SL3000/SL8500 - "WAIT" Time Between Removal and Insertion of Tape Drives

Asset ID:	1-71-1361984.1
Update Date:	2011-10-07
Keywords:

Solution Type Technical Instruction Sure

Solution 1361984.1 : SL3000/SL8500 - "WAIT" Time Between Removal and Insertion of Tape Drives

Applies to:

Sun StorageTek SL3000 Modular Library System - Version: Not Applicable and later [Release: N/A and later ]
Sun StorageTek SL8500 Modular Library System - Version: Not Applicable and later [Release: N/A and later]
Information in this document applies to any platform.

Goal

SL3000/SL8500 - Procedure to use when removing or inserting drive trays into a SL8500 or SL3000 library.

Solution

Improper drive replacement procedures can expose a library to drive communication issues on the drive being serviced along with other online transports. Pulling out a drive and immediately re-inserting it is the most common trigger for this problem. All versions of code can experience this issue.

Under certain conditions it may take the controller over 60 seconds to acknowledge the state change of a transport. In addition, service personnel are not always using the power off button on the back of the drive tray when removing a drive.

Therefore, follow the recommendations below to prevent unexpected drive communication failures to the drive being serviced or any other drive:

a. From the SL8500 or SL3000 Service Manual... "Depress the power switch. The green LED will flash while the unit is powering down. WAIT until the LED is solid red (approximately one minute) before pulling out the drive tray."

b. Do not pull a drive tray out once you have inserted it. Wait at least one minute if you need to remove it again.

c. Always wait until the green LED stops flashing and turns steady green before reconnecting the host fibre cable to ensure proper WWN presentation.

This issue is more likely to occur on an SL8500 due to the greater number of transports and robotics communicating with the controller than on an SL3000.
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