NetWare 3.11 SBACKUP with FTe and DDS (DAT) Tape Drives

NetWare 3.11 comes supplied with a backup utility called SBACKUP. As previously documented, this utility can be used to back up to any of the internal SCSI tape drives supplied by Apricot for use in an FTs or FTe server.

There is however a problem when using SBACKUP on an FTe with an internal Archive DDS (DAT) drive installed, in that once the backup or restore operation has been completed by SBACKUP, the tape cartridge is automatically ejected. If the FTe door is CLOSED when the tape ejects, the tape cartridge blocks the motion of the door so it cannot be opened again.

We therefore recommend that when using SBACKUP with a DDS (DAT) drive in an FTe, that the door be left OPEN.

We have reported this problem to Novell, who have explained that the problem is in the NOVADIBI.NLM driver supplied by Novell as part of the SBACKUP software. As a result of a request from a major American hardware manufacturer, the driver was written to automatically eject a DDS (DAT) cartridge at the end of an operation.

Novell have investigated what would be involved in changing the driver to prevent the automatic cartridge eject from occurring, and as a result of our recent IMSP 2 agreement, we should soon be receiving an updated driver to overcome the problem.

As soon as we have the new driver, it will be made available to dealers via the Apricot Technical Support Bulletin Board System, and we will issue a bulletin announcing the availability of the driver.

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