[Networker] Adaptec driver and LTO -- possible problems?

Hello,

Sometime ago we were experiencing a large number of SCSI problems with
the Adaptec aic7xxx driver under Linux RedHat 7.1 (2.4.18-12smp) with an
ATL P1000 SDLT tape library. The Linux machine was running a storage
node server 6.1.1. Not only were we seeing a lot of SCSI errors, but the
host was crashing as well. Legato professed to know nothing about this
apparently "known" problem, but several folks in this forum recommended
that we upgrade the driver or switch cards. We finally moved the library
and storage node to a different Linux box running RedHat 7.3
(2.4.18-10bigmem), and we then attached it to an LSI SCSI card and the
problem went away, I'm guessing because at that point, the kernel was
forced to use a different driver than Adaptec. Of course, I can't be
certain as it was on a different machine at that point.

Anyway, we're running Legato NetWorker 6.1.1 on our primary server
(Solaris 2.8) and the same on our one storage node server (Linux 7.3).
The storage node server is now hosting two libraries. The first is the
aforementioned ATL library and the second is a new Storagetek L80 with
four LTO Seagate Ultrium drives. Storagtek recommended the Adaptec dual
channel 39160 SCSI adapter card so we purchased that along with the
library. We are now experiencing a lot of SCSI resets and other SCSI
error messages -- too many to list here. The host is not crashing, but
several tapes have filled up prematurely at like 6 GB, 38 GB and 25 GB
respectively. This is way too low for native LTO capacity. I'm thinking
the same thing is happening here that was going on before and perhaps
swapping the Adaptec card out with maybe something like a QLogic would
resolve this. Storagetek seems to be unaware of any such problems,
always sending Adaptec cards as "the most popular choice".

Has anyone seen this mischief? Does anyone have any other suggestions?
Where can we get a newer version of the Adaptec driver? I think the
kernel is still using the aic7xxx driver for the 39160 card.

Thanks.

George

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