Requirements Guide
Version 2.2.1
E68629-02
January 2017
This document lists the requirements for Oracle's StorageTek Tape Analytics (STA) Version 2.2.1 as of this document's publication. Review the following sections before installing and configuring STA.
For the best functionality and user experience, upgrade to the recommended or latest available library firmware. Firmware versions are subject to change. See the STA Installation and Configuration Guide for instructions on checking your library firmware version.
To upgrade your firmware, open a Service Request (SR) with your Oracle support representative.
Table 1 Library Firmware Requirements for Full STA Features
| Firmware | SL150 | SL500 | SL3000 | SL8500 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Recommended for full STA features in this release, including IBM LTO-7 support. Newer firmware may be available. |
2.60 |
FRS 1501 |
FRS 4.40 |
FRS 8.51 |
|
Minimum for the full STA 2.1.x feature set, including richer component health and media validation |
2.25 |
FRS 1501 |
FRS 4.31 |
FRS 8.36 |
Table 2 Library Firmware Requirements for Select IBM LTO Drives
| Firmware | SL150 | SL500 | SL3000 | SL8500 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Minimum for IBM LTO-7 drives, with or without encryption |
2.60 |
NA |
FRS 4.4.0 |
FRS 8.51 |
|
Minimum for IBM LTO-6 drives, with or without encryption |
2.25 |
NA |
FRS 4.31 |
FRS 8.36 |
|
Minimum for IBM LTO-5 drives, with or without encryption |
NA |
FRS 1493 |
FRS 4.31 |
FRS 8.36 |
|
Minimum for IBM LTO-4 drives with encryption |
NA |
FRS 1493 |
FRS 4.31 |
FRS 8.36 |
Table 5 Library Hardware Requirements
| Library | Component | Requirement |
|---|---|---|
|
SL3000 SL8500 |
HBT card |
High-memory drive controller (HBT) card: Required for media validation support and reporting of richer drive data. For libraries with LTO drives, a high-memory HBT card is required to enable ADI mode. See the STA Installation and Configuration Guide to determine the memory level of your HBT card. Note: All SL3000 libraries ship with the high-memory card. Since 2006, all SL8500 libraries ship with the high-memory card. |
|
SL8500 |
Complex |
All SL8500 libraries in a single complex must be monitored by a single instance of the STA application. |
|
All |
Ethernet connection |
Separate connection from STA to each library: each library must have an assigned IP address and be reachable by the STA server. Note: Each library in an SL8500 complex has its own SNMP agent. Therefore, STA must be able to connect to each library separately. |
The quality of data provided to STA depends on the TTI level shown in Table 6. As the TTI level increases, so does the quality of the data. Oracle recommends using the highest TTI level and corresponding firmware supported by your drive model. Firmware versions are subject to change.
To upgrade your firmware, open a Service Request (SR) with your Oracle support representative.
Note:
The media validation Complete Verify Plus test is not supported in FICON environments (applies to TTI 5.40 and TTI 5.5.0 only).Table 6 StorageTek Tape Drive Firmware — Minimum Versions for STA
| Drive Model | TTI 5.10 | TTI 5.20 | TTI 5.30 | TTI 5.40 | Media Validation Support TTI 5.40 | Media Validation Support TTI 5.50 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
T10000A |
1.44.108 |
1.46.109 |
1.52.103 |
NA |
NA |
NA |
|
T10000B |
1.44.208 |
1.46.209 |
1.52.203 |
NA |
NA |
NA |
|
T10000C |
NA |
1.51.320 |
1.53.316 |
1.57.308 |
1.59.302 |
3.62.111 |
|
T10000D |
NA |
NA |
NA |
4.07.104 (FC/ FCoE) 4.07.106 (FICON) |
4.09.107 (FC/ FCoE) 4.09.107 (FICON) |
Not available at time of publication; contact your Oracle support representative |
|
9840C |
1.44.510 |
1.47.502 |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
|
9840D |
1.44.710 |
1.47.702 |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
LTO drives that support the Automation/Drive Interface (ADI) can provide rich data (for example drive performance and utilization) to the library, depending on drive configuration and firmware level.
For a library to send rich LTO drive data to STA, ADI must be enabled on both the library and the LTO drives. If ADI is not enabled on both, the library will only send basic data about the LTO drives.
