drive allows me to move, inventory, eject, etc. all media so it works fine as well. … Only thing not done is reinstall Netbackup (which would also be a pain).
Problem:
Cannot inventory the robot anymore and thus cannot perform/configure any backups. The program does not recognize the host as having a local robot and choosing remote simply allows the wizard to continue without balking. … I have done everything suggested by many forums such as updating drivers (per above), deleting from Device Manager and rebooting, disconnecting, power cycling both devices, rebooting again, rebooting again, and yes, rebooting again. … Please note that they have also been performed in various orders. … I do notice that the SCSI path is blank yet find nothing in Google searches or other documentation on a method to set it (which could possibly resolve this).
Since NetBackUp, Device Manager, and the Web Interface can see the tape drive, it’s not a connectivity issue. Since the web interface performs an accurate inventory, the robot, reader, carriage, barcodes, etc are working fine as well.
Synopsis:
I’m guessing there is a corrupt registry entry somewhere that could easily be edited (thus alleviating having to uninstall/reinstall everything. Especially since it seems to be related to the software.
Note:
Iif a solution has been suggested more than 5 times in Google (other than reinstalling the software), it has been tried in as many different ways.
Ideas?
Thanks.
Comments
Generic Robot Driver in Windows DeviceManager?
Check if you, or an update of any kind have swapped out the generic windows robotics driver.
Sometimes this one is "updated" with a device-specific-one that doesn't work.
(sometimes driver not swapped until next reboot after update)
As we all are part of the product, we're in here to improve it.
You did not mention what
You did not mention what Netbackup version it is...
Check if device mapping has been applied: http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH77988
Then check if you have ghost & hidden devices, which you need to get rid of them to avoid device path messing around: http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH93292
Hi A few things here, as
Hi
A few things here, as NetBackup is very different to Backup Exec ...
1. If the Tape Library robotics have a driver loaded then roll it back until it is shown as an unknown medium changer
2. Stop and disable the Removable Storage Manager Service as it can take both the robot and drives away from Windows and NetBackup - THIS IS THE REALLY IMPORTANT ONE.
3. Once the tape drives can be seen happily go to the registry and add a DWORD key at the top level of the tape drive named AutoRun with a value of 0 - needs a reboot (for example - HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\hplto\)
4.If you have any issues with a SCSI connected library and have to reboot it wait until it is full up and its display shows as online / ready and only then reboot the Media Server attached to it.
Authorised Symantec Consultant
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Hi Did you try my suggestions
Hi
Did you try my suggestions above, especially the RSM one?
These really should sort things out for you
Authorised Symantec Consultant
Don't forget to give a "Thumbs Up" or mark as "Solution" if someones advice has helped you.
Epistle to Headache
In my attempt to avoid a lengthy forum, I attempted to include as much info as possible. naturally, I forgot the actual product and version number. ... My appologies.
Product is Veritas NetBackup Version 6.0MP7
Much thanks to watsons as I did indeed fail to check for hidden/ghost devices. There was a second tape drive listed.
As far as rolling back the drivers for the SCSI Tape Drive, there are three listed. The top two being for ibmtp2k3.sys and ibmtpft2k3.sys. The third one listed is for ntutil.exe. When attempting a rollback, it seems to throw me into the worthless Microsoft Wizard that asks questions like "Are you sure?" and "Did this solution help?" blah blah blah. After several iterations of this, I still never make it to the end where it will allow the removal of the driver(s).
I have attempted the idea of stopping the Removable Storage service. Although I see changes in the console(s), this prevents me from "UP"-ing the drive thus stopping any further progress.
Adding the regkeys was simple enough, yet resulted in NIL.
I find it more than a bit frustrating that the console will see the drive with the SCSI address (4,0,4,0 by the way) and allow me to add it to the mix, yet will not populate anything for the path (which I think is part of the problem in trying to find a local (versus network or shared) robot.
Some of the Google responses have been to reinstall the software (which I will do if necessary) but would like to know what caused it to stop working to begin with. ... (I'd like to avoid having to reinstall everytime Microsoft decides to repaint the stripes on the road if you catch my drift). ... A side note: we have not installed any patches for some time since this is a stand alone system so a recent patch install could not have caused this. ... Patches have to be approved through a VERY VERY lengthy process anyway so it's not an issue of anything new being installed or added to the system.
On a final note (for the moment), at this point, I'm not convinced that reinstalling the S/W would fix the problem anyway. This seems to be buried WAY too deep in the registry and since an unistall never really uninstalls everything to where you could start over, there is simply too good a chance of latent crap floating around.
Once I do find the solution, I'm thinking of writing a book about this titled "Edison Had It Way Too Easy". If I were to devote a single page to every suggestion and attempt, it would be bigger that our current tax code!
Thanks for allowing me to vent.
If you have removable storage
If you have removable storage stopped and disabled and are back to an unknown medium changer then based on you current version I would delete all drives for that robot in NetBackup, then delete the robot ( with all of the device manager restarts it asks for) and then do a view-refresh all in the console, then run the device wizard again
You never know - might be a suitable prologue
Authorised Symantec Consultant
Don't forget to give a "Thumbs Up" or mark as "Solution" if someones advice has helped you.
Only thing I can think of
I quite often have issues with one or two tape drives on a windows media server after a windows patch.
What I have noticed is even thou the device manger sees the drive, when I open the properties of the drive I will find one or two that only have 3 tabs - and the important one it is missing is the Driver tab.
I have to re-apply the driver - and it works.
I don't have to know how to spell....I work on Unix.
NetBackup 7.0.1 - AIX & Windows
Actually - even better as i
Actually - even better as i believe you are on a 32 bit system would be to download the Symantec drivers from here:
http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH51096
(or possibly from the AddOns directory in your download)
When you run then choose the "Use plug and play drivers" and "remove entires for drives that no longer exist".
This tides up things really nicely
Your AutoRun key will then go under the VRTS* driver.
Still worth deleting it all first to clear out EMM, install this driver and run the wizard
Hope this helps
Authorised Symantec Consultant
Don't forget to give a "Thumbs Up" or mark as "Solution" if someones advice has helped you.
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