SL500 - Library Expansion Option Violation

Asset ID:	1-72-2046031.1
Update Date:	2017-05-24
Keywords:

Solution Type Problem Resolution Sure

Solution 2046031.1 : SL500 - Library Expansion Option Violation

Applies to:

Sun StorageTek SL500 Modular Library System - Version All Versions to All Versions [Release All Releases]
Information in this document applies to any platform.

Symptoms

Customer got the following error running Backups that caused the Backups to fail:

"Library Expansion Option Violation. This server is licensed to support 1 tape drive in robotic libraries. However, the number of tape drives currently in use exceeds the license. Support for the first drive in every robotic library is included and then you must purchase additional Library Expansion options, or disable 1 tape drive. Refer to product documentation for more information."

Cause

The following Windows event indicates there are not enough Backup Exec (tm) Library Expansion Option (LEO) licenses for the number of drives in the computer's robotic library.

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Backup Exec
Event Category: None
Event ID: 58053
Date:
Time:
User: N/A
Computer: BE-SERVER
Description:
Backup Exec Alert: Device Error
(Server: "BE-SERVER") Library Expansion Option Violation.

This server is licensed to support 0 tape drives in robotic libraries. However, the number of tape drives currently in use exceeds the license. You must purchase additional Library Expansion Options, or disable 1 tape drive. Please refer to product documentation for more information.

UMI: v-275-441

Cause

Cause 1:

Support for a single robotic library drive is included with Backup Exec for Windows Servers, one license each is required for all additional drives. If the license is not added, a Library expansion option violation is displayed.

Cause 2:

Backup Exec installed on a server connected to a SAN through more than one HBA and two SCSI path configured in the switches (Microsoft Multipath I/O (MPIO)) and not configured correctly.

Solution

Solution 1:

According to the Backup Exec Administrator's Guide:

"Support for a single robotic library drive is included with Backup Exec for Windows Servers, one license each is required for all additional drives. If the license is not added, a Library expansion option violation is displayed. To obtain licenses for additional robotic library drives, you must purchase the optional Backup Exec for Windows Servers - Library Expansion Option (LEO)."

Using a robotic library with Backup Exec provides convenient, automated support for large capacity network environments. Please note that an additional LEO license is NOT required for standalone drives since Backup Exec (tm) provides support for unlimited number of standalone drives.

Review the Window's Event Logs for hardware related error messages

Uninstall and reinstall the LEO license for the backup exec to fix this issue.

This issue can also occurs if there is a single Robotic Library with one drive and Partitioning feature is enabled on it.

Partitioning is an enhanced feature of The Library. It is a way to allow the single library to be logically partitioned, so it will appear to a host as if it were multiple independent physical libraries. Each logical library (partition) can be independently controlled as though it were different libraries.
This feature creates multiple entries for the medium changer.
Same can be confirmed in the Windows Device Manager.
Backup Exec looks it as multiple Robotic Libraries and hence takes it as a licensing violation.
The Library partitions are created and modified through the LIBRARY CONTROL PANEL or Web Console ( refer vendors manual for more details)
It can be simply deleted or modified from the web interface of the library.( Power cycle is needed to make the changes effective)

The same issue can also be seen if the tape library had 2 fiber connections so the media server thought there were 2 libraries. To have this issue resolved disabled one fiber interface and the event id and Alert in the Backup Exec will stop displaying the error message.

Solution 2:

This issue may have many causes but one of them could well be a misconfiguration of absence of the MPIO driver in the server which leads to Windows interpreting there are two (or more) independent devices instead of one as it should. It is reflected in the HKLM\HARDWARE\DEVICEMAP\SCSI where one can see the same tape devices connected to different targets..

The bediag.txt will reflect this situation and will show the same devices multiple times (two or more, depending on the paths defined). One can look for the keywords "Tapeperipheral" and "MediumChangerPeripheral" and there will be several matches in different targets for the same tape device or robotic arm.

The issue with the MPIO driver and the SAN should be fixed. The hardware provider or integrator should be alerted about this issue.

https://support.symantec.com/en_US/article.TECH23196.html

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