Tandberg Data TDKIT User Manual

TDkit - The Configuration And Test Tool

TDkit

USER's GUIDE

CONFIGURATION AND TEST TOOL FOR

TANDBERG TAPE DRIVES

Part No. 43 33 28 - 01

Aug

ust 2005

TANDBERG DATA AS

A

P.O. Box 134 Kjelsås
N-0411 OSLO, NORWAY
Phone [phone]
Telefax [phone]

© Tandberg Data ASA

Tandberg Data

TDkit - The Configuration And Test Tool

Table of contents:

1. Introduction................................................................................................................................3

2. Known bugs and limitations......................................................................................................3

3. System requirements..................................................................................................................3

4. Supported tape devices..............................................................................................................4

5. Using TDkit...............................................................................................................................4

a. The tab selected pages ...........................................................................................................6

b. SCSI Overview......................................................................................................................6

c. Additional Drive Info ............................................................................................................7

d. Drive Configuration...............................................................................................................9

e. Drive Operations..................................................................................................................10

f. Medium Operations.............................................................................................................11

TDkit - The Configuration And Test Tool

Page 3 of 11

1. Introduction

TDkit is a program that can be used to inspect and change some of the tape drives parameters
and to execute some simple tape operations. It also gives the operator the possibility to per­form a few tests that can be useful to check the reliability of the SCSI connection, the tape
drive and the media.

The program has been tested thoroughly, but may still contain bugs and features that our test­ing has not yet revealed. Tandberg Data is not responsible for any damage this program may
cause.

We appreciate any comments and bug reports on this product.

2. Known bugs and limitations

TDkit is at the moment not fully upgraded to true multithreading capability. This means that
only one drive should be tested at a time. (Unwanted busy or hang situations ma y occur, if an
operation on a second drive is attempted while one drive is running).

Error logging to file is not implemented in this revision.

3. System requirements

TDkit runs in Windows 32-bit environments such as Windows 98, Windows ME, WinNT,
Win2000, Win2003 and XP. It can be used either with the ASPI driver (ASPI driver must be
installed prior to using TDkit. It is freely avalable from http://www.adaptec.com) or Windows
native SCSI pass through interface (SPTI). The SPTI interface is part of the TDkit delivery
package and requires no installation.

The TDkit will use the ASPI driver if installed, otherwise the SPTI is used. However, even if
the ASPI driver is in place, use of SPTI may be forced by using a run time option SPTI.

Note that some systems already have drivers installed for the SCSI devices that may block the
access for TDkit driver. In this case it may be necessary to uninstall the device driver to allow
access for the TDkit driver.

Sometimes the tape drive may be in use or reserved by some applications or services. To avoid
this situation, the application or services using the drive should be stopped or turned o ff be fore
the TDkit can be started.

TDkit - The Configuration And Test Tool

Page 4 of 11

4. Suppor ted tape devices

• TDC 3500

• TDC 3700

• TR4

• NS8 Pro

• NS20 Pro

• SLR2

• SLR3

• SLR4

• SLR4DC

• SLR5

• SLR7

• SLR24

• SLR32

• SLR40

• SLR50

• SLR60

• SLR75

• SLR100

• SLR140

• 420LTO (TS400)

5. Using TDkit

During startup the TDkit detects and displays connected adapters and devices. The first tape
drive detected, if any, will be activated and available data displayed.

The upper part of the program panel shows the general information regarding the selected de­vice and this part of the panel will always remain in sight.

TDkit - The Configuration And Test Tool

Page 5 of 11

The main menu on the top contains the following elements:

Function / SCSI rescan - gives the operator the possibility to rescan the SCSI bus, if new de-
vices are connected or disconnected. Note that some operating systems do not support discon­necting of devices and a hang situation may then occur. A system restart is in some cases nec­essary to cure such situation.

Advice: Do not remove devices unless you are certain that your system does support it.
Function / Detect tape, if checked (default), causes the program to periodically poll for me-

dium status changes and update the media related information on the screen automatically.
The default selection can be suppressed by using the run time option IDLE. In either case the
user may freely trigger/suspend polling using this menu option.

Note that when polling is disabled, the Medium Info button appears on the screen (indicated
by an arrow in the above screen snapshot). Using this button the user can any time update the
medium information manually.

Function / Exit, EXIT button and border icon ‘X’ in the top line, all close the program and
return to the operating system.

