1 Product Overview

Bridging

Tape drive bridging provides the external interface for library control. The bridge drive is LUN0 and the library is LUN1.

Data and command/control signals travel directly to the data interface of the SAS or FC tape drive. The designated bridge drive handles all control communications for the library or library partition and passes command and control signals to the library controller.

The drive providing the bridge interface must reside in Module 1. An unpartitioned bridged library must have one bridge drive. A partitioned bridged library must have a bridge drive for each partition.

Modules

The SL150 Modular Tape Library is comprised of two types of modules: the base module (designated Module 1) and the expansion module (designated as Modules 2 through 10).

Module 1 is the smallest fully functional library, and it contains:

• Front control panel

• Two 15-slot tape magazines (left and right)

• Mailslot with four cartridge slots (see "Partitions" for additional details)

• Robotics with one hand

• Power supply (with an option to add a second power supply)

• Tape drive (with an option to add a second drive)

Up to three tape slots in Module 1 can be designated as reserved slots to store diagnostic or cleaning tapes.

At the rear of Module 1, there is an Ethernet port for remote management and nine USB Type A ports for connection to expansion modules (see Figure 1-2).

Figure 1-2 Base Module and Expansion Modules - Rear View

Illustration Legend:

1 - Base Module (Module 1)

2 - Expansion Module (Module 2 and Module 3)

3 - Robot Lock (Improved Design)

4 - Tape Drive Tray

5 - Power Supply

6 - Module Controller (Module 2 and Module 3)

An expansion module can be added to the bottom of the library to provide additional tape cartridge capacity and additional performance by adding tape drives (see Figure 1-2). An expansion module requires 2U of rack space. An expansion module ships with:

• Two 15-slot tape magazines (left and right)

• Module controller

• Expansion cable that has two USB Type A connectors

• Mounting hardware to secure the module to the rack

• Identification labels

The module controller is connected to the base module by an expansion cable that incorporates USB Type A connectors. The cable provides a communication path between the base and expansion modules and a power source for the module controller.

The module has slots for two tape drives and two power supplies. There is insufficient power from the expansion cable to support a tape drive. Therefore, a power supply is required when the expansion module has a tape drive.

An SL150 library can be divided into partitions (see "Partitions").

Robot

The robotic mechanism resides in the base module. The bull wheel is located in the top of the base module. The Z platform cables go through pulleys and wind around the bull wheel (see Figure 1-3). As the bull wheel rotates, the cables lower and raise the Z platform. A hand assembly moves along Z platform rods to provide the track motion. The hand assembly contains a retractable reach mechanism, and the hand rotates to align with a left magazine slot, a right magazine slot, a slot in the mailslot, or a tape drive at the rear of the library. The reach mechanism has spring-loaded grippers to grip and release a tape cartridge.

Vision

The hand assembly uses two vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) devices to scan barcodes and to target cells. One VCSEL is mounted on each end of the hand. Moving the VCSEL past a bar code or the edge of a tape cartridge slot generates a data stream which is decoded on the main processor to generate the bar code or to locate a target position.

Class 1 Laser Product Notice

The StorageTek SL150 Modular Tape Library contains a class-1 laser as defined by IEC 60825-1 Ed. 2 (2007).

Figure 1-3 Robot

Illustration Legend:

1 - Hand

2 - Pulleys

3 - Suspension Cables

4 - Z Platform

5 - Bull Wheel

6 - Z Motor

Tape Drives and Media

The SL150 Modular Tape Library supports the following Linear Tape Open (LTO) half-height, tape drive manufactured by the Hewlett-Packard Company (HP):

• Generation 5 Fibre Channel or SAS

• Generation 6 Fibre Channel or SAS

Drive Firmware version required:

• Fibre Channel:

  • LTO-5: Y5BS or greater

  • LTO-6: 22GS or greater

• SAS:

  • LTO-5: Z55S or greater

  • LTO-6: 32DS or greater

Cartridges supported:

Standard LTO data cartridges are labeled with a unique, customer-assigned, six-character volume ID, followed by a media ID field.

