Adressing StorEdge L280 connected to SUN E450 running Solaris 9 in 64 bits mode with MTX and sst.

BEFORE YOU EVEN CONSIDER GETTING A SUN StorEdge L280 : Get the proper SUN Part. Be aware that the L280 won't connect through the standard SCSI port on the E450. It is single ended whereas the L280 requires a differential SCSI bus. Therefore you will need a differential SCSI host adapter (you can get it around 700 CAD$) and the proper cables. This is SUN option number X6541A (which is also SUN Part number 375-0006).

Introduction

When you buy a Sun StorEdge L280, it consists of a tape drive and a robotic device. You can address the tape drive as you do with standard tape drive (/dev/rmt). But you won't be able to address the robotic device. Therefore you will have to load tapes manually or buy a commercial backup software that will recognise and will be able to use the robot.
There is a third solution which is the purpose of this document. You can use open source software to address the robotic device. and it works !

Preparing the installation

Power up your L280. Make sure the L280 is in random mode and write down your tape drive and your library SCSI IDs (you will need them later on).
Begin with installing gcc3.2. You can get the package gcc-3.2-sol9-sparc-local.gz from www.sunfreeware.com. Note that this is actually a sun package. So, when you unzip it, type pkgadd -d gcc-3.2-sol9-sparc-local to install it.
make sure your path includes /usr/local/bin:/usr/ccs/bin.
To be able to address your library, you need a SCSI driver (it is not provided by SUN when you buy the StorEdge L280). This SCSI driver is sst. You can download it from www.arkeia.com and mtx software from mtx.badtux.net.

Installing softwares and connecting the devices

untar the sst driver and follow the procedure describes in the sst64/installsst.txt.
My SCSI tape ID was 4 and the library SCSI ID was 5. So I edited the /usr/kernel/drv/sst.conf and left the file as it was (it was already setup for a library on SCSI ID 5).
I did not find any reference to the L280 in the /kernel/drv/st.conf so I just added the following line in the tape-config-list section :
"SUN L280", "SUN L280 Library", "DLT-data";
Follow the rest of the procedure, it is straightforward.
Unzip and untar the mtx software and follow the instructions to install it (./configure, make, make install).
Halt your server, insert the host adapter and connect your cables.
power on the E450. At the OK prompt, try scsi-probe-all. You should be able to see both the tape drive and the library.

Finishing the installation and testing

Boot your server : boot -r
Once the system is up and running, look through your /var/adm/messages file. You should see the string "changer found". If so do the following command to get your device name :
# ls -l /dev | grep sst
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root other 48 Nov 13 14:53 rsst5 -> ../devices/pci@4,4000/scsi@3,1/sst@5,0:character
#
You can now try to issue mtx commands. IMPORTANT : make sure to always specify the mtx option nobarcode.
Here are few exemples of mtx commands with the L280 library :
We begin with issuing an inventory check :
# mtx -f /dev/rsst5 nobarcode inventory
Then (and it does not have to be after the inventory check), we ask a status of the library :
# mtx -f /dev/rsst5 nobarcode status
Storage Changer /dev/rsst5:1 Drives, 8 Slots ( 0 Import/Export )
Data Transfer Element 0:Empty
Storage Element 1:Empty
Storage Element 2:Empty
Storage Element 3:Empty
Storage Element 4:Empty
Storage Element 5:Empty
Storage Element 6:Empty
Storage Element 7:Full
Storage Element 8:Full
#
We load slot 8 tape into the tape drive
# mtx -f /dev/rsst5 nobarcode load 8
The status has changed :
# mtx -f /dev/rsst5 nobarcode status
Storage Changer /dev/rsst5:1 Drives, 8 Slots ( 0 Import/Export )
Data Transfer Element 0:Full (Storage Element 8 Loaded)
Storage Element 1:Empty
Storage Element 2:Empty
Storage Element 3:Empty
Storage Element 4:Empty
Storage Element 5:Empty
Storage Element 6:Empty
Storage Element 7:Full
Storage Element 8:Empty
#
We Unload the tape :
# mtx -f /dev/rsst5 nobarcode unload
Unloading Data Transfer Element into Storage Element 8...done
#
NOTE : I was not able to unload the tape to a slot of my choice. It seems that this function does not work on my library. So I can only unload a tape and put it back in its original slot.
Anyway, That's great. Congratulations to everybody involved in the development of the sst and the mtx software. Good job !
The only thing left is making your own scripts using these commands, or use Amanda.