Backup Exec 8.6 with Exabyte M2 Library Failures

[Dissent13]

I have a Dell PowerEdge 4400 and an Exabyte M2 8 Drive tape library running Backup Exec 8.6 on Windows 2000.

Everyday, 4-5 jobs fail due to CRC errors, I/O errors or semaphore errors. It involves all drives seemingly picked at random. The cables are all good and secure, the server doesn't report anything wrong with the 4 scsi controllers, the Exabyte library doesn't report any errors either.

I have addressed the semaphore error I believe by setting the silent period to 3 seconds instead of 5.

I am at my wits end, 7-8 jobs fail daily because of the above errors. I would love to print out log reports but I can't figure out how. I have to read each log to discover the problem!

Any help with the CRC or I/O errors would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks. Dave

 

[allen99383]

We had the same issue with our M2 drives. We tried everything, including calling Veritas Tech support, the only thing that they would say, was that it was that it had to be a problem with Win 2K. They couldn't find any problems with the software.

I think that it's an issue with the tape drive itself and/or the tapes, but couldn't find anything to correct the problem. We never did get it fixed, so we bought a StorageTek system, and it works excellent. Every job is 100% successful now.

Allen

 

[slidelltiger]

I am having this problem but with version 9.0.

It seems that veritas times out with that error when the drives are being cleaned when the tapes is almost at the end.

Because it takes so long to rewind the tape and then clean the drive and then fast foward backup Exec thinks there is a problem with the tape and ends the job with an error.

I have talked to Exabyte about this and they say that this is a problem with Vetitas and their drives.

They say to change the timeout settings.

 

[Dissent13]

I'm afraid replacement is the only option at this point. I have worked with Exabyte for over 4 hours on the phone to no avail. All software is updated and appears to be working fine. Hardware has been reseated and parts and firmware revisions updated. Now on top of the 'usual' problems, I'm getting about 60MB/min throughput. This thing is getting worse!

Thanks for you help everyone.

Dave