>-----Original Message----- >From: Peter Ford [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] >>As for reliability. That turns out to be a very mixed bag.> ><...snip...> >>For instance, >>we have a site with a large fiber channel and LTO >>configuration. No end to >>the problems so far and they are very serious problems. Is >>this a result of >>the tape technology? I doubt it, but one never knows, do one?\
From: Kelly J. Lipp [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] >I would be very curious to hear what type of reliability >problems you have seen with LTO. I have posted here before, >but we have been experiencing an incredibly high number of >read errors with our 3584 LTO library. We regularly see >errors when trying to restore data from tapes. We have been >auditing volumes recently and have seen errors on a tape >during one audit, and then audit again, with no errors. >There is no discernable pattern to these errors (across >multiple tapes and multiple drives). Due to the nature of >the data we are backing up, the data does not change often >(and therefore the tapes are generally written to once, and >the data stays there), so over-used tapes should not be an issue. > >Anything that you could share with the list, or me directly, >would be greatly appreciated. A problem we've had several times up here in the Great Dry North this winter has been an environmental one. The 3583 library is fairly vulnerable to a lack of humidity. While the docs say that 20% is the minimum required for proper operation, we've found that 40% is really the minimum needed, particularly in server rooms that are not really equipped as server rooms; i.e., carpet on the floor, no raised floor, lots of foot traffic, etc. If you can scoot your feet around, touch the outside of the library cabinet, and get **zapped**, you've got a problem. (Your server room should be at 40% in any event; tape 'floats' best across tape heads at that humidity.) IBM found a workaround for the lack of humidity. At two sites I've been to, they've taken one of those yellow-and-green grounding straps they use to ground mainframe boxes, and attached the library's outside panel to a decent ground. One customer went from multiple, daily, severe problems to no problems at all in one day. (Many thanks go to Bryan Hanson, IBM tape Top Gun, for the fix.) The problem is that the 3583 is a complex machine that combines many moving mechanical parts and electronics in a relatively small metal box. When you send a charge through the box, its relatively small surface area allows a substantial charge through the box, rather than dissipating it across its surface. Larger libraries (like the 3584) can dissipate the charge faster and are therefore less vulnerable. Don't trust those Wal-Mart temperature/humidity meters. If you're having 3583 problems that can't seem to get fixed, and your environment looks like the one I've described above, get a good meter and check your server room. -- Mark Stapleton ([EMAIL PROTECTED])