LTO2 tape drive as iSCSI target


 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Top Forums UNIX for Advanced & Expert Users LTO2 tape drive as iSCSI target
# 1  
Old 08-21-2010
Question LTO2 tape drive as iSCSI target

I'm using Bacula as my backup system, with full backups going to an LTO2 tape drive, while differentials and incrementals go to a disk array on my main server, babylon4. The tape drive is currently attached to a separate machine, because babylon4 does not have a SCSI controller, nor a free PCI-X slot into which to install a fast enough SCSI controller. Both babylon4 (an amd64 box with dual LSI Logic SATA RAID controllers) and greatmachine (the tape host, a Sun V210) are running Solaris 10.

It would be advantageous to have the tape drive and the disk array at least logically connected to the same machine, as this would enable them to be controlled by the same storage daemon, which would allow me to copy and migrate jobs from disk to tape automatically. The best solution I have come up with to do this is to publish the LTO2 drive from greatmachine as an iSCSI target, then connect to it from babylon5 over a dedicated point-to-point gigabit link between greatmachine and babylon4. I have every part of this scheme accomplished except for the iSCSI part.

Where I'm running into the problem is this: I can find all kinds of articles all over the Web which mention that, while disk is the most common iSCSI target, tape devices and robotic tape libraries can also be iSCSI targets. However, every single example I have found discussing creation of iSCSI targets assumes that the backing store will be disk. (What's more, they almost without exception assume that the target will be a preallocated file on disk, not a raw device.) Although I can find examples that emulate tape using a disk backing store (though why on earth anyone would want to do such a thing is a complete mystery to me), I cannot find a single example, for Solaris or for any other operating system, that explains how to actually publish a real tape device as an iSCSI target. The closest I can get is the following:

iscsitadm create target -z 0 --lun 0 --type tape -b /dev/rmt/0n LTO2

which gives me the following result:

iscsitadm: Error Backing store is not a valid raw device


So: Can anyone tell me how to publish a real, physical tape drive on one Solaris 10 machine as an iSCSI target that I can then connect to from another Solaris 10 machine? I can find documentation on how to create a tape drive as an iSCSI target from Linux, but that doesn't really help me at all for Solaris.

(Yes, as a last resort, I could reinstall the V210 with Linux instead of Solaris. But, Linux on real Sun hardware? That's just wrong.)
Login or Register to Ask a Question

Previous Thread | Next Thread

9 More Discussions You Might Find Interesting

1. Linux

How to boot iSCSI target from console linux?

I need boot any images from iSCSI and I'd like to boot from linux console of a previous LiveCD booted. Is possible, without gpxe, ipxe firmware or similar? With a simple iSCSI initiator for example? (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: spark2k06
1 Replies

2. HP-UX

Unable to delete iscsi target

Hi Please can someone give me a hint on this, when I list the targets, I see two o them: #iscsiutil -p Operational Target Information ------------------------------ Target # 1 ----------- Target Name : iqn.1992-08.com.netapp:sn.142241859 Target Alias ... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: fretagi
2 Replies

3. HP-UX

After adding new iscsi target port, still the session state of that target port is showing offline

Hi, I wanted to configure new iscsi port on HPUX system, i added the target port address and configured it, once done, went to array side and searched for that host iqn number , but was nt able to find the same, came to host, then when i ran "iscsiutil -pVS" command it gave me below result ... (0 Replies)
Discussion started by: Vinay Kumar D
0 Replies

4. AIX

CPIO restoration from LTO2 tape media on AIX 4.3.3

Hi, AIXers :) Recently i'm playing around with cpio command, when i try to list out content from LTO2 Tape media using command: #cpio -itvc < /dev/rmt1 it's stopped at particular path 100777 root 1042591 Mar 24 10:09:05 2012 /home/uv/bin/usd and there was an error thrown out: ... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: polar
2 Replies

5. UNIX for Advanced & Expert Users

Can You Mount FAT32 iSCSI Target in Solaris 10 (sparc)?

I get "mount: I/O error" when trying to mount an existing FAT32 iSCSI target. I also tried formatting the iSCSI target with fdisk and got fdisk: "Error in ioctl DKIOCSMBOOT" Details -- According to the format command, the whole disk is allocated to slice 6 and /dev/rdsk shows this as:... (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: ctafret
1 Replies

6. Solaris

Can You Mount FAT32 iSCSI Target in Solaris 10 (sparc)?

I get "mount: I/O error" when trying to mount an existing FAT32 iSCSI target. I also tried formatting the iSCSI target with fdisk and got fdisk: "Error in ioctl DKIOCSMBOOT" Details -- According to the format command, the whole disk is allocated to slice 6 and /dev/rdsk shows this as:... (0 Replies)
Discussion started by: ctafret
0 Replies

7. Solaris

How do I breakdown the Target (tx) part of a cXtXdX Iscsi device?

Hello, I am trying to breakdown the cXtXdX (specifically tX) part of an iscsi device. I know in the fibre SAN world, this tX will usually be a combination of the path to device/device WWN. From what I understand in iscsi world it is similar, breaking down into... (0 Replies)
Discussion started by: Bashful
0 Replies

8. Solaris

Solaris 10 and DELL TL-2000 Tape Library with ISCSI

Hello, i am trying to get following configuration up running, but get no access to the library roboter. Server: SunOS 5.10 Generic_138889-03 i86pc i386 i86pc DELL TL-2000: 1 Tape: IBM ULT3580-HH4 and Robot: 3573-TL, connected via ISCSI Bridge (build into the TL) ... (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: austin73
1 Replies

9. Solaris

Iscsi - target + initiator on the same host.

Hi all iscsiadm / iscsitadm. Ive created two devices on a host. # iscsitadm list target Target: 1-disk0 iSCSI Name: iqn.1986-03.com.sun:02:f105ddf3-52a4-ed7a-9590-c3d354b8fc32.1-disk0 Connections: 1 Target: 1-disk1 iSCSI Name:... (0 Replies)
Discussion started by: sbk1972
0 Replies
Login or Register to Ask a Question