Before you start

HP StorageWorks Ultrium tape drives are designed to operate on a low voltage differential SCSI bus (LVDS). This guide describes how to install:

•HP StorageWorks Ultrium 960 tape drives, high-performance Ultra 320 SCSI devices with a maximum burst transfer speed of 320 MB/second.

•HP StorageWorks Ultrium 460 tape drives, high-performance Ultra 160 SCSI devices with a maximum burst transfer speed of 160 MB/second.

•HP StorageWorks Ultrium 230 tape drives, high-performance Ultra 2 SCSI devices with a maximum burst transfer speed of 80 MB/second.

Before starting to install your tape drive, you should consider the following:

Which operating systems are supported?

HP StorageWorks Ultrium drives can be connected to servers running under Windows®, NetWare, HP-UX, Tru64, Linux and several other industry-standard operating systems. 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 connect the drive to my server?

The tape drive is installed into a spare drive bay in your server (or into an HP Rack-Mount Option Kit) and 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 with a correctly terminated, LVDS-compatible ribbon cable with a spare 68-pin, high density (HD), wide SCSI connector.

For optimum performance your tape drive should only be connected to a SCSI bus that can transfer data at a rate that supports the tape drive’s maximum burst transfer speed, see Table 1, “supported SCSI bus types,” on page 9, and it should be the only device on the SCSI bus. Do not attach the drive to the same SCSI bus as your disk drive or RAID controller.

How can I check the SCSI bus?

We strongly recommend that you use HP Library & Tape Tools to check your server’s current SCSI configuration (see “Step 2: Check the drive’s SCSI ID” on page 11)). This will provide information about the SCSI bus and the SCSI IDs in use.

HP Library & Tape Tools is the recommended diagnostic and support tool for your HP tape storage product. It is available on the CD shipped with your product or as a free download from the HP web site and is supported on nearly all major operating systems.

See www.hp.com/support/tapetools for compatibility information, updates and the latest version of the tool.