Retrospect not seeing 2nd tape library

[khudson]

I have two tape library / drives connected via SCSI. After moving them from our Windows 2008 server to Windows 2012 server, one of the tape library / drives are not being seen by Retrospect V11.5 under Devices. They both were available on the old 2008r2 box. The "drive" is listed, but not the "library", state "Empty". I have check the SCSI ID's, all are correctly set. Anyone have an idea as to why it is not seeing the library, but does recognize the drive? Thanks in advance.

[DavidHertzberg]

Forgive me for asking, but does your Windows 2012 server—which I assume is your "backup server" with Retrospect Windows 11.5 installed—have the license code for the Advanced Tape Support Add-On needed for Retrospect to handle a tape library and/or two tape drives?

[khudson]

Hi David,

No problem. Yes, we have the Advanced Tape Support Add-On. It worked great on the old 2008 server, but I can not get it to recognize the Exabyte Tape Library. I have tried changing the SCSI ID's, but that made a bad situation worse. Then the drive disappeared altogether. Set the ID's back to original, rebooted and the drive was recognized again, but still not the library (Tapes).

[DavidHertzberg]

Ah, khudson used the magic word "Exabyte".  That means, assuming he/she has an Exabyte VXA 320,  he/she should look at this Knowledge Base article.  It would be really good if khudson stated in a post in this thread what model tape library he/she has.

Unfortunately that article is written from the point of view of Mac OS X.  So where is the retro.ini file in Retrospect Windows?  To answer that we search the Retrospect Windows 12 User's Guide using our browser's Find function, and on page 580 we find:

Editing the retro.ini File

In order for Retrospect to communicate with VCB, the retro.ini file located in the Retrospect

application directory must be edited. Open the retro.ini file with a text editor and add the following

line in the [OEM] section:

CheckVCBScripts=1

▪ Save and close the retro.ini file.

The default install location for the Retrospect application is:

C:\Program Files\Retrospect\Retrospect 8.0

 

So instead of adding anything in the [OEM] section, khudson should try adding 

[DEVICES]
  VXAAtapiNeedsScsiDriver=1

An alternative would be to use the Advanced Search facility in these Forums.  He/she can do that by clicking in the oval box where it says "Search" to the left of the magnifying-glass icon at the top of the Web page, then clicking at the bottom (not on the triangle) of the "This topic" oval that appears to the left of the "Search" oval, and finally selecting Advanced Search from the drop-down that appears.  Then try typing 'Exabyte "retro.ini"' (without the outer single-quotes) into the "Search Term"  box. Here's a old post from the Retrospect 8 For Macintosh forum describing a problem somewhat similar to  khudson's.

Edited November 10, 2017 by DavidHertzberg
Linked KB article is written from point of view of Mac OS X, so found location of retro.ini for Windows

[khudson]

The Exabyte tape library / drive that I have is an Exabyte 110L Autoloader. I'll check the Advanced Search, see what I can find. Thanks. 

[DavidHertzberg]

I I just did an Advanced Search, and this post from 2002 seems to be the only relevant one.  I also did a Google search on "Exabyte 110L", and I found three items that seem to be relevant.  First, here is the Retrospect Support page for the Exabyte110L Autoloader; note the truly ancient versions of Retrospect that first supported it.  Second, Exabyte announced the Exabyte 110L Plus in 2005; maybe that is what you've got.  Third, Exabyte Corp. was sold to Tandem, which in turn was sold to Cisco; I can find no indication that Cisco supports Exabyte products.  But here's a .PDF of the Exabyte 110L manual; maybe that'll help.

Edited November 10, 2017 by DavidHertzberg
Changed "required to use" to "first supported"

[DavidHertzberg]

khudson should also read pages 64-68 of the Retrospect Windows 11 User's Guide.  He/she should also read Removable Storage Manager on pages 69-70, and do what is appropriate for the Windows Removable Storage Manager.

P.S.: It appears that the tape drive part of Tandberg was merged into Overland  Storage.  They still sell LTO tape libraries, although more advanced than the Exabyte 110L.

Edited November 10, 2017 by DavidHertzberg
Tape drive part of Tandberg was sold to Overland Storage, which still sells LTO tape libraries; found 11's UG pages

[khudson]

Hi David,

Thanks for all of your help with this. Seems like everyone used the Exabyte devices with MACs. I did find and print out the Exabyte 110L manual. I have not yet tried to edit the "retro.ini" file.