3
Before you start
The HP StorageWorks VS160 tape drive is a high-capacity, high-performance streaming tape
drive. It is installed into a spare drive bay in your server. Before starting to install your tape
drive, you should consider the following.
Which operating systems are supported?
HP StorageWorks VS160 drives can be connected to servers running under Windows®.
Refer to the “HP StorageWorks Tape Software Compatibility” topic on our World Wide Web
site (
www.hp.com/go/connect
) for more information about the operating system versions
that are supported.
.
How do I the connect the tape drive to my server’s SCSI bus?
Your tape drive is attached to the SCSI bus of the host server via a spare connection on the
internal SCSI ribbon cable. You will need a properly installed and configured SCSI host bus
adapter (HBA) or a built-in SCSI controller on your server. For optimum performance your tape
drive should be connected to an Ultra 160 or Ultra 320 host bus adapter or SCSI controller
using a correctly terminated, LVDS-compatible ribbon cable with a spare 68-pin, high-density
(HD), wide SCSI connector.
For most servers we recommend that you use the terminated SCSI ribbon cable supplied with
the drive, see page 19. We also recommend that the drive is the only device on the SCSI bus.
Do
not
connect more than two tape drives per SCSI controller. Do
not
attach the drive to the
same SCSI bus as your disk drive or to a RAID controller, unless it is a ProLiant server with a
Smart Array 6i RAID controller.
Why is the SCSI bus type important?
The SCSI bus type determines the speed at which data can be transferred between devices on
the bus and the maximum length of cable that can be used. HP StorageWorks VS160 tape
drives are high performance Ultra 160 SCSI devices with a maximum burst transfer speed of
160 MB/second. To benefit from this level of performance, it is important to ensure that the
drives are connected to a SCSI bus of a similar or higher specification. This means that you
need:
•
An Ultra 160 or Ultra 320 SCSI bus.
Ultra 160 SCSI supports the maximum bus speed of
160 MB per second; Ultra 320 SCSI exceeds this.
•
LVD-rated SCSI cabling and terminators.
The LVD interface and cable supplied with the drive
enable the data to be transferred at the drive's maximum rate and provide a maximum cable
length of 12 meters.
If you attach the drive to a lower specification SCSI bus, it may still work, but data will not be
transferred as quickly. For example, on a single-ended (SE) Ultra 2 SCSI bus the maximum
burst transfer speed of the drive is 40 MB/second and the maximum cable length is restricted
to 3 meters. See also Table 1, “supported SCSI bus types,” on page 9.
Note
The drives are not compatible with high voltage differential (HVD) SCSI devices.
How can I check the SCSI bus type?
We strongly recommend that you use HP Library & Tape Tools to check your server’s current
SCSI configuration. This will provide information about the SCSI bus and the SCSI IDs in use.
dltvs160_master.fm Page 3 Monday, November 22, 2004 10:30 AM
