Error while unloading tape from Qualstar RLS-8450

[storelli]

Hello,

We have a Proxmox BAckup Server in version 3.0-1 and using it to backup to disk on an Iscsi disk drive and then to tape.

The problem is quite simple but really annoying. Everything is working pretty well excepted the unload of the tape cartridge.
Each time we try to unload a tape we receive this error :

TASK ERROR: unload drive failed - Illegal Request, ASC=3b, vendor specific qualification ASCQ=90 (hex)

Example with a quick backup

Proxmox
Backup Server 3.0-1
()
2023-08-09T09:20:31+02:00: Starting tape backup job 'CloudBackup01:MediaPool_test:Drive1:test'
2023-08-09T09:20:31+02:00: update media online status
2023-08-09T09:20:31+02:00: starting new media set - reason: policy is AlwaysCreate
2023-08-09T09:20:31+02:00: media set uuid: 71308ec1-aff8-426c-be8d-0d2ce4f55482
2023-08-09T09:20:31+02:00: found 2 groups
2023-08-09T09:20:31+02:00: latest-only: true (only considering latest snapshots)
2023-08-09T09:20:31+02:00: backup snapshot "ns/TestTape/vm/100/2023-08-09T07:04:52Z"
2023-08-09T09:20:31+02:00: allocated new writable media 'A00001L8'
2023-08-09T09:20:31+02:00: trying to load media 'A00001L8' into drive 'Drive1'
2023-08-09T09:20:32+02:00: found media label A00001L8 (77c37d0b-38fd-4fd4-a73a-95448aacfcd2)
2023-08-09T09:20:32+02:00: writing new media set label
2023-08-09T09:20:45+02:00: moving to end of media
2023-08-09T09:20:48+02:00: arrived at end of media
2023-08-09T09:21:26+02:00: wrote 1985 chunks (4297.33 MB at 115.44 MB/s)
2023-08-09T09:22:07+02:00: wrote 2357 chunks (4296.02 MB at 102.81 MB/s)
2023-08-09T09:22:22+02:00: wrote 3109 chunks (4295.49 MB at 305.63 MB/s)
2023-08-09T09:22:22+02:00: wrote 31 chunks (35.13 MB at 308.07 MB/s)
2023-08-09T09:22:22+02:00: end backup CloudBackup01:"ns/TestTape/vm/100/2023-08-09T07:04:52Z"
2023-08-09T09:22:22+02:00: percentage done: 50.00% (1/2 groups)
2023-08-09T09:22:22+02:00: backup snapshot "ns/TestTape/vm/102/2023-08-09T07:04:52Z"
2023-08-09T09:22:53+02:00: wrote 1900 chunks (4295.49 MB at 135.52 MB/s)
2023-08-09T09:23:26+02:00: wrote 1934 chunks (4298.64 MB at 130.75 MB/s)
2023-08-09T09:23:47+02:00: wrote 2348 chunks (4296.02 MB at 211.72 MB/s)
2023-08-09T09:24:00+02:00: wrote 2201 chunks (3910.40 MB at 294.91 MB/s)
2023-08-09T09:24:00+02:00: end backup CloudBackup01:"ns/TestTape/vm/102/2023-08-09T07:04:52Z"
2023-08-09T09:24:00+02:00: percentage done: 100.00% (2/2 groups)
2023-08-09T09:24:01+02:00: append media catalog
2023-08-09T09:24:01+02:00: rewind media
2023-08-09T09:25:19+02:00: TASK ERROR: unload drive failed - Illegal Request, ASC=3b, vendor specific qualification ASCQ=90 (hex)

Can you please help on resolving that?

A little bit more of information :
Our charger and drives are up to date with the latest firmware. The charger contains two IBM Ultrium-HH8 drives and the problem appear with both drives.

Thanks in advance

 

[storelli]

Here are a little bit more of infirmation.

Looks like I can unload the tape in command line (from the PBS) server with:

mt -f /dev/st0 rewoffl

 

[dcsapak]

mhmm wie unload the drive via the changer, not the drive directly (so we try to move the medium to it's last known or free slot) and according to http://www.qualstar-resources.com/qsr-manuals/RLS-Series-SCSI-Interface-Manual.pdf the command we send is correct, but the error table there just says:
that ASC 3Bh + ASCQ 90h means: "Tape is not ejected from Source drive." not completely sure why that happens

normally the tape does not have to be ejected from the drive before moving around..

could you try to load a tape into a drive and unload it with the mtx tool?

e.g.:

mtx -f <dev> unload <target-slot> <drive number>

?

 

[storelli]

Hello. Many thanks for your answer.

I'm not sure to understand tour sentence "normally the tape does not have to be ejected from the drive before moving around". As far as I understand, if the tape is locked in the drive then the pickup robot cannot take it."

Here is the result of the load/unload test :

root@PBS01:~# mtx -f /dev/tape/by-id/scsi-2210630100 load 12 1
Loading media from Storage Element 12 into drive 1...done

root@PBS01:~# mtx -f /dev/tape/by-id/scsi-2210630100 unload 12 1
Unloading drive 1 into Storage Element 12...mtx: Request Sense: Long Report=yes
mtx: Request Sense: Valid Residual=no
mtx: Request Sense: Error Code=70 (Current)
mtx: Request Sense: Sense Key=Illegal Request
mtx: Request Sense: FileMark=no
mtx: Request Sense: EOM=no
mtx: Request Sense: ILI=no
mtx: Request Sense: Additional Sense Code = 3B
mtx: Request Sense: Additional Sense Qualifier = 90
mtx: Request Sense: Field in Error = 00
mtx: Request Sense: BPV=no
mtx: Request Sense: Error in CDB=yes
mtx: Request Sense: SKSV=yes
mtx: Request Sense: Field Pointer = 00 04
MOVE MEDIUM from Element Address 1002 to 3012 Failed

But with the mt command the drive eject the tape after a few seconds and then I'm able to move it to a storage slot via the PBS interface.

 

[dcsapak]

I'm not sure to understand tour sentence "normally the tape does not have to be ejected from the drive before moving around". As far as I understand, if the tape is locked in the drive then the pickup robot cannot take it."

in all our test hardware, virtual tape libraries and libraries that our uses successfully use (until now) this was never necessary, so the library/changer could simply eject the tape from the drive without us having to do so
seems to be a limitation of the specific library you use.... but you can open a bug report here: https://bugzilla.proxmox.com
i don't know for now how/if we can fix this (maybe some vendor quirk list with custom behaviour?)

 

[storelli]

Thanks for the explanation I understand now.

And thanks a lot for your time. The bug is submitted.
I would be happy to provide more information to help solving that.

https://bugzilla.proxmox.com/show_bug.cgi?id=4904