For SL3000 and SL8500 libraries, you can enable ADI only if the library has a high-memory drive controller (HBT) card. See "Library Hardware Requirements" for details. Because enabling ADI requires a reboot of the library, you should enable it in advance if you are planning to install LTO drives.
See the following sections for related information:
For instructions on enabling ADI on the library, see the STA Installation and Configuration Guide.
For details about how ADI is enabled on LTO drives, see the STA Installation and Configuration Guide.
Firmware versions are subject to change. To upgrade your drive firmware, open a Service Request (SR) with your Oracle support representative.
Note:
A "Yes" or "No" entry indicates whether the drive model is supported by the library.Table 7 HP LTO Tape Drive Firmware — Supported Versions for STA
| HP LTO Drive | Minimum | Recommended | SL8500 | SL3000 | SL500 | SL150 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
LTO-3 LVD SCSI |
G69S |
G69S |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
|
LTO-3 FC 2Gb |
L6HS |
L6HS |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
|
LTO-3 FC 4Gb |
M6BS |
M6BS |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
|
LTO-4 LVD SCSI |
B57S |
B63S |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
|
LTO-4 FC 4Gb |
H58S |
H67S |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
|
LTO-5 Full-height FC 8Gb |
I3CS |
I6PS |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
|
LTO-5 Full-height SAS 6Gb (requires an SL500 bridged Base Unit) |
X3AS |
X6JS |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
|
LTO-5 Half-height FC 8Gb |
Y5BS |
Y6KS |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
|
LTO-5 Half-height SAS 6Gb |
Z55S |
Z6HS |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
|
LTO-6 Full-height FC 8Gb |
J2DS |
J5ES |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
|
LTO-6 Half-height FC 8Gb |
22GS |
25FS |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
|
LTO-6 Half-height SAS 6Gb |
32DS |
35FS |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
Firmware versions are subject to change. To upgrade your drive firmware and to enable ADI on IBM LTO drives, open a Service Request (SR) with your Oracle support representative.
See Table 1 for minimum required library firmware versions for each drive model.
For non-encryption drives, use the drive firmware shown in Table 8.
Note:
A "Yes" or "No" entry indicates whether the drive model is supported by the library.Table 8 IBM LTO Non-encryption Drive Firmware — Supported Versions for STA
| IBM LTO Drive | Minimum | Recommended | SL8500 | SL3000 | SL500 | SL150 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
LTO-3 FC 2Gb |
93G0 |
93G0 |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
|
LTO-4 FC 2/4Gb |
C7QH |
C7QH |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
|
LTO-5 Full-height FC 8Gb |
E4J0 |
G360 |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
|
LTO-6 Full-height FC 8Gb |
E4J0 |
G350 |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
F3J7 |
|
LTO-7 Full-height FC 8Gb |
FA14 |
FA14 |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
|
LTO-7 Half-height FC 8Gb |
G341 |
G341 |
No |
No |
No |
G341 |
|
LTO-7 Half-height SAS 8GB |
G341 |
G341 |
No |
No |
No |
G341 |
For encryption drives, use the drive firmware versions shown in Table 9. Also, the encryption card firmware must be 4.17.18.36 or later for ADI support.
Note:
A "Yes" or "No" entry indicates whether the drive model is supported by the library.Table 9 IBM LTO Encryption Drive Firmware — Supported Versions for STA
| IBM LTO Drive | Minimum | Recommended | SL8500 | SL3000 | SL500 | SL150 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
LTO-4 FC 2/4Gb with encryption |
C7QH |
C7QH |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
|
LTO-5 Full-height FC 8Gb with encryption |
E4J0 |
G360 |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
|
LTO-6 Full-height FC 8Gb with encryption |
E4J0 |
G350 |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
|
LTO-7 Full-height FC 8Gb with encryption |
FA14 |
FA14 |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
|
LTO-7 Half-height FC 8Gb with encryption |
G341 |
G341 |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
|
LTO-7 Half-height SAS 8Gb with encryption |
G341 |
G341 |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Note:
To ensure optimal performance and functionality of the STA application, STA must be installed on a dedicated server (called the STA server). Also, there should be no other applications running on this server. Oracle Service can provide support only if these conditions are met.Before you install or upgrade to the latest version of STA, Oracle highly recommends you contact your Oracle sales representative for assistance with sizing your STA server. Your sales representative can use the STA Server Sizing Tool to provide you with best recommendations to ensure your server is sized appropriately to meet your site's current needs and expected growth.
