HP StorageWorks TapeAssure LTFS Service Version 1.0 User Guide This document provides information about the HP StorageWorks TapeAssure LTFS service, which makes it possible to monitor the health and status of your standalone Ultrium tape drives. This guide is intended for storage and system administrators who monitor and manage tape devices in HP LTFS installations.
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Contents 1 Introduction ....................................................................................... 7 Features ..................................................................................................................................... 7 Benefits ..................................................................................................................................... 7 Architecture ...............................................................................................
7 Support and other resources .............................................................. 33 Contacting HP .......................................................................................................................... Subscription service ............................................................................................................ Related information ................................................................................................................... HP websites .
Figures 1 TapeAssure architecture for standalone tape drives ........................................................ 8 HP StorageWorks TapeAssure LTFS Service Version 1.
Tables 1 Document conventions .............................................................................................
1 Introduction This guide provides information about the TapeAssure service monitoring software for LTFS installations. The TapeAssure service makes previously unavailable information about the health and use of standalone HP Ultrium tape drives available through the HP TapeAssure dashboard in Command View for Tape Libraries (Command View TL). Features HP StorageWorks TapeAssure service collects operational data for the standalone tape drives and tapes being monitored.
• Reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) through better utilization and reduced need for unused capacity • Justify capacity increases with real data about usage. • Maintain equipment with minimum disruption by: • Knowing the remaining expected life of drives and tapes, and planning ahead for possible maintenance and replacement. • Finding out the health of drives and tapes, and about issues before hard failures occur. • Receiving proactive advice on corrective actions.
The TapeAssure service for LTFS runs as a deamon process, which can be started and stopped using the TapeAssure LTFS service management tool provided with the package. Supported configurations The TapeAssure service supports: • The same LTO tape devices and host bus adaptors (HBAs) supported by HP LTFS • Operating systems: • Redhat 5 Linux 32 • Redhat 5 Linux 64 • Redhat 6.0 Linux 32 • Redhat 6.0 Linux 64 • SuSE ES11 Linux 32 • SuSE ES11 Linux 64 • MAC OS x 10.5 • MAC OS x 10.
Comparing TapeAssure and L&TT The two tools work together to provide a full monitoring and diagnostic solution, and are fully compatible and consistent. For example, a support ticket pulled as part of monitoring activity can be opened and viewed using L&TT, allowing you to see all support ticket information. TapeAssure focuses on the key pieces of data in a support ticket and is therefore a subset of the complete L&TT functionality.
2 Installation and configuration NOTE: These instructions assume that HP LTFS is already installed on the server. For instructions on installing HP LTFS see the HP LTFS user guide available at http://www.hp.com/go/ltfs. Using TapeAssure with drives connected to a computer running a Linux or Mac operating system and managed by HP LTFS requires installation of two components — the TapeAssure LTFS service and Command View TL.
4. Execute the Installer script. For example, ./Installer NOTE: Ensure that permissions on the install directory allow writing files. 5. Change directory to the location of the extracted files. For example: cd /usr/local/sa_tapeassure_agent 6. Configure the service by executing the Sa_TapeAssure utility in the install directory using the -c option. At the prompt, enter the configuration parameters: a. IP address of the Command View TL management station. b.
8. Verify that the service is running by executing Sa_TapeAssure with the -D option. Downloading and installing Command View TL The installation of Command View TL is covered fully in the HP StorageWorks Interface Manager and Command View TL user guide, available from: http://www.hp.com/support/cvtl. Command View TL is an enterprise library-focused, web-based application, and the use with HP TapeAssure is for only a subset of its full capabilities.
To verify each step of the process: 1. Verify that the HP LTFS driver is installed correctly and running. 2. Verify that the following directories are in the install directory: • configuration • logs • utils 3. Verify that the TapeAssure LTFS service is running. Use the Sa_TapeAssure utility with the –d option and verify that the status is Running. 4.
About using Command View TL with the TapeAssure service Command View TL is a web-based application that usually runs on a separate server than the backup server. Your organization might already have an installation of Command View TL for existing HP EML or ESL-e libraries. If so, this can be used for the TapeAssure service, provided it is running the latest firmware. NOTE: HP recommends using a single Command View TL management station for all TapeAssure-monitored systems.
Library and serial number information The TapeAssure data contains references to library serial numbers or host names. For tape drives managed under HP LTFS, this column shows the string HP LTFS. About the operation of the TapeAssure LTFS service The TapeAssure LTFS service is implemented as a daemon that can be started and stopped using the Sa_TapeAssure utility under the installation directory. TapeAssure transports tickets to Command View TL that are pulled by HP LTFS when a tape is unmounted.
The assumed time of the pulled ticket is based on when it is received by Command View TL. This avoids inconsistency with time zones and incorrectly set clocks. In normal operation this works well because tickets are received within an hour of being pulled (based on the transport interval configuration) but if the connection to Command View TL is lost for a period of time and then recovered, the tickets waiting to be sent will all be received at the same time.
