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Maximum number of devices supported by the IBM Tivoli Storage Manager device driver

Question & Answer


Question

What is the maximum number of devices that the Tivoli Storage Manager device driver can support on each platform?

Answer

AIX

The Tivoli Storage Manager device driver consists of three drivers; lb for medium changers, mt for tape drives, and op for optical drives. Each driver can support up to 256 devices. To configure more than 256 devices but not more than 1024 devices, the Tivoli Storage Manager device driver version 5.5.2.1 or later is required. See IC59172 for more information. The maximum number of devices supported by the Tivoli Storage Manager device driver version 5.5.2.1 and later is 1024 for each driver.

HP-UX

The Tivoli Storage Manager passthru device driver for HP-UX can support up to 255 total devices, including tape drives, medium changers, and optical drives.

Linux

The Tivoli Storage Manager passthru driver for Linux supports the first 255 devices recognized by the SG driver, i.e. /dev/sg0 - /dev/sg254, with product IDs recognized by the passthru driver. Currently, Tivoli Storage Manager device "autoconf" will attempt to configure all devices recognized by the SG driver. However, you should not use devices with a minor number that is greater than 254. See lbinfo, mtinfo, or opinfo for each device's minor number.

Driver updates

  • With the fix for APAR IC77435 in Tivoli Storage Manager server version 5.5.6, 6.1.6, and 6.2.3 or later, the Tivoli Storage Manager device 'autoconf" can configure more than 255 devices. However, the Tivoli Storage Manager server is only able to simultaneously use up to 254 devices that are controlled by the Tivoli Storage Manager passthru driver.

Solaris

The Tivoli Storage Manager device driver for Solaris consists of three drivers--lb for medium changers, mt for tape drives, and op for optical drives. Each driver can configure and support up to 1024 devices.

Windows

The Tivoli Storage Manager device driver for Windows supports up to 256 devices.

Support for the Tivoli Storage Manager device driver and passthru driver is subject to the limitations in the operating system and the host bus adapter (HBA). For example, on HP-UX, the operating system supports up to 8 LUNs per target with the legacy device interface such as the stape driver.

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Document Information

Modified date:
17 June 2018

UID

swg21364225