Server sizing depends on a number of factors, including the following:
Number of monitored libraries
Number of media slots
Number of drives
Number of media
Exchanges per hour
Memory swap size must be 50 to 100 percent of RAM size. See the STA Installation and Configuration Guide for details.
If you have significant exchanges per hour rates (that is, greater than 300 EPH) with multiple libraries attached to a single STA server and a long history with STA, you should carefully consider the size and configuration of the following key areas:
Operating system and main application area — Oracle recommends this to be on its own appropriately sized HDD. The Oracle storage home location (for example, /Oracle) needs to be at least 100 GB, but you should allocate 200 GB if /tmp is in the root partition. Allocate another 200 GB if /var/log/tbi is also in the root partition.
STA database data (for example, /dbdata) — Oracle recommends this to be on its own appropriately sized HDD. Guidance is from 250 GB up to 500 GB.
STA database backups (for example, /dbbackup) — Oracle recommends this to be on its own appropriately sized HDD. Guidance is from 500 GB up to 2 TB.
You may also want to consider using SSDs.
Table 10 lists the minimum and recommended server hardware requirements. Oracle highly recommends that the server configuration be expandable in number of disk bays, CPU cores, and RAM slots to accommodate future database growth, additional library requirements, and STA upgrades.
Table 10 STA Server Hardware Requirements
| Hardware | Configuration |
|---|---|
|
Processor |
Intel Xeon Series or equal AMD CPU |
|
CPU cores |
Minimum: 6 Recommended: 12 to 32, or capability to expand to this configuration |
|
Memory |
Minimum: 16 GB RAM Recommended: 32 GB to 128 GB RAM |
|
Operating system disk |
Dual HDD drives:
Note: As the number of data exchanges increases, so does the size of the database. |
|
Database data and local backup disks |
Minimum: 100 GB each Recommended: 250 GB to 2 TB each |
|
Connection |
Gigabit Ethernet |
|
Platform |
All disk storage residing on a single platform See the STA Installation and Configuration Guide for the recommended file system layout and allocations. |
Oracle tests, documents, and recommends Oracle Enterprise Linux.
Note:
STA 2.2.x does not support Linux 7.0 or above.Table 11 Operating System Versions and Requirements for STA
| Operating System | Supported Versions |
|---|---|
|
Oracle Enterprise Linux (OEL), 64-bit (Oracle kernel) |
Minimum: 6.3 Recommended: 6.6 |
|
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), 64-bit (Red Hat kernel); see "Operationally Approved" for details. |
Minimum: 6.3 Recommended: 6.6 |
|
STA does not support SELinux. SELinux must be disabled before STA can be installed. |
Not applicable |
The product has been successfully installed to execute in the below-ascribed operating environments. It has been demonstrated to provide its basic functionality without detriment to either the product or the associated execution environment.
VMware vSphere Hypervisor
Red Hat Enterprise Linux
The STA server must have a static IP address.
Oracle recommends that you place the STA server on the same subnet as the library to improve SNMP UDP reliability.
If you configure STA to support dual TCP/IP using two distinct subnets, configure the network to allow the delivery of SNMP packets on either subnet between the library and STA. Consult your network administrator and your Oracle support representative for more information.
Table 12 STA User Interface — Minimum Requirements
| Item | Minimum Requirements |
|---|---|
|
Screen Resolution |
1024 x 800 minimum, 1280 x 1024 (or better) recommended |
|
Browsers |
Officially supported versions (other versions are known to work with STA):
|
|
Browser Settings, Plugins, and Add-ons |
Enable JavaScript Flash 11.2 (latest version is recommended) Run all browsers in Native Mode Disable or remove third-party add-ons |
|
RTL Language Support |
Support for right-to-left (RTL) languages is available only with Internet Explorer 8.0 or 9.0 |
|
Screen Reader Assistive Technology |
JAWS 11 is recommended See the STA Screen Basics Guide for accessibility information. |
The minimum requirements for using STA for media validation are listed in the following sections.
To configure media validation after configuring STA, see the STA User's Guide.