Installation and configuration
3 Using TapeAssure Conducting a health assessment of drives and tapes Unless L&TT has been used regularly, this may be the first health assessment that has been performed on the tape drive, which might trigger warnings and indicate service actions. NOTE: You should be prepared to address possible warnings and/or service actions, such as clean drive or retire tape the first time you use HP TapeAssure. Following the first backup, Command View TL will display TapeAssure health data for the drive and tape.
2. Select Drives > Health from the navigation pane. HP TapeAssure displays a summary of all drive health information in the right hand pane. The types of drive health information displayed in the TapeAssure tab are: • Write quality — displays how well the drive writes data to the tape. Note that data is always written at high quality (unless the drive returns an error), but it may take more tape to do so if there is an error rate problem.
3. To view tape health data from the TapeAssure tab, select Tapes > Health from the navigation pane. The types of drive health information displayed in the TapeAssure tab are: • Read/write life remaining — the expected read/write life remaining of the tape, shown as a percentage of the expected life, assuming HP recommended environmental conditions and usage. This is based on the amount of tape that has passed over the drive heads, and compared with HP recommended tape usage limits.
NOTE: You can obtain additional help by hovering your mouse cursor over the appropriate field and/or clicking on Help. Conducting a performance assessment of drives Conducting a performance assessment of tape drive is important because: • HP’s Ultrium tape drives are extremely fast, and if you utilize them at the fastest transfer rates, backup windows will be shorter, making better use of the equipment. • If the drives are not kept streaming, drive life may be limited by reposition life.
5. You can also use the data to see what compression ratios are being achieved. This is not something that can normally be changed, but it is useful to know how well the user data is actually compressing. This information is not usually available, yet has a significant impact on how much data can be written to a tape and the potential host data rates that can be accommodated.
Conducting a utilization assessment for tapes Tape utilization is an assessment of the efficiency of tape use. 1. To view tape utilization data from the TapeAssure tab, select Tapes > Utilization from the navigation pane. Utilization is shown under the column: Capacity used (at last sample) along with two other measures: Data Write and Data Read (in sample time). 2.
4 Uninstalling the TapeAssure LTFS service Under the installation directory, locate and execute the Uninstall executable, giving the install directory as a parameter. For example: ./UnInstall /usr/local/sa_tapeassure_agent Are you sure that you want to uninstall the Sa_TapeAssure product[y/n]:y Uninstalling the Sa_TapeAssure product from install directory: /usr/local/sa_tapeassure_agent Sa_TapeAssure uninstalled successfully HP StorageWorks TapeAssure LTFS Service Version 1.
Uninstalling the TapeAssure LTFS service
5 Troubleshooting the TapeAssure LTFS service The TapeAssure service requires the following processes to be working: • • • • Ticket pulling via HP LTFS Sending tickets to Command View TL Receiving, accepting, and processing tickets into the Command View TL database Presenting the TapeAssure data via the Command View TL GUI The following checks guide you through a full verification of these processes, enabling you to diagnose issues. HP recommends that you follow them in the order listed.
Check the configuration Use the Sa_TapeAssure -d option to check the key configuration parameters: • CVTL Management Station IP – Command View TL management station IP address • Port number – Command View TL management station port number. Most likely this will be 8099, but it can be changed using Command View TL • Polling Interval – verify that tickets are checked frequently enough to match your mount/unmount model.
• MANAGEMENT_STATION_IP – the IP address of the Command View TL management station • MANAGEMENT_STATION_PORT – the port number of the Command View TL management station. Normally 8099 unless the port number has been changed using Command View TL. • POLLING_INTERVAL – Verify that tickets are transported frequently enough to match your mount/unmount model. The default is that all outstanding tickets pulled by the HP LTFS driver will be sent every hour.
The fields that are incomplete or corrupt are listed in the log entry, which might help isolate the root cause of the problem.
6 About the Sa_TapeAssure utility Synopsis Sa_TapeAssure [-sScCvVzZtTdDrRhHh] Description Sa_TapeAssure is a utility to manage the following functions of the HP TapeAssure service: • Configuration of the service • Selective viewing and clearing of log/error files • Starting and stopping the service • Displaying the status of the service and statistical information Options -S, -s Starts the HP TapeAssure Service. The HP TapeAssure Service is started as a background process.
6. 7. 8. Number of tickets sent to the Command View TL management station since the last reset/installation of the HP TapeAssure LTFS service. HP LTFS version information. Total disk space occupied by the log file and error file, in MB. -R, -r Resets the counter for the number of tickets sent to the configured Command View TL management station.. This counter indicates the number of tickets sent since the last reset or installation of the HP TapeAssure LTFS service.
7 Support and other resources Contacting HP For worldwide technical support information, see the HP support website: http://www.hp.
Typographic conventions Table 1 Document conventions Convention Element Blue text: Table 1 Cross-reference links and e-mail addresses Blue, underlined text: http://www.hp.
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