Quantum Scalar i500: Ethernet Expansion Blade Installation
6-68141-01 Rev A
April 2014
Tape Drive Ethernet Connectivity and the Ethernet Expansion Blade
3
greater than 5U, Quantum provides the Ethernet Expansion blade, which
facilitates direct Ethernet connectivity between HP LTO-5 and LTO-6 Fibre
Channel tape drives and the library’s internal Ethernet via the library control
blade.
Details about tape drive Ethernet connectivity and the Ethernet Expansion blade
include:
• Library firmware must be at version 600G (i7) or later.
• HP LTO-5 FC or HP LTO-6 FC tape drive firmware must be at the latest version
qualified with the Scalar i500 library (see the
Scalar i500 Release Notes
for
qualified firmware levels).
• An Encryption Key Management license must be installed on the library
sufficient to cover all the tape drives you intend to use for Ethernet
operations.
• A Storage Networking license must be installed on the library sufficient to
cover all the tape drives you intend to use for Ethernet operations.
• 5U libraries do not support an Ethernet Expansion blade. See the
Quantum
Scalar i500 User’s Guide
for more information.
• In libraries that are greater than 5U, it is recommended that all HP LTO-5 FC
or HP LTO-6 FC tape drives be connected to an Ethernet Expansion blade.
• The Ethernet Expansion blade is not in the data path and does not affect
tape drive control paths.
• Each Ethernet Expansion blade has six Ethernet ports to allow you to attach
up to six HP LTO-5 FC or HP LTO-6 FC tape drives. Do not attach tape drives
of any other type to the Ethernet Expansion blade.
• Do not connect the Ethernet Expansion blade to an external Ethernet
source. The Ethernet Expansion blade is for internal Ethernet connectivity
within the library.
• The Ethernet Expansion blade must be installed in the bottom left vertical
bay in an expansion module. The empty bay to the right of the Ethernet
Expansion blade must be covered by a cover plate.
• Libraries may contain both Ethernet Expansion blades and FC I/O blades.
• You may not connect a tape drive to both an Ethernet Expansion blade and
an FC I/O blade.
• You are limited to a maximum of four blades per library (Ethernet Expansion
blades and FC I/O blades), in any combination.
• If the tape drive Ethernet connection or an Ethernet Expansion blade fails,
you will not be able to perform encryption operations on any connected
tape drives that have FIPS mode enabled. You will still be able to collect tape
drive logs and update tape drive firmware via internal serial communication.
