ITEM: CE2206L
ESCON-attached 3490E tape drive cannot be made available.
ENV: AIX 3.2.5, 3490 tape drives (ESCON attached), 9076 (SP2) and MVS
mainframe system.
NOTE: Customer has two of the 3490 tape drives ESCON attached
to the SP2 and to the mainframe. Customer also has four
3490 tape drives installed in a 3495 library enclosure
which is ESCON attached to the nodes and the mainframe.
(The 3495 is the MVS version of a 3494 tape library).
.DESC: Customer cannot vary a 3490 tape drive (one of the standalones)
online to one of his SP2 nodes. He is able to vary it online to
another of the SP2 nodes.
. Customer received I/O errors (ID A1BBD6B7) on the 3490's in the
tape library after he tried to vary on the standalone drives to
the AIX system. He is also receiving 'resource not available'
errors from ADSM.
. When customer attempts to run cfgmgr, he gets the following
error:
Method error (/usr/sbin/strload): 0514-014 Device class, subclass
and type required.
strload: cannot initialize dlpi: File exists (4 times)
strload: 'echo' already loaded
strload: 'nuls' already loaded
strload: 'spx' already loaded
strload: cannot initialize xtiso: File exists (4 times)
strload: 'sc' already loaded
strload: 'timod' already loaded
strload: 'tirdwr' already loaded
.ACTION: lsdev -Cc | more
3490Edrive1 defined 00-05-00-0A 3490 Tape drive
escon3490E available 00-05-00 ESCON Control Unit
escon0 available 00-05 ESCON Adapter.
s3900 available 00-05 S/390 ESCON Channel Emulator
. errpt -a | more
TAPE_34XX_CONFIG
5AA34098
class H, type P
. The S390 Channel Emulator should be configured first, then the
control unit and the channel path, and finally the tape drive.
. We should check and make sure that all of the above devices are
available in lsdev. Also, we need to verify that the character-
istics of the 3490 tape drive are the same on both systems.
. The assign/unassign option in SMIT may be the culprit:
"If this field is set to yes, the tape drive is automatically
assigned (reserved) to the RISC/6000 host at device configura-
tion. Similarly, the tape device is automatically unassigned
when the device is changed from the configured state to the
defined state. The default is no for no automatic assignment.
Note: If the device being configured is already assigned by
another host and the assignment field is set to yes,
the configuration will fail."
. Customer called in; the system that cannot vary on the drive
has the assign/unassign attribute set to 'yes'. The system
that has no problem varying on the tape drive has the assign/
unassign attribute set to 'no'.
. Customer attempted to delete the definition for the tape drive
completely, then reconfigure it. When he tried this, it said
that the drive was assigned to another system (but didn't say
which one).
. Customer has the following configuration:
. 3490 that we can't varyon
/ \\
Un/Assign=Yes Un/Assign=No
SP2 (frame 1/node 1) SP2 (frame 4/node1)
Un/Assign=Yes Un/Assign=No
\\ /
3490 that we can varyon
(Both 3490's have identical connections to the SP2 and the
mainframes).
. When customer changes the Un/Assign characteristic of the 3490
that we're having problems with to 'yes' on frame 4, node 1, he
can no longer vary it online to that node.
. When customer changes the Un/Assign characteristic of the 3490
that we're having problems with to 'no' on frame 1, node 1, it
comes online.
. I've asked customer to put a tape in the drive that we are
having problems with, and we will issue a rewind command to it.
This should fail.
tctl -f /dev/3490Edrive1 rewind
resource temporarily unavailable
. Checking to see whether the tape drive might have been assigned
as the system's dump device:
sysdumpdev -l
Primary: /dev/hd7
Secondary: /dev/sysdumpnull
. Customer commented that prior to 'turning around' frame 4, node
1, he was not able to vary this 3490 on to the mainframe systems,
either. It sounds as though there is a reserve on this device,
although we have not been able to determine which system the
tape drive is reserved for.
. I've recommended that customer power cycle the 3490 to try to
break the reserve, then try the rewind command again.
. Customer called in and left a message that he was able to get
the 3490 online. It appears that although the tape drive was
varied off on the MVS systems, it was showing up in 'boxed'
format there. They were able to get the tape drive available
to the RS/6000 system by varying it on and then off to the MVS
systems that were listing it as 'boxed'. The 'boxed' status
on the mainframe systems went away when they varied the tape
drive on and then off to the MVS systems.
.NEXT: Closing call.
.TEST: None required.
Support Line: ESCON-attached 3490E tape drive cannot be made available. ITEM: CE2206L
Dated: November 1996 Category: N/A
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