Test Descriptions
Contents
Scan
Tests
Dump
Update
Scan
The scan functionality is used to discover all supported tape and library
devices that are attached to the computer system so that they can be selected
for the subsequent ITDT-GE operations.
It also serves as a connection test that can be used to verify proper attachment
of the devices.
ITDT-GE will use the IBM Tape Device Driver for its operations. If no IBM Tape Device Driver is installed, the operating system generic
device driver will be used instead. Any tape device driver that is installed will be used.
Before continuing, make sure no other program is accessing the devices used by
ITDT-GE! Stop the backup jobs that are accessing the devices you want to operate
using ITDT-GE or stop the entire backup application if your are not sure.
Depending on the number of Host Bus Adapters and attached drives and , the scan
can take several minutes.
The device list shows all detected devices with their connection information
(host adapter number, bus number, SCSI/FCP ID and LUN) along with product data
(Model name, Unit Serial number, Firmware revision).
For drives that are attached to a library, the Changer column will show the
serial number of the changer the drive is attached to.
If no devices appear in the list, make sure that
- You are running ITDT-GE with administrator/root rights
- The devices are properly attached and powered on
Tests
Test
WARNING: The test functionality erases user data on the cartridge that is used
for the test!
The test can take from 5 minutes up to 2 hours. The average duration is 15 minutes.
The test runs only on tape drives not on autoloaders or libraries.
We recommend to use a new or rarely used cartridge to run the test. Scaled
(capacity-reduced) cartridges should not be used to test the device.
The test will check if the tape device is defective and output a pass/fail
result.
To test tape drives within a library, the library must be in online mode.
The Standard Test (button Test) contains the following steps:
- Init Drive
- Mount Tape
- [Medium Qualification] if required
- Load/Write/Unload(3 cycles) Load/Read/Verify(1 cycle)
- Unmount Tape
- POST A
- Mount Tape
- Performance Test
- Read Thermal Sensor
- Unmount Tape
- Get FSC
- Get Logs
The Standard Test can return with result FAILED and one of the following error codes:
| STUCK TAPE | Load/Unload failed, manual intervention required. |
| LOAD FAILED | Load/Unload failed or did not complete within the given time. |
| POST TEST FAILED | POST A step failed. |
| PERFORMANCE FAILED | Performance thresholds exceeded during Performance Test. |
| WRITE FAILURE | A write operation failed. |
| EC 5 | Tape drive hardware problem. |
| EC A | Tape drive hardware problem. |
| UNEXPECTED DATA | Log Sense command or Mode Sense command failed. |
| POWER UP SELF TEST FAILED | Hardware error occurred. |
| RS-422 FAILURE | Tape drive or RS-422 error. |
If the Standard Test does not complete successfully and ends with the result ABORTED
please run the Standard Test again with a known good cartridge.
Full Write
WARNING: The full write operation erases user data on the cartridge that
is used for the test!
The full write will take approximately 2 hours.
The full write runs only on tape drives not on autoloaders or libraries.
The full write will write to the cartridge with a selectable block size with either compressible or
incompressible data and output compression ratio and performance data.
The entire cartridge will be written when incompressible data is chosen.
The full write can be used to
- demonstrate that the drive is capable of writing the full amount of data on a cartridge.
- identify system issues with compression. Drive data compression will always be switched
on during the full write. When run with compressible data, the output will
show the compression rate. If that is higher than 1.0 but your system seems
not to compress data on the cartridge, check your device driver and software
settings to see if they disable compression.
To perform a full write on tape drives within a library, the library must be in
online mode.
System Test
WARNING: The System Test operation erases user data on the cartridge that
is used for the test!
The system test is a short test that shall be used to
- reveal system performance bottlenecks. Compressible data throughput values can
reveal bandwidth limitations caused by the system/cabling/HBA.
- measure performance variations across the different block sizes to find the ideal
block size for the system configuration
The system test runs only on tape drives not on autoloaders or libraries.
To perform a system test on tape drives within a library, the library must be in
online mode.
Library Diagnostic Selftest
The library diagnostic self-test starts and monitors the library-internal self-test.
