# Tape library compatible with FreeBSD?



## cla (Jan 30, 2015)

I am looking for a new small tape library (around 7 tapes or so), which is compatible with FreeBSD (9.3 and higher) with an LTO-6 tape drive and matching SCSI or SAS card.
I was going to get the Dell Powervault 124T, but it seems it now got discontinued, and they only offer me an TL1000, on which i can not find any information regarding FreeBSD compatibilitiy (information in general seems sparse for that one).
Can somebody recommend me an good working tape library for FreeBSD which comes with LTO-6 drive, 1-2 U height, and the price preferably not more than $8000?
The plan is to use it together with Bacula for automated backups.

Our existing LTO-3 loader library (Exabyte 7slot) has become outgrown by our amount of data.


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## Terry_Kennedy (Jan 31, 2015)

cla said:


> I am looking for a new small tape library (around 7 tapes or so), which is compatible with FreeBSD (9.3 and higher) with an LTO-6 tape drive and matching SCSI or SAS card.
> I was going to get the Dell Powervault 124T, but it seems it now got discontinued, and they only offer me an TL1000, on which i can not find any information regarding FreeBSD compatibilitiy (information in general seems sparse for that one).
> Can somebody recommend me an good working tape library for FreeBSD which comes with LTO-6 drive, 1-2 U height, and the price preferably not more than $8000?
> The plan is to use it together with Bacula for automated backups.
> ...


The 124T is a rebadged Quantum Superloader 3, which I have described as “a triumph of engineering over common sense” due to its arcane tape movement path.

I'm not familiar with the TL1000. I have a SAS TL4000 working happily under FreeBSD, and the smaller TL2000 (same hardware) should work fine as well.

Almost all libraries should work, presenting themselves as a sa(4) drive and a ch(4)changer. For example, my TL4000:

```
sa0 at mpt0 bus 0 scbus7 target 0 lun 0
sa0: <IBM ULT3580-HH4 C7QJ> Removable Sequential Access SCSI-3 device
sa0: 300.000MB/s transfers
sa0: Command Queueing enabled
ch0 at mpt0 bus 0 scbus7 target 0 lun 1
ch0: <IBM 3573-TL C.30> Removable Changer SCSI-5 device
ch0: 300.000MB/s transfers
ch0: Command Queueing enabled
ch0: 44 slots, 1 drive, 1 picker, 3 portals
```
You can select tapes with either the backup application's native changer support (if any) or the misc/mtx port. Again:

```
(0:4) host:~terry# mtx -f /dev/pass5 status
  Storage Changer /dev/pass5:1 Drives, 47 Slots ( 3 Import/Export )
Data Transfer Element 0:Empty
  Storage Element 1:Full :VolumeTag=HDK451L4
  Storage Element 2:Full :VolumeTag=HDK452L4
  Storage Element 3:Full :VolumeTag=HDK453L4
  Storage Element 4:Full :VolumeTag=HDK454L4
  Storage Element 5:Full :VolumeTag=HDK455L4
  Storage Element 6:Full :VolumeTag=HDK456L4
  Storage Element 7:Full :VolumeTag=HDK457L4
  Storage Element 8:Full :VolumeTag=HDK458L4
  Storage Element 9:Full :VolumeTag=HDK459L4
  Storage Element 10:Full :VolumeTag=HDK460L4
  Storage Element 11:Full :VolumeTag=HDK461L4
  Storage Element 12:Full :VolumeTag=HDK462L4
  Storage Element 13:Full :VolumeTag=HDK463L4
  Storage Element 14:Full :VolumeTag=HDK464L4
  Storage Element 15:Full :VolumeTag=HDK465L4
  Storage Element 16:Full :VolumeTag=HDK466L4
  Storage Element 17:Full :VolumeTag=HDK467L4
  Storage Element 18:Full :VolumeTag=HDK468L4
  Storage Element 19:Full :VolumeTag=HDK469L4
  Storage Element 20:Full :VolumeTag=HDK470L4
  Storage Element 21:Full :VolumeTag=HDK471L4
  Storage Element 22:Full :VolumeTag=HDK472L4
  Storage Element 23:Full :VolumeTag=HDK473L4
  Storage Element 24:Full :VolumeTag=HDK474L4
  Storage Element 25:Full :VolumeTag=HDK475L4
  Storage Element 26:Full :VolumeTag=HDK476L4
  Storage Element 27:Full :VolumeTag=HDK477L4
  Storage Element 28:Full :VolumeTag=HDK478L4
  Storage Element 29:Full :VolumeTag=HDK479L4
  Storage Element 30:Full :VolumeTag=HDK480L4
  Storage Element 31:Full :VolumeTag=HDK481L4
  Storage Element 32:Full :VolumeTag=HDK482L4
  Storage Element 33:Full :VolumeTag=HDK483L4
  Storage Element 34:Full :VolumeTag=HDK484L4
  Storage Element 35:Full :VolumeTag=HDK485L4
  Storage Element 36:Full :VolumeTag=HDK486L4
  Storage Element 37:Full :VolumeTag=HDK487L4
  Storage Element 38:Full :VolumeTag=HDK488L4
  Storage Element 39:Full :VolumeTag=HDK489L4
  Storage Element 40:Full :VolumeTag=HDK490L4
  Storage Element 41:Full :VolumeTag=HDK491L4
  Storage Element 42:Full :VolumeTag=HDK492L4
  Storage Element 43:Full :VolumeTag=HDK493L4
  Storage Element 44:Full :VolumeTag=HDK494L4
  Storage Element 45 IMPORT/EXPORT:Empty
  Storage Element 46 IMPORT/EXPORT:Empty
  Storage Element 47 IMPORT/EXPORT:Empty
```


