HP Storage StoreOpen Standalone for Microsoft Windows User Guide Abstract This guide provides information about HP StoreOpen Standalone for Microsoft Windows, which is an implementation of the Linear Tape File System (LTFS) to present an LTO-5 or LTO-6 tape drive and media as a disk volume, accessed via a drive letter.
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Contents 1 Introduction...............................................................................................4 Features..................................................................................................................................4 Benefits...................................................................................................................................4 Intended usage.................................................................................................
1 Introduction This guide provides information about HP StoreOpen Standalone software, which is an implementation to aid the use of the Linear Tape File System (LTFS). LTFS makes tape self-describing, file-based, and easy-to-use, and allow users to use standard file operations on tape media to access, manage and share files with an interface that behaves like a hard disk. In addition, LTFS provides the ability to share data across platforms, as you would with a USB drive or memory stick.
and updating individual files) will not perform as well as streaming large files to and from tape. Architecture The various components in the HP StoreOpen Standalone application are shown in the following diagram.
2 Installation and configuration When using HP StoreOpen Standalone with HP LTO tape drives, you need the following components: • An HP LTO-5 or LTO-6 tape drive connected to a supported SAS HBA • A drive firmware revision that supports dual partitioning. HP L&TT should be used if a firmware update is required. • The latest tape driver (hplto.sys) installed • The software package installer executable. This can be found at: http://www.hp.
3 Using HP StoreOpen Standalone Mapping a tape drive to a drive letter Before you can access the tape cartridge as a volume, you must first establish a mapping between the tape drive and a Windows drive letter. To do this, run the LTFS Configuration Tool located in the HP StoreOpen Standalone program group. NOTE: The tool may request administrative privileges, depending on your system security policies.
4. Once a formatted cartridge is detected, or if no cartridge is present, the file system service is started and the window is updated to reflect the new configuration. The following screenshot illustrates a typical view after a mapping has been established: 5. When the mapping has been established, you can close or minimize the configuration tool. A Windows Explorer window will now include an LTFS volume.
Mount options In most circumstances the default options are suitable and you do not need to change them. However for flexibility you can modify them if you wish. The options are as follows: • Mount read-only – If you select this option, the cartridge contents are readable but cannot be modified. This provides a “software” write-protect mechanism; the same effect can be achieved using the “hardware” write protect tab on the tape cartridge.
for example, through an unplanned power outage or accidental unplugging, the volume will be left in an inconsistent state, and all files added since the last dismount operation will be inaccessible. The CheckWizard utility may be able to recover the file data to the _ltfs_lostandfound directory, but the metadata (filename, access dates, and so on) will be lost. The final mechanism provided in HP StoreOpen Standalone is to update the index every time a file is closed after writing.
message “The device is not ready”. When a formatted LTFS cartridge is loaded into the drive, the index will be read and checked, and then the volume may again be accessed. • Format: Starts the FormatWizard to guide you through the steps and options of creating a fresh volume on the current cartridge; more information is given in “Using the FormatWizard” (page 14). • Unformat: Runs the UnformatWizard to guide you through the steps and options of removing the LTFS format from the tape.
There are several points to note here: • The volume type is shown as a “RAM Disk”. This results from the way that the LTFS volume is linked into the operating system, and has no impact on operation. • The “Total size” and “Space free” figures appear slightly lower than expected; this is due to the way that Windows calculates and report capacities in binary GB (230 bytes) and TB (240 bytes) instead of decimal GB (109 bytes) and TB (1012) bytes.
The comments given above about the Explorer view (file system type, capacity figures) also apply to the information shown on the General tab.
The LTFS Tools tab gives access to several utilities for interacting with the volume: • The Error-checking tool scans the volume for consistency and can correct certain problems with the format; see “Using the CheckWizard” (page 17) for more details. • The Format volume tool starts the FormatWizard to guide you through the steps and options of creating a fresh volume on the current cartridge; more information is given in “Using the FormatWizard” (page 14).
options and settings and then formats the tape. You can run it from the context menu, from the LTFS Tools tab in the drive properties, or from the HP StoreOpen Standalone program group. CAUTION: Read all the text on the wizard dialog windows carefully. Completing this wizard will irretrievably destroy all tape contents. NOTE: If you execute the FormatWizard while no LTFS volume is mapped to a drive letter, the wizard may require administrative privileges (depending on system security policies and settings).
