1. Administrator's Guide
  2. ACSLS Support of the SL8500
  3. Connecting to Multiple SL8500s Using Multi TCP/IP

Connecting to Multiple SL8500s Using Multi TCP/IP

When SL8500 3.97 or higher firmware is installed, ACSLS can connect to more than one SL8500 in an ACS (library complex).

ACSLS supports up to fifteen connections to an ACS. For example, this can be: fifteen connections to four SL8500s; two connections to each of two SL8500s; two connections to one SL8500 and two connections to two other SL8500s; three connections to two or three libraries, and so on.

When ACSLS is connected to more than one library, the connections should be through different subnets for redundancy. If one subnet fails, communication between ACSLS and the library still continues over the other subnet(s).

When ACSLS has two connections to one SL8500 HBC card, configure the SL8500 and ACSLS server routing tables, as described in Overview. If you have only a single connection between the ACSLS server and each SL8500 library, configuring the ACSLS and SL8500 routing tables is not necessary.

To optimize library performance and minimize inter-library communication among SL8500s, connect to the libraries with the most activity. Make the first connection that you specify in acsss_config or config acs new to the SL8500 with the most activity.

For more information, refer to the SL8500 Modular Library System Technical Brief - Host to Library Communications.

Verifying that all SL8500 Components are Operational

To verify that all the components of the SL8500 are operational:

  1. Logon to the StorageTek Library Console (SL Console).

    You can use either the console on the SL8500 or a remote Library Console.

  2. Select Tools -> System Detail.

    • All SL8500 components should be green.

      Exception: Drives that are yellow can be configured now or later, using dynamic configuration. See bdb.acsss.

    • Missing components can be added using the Dynamic Configuration (config acs or config lsm) utility.

    • IMPORTANT: Before configuring the SL8500, the elevators (Elevator Folder) must be green. If the elevators are not green, do not configure the SL8500 to ACSLS. The elevators are the logical pass-thru-ports (PTPs). Without PTPs, ACSLS will not know that the SL8500 rails are connected.

  3. Once the SL8500 components are operational, configure SL8500 to ACSLS, as discussed in Setting CSI Tuning Variables or under the The acsss Macro.