Red cross against SVDL drive (4046950)

Title: Red cross against SVDL drive
Date:09/2007
NV Version: all
OS Version: all

Description:
This article talks about SVDL drive becoming unusable and how we can overcome the problem.

Symptoms:
Red Cross against drive
When the status of the Drive is checked, it mentions "Locked by checked drive"
Information 2007/09/04 09:07:07 0 Media NetVault User requested check 'SVDL:

Entry from binary log:
DRIVE 6' - denied - device busy
Error 2007/09/04 09:08:07 0 Media NetVault 'SVDL: DRIVE 6:NetVault' has gone down

An SVDL_ERROR.jpg is attached to the solution that shows the drive in Netvault device management

This problem can be fixed in two ways. Under certain conditions, the first one will work and no data loss is incurred. The second one always works, but complete data loss is incurred.

Solution 1:
A/ Remove the library from the NetVault from the device management window
B/ Select "Add library" and add the library and drives. This will rebuild most links/pointers and has a good chance of fixing the problem.

Solution 2:
A/ Go to the Device Management window and take a note of the SVDL name, number of slots, number of drives and the size in (MB) of the media.
If there are any backups that you do not have a copy of, now is the time to data copy them to a tape library or another SVDL/VDL.
B/ Remove the library from NetVault in Device Management
C/ Open the "Add library" window and go to the server/client that will control the SVDL. Right click it and select "Create SVDL"
D/ Use the drop down menu to select the device the faulty SVDL is on. Note that NetVault will tell you that there is already a SVDL on the device and you will need to confirm you wish to overwrite it.
E/ Fill in the rest of the boxes with the information you obtained in part A of the solution and select "calculate size required". If the calculation comes back correctly, select the ok button and confirm in the popup box with the required response.
D/ the SVDL will now be recreated and should work as expected.

The reason the recreation is required is usually because there is a bad block within the SVDL setup information and in particular the drive information. Because disks only bad block replace on a write and we are performing a read when using the SVDL we have to overwrite these blocks with valid information to correct the problem.

Prepared by: Richard Downes