• Generation 6:

  • L6 media ID: read and write in LTO-6 format

  • LW media ID (WORM): read and write in LTO-6 format

• Generation 5:

  • L5 media ID: read and write in LTO-5 format

  • LV media ID (WORM): read and write in LTO-5 format

• Generation 4:

  • L4 media ID or LU media ID (WORM):

    • LTO-6 drive: read only

    • LTO-5 drive: read and write in LTO-4 format

• Generation 3:

  • L3 media ID or LT media ID (WORM): read only in an LTO-5 drive

  
  

  Note: The LTO6 drive does not support generation 3 media.

  
  

• Universal Cleaning Cartridge

Figure 1-4 Tape Cartridge

Illustration Legend:

1 - Write Protect Switch

2 - Volume ID Label (Barcode toward Cartridge Hub)

3 - Access Door

4 - Leader Pin

Human Interfaces

There are three ways to interact with the SL150 Modular Tape Library: the operator panel, mailslot, and remote interface.

• The four cartridge mailslot, located above the right magazine in the base module, is used for entering tapes into and removing tapes from the library without interfering with robot operations. It can be opened from the front control panel touch screen or from the remote interface depending on your user role.

• The front control panel (see Figure 1-1) contains an LCD touch screen operator panel designed for use as an information point rather than as a maintenance tool (see Figure 1-5).

  Information shown on the panel is primarily in tabular format and is available for: the library, modules, magazines, the mailslot, partitions (if enabled), drives, tapes, and settings. The masthead contains a home button to return from an information section, a button to present the copyright information, the library health (Operational in this example), and the library state.

  Figure 1-5 Operator Panel Home Screen

  
  

• The remote GUI is the primary management interface for the SL150, and it is accessed by entering the library hostname or IP address into a web browser (such as Firefox, Google Chrome, or Safari). The interface example (shown in Figure 1-6) is for a partitioned library, and provides menus for the library, partitions, drives, tapes, settings, and service.

  Figure 1-6 Remote Management Interface

  
  

  Illustration Legend:

  1 - Section navigation

  2 - Left magazine control

  3 - Right magazine control

  4 - Slot identification

  5 - Tape drive (two-headed arrow indicates a bridged drive)

  The library information is presented as a graphical representation of tape slots in the left and right magazines, mailslots, drives, the robot, and all installed modules (Module 1 is expanded in Figure 1-6) while Module 2 is collapsed. In addition, the slot identification information is shown for the right magazine, first row, and first column. For additional information on slot identification see Appendix A, "Locations" and Appendix B, "Partitioning Overview".

  The Library control (above the label for Module 1) provides the capability to display library properties, audit the library, run a self test, expand all available modules, or collapse all modules.

  The partitions, drives, tapes, settings, and service menus present information in a tabular format. Some of the menus have tabs to present information in distinct categories. For example, the Settings menu for the administrator role contains the following tabs: Library, Partitions, Drive Port Settings, Network, SNMP, and User.

  An administrator creates individual user accounts for the library and assigns a distinct user role to each account. The library recognizes four user roles: viewer, operator, service, and administrator. Each of these roles has limits on what screens are seen and what actions can be performed.

  Refer to the StorageTek SL150 Modular Tape Library User's Guide or the Help system of the remote interface for specific information regarding the user interface.

Partitions

The SL150 Modular Tape Library can be divided into a maximum of two partitions with each having at least one tape drive and one magazine. The drive providing the interface (bridging) for the specific partition must reside in the base module. Each partition behaves as an independent library, but all partitions share the use of the reserved cells, the single robot, and the four-cartridge mailslot.

• When ejecting cartridges, the mailslot must be explicitly assigned to a partition before any cartridge movement takes place.

