LTO Tape Drive
 
Sun StorageTek 9840 Tape Drive
 
Sun StorageTek T10000 Tape Drive
 
Sun StorageTek 9940 Tape Drive
 

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In this Document

Goal

Solution

References

Applies to:

Goal

 LTO, T10000, and 9x40 customer process to upgrade microcode.

Solution

Drive Microcode Upgrade Process:

 Refer to the attached document as it is designed to be a point of reference to be used with the customer to discuss possible options for upgrading LTO/9x40/T10000 tape drive microcode.

Here is a link to the SDP2 product that discusses the benefits of this program: http://www.oracle.com/us/support/auto-service-request/index.html

Below is the content of the attached PDF:

Page 1
Oracle Tape Drive Microcode Upgrade Process
Table of Contents
STK 9x40/T10000 Drive Microcode Upgrade Process ........................................................................... 1
Benefits of Tape Drive Connectivity .......................................................................................................... 2
Microcode Upgrade Options ..................................................................................................................... 2
Process to Follow ...................................................................................................................................... 3
Site Has SDP2 Site Server .......................................................................................................................... 4
Customer has VOP .................................................................................................................................... 5
Customer has Ethernet Connection (No VOP) .......................................................................................... 6
Customer has Fibre Channel Drives .......................................................................................................... 7
Customer has no Maintenance Capability for Their Drives ...................................................................... 8
IBM & HP LTO Drive Microcode Upgrade Process ................................................................................ 8
Benefits of Tape Drive Connectivity .......................................................................................................... 8
Microcode Upgrade Options ..................................................................................................................... 8
Process to Follow ...................................................................................................................................... 9
Customer has Ethernet Connection ........................................................................................................ 10
Customer has Fibre Channel or SAS Drives ............................................................................................ 11
Customer has no Maintenance Capability for Their Drives .................................................................... 12

Page 2
STK 9x40/T10000 Drive Microcode
Upgrade Process
Benefits of having tape drive network connectivity available to the customer.
1) The customer can easily upgrade microcode on their tape drives. Multiple drives can be upgraded simultaneously which saves time.
2) The customer can manually trigger drive dumps which may be needed to troubleshoot a problem. An SR can be opened with a forced drive dump readily available. This action will typically speed up resolution of tape drive problems.
3) The customer can retrieve event logs from tape drives which may be needed to troubleshoot a problem. This allows health checks to be easily done on the tapes drives.
    a. Note that this capability is already there with SDP2.
4) Allows the customer to have a view into the status of each tape drive including the encryption status.
5) It allows the customer to manually unload a drive in the case of a stuck tape.

Microcode Upgrade Options
There are various ways to upgrade the microcode on T10000 Tape Drives.
1) For Fibre Channel hosts (Solaris and Linux only) the microcode can be upgraded on T10000A/B/C drives using the TLOAD application which is packaged with the microcode upgrade file on My Oracle Support. This works with the SG driver for Linux and ST driver for Solaris only.

Note- This method is not supported for T10000D drives.

2) If the tape drives are connected on the customer’s public network or if the drives are connected on a service network, Multi Drive VOP or Single Drive VOP can be used to upgrade microcode. Verify that you can ping the drives from the machine you will be using to upgrade the microcode. You can use Multi Drive VOP to update multiple drives at a time. You should always try to use Multi Drive VOP to reduce the time needed to upgrade the tape drives.

Note: Any site that has encrypting drive already has a service network. The customer can connect a machine to this service network to allow network connectivity to the drives. At that point they can install and use VOP or MD VOP to connect to the tape drives and upgrade the microcode.

3) If SDP2 is available at the site then you can use the VOP client (in communication with the server) to upgrade the microcode.

Page 3

Process to follow
1) Have the customer open an SR against a drive tray serial number that will be upgraded. Add the additional drive tray serial #s (that are in the same library) to be upgraded. (up to 64 total) Upload a library logsnap for the library into the SR.
2) Determine which option below matches the customer’s maintenance capabilities:
    a) Site has a SDP2 site server installed and the tape drives are connected. (see page 3 below)
    b) Customer has VOP (or Multi Drive VOP) capabilities to connect to the drives. (see page 4 below)
    c) Customer has no current VOP capability but the Ethernet ports on the drives are connected on their public network. (e.g. the customer can ping the drives) (see page 5 below)
    d) Customer has no maintenance capabilities but has Fiber Channel attached drives. (see page 6 below).
    e) Customer has no maintenance capabilities but has NO Fiber Channel attached drives. (see page 7 below)
3) Use the logsnap from the previous step to determine which tray serial numbers are installed and will be updated in each library and note the library bay numbers and IP addresses.
4) The beginning step for all processes that follow is to take the drive offline from the application. The process to down/offline the drives will vary depending on the platform.
    a) Mainframe platform running MVS – see this link:
        https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SSLTBW_2.1.0/com.ibm.zos.v2r1.idao300/o3022.htm
    b) Open systems down the drive. This is typically done through the backup application.
5) The Microcode upgrade process will vary depending on the maintenance capabilities at the site. Find your option from step 2 above and go to the matching section that follows to complete the process.

