HP LTO Ultrium 6 tape drives UNIX, Linux and OpenVMS configuration guide

4 Linux servers and workstations
TIP: Where convenient, do the original install of the Linux operating system with the tape drive
attached to the SAS port, so that the st driver gets loaded with the kernel during boot up. Otherwise,
see the guidelines below for cases where the operating system was already installed without the
tape drive being available.
Ensure the correct HBA and driver are installed
Visit the HP Tape Compatibility website for details of supported Linux OS versions and SAS HBA
controllers: http://www.hp.com/products1/storage/compatibility/tapebackup/index.html
Download and install the latest controller driver from the manufacturer’s website – for example,
for an HP branded HBA, visit www.hp.com to download the latest driver.
Note that more recent Linux distributions on later generations of Proliant servers may use a different
HBA driver to earlier counterparts. Use the following matrix below to determine the driver
recommended for your installation with selected HBAs. Please refer to the HBA documentation or
Service Pack for ProLiant (SPP) for further details
Installing OS to G6/G7 Server with P212,
P410, P411, P812, P712m, P711m, P410i
Installing OS to Gen8 Server with P222,
P420, P421, P822, P721m
Operating
System to
Install:
Driver that will be
installed for
controller:
Install OS using:Driver that will be
installed for
controller:
Install OS using:
ccissRHEL5 MediaccissRHEL5 MediaRHEL5
hpsaRHEL6 MediahpsaRHEL6 MediaRHEL6
ccissSLES10 SP4 MediaccissSLES10 SP4 MediaSLES10 SP4
ccissSLES 11 SP1 MediahpsaSLES11 SP1 KISO
Image from HP
SLES11 SP1
Current release
kISO is here:
http://
drivers.suse.com/
hp/
HP-ProLiant-Gen8/
1.0/
ccissSLES11 SP2 MediahpsaSLES11 SP2 MediaSLES11 SP2
Check the driver modules are loaded in the kernel
In order to communicate with a tape device, the operating system needs to have drivers loaded
for both the tape drive and the host bus adaptor. Ensure that both are available as either loadable
modules (for example, usable with insmod and visible with lsmod) or are statically built into your
kernel.
NOTE: To add drivers to the statically-built kernel you need the Linux source code available on
disk and knowledge of how to use the kernel building tools that ship with various Linux distributions.
This should not be attempted by novice users.
The following guidelines assume the use of loadable driver modules.
Run the lsmod command to list all driver modules currently loaded in the kernel. Check whether
the st driver for tape is listed and also whether the relevant HBA driver is listed.
Ensure the correct HBA and driver are installed 13