IBM ServeRaid 7k DLT Tape drive problem

[syn1234]

I have a customer that has a defective DLT Drive that needs to be RMA'd so i have to send it back 1st to get the replacement

The Setup is

3 Drives on the ServeRaid Blackplane (RAID5), 1 DLT drive on the motherboard SCSI connector ( ID = 5 )

When i pull the DLT the RAID bois complains about a tape drive being "defunc". and 3 options like

F2 - view problem
F6 - Mark drive as defunct ( i think this is the wording but not entirely sure )
F10 - do nothing and continue

Previous experience with SCSI says i should be able to pull this drive from the controller and carry on. I tried F10 ( do nothing ) and the server does not recognize that there is any local drives ( my RAID 5 array ). My heart almost stopped.

Putting the DLT drive back into place and everything is fine.

My question is

A) does the SCSI controller remember what is connected and then bitch about removing a device
B) is the DTL some how affecting the SCSI bus because its not in place
C) how do i get the server to boot, without loosing data and not having the DLT in place?

It might be as simple as telling the controller the DTL is no loger there, but it scares me that it doesn't see the local drive when the DLT is not connected.

I haven't tried F6.. yet, but if anyone has come across this problem any insight would be great!

Thanks

 

[blackened144]

I havent run across this exact problem, but I would imagine that marking the drive defunct will allow the controller to simply bypass that device and continue as normal.