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## pboehmer (Feb 2, 2015)

I didn't know about misc/mtx, but we've used `chio` to manipulate SCSI tape changers in the past.  Keep in mind that we scripted our backups using a mix of `chio`, `mt`, and `dump` as opposed to using third party backup programs.


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## cla (Feb 2, 2015)

Thanks. The "arcane tape movement path" of the Powervault 124T was something which i also was concerned about. Just too many moving parts and complexity.
Looks like the design of the TL1000 seems to be different and better (at least a lot less moving parts), but still nothing in comparision to my trusty old carousel driven Exabyte loader.

Currently then i am down to the TL1000 (9 tapes) or the Tandberg Storageloader (8 tapes).

Assuming any of these will be detected by BSD (hopefully; some confirmation of somebody having either in use, would be nice), can somebody recommend me a good SAS HBA card, which is well supported by FreeBSD? I think i only need a 6Gb SAS card, anything faster i wont be able to utilize anyway with only one tape drive, if i did the math correct.


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## Terry_Kennedy (Feb 3, 2015)

cla said:


> ... can somebody recommend me a good SAS HBA card, which is well supported by FreeBSD? I think i only need a 6Gb SAS card, anything faster i wont be able to utilize anyway with only one tape drive, if i did the math correct.


I'm using a Dell SAS 5/E card which came with the PowerVault TL4000. It is detected on FreeBSD as:

```
mpt0: <LSILogic SAS/SATA Adapter> port 0xe800-0xe8ff mem 0xf7dec000-0xf7deffff,0xf7df0000-0xf7dfffff irq 48 at device 8.0 on pci132
mpt0: [ITHREAD]
mpt0: MPI Version=1.5.13.0
(probe255:mpt0:0:0:0): TEST UNIT READY. CDB: 00 00 00 00 00 00
(probe255:mpt0:0:0:0): CAM status: SCSI Status Error
(probe255:mpt0:0:0:0): SCSI status: Check Condition
(probe255:mpt0:0:0:0): SCSI sense: NOT READY asc:3a,0 (Medium not present) field replaceable unit: 30
```
The scary probe messages are because there's no tape in the drive. The driver performs this check even before it decides this is a tape drive, but it is harmless. The underlying card is a relatively generic LSI SAS1068-based product. Note that this is a 3 Gb SAS card, but it can handle LTO4 + compression with ease. The Dell SAS 6/E is the 6 Gb version, but I haven't tried it.

If you buy a SAS 5/E card, make sure you're really getting a SAS 5/E and not a PERC 5/E (a totally different card). Many sellers seem confused.


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## cla (Jan 27, 2016)

Just for future references:

I ended up buying an Overland NEOs Storageloader (8 tapes) (Which seems to be an relabeled BDT FlexStor II 5.00) with an LTO6 tapedrive (IBM ULT3580-HH6 E6R3) connected to an LSI SAS2008 via MiniSAS cable.

Running with Bacula 7.0.5 on FreeBSD 10.1 inside of a jail.
It is working now for more than half a year without major issues. Bacula itself crashes sometimes, but that might either be because of some configuration issues or because of Bacula itself. Soon iI want to upgrade to latest version of Bacula to see if this helps.

Here is the dmesg() of the relevant parts:

```
Tapechanger:
ch1 at mps1 bus 0 scbus2 target 2 lun 1
ch1: <BDT FlexStor II 5.00> Removable Changer SCSI-5 device
ch1: Serial Number XXXXXXXXXXX_XXX
ch1: 600.000MB/s transfers
ch1: Command Queueing enabled
ch1: 8 slots, 1 drive, 1 picker, 0 portals

Tapedrive:
sa1 at mps1 bus 0 scbus2 target 2 lun 0
sa1: <IBM ULT3580-HH6 E6R3> Removable Sequential Access SCSI-6 device
sa1: Serial Number XXXXXXXXXX
sa1: 600.000MB/s transfers

Hostcard:
mps1: <LSI SAS2008> port 0xd000-0xd0ff mem 0xfaffc000-0xfaffffff,0xfaf80000-0xfafbffff irq 30 at device 0.0 on pci33
mps1: Firmware: 17.00.01.00, Driver: 19.00.00.00-fbsd
mps1: IOCCapabilities: 185c<ScsiTaskFull,DiagTrace,SnapBuf,EEDP,TransRetry,IR>
```


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