• When entering cartridges through the mailslot, the user must specify the destination partition.

Additional information on partitions is provided in Appendix B.

SNMP

The library's SNMP agent can automatically send traps that alert network management stations of faults and configuration changes. Both version 2c and version 3 of the SNMP standard are supported.

• Version 2c is backward compatible with earlier versions of the standard, but it is not secure because authentication credentials (community strings) and management data are exchanged in clear text.

• SNMP version 3 is not backwards compatible, but it supports a more secure authentication method and can encrypt management data.

The administrator defines SNMP users and recipients in the SNMP tab of the Settings section of the remote GUI. The MIB can be downloaded using the management interface. Refer to the StorageTek SL150 Modular Tape Library User's Guide or the Help system of the remote interface for specific information.

StorageTek Tape Analytics

StorageTek Tape Analytics (STA) is an intelligent monitoring application, available exclusively for StorageTek modular tape libraries (including SL150, SL500, SL3000, and SL8500). It simplifies tape storage management and allows the customer to make informed decisions about future tape storage investments based on the current health of the tape storage environment.

To set up communications between the STA server and the libraries, you must perform some configuration procedures on the libraries and some on the STA server. STA uses both the v2c and v3 SNMP protocols to communicate with the library.

• The initial communication handshake between a library and the STA server is done through the v2c protocol.

• The traps and get functions are done through the v3 protocol. The authentication, encryption, and message integrity features in SNMP v3 provide a secure mechanism for sending library data.

STA allows the customer to monitor globally dispersed libraries from a single, browser-based user interface. The customer can manage open systems and mainframe, mixed-media, and mixed-drive environments across multiple library platforms.

STA allows the customer to increase the utilization and performance of tape investments by performing detailed performance trending analyses. These analyses are based on a regularly updated database of library operations. STA captures and retains data from your tape library environment and uses this data to calculate the health status or your library resources (drives and media). STA aggregates data according to a variety of criteria and displays it in tabular and graphical formats, allowing you to quickly assess environment activity, health, and capacity.

Refer to the STA documentation library on the Oracle Technology Network for additional information regarding the STA product and the dedicated STA server. Select the Tape Storage link at the following URL:

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/documentation/index.html#storage

Automated Cartridge System Library Software

StorageTek Automated Cartridge System Library Software (ACSLS) functions as the central service provider for all library operations, efficiently sharing library resources with any ACSLS-enabled application on any system, and allowing centralized library control across multiple StorageTek libraries.

ACSLS version 8.2 or greater is required for interfacing with the SL150 library.

Library Specifications

Physical:

• Depth: 925 mm (36.4 inches including 2.25 inches of tape drive extension)

• Height:

  • 3U (130.8 mm, 5.15 inches): base module (Module 1)

  • 2U (88.9 mm, 3.5 inches): expansion module (Modules 2 through 10)

• Width: 481 mm (18.9 inches)

• Weight:

  • 21.3 kg (47 pounds [base module, two cartridge magazines, one tape drive, and one power supply])

  • 14.3 kg (31.5 pounds [expansion module, two cartridge magazines, no tape drive, and no power supply])

Power:

• AC voltage: 100-240 VAC

• Line frequency: 50-60 Hz single phase (auto-ranging)

• Library (operating maximum continuous—not peak): 614 BTU/hour, 1.42 A at 120V or 0.75 A at 240V

Rack space requirements:

• Base module: 3U (131 mm, 5.15 inches)

• Expansion module: 2U (88.9 mm, 3.5 inches)

• Depth (minimum): 925 mm (36.4 inches)

Environmental Information

Temperature:

• Operating: +10° to +40°C (+50° to +104°F)

• Non-operating –40° to +60°C (–40° to +140°F)

Relative Humidity:

• Operating: 20% to 80% non-condensing

• Non-operating: 10% to 95% non-condensing

The operating environment must adhere to the additional requirements listed in Appendix C, "Controlling Contaminants".