Help / About - displays the program and all its component versions. This information should
be included each time you report program bugs.

The buttons Drive reset and Bus reset will cause resetting of a single device or all devices on
the same bus respectively. However, their functionality is critically dependent on whether the
selected device is able to accept SCSI commands at the very instant when either of the buttons
is pushed.

TDkit - The Configuration And Test Tool

Page 6 of 11

a. The tab selected pages

Clicking the tabs at the bottom will display the different pages depending on the
actions the user wants, see below.

b. SCSI Overview

Only the radio buttons representing a connected active devi ce are enabled. Select device by
clicking the corresponding radio button. Holding the cursor over any (enabled) radio button
will display the product id.

TDkit - The Configuration And Test Tool

Page 7 of 11

c. Additional Drive Info

The meaning of the “Cleaning flag status” is also displayed in text: “Cleaning not needed” in
green or “Cleaning needed” in red. Note that some olde r products like SLR2 – 5 do not sup­port this information, others, e.g. TS400, only in part:

TDkit - The Configuration And Test Tool

Page 8 of 11

The Memdump button causes a full drive memory dump to be taken over SCSI for failure
analysis. Before a dump is taken, the user must indicate the file where the dump will be saved.
Note that the dump is formatted in ASCII, but due to its specific contents it is basically in­tended only for the TD personell.

Note also that the button may be missing in case that the drive in question does not support
this facility.

The History Log button, which also appears only when applicable, provides important ac­count of the latest drive events.

TDkit - The Configuration And Test Tool

Page 9 of 11

d. Drive Configuration

The text “Current Drive Configuration” will disappear as soon you change any of the pa­rameters. It will reappear, if you change them back to their original values or click the Save
button.

In other words: This text tells you that the parameter values displayed are the same as the val­ues saved in the drive.

If you have changed some of the values, but want to return to the drives saved values, click
the Refresh button.

Note: The EOWR parameter makes the drive simulate old ½” tape drives. This is normally
only used in some Unix systems. Please refer to the SCSI programming manual for further
information.

The button marked FW update facilitates drive upgrade. When pushed, the user will be
prompted to locate the file with the applicable binary code, after which the flashing process
will commence. When completed, the drive information on the screen will be automatically
updated. In case that the flashing fails (e.g. a corrupt or not applicable binary file was sup­plied) the user will be notified, but the drive will not be affected.

TDkit - The Configuration And Test Tool

Page 10 of 11

e. Drive Operations

SCSI connection test writes and reads data to and from the tape drive data buffer. This makes
it possible to verify whether the SCSI connection is reliable.

This test does not require a tape in the drive. If there is a tape in the drive, the data will not be
destroyed.

Write/Read test writes data to a tape, rewinds and reads the data back and compare them
with the write buffer contents. The test will run for several minutes and will show the result
with ‘Passed’ or ‘Failed’. If the test fails, a corresponding SCSI error message will be dis­played. HW compression is disabled during the test.

Note that this test expects a cartridge to be in the drive and the data on the tape, if any, will be
overwritten.

Comprehensive drive test will perform the predefined selftest sequence 2 and run up to 50
minutes (drive dependent) and at the end will display the result with ‘Passed’ or ‘Failed’.

If the test fails, a corresponding SCSI error message will be displayed. The fault condition
will also result in flashing the amber failure led (the rightmost front drive led).

See the following manuals for more information:

430743 - TANDBERG SCSI INTERFACE FUNCTIONAL SPECIFICATIONS (Send Diagnostics)
430444 - TANDBERG SLR REFERENCE MANUAL (Selftest and Diagnostics)

TDkit - The Configuration And Test Tool

Page 11 of 11

f. Medium Operations

Erase will perform a long (security) erase for SLR 2-5. For all other drives it will give the
user a choice to select between short (quick) and long (security) erase.

Retention will perform a wind/rewind to end of tape and back to the beginning of tape, if ap­plicable for the given device.

Unload will unlock the drive (if prevented by host) and eject the tape.
Note that SLR2-5 will be unlocked and logically unloaded (tape not available for application),

but the tape will not be physically ejected. To make the tape logically loaded the user must
open and close the drive door.

Default partition, if applicable, will reset the number of partitions on the tape to 1 to ensure
that the tape may be used to maximum capacity.