Page 4
Site has a SDP2 site server installed and the tape drives are connected.
(this is option 2a on page 3 above)
The tape drives are network connected to the SDP2 server.
With this configuration the SR owner can load tape drive microcode using the MDVOP client which is connected to the SDP2 server. You will need to have a matching version of the MDVOP client and the SDP2 server software. (i.e. if the SDP2 server is running at version 2.3.2 then the MDVOP client needs to be at 2.3.2.
1) Have the customer down the drives to be upgraded.
2) Upgrade the microcode to the drives using the VOP client. See KB 2238388.1 for details.
3) After the microcode is upgraded have the customer put the drives back online.

Page 5
Customer has VOP capabilities to connect to the drives.
(This is option 2b on page 3 above)
The tape drives are configured to VOP and the customer can upgrade the tape drive microcode.
1) Have the customer down the drives to be upgraded.
2) Have the customer take the drives offline and upgrade the microcode to the drives using the process outlined in KB 2224530.1.
3) After the microcode is upgraded have the customer put the drives back online.

Page 6
Customer has no current VOP capability but the Ethernet ports on the drives are connected on their public network.
(this is option 2c on page 3 above)
The customer can ping the tape drives but MD VOP is not yet setup.
With this configuration it is a simple matter to have the customer bring up Multi Drive VOP and configure the tape drives. Once the drives are configured to MD VOP then the customer can upgrade the microcode on the drives.
1. Have the customer down the drives to be upgraded.
2. Verify that the customer can ping the tape drive IP addresses from the machine they want to use to run Multi Drive VOP.
3. Download Multi Drive VOP from the MOS Patches and Upgrades site. (KB 1437291.1 - search for VOP)
4. Follow the process outlined in KB 2224530.1 to bring up MD VOP and upgrade the microcode to the drives.
5. After the microcode is upgraded have the customer put the drives back online.

Page 7
Customer has Fibre Channel attached drives.
(this is option 2d on page 3 above)
The tape drives have a data path connection to a Linux or Solaris server.
1) For Fibre Channel hosts (Solaris and Linux only) the microcode can be upgraded across the data path on T10000A/B/C/D drives using the TLOAD application which is packaged with the microcode upgrade file on My Oracle Support.

2) See KB 2107164.1 and KB 2130008.1 for details.

3) Only 1 tload session per server can be running at a time as the first session will reserve the drives.

Notes:
- (type: ./tload code_file) where “code_file” typically needs to include the full path to the code load file.
Note- Tload can only be used to upgrade microcode on T10000D drives that are currently at 4.10.106 release or higher.

Page 8
Customer has no maintenance capabilities to the tape drives (this is option 2e on page 3 above.)
The tape drives are not connected to a Linux or Solaris server and have no network connection to a machine at the site.

Discuss the following:
1) Request if the customer is willing to install the tape drives on their public network in order to obtain connectivity to these devices.
2) Oracle is willing to have the Oracle FE build a service network to the tape drives.

Note: the customer would need to supply an Ethernet switch and all necessary cables to build the service network.

HP & IBM LTO Drive Microcode Upgrade Process
Benefits of having tape drive network connectivity available to the customer.
1) The customer can easily upgrade microcode on their tape drives. Multiple drives can be upgraded simultaneously which saves time.
2) The customer can manually trigger drive dumps which may be needed to troubleshoot a problem. An SR can be opened with a forced drive dump readily available. This action will typically speed up resolution of tape drive problems.
3) Allows the customer to have a view into the status of each tape drive including the encryption status.
Microcode upgrade options
There are various ways to upgrade the microcode on HP & IBM LTO Tape Drives.

Page 9
1) For Fibre Channel hosts (Solaris, Linux, and Windows only) the microcode can be upgraded on HP & IBM drives using the TLOAD or WinTload application which is packaged with the microcode upgrade file on My Oracle Support. This works with the SG driver for Linux, ST driver for Solaris, and the WinTload tool does not require a driver.
2) If the customer already has the IBM ITDT (IBM LTO only) or HP LTT (HP LTO only) tool on their system then they can use that to upgrade the code on the HP or IBM drives that are connected to their host over the data path.
3) If the customer has their IBM LTO5 or higher drives’ Service Ethernet port connected to a private service network then the customer can upgrade the code on their drives with standard FTP commands to push the code file to the drive.
4) If the customer has their HP LTO5 or higher drives’ Service Ethernet port connected to a private service network then the customer can upgrade the code on their drives with the HP LTT tool using the Ethernet option to connect.