It will only run on libraries and autoloaders, not on tape drives.
The library diagnostic self-test can fail with result POST TEST FAILED.
If the library diagnostic self-test does not complete successfully and ends with the result ABORTED
please clear potential library error conditions before re-starting the library diagnostic self-test.
Automated Library Media Screening
The Automated Library Media Screening test generates dumps for each drive and cartridge
within a library.
It will only run on libraries and auto-loaders, not on tape drives.
First, the test tries to read dump files from each drive installed from the library.
After that, the customer has to select one drive for loading the cartridges.
All cartridges of the I/O and storage slots will be moved - one after the other - from their source to
the selected drive, a dump will be taken and moved back to the source address.
In the result screen, the dumps taken and the count of dumps will be displayed.
The naming output format is as follows:
For drives: [Library Serial Number].[Common Test Number].[Drive Serial Number].a
For cartridges: [Library Serial Number].[Common Test Number].[Drive Serial Number].[Source Address of Cartridge].a
Note: The 'Common Test Number' depends on how many tests have been done before on this device.
At the first time, this number does not appear and for next tests, it will be incremented by one.
Encryption Verification
The encryption test is only supported on encryption enabled drives and requires
an encryption infrastructure including the Encryption Key Manager (EKM) to be
properly set up.
This test shall be used to verify if data on the cartridge was actually written
encrypted. It will read both decrypted and raw data from the cartridge into two
separate files on disk. You can then verify that the data differs to ensure
that encryption worked.
With System Managed Encryption environment the IBM device driver must be
installed and in use by ITDT for this test to pass, otherwise it won't be able
to decrypt data and the test will terminate with error code ENCRYPTION ERROR.
Dump
Dump
Run on a tape drive the "Dump" function stores 2 dump files in the output folder
of the program (*.a and *.b). Both files start with the serial number of
the device. Run on a tape library or autoloader the "Dump" function stores one
Log file in the output folder of the program (*.blz).
Note that for tape libraries or autoloaders the Log file only contains Log Sense
and Mode Sense pages while a Drive Dump contains much more diagnostic
information.
Tape Usage Log
The tape usage function retrieves statistical data and error counters from a
cartridge.
Update
Update the firmware of a drive or library.
Get the latest firmware files from the IBM Web site:
http://www-933.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/
For single tape drives select:
System Storage / Tape systems / Tape drives
For tape libraries and tape drives inside a tape libray select:
System Storage / Tape systems / Tape autoloaders and libraries
The firmware file should be downloaded to any location on the local disk.
The firmware update usually takes 3-5 minutes, but it can take up to 45 minutes
for libraries.
Warning! Once started, do not interrupt the firmware update.
Note that if ITDT-GE detects a FIPS-certified drive firmware, it will display a
warning dialog. Ensure that you use a FIPS-certified firmware to update the
drive before you continue.
Check for Updates - Selected Device
ITDT-GE has the ability to "Check for Updates" for IBM tape drives and
IBM tape libraries.
The customer can choose to select either one device or all devices by selecting the
drop-down box next to the "Update" button in the ITDT Control Center.
The program tries to connect to IBM FixCentral and identify updates for the device(s).
If the connection can not established and/or another problem occured, the problem description
will be shown at the bottom of "FixCentral" Test-Tab.
In the sample above, the drive does have two FixCentral components.
Each component does have several items; i.e. code files and textual meta information.
The code files (binary files) have "+" in the icon to distinguish and can be downloaded either by double clicking or by using the right-mouse button.
The text files (e.g. readme's) can be viewed in the same way. A seperate Test Tab will be opened and the inforation shown.
For tape drives an available code will be colored:
- GREEN the code level is newer than the one of the drive.
- RED the code level is older than the one of the drive.
- BLUE the code level is the same as the one of the drive.
For automation drives (drives in a library) both devices will be used, because a code level for a automation drive is drectly linked to a code level of a library.
Check for Updates - All Devices
To check all devices for updates, the second function needs to be selected.
Warning! The identification task can take a while and depends on the network connection and the
variations of devices attached.