Note:
Use only one instance of STA to perform media validation activities. The use of multiple instances on the same library is not supported.STA 2.2.0 (minimum)
Connections to libraries using SNMP v3 protocol
Note:
For media validation requirements for earlier versions of STA, see that version of the STA Requirements Guide.SL8500 or SL3000 library with compatible firmware (see "Library Firmware Requirements")
High-memory drive controller (HBT) card
SL Console 6.25 (minimum for SL8500), 6.50 (minimum for SL3000)
Dedicated pool of media validation drives defined with SL Console
StorageTek T10000C or T10000D drives using compatible firmware (see "StorageTek Drive Firmware Requirements"). STA does not initiate media validations on drives that do not have the minimum firmware levels.
Drives used to validate encrypted media must be enabled for encryption and connected to an Oracle Key Manager (OKM) 2.5 (minimum).
T10000T1 or T10000T2 media
Media validation is not supported for media formatted with StorageTek Automatically Linked Partitioning (ALP) done with Oracle's StorageTek Virtual Storage Manager (VSM).
If you plan to configure STA for RACF authentication, the following requirements apply. See the STA Installation and Configuration Guide for instructions on configuring STA for RACF.
You must install two separate packages to configure RACF for STA:
RACF service for STA, which is part of the SMC component of ELS 7.0 and 7.1. You must install the PTF to support this RACF service on the mainframe.
WebLogic RACF Security Service Provider (or RACF SSP) that must be installed into WebLogic.
Table 13 IBM RACF Software Required
| Software/Firmware | Version |
|---|---|
|
ELS PTF versions for STA/RACF Note: STA/RACF is not supported in HSC 6.2. |
ELS 7.0 - L1H16DH (MVS) ELS 7.1 - L1H16DI (MVS) ELS 7.2 - in the base code (MVS) |
|
IBM PTF versions (for APAR PK69048) for AT-TLS encryption to NCS/ELS HTTP server connection |
Best performance: z/OS 1.10 - Release 1A0: UK39417 available 08/10/07 Minimum for the Communication Server: z/OS 1.9 - Release 190: UK39419 available 08/10/07 |
Oracle recommends upgrading to STA 2.2.1 to take advantage of the following new features. See the STA Requirements Guide v2.2.0 for features introduced in that release and also included in STA v2.2.1.
Support for IBM LTO-7 drives and media. STA 2.2.1 collects and reports full detail and calculates health and suspicion for IBM LTO-7 drives and media, if the installed drives meet minimum requirements. See "IBM LTO Drive Requirements" for details.
Updated library and drive requirements to support STA 2.2.1 and higher. See "Library Requirements" and "Tape Drive Requirements" for details.
Maintenance fixes
Performance improvements
The STA documentation set consists of the following documents.
STA Quick Start Guide—Use this guide to introduce yourself to the STA application and some features of the user interface.
STA User's Guide—Use this guide for instructions on using all STA application features, including the Dashboard, templates, filters, alerts, Executive Reports, logical groups, and STA media validation. This guide also provides instructions for administering and managing STA usernames, email addresses, service logs, and SNMP connections with the monitored libraries.
STA Screen Basics Guide—Use this guide for full details about the STA user interface. It describes the screen navigation and layout, and the use of graphs and tables.
STA Data Reference Guide—Use this guide to look up definitions for all STA tape library system screens and data attributes.
STA Release Notes—Read this document before installing and using STA. It contains important release information, including known issues. This document is included in the STA media pack download.
STA Requirements Guide—Use this guide to learn about minimum and recommended requirements for using STA. This guide includes the following requirements: library, drive, server, user interface, STA media validation, and IBM RACF access control.
STA Installation and Configuration Guide—Use this guide to plan for installation of STA, install the Linux operating system, install the STA application, and then configure STA to begin monitoring the libraries. This guide also provides instructions for upgrading to a new version of STA.
STA Administration Guide—Use this guide for information about STA server administration tasks, such as STA services configuration, database backup and restore, and password administration for database accounts.
STA Security Guide—Read this document for important STA security information, including requirements, recommendations, and general security principles.
STA Licensing Information User Manual—Read this document for information about use of third-party technology distributed with the STA product.
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Oracle customers that have purchased support have access to electronic support through My Oracle Support. For information, visit http://www.oracle.com/pls/topic/lookup?ctx=acc&id=info or visit http://www.oracle.com/pls/topic/lookup?ctx=acc&id=trs if you are hearing impaired.
StorageTek Tape Analytics Requirements Guide, Version 2.2.1
E68629-02
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