Spectra T950 - High-Availability Configurations; Redundant Connectivity

Chapter 2 — Architecture Overview High-Availability Configurations
November 2016 User Guide—Spectra T950 Library
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HIGH-AVAILABILITY CONFIGURATIONS
Inhigh‐availabilityenterpriseenvironments,keepingthelibraryoperating
evenintheeventofanetworkconnectionfailureorcomponentfailureis
extremelyimportant.Thefollowingsectionsdescribethehigh‐availability
featuresoftheT950library.
Redundant Connectivity
Inahigh‐availabilityFibreChannelenvironment,theabilitytomaintain
communicationsbetweenthehostsystemsandthelibraryanditsdrivesin
theeventofaconnectionfailureisessential.
 Thelibrarycanbeconfiguredtousetwocontrollers(RIMsorF‐QIPs)
andtheBlueScaleControllerFailoverfeaturetoprovideredundant
connectivitytothemediachangerfunctionalityofthelibrary.See
ConfigureControllerFailoveronpage128forinformationabout
configuringcontrollerfailover.
 TheserversandFibreChannelswitchesusedtoaccessthedirect‐
attachedLTO‐4orlatergenerationFibreChanneldrivesinthelibrary
canusefailoversoftwaretoprovideredundantconnectivitythrough
thetwoFibreChannelportsoneachdrive.
Important
The controllers must be running the same firmware version. If you install the
second controller after you update the BlueScale software, the BlueScale versions
for the two controllers may be different. Update the BlueScale software as
described in
Updating the BlueScale Software and Library Firmware on page 436 to
correct the reported firmware mismatch.
Important
Drives used to provide the robotic control path cannot be configured with
controller failover, however you can export the same changer interface over
multiple drives in the partition to provide redundancy as long as your software can
support this. These multiple paths cannot be used at the same time. Assigning
multiple drive exporters to one partition reduces the total number of partitions
that can be configured in the library.
Important
Controller failover is not supported on 4 GB Fibre Channel F-QIPs. If you have 4 GB
Fibre Channel F-QIPs, the Failover button does not display on the Controllers
screen.