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BlueScale 10.4 Upgrade Considerations and Procedures

As a courtesy to our Spectra Logic customers, EAGLE's support team would like to pass along information on the upgrade to Spectra Logic's BlueScale firmware.

BlueScale firmware version 10.4 for T-series libraries (except T50 and T50e) is now available from Spectra Logic. This release contains a number of new features and important fixes, including support for Symantec NetBackup 6.5.2 and for dual-port fibre channel LTO-4 drives. However, depending on your situation, the 10.4 code changes may also require some changes to the configuration of the library in your storage environment. With some careful attention and additional planning, you can prevent adverse affects and achieve a seamless upgrade.

If you are accustomed to automatically downloading library firmware from the front panel of your library, be aware that the 10.4 firmware is not currently available for automatic download. Instead, you must download it first to a USB device and then upload it to your library.

This alert describes these important upgrade considerations, how to prepare for them and prevent adverse affects, and finally how to obtain the library and drive firmware and perform the upgrades. Review the information in this article carefully before you upgrade, and plan accordingly. If you have any questions, contact Spectra Logic Technical Support before you perform your upgrade.

Upgrade Considerations

The 10.4 code changes require extra upgrade steps regarding LTO-4 drive World Wide Names, drive serial numbers, and NetBackup 6.5.2's previous interference with BlueScale drive-based encryption. The following sections describe these considerations. The upgrade procedure, later in this article, describes what you need to do after the 10.4 upgrade to account for changes in these areas.

Changes to LTO-4 Drive World Wide Names

BlueScale 10.4 includes support for dual-port fibre channel LTO-4 drives. To support these drives, a change was made to how the library assigns WWNs (World Wide Names) - specifically the World Wide Node Name (WWNN) and World Wide Port Name (WWPN) - to LTO-4 drives. This means that after you upgrade your library to BlueScale 10.4 and your LTO-4 fibre channel drives to 8940, then the drives' WWNNs and possibly WWPNs will no longer match the WWNNs or WWPNs in your SAN or HBA's current configuration.

This mismatch particularly affects how the library identifies an LTO-4 fibre channel drive when the library resides on a SAN whose zoning is based on the WWNN or WWPN, or when the drive is connected to an HBA that uses persistent binding based on the WWNN or WWPN. In these instances, after you upgrade the library firmware, you need to reconfigure your SAN zoning or HBA binding to reflect the new, correct WWNN or WWPN.

BlueScale Encryption and NetBackup 6.5.2

NetBackup 6.5.2 includes support for software-based encryption key management, which silently disables your library's BlueScale drive-based encryption for data written to tapes in LTO-4 drives. The resolution for this problem includes both a library firmware upgrade (to 10.4), and an LTO-4 drive firmware upgrade (to 8940 or later).

Note: We recommend that all users upgrade both the drive and library firmware. BlueScale encryption users must upgrade both to ensure their data is properly encrypted with NetBackup 6.5.2.

Important! If you have already upgraded to NetBackup 6.5.2 and have not yet upgraded your library to 10.4 and your LTO-4 drives to 8940 or later, you need to be aware that:

• If you have BlueScale encryption enabled and are using NetBackup 6.5.2, the data is being backed up in clear text, it is NOT encrypted. Until you upgrade your drive and library firmware, data will continue to be written in clear text.
• You will be unable to restore files that were backed up using an earlier version of NetBackup. Once the drive and library firmware is upgraded, all data backed up with earlier versions of NetBackup can be restored. All data that was backed up with NetBackup 6.5.2 prior to the upgrade to BlueScale 10.4 can also be restored; however you must be aware that it was not encrypted during the backup.

Changes to Drive Serial Numbers

If you are running BlueScale 10.2, you will see changes to your changer serial numbers as reported to your host after upgrading to 10.4. Many backup software packages rely on the serial number for changer identification, so you may need to reconfigure your library from the backup software once the library firmware is upgraded. If you are upgrading from a pre-10.2 version of BlueScale, this does not occur.

New Media Life Cycle Management Feature in BlueScale 10.4

With BlueScale 10.4, Media Life Cycle Management (MLM) is introduced. MLM tracks all MLM-capable media in your Spectra Logic library.

If you do not upgrade your drive firmware to 8940 or later after upgrading to BlueScale 10.4, then you will receive barcode-mismatch warning messages every time a tape is inserted into a tape drive. The message will state that "Barcode in Drive xxx/xxx/xxx doesn't match known MLM barcode 'xxxxxxx'." These are false warnings, and upgrading the drive firmware to 8940 or later will eliminate them. If you are unable to upgrade drive firmware immediately after upgrading to BlueScale 10.4, you should delete these warning messages on a daily basis to prevent the message queue from filling up.

Upgrade Instructions

Follow these procedures, in the following sequence, to upgrade your library and drives, perform necessary reconfigurations, and install NetBackup 6.5.2 (if desired):

Upgrade the Library Firmware

Follow these steps to upgrade your library firmware:

1. Insert a USB device in your computer.
2. Go to http://spectralogic.com/python/download/Controlled%20Release/, and click on the link for your library type.
   Result: A directory opens containing a firmware file and a .pdf version of the full Release Notes.
3. Click the firmware file link, and then save the firmware file to the USB device. You can also download the release notes at this time.
4. Plug the USB device into the USB port on the library's LCM.
5. Ensure that the library is idle, and that all drives are unloaded.
6. Start the firmware upgrade process, and select the "Upgrade from USB" option.

Upgrade the LTO-4 Drive Firmware to 8940

After the library firmware upgrade completes, follow these steps to upgrade your LTO-4 drive firmware:

1. Go to http://spectralogic.com/python/download/Controlled%20Release/, and click on LTO-4

.

2. Click the link for full-height fibre, full-height SCSI, or half-height SCSI.
3. Click the link to the zip file, and then save the file to the server that has direct access to the library's tape drives, or to a network location that server can access.
4. Use the IBM TotalStorage Tape Diagnostic Tool (ITDT) to update the drive firmware.
   
   Note: If you do not already have ITDT, you can download it. If you cannot upgrade using ITDT, contact Spectra Logic for alternative options.

Update World Wide Names for LTO-4 Fibre Channel Drives

If your library resides on a SAN whose zoning is based on the WWPN or WWNN, or your library's LTO-4 fibre channel drives are attached to an HBA whose persistent binding is based on the WWPN or WWNN, then you need to change the WWPN or WWNN in the SAN or HBA configuration.

Use the information in the table below to make sure the correct WWNN or WWPN is in the SAN or HBA configuration for each drive, according to the following, after you upgrade to 10.4:

Reconfigure your drives' serial numbers, if necessary

If you upgraded from BlueScale 10.2 to 10.4, reconfigure the drives from the backup software to reflect any changes in serial number.

Upgrade to NetBackup 6.5.2, if desired

If you have upgraded your library to BlueScale 10.4, and your LTO-4 drives to 8940, then you can upgrade to NetBackup 6.5.2. You should not upgrade until both your library and drive firmware has been upgraded.

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