Process to follow
1) Have the customer open an SR against a drive tray serial number that will be upgraded. Add the additional drive tray serial #s (that are in the same library) to be upgraded. (up to 64 total) Upload a library logsnap for the library into the SR.
2) Determine which option below matches the customer’s maintenance capabilities:
    a) Customer has their drives connected to a private Network or Service Network and can use FTP to their IBM LTO5 or higher drives.
    b) Customer has their drives connected to a private Network or Service Network and can use the HP LTT tool for their HP LTO5 or higher drives.
    c) Customer has Fibre Channel or SAS attached drives and they have either the IBM ITDT (IBM only) or HP LTT (HP only) tools already installed on their system.
    d) Customer has Fibre Channel or SAS attached drives but doesn’t have the vendor tool but has a Linux, Solaris, or Windows system connected to the drives and thus can use the Tload or WinTload utilities.
    e) Customer has no maintenance capabilities. (see page 7 below)
3) Use the logsnap from the previous step to determine which tray serial numbers are installed and will be updated in each library and note the library bay numbers and IP addresses.

Page 10
4) The beginning step for all processes that follow is to take the drive offline from the application. The process to down/offline the drives will vary depending on the platform. Typically this is done from the customer’s backup application.
5) The Microcode upgrade process will vary depending on the maintenance capabilities at the site. Find your option from step 2 above and go to the matching section that follows to complete the process.

Page 11
Customer has the Ethernet ports on the drives connected on a private or service Network.
(this is option 2a and 2b on page 3 above)
If the customer has their IBM LTO tape drives on a Private Network or Service Network.
With this configuration it is a simple matter to have the customer bring up a terminal or cmd window and then the customer can upgrade the microcode on the drives using FTP.
1. Have the customer down the drives to be upgraded.
2. Verify that the customer can ping the tape drive IP addresses from the machine they want to use from either a terminal, cmd, or PuTTy window.
3. Follow the below process to upgrade the microcode to the IBM LTO5 or higher drives via the Service Ethernet Port.

Note: The drive uses a limited version of FTP protocol to communicate on the Ethernet interface. It is recommended to use a simple, command line FTP session, such as the DOS command prompt, when communicating with the drive.

   a. Obtain the latest drive firmware from the web, as described above.
   b. Connect an Ethernet patch cable to the drive's Service Ethernet interface and to a computer. In order to meet electromagnetic immunity requirements, a shielded Ethernet cable is required.
   c. Create an FTP session between the drive and the computer. The drive's IP address: 169.254.0.3. If the IP address was changed on the drive please use the new IP address. (for how to change the IP address please see Doc ID 2065981.1)
   d. At the user prompt, type guest and press Enter.
   e. At the password prompt, press Enter. No response is needed.
   f. Type bin to set the communication mode to binary.
   g. Type put <firmware name> to transfer the firmware to the drive. Replace <firmware name> with the actual firmware name. The drive will reset automatically when the transfer is complete and the FTP session will close.
   h. After the drive resets, the new firmware will be loaded on the drive.
4. After the microcode is upgraded have the customer put the drives back online.

If the customer has their HP LTO tape drives on a Private Network or Service Network.
With this configuration the customer can use the HP LTT tool to upgrade the microcode over the Service Ethernet port.
1. Have the customer down the drives to be upgraded.

Page 12
2. Verify that the customer can ping the tape drive IP addresses from the machine they have the HP LTT tool installed on.
3. After starting the HP LTT tool for “Scan Mode” select “Hardware Scan” and then for “I/O Mode” select “Ethernet” and then enter the Ethernet IP address of the drive and click “Continue”
4. Follow the process in Doc ID 1364037.1 to upgrade the microcode to the HP LTO5 or higher drives via the Service Ethernet Port with the HP LTT tool.
5. After the microcode is upgraded have the customer put the drives back online.

Page 13
Customer has Fibre Channel or SAS attached drives.
(this is option 2c and 2d on page 3 above)
The customer has tape drives that have a data path connection to a server.
1) For Fibre Channel or SAS hosts if the customer already has the IBM ITDT (IBM only) or HP LTT (HP only) tool on their system they can use that to upgrade the drives.
   a. IBM ITDT Doc ID 1364342.1
   b. HP LTT Doc ID 1364037.1
2) For Fibre Channel or SAS hosts (Solaris, Linux, and Windows only) the microcode can be upgraded across the data path on LTO drives using the TLOAD or WinTload application which is packaged with the microcode upgrade patch file on My Oracle Support.
3) See KB 2129671.1 and KB 2188019.1 for details.

Notes:
- (type: ./tload code_file) where “code_file” typically needs to include the full path to the code load file.
- This method is not supported for T10000D drives.

Page 14
Customer has no maintenance capabilities to the tape drives
(this is option 2e on page 3 above.)
The tape drives are not connected to a server that has the IBM ITDT or HP LTT tools and the drives aren’t connected to a Linux, Solaris, or Windows server and have no network connection to a machine at the site.
Discuss the following:
1) If LTO5 or higher request if the customer is willing to install the tape drives on a private Network or Service Network in order to obtain connectivity to these devices.
2) If LTO5 or higher state that Oracle is willing to have the Oracle FE build a service network to the tape drives.
Note: The customer would need to supply an Ethernet switch and all necessary cables to build the service network.

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