By default the drive’s lossless hardware data compression engine will be enabled. You can turn it off if desired, in which case all writes and reads to this cartridge will bypass the compression engine. The other option on this screen allows you to request that more detail is shown during the format operation. 3. The next window contains options related to the cartridge format. Both of these fields are optional, and are intended to provide a method of identifying the cartridge.
4. The final window summarizes the format operation that you have defined using the wizard. When you click Finish, the following operations take place: a. If the file system is currently mounted, it is unmounted b. A “Progress” dialog window is created. c. The format operation starts. d. All tape contents are removed and a fresh (empty) index written to the cartridge. e. If the file system was mounted, the new cartridge is mounted. f.
2. The next window allows you to select a tape drive. The first drive on the system (or the one being used by the mounted file system, if any) is selected by default; change the selection to use a different tape drive. NOTE: Only drives suitable for use with LTFS are shown in the list. Select Provide detailed progress information to display more detail during the checking operation. 3. 18 The next window is where you select the desired mode of operation.
• Check and repair volume: Select this option to check the volume for consistency. ◦ If you suspect the volume was not updated properly due to a power outage, select the Perform deep recovery if necessary option, which will attempt to verify and, if necessary, recover from a missing End Of Data (EOD) marker. This may take a long time and may result in the loss of unindexed data blocks written since the last good index.
Select a rollback point and click Next. 4. A summary of the operation to be carried out is displayed. For example: When you click Finish, the following operations take place: a. If the file system is currently mounted, it is unmounted. b. A Progress dialog window is created. c. The check or rollback operation starts. d. The Progress dialog is updated as the operation proceeds to completion. e. If the file system was mounted, the checked or updated volume will be re-mounted 5.
only one option affecting operation (to eject the cartridge from the drive once the format has been removed). NOTE: The UnformatWizard may request administrative privileges to execute (depending on system security policies and settings). Using the ltfsattr utility HP Store Open Standalone version 2.2.0 onwards includes the LTFSATTR utility which can be used to access the attributes from the LTFS volume.
Users can select a folder where the index files are kept (in most setups this will be the directory path selected for the ‘index capture’ setting in the advanced options of the HP LTFS configuration GUI). The Cartridge Browser utility then displays all the index files in the folder. When you hover the mouse over a particular index file the details about the index will be shown.
HP StoreOpen Cartridge Browser 23
4 HP TapeAssure drive monitoring A drive monitoring service is available as a separate download offering access to: • Drive Health — write/read quality levels, key drive life indicators, and any service actions • Drive Performance — host and media transfer rates and compression ratios • Drive Utilization – the time the drive is in use as a percentage • Tape Health – effective capacity, key tape life indicators and any service actions • Tape Utilization – write and read data volumes and capacity use
5 Troubleshooting General If problems occur during the operation of HP StoreOpen Standalone or the underlying LTFS utilities, entries may be made in the system log (either Application or System, depending on the nature of the problem). The Source may be shown as LTFS or as FUSE4WinSvc, again depending on exactly what the problem was. If there is a problem with tape drive interaction, HP StoreOpen Standalone will attempt to create a snapshot of the drive’s internal state at the time of failure.
6 Frequently asked questions Q: How do I get HP StoreOpen Standalone? A: All application downloads and documentation are available from the website at:http:// www.hp.com/go/storeopen. Q: What are the minimum system requirements? A: Any server that fulfills the needs of the supported configurations detailed in “Supported configurations” (page 5). Q: Does HP StoreOpen Standalone support DDS/DAT devices? A: No. Only LTO-5 and LTO-6 drives are supported with HP StoreOpen Standalone.
7 Support and other resources Contacting HP For worldwide technical support information, see the HP support website: http://www.hp.
Typographic conventions Table 1 Document conventions Convention Element Blue text: Table 1 (page 28) Cross-reference links and e-mail addresses Blue, underlined text: http://www.hp.
