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Administrator's Guide


Managing Drives

You can query, update, and delete drives.

Requesting Information about Drives


Task Required Privilege Class
Request information about drives Any administrator

You can request information about drives by using the QUERY DRIVE command. This command accepts wildcard characters for both a library name and a drive name. See Administrator's Reference for information about using wildcard characters.

For example, to query all drives associated with your server, enter the following command:

query drive

The following shows an example of the results of this command.

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Library   Drive    Device     On Line                                           |
|Name      Name     Type                                                         |
|--------  -------  ---------  -------                                           |
|MANLIB    8MM.0    8MM        Yes                                               |
|AUTOLIB   8MM.2    8MM        Yes                                               |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Updating Drives

You can change the attributes of a drive by issuing the UPDATE DRIVE command.

Task Required Privilege Class
Update drives System or unrestricted storage

You can change the following attributes of a drive by issuing the UPDATE DRIVE command.

For example, to change the element address of a drive named DRIVE3 to 119, issue the following command:

update drive auto drive3 element=119
Note:
You cannot change the element number if a drive is in use. If a drive has a volume mounted, but the volume is idle, it can be explicitly dismounted as described in Dismounting Idle Volumes.

If you are reconfiguring your system, you can change the device name of a drive by issuing the UPDATE PATH command. For example, to change the device name of a drive named DRIVE3, issue the following command:

update path server1 drive3 srctype=server desttype=drive library=scsilib 
   device=mt3.0.0.0

You can change a drive to offline status while the drive is in use. TSM will finish with the current tape in the drive, and then not use the drive anymore. By changing a drive to offline, you can drain work off of a drive. However, if the tape that had been in use was part of a series of tapes for a single transaction, the drive will not be available to complete the series. If no other drives are available, the transaction may fail. If all drives in a library are made offline, any attempts by TSM to write to the storage pool associated with the library will fail.

The ONLINE parameter specifies the value of the drive's online state, even if the drive is in use. ONLINE=YES indicates that the drive is available for use (online). ONLINE=NO indicates that the drive is not available for use (offline). This parameter is optional. Do not specify other optional parameters along with ONLINE=YES or ONLINE=NO. If you do, the drive will not be updated, and the command will fail when the drive is in use. This command can be issued when the drive is involved in an active process or session, but this is not recommended.

The ONLINE parameter allows drives to be taken offline and used for another activity, such as maintenance. If you make the drive offline while it is in use, the drive will be marked offline. However, the mounted volume will complete its current process. If this volume was part of a series of volumes for a given transaction, the drive will no longer be available to complete mounting the series. If no other drives are available, the active process may fail. The updated state will be retained even when the server is halted and brought up again. If a drive is marked offline when the server is brought up, a warning is issued noting that the drive must be manually brought online. If all the drives in a library are updated to be offline, processes requiring a library mount point will fail, rather than queue up for one.

Replacing Tape or Optical Drives

If you replace a drive in a tape or optical library that is defined to Tivoli Storage Manager, you must delete the drive and path definitions for the old drive and define the new drive and path. This is required even if you are exchanging one drive for another of the same type, using the same logical address, physical address, SCSI ID, and port number. Device alias names can change when you change your drive connections.

If the new drive is an upgrade that supports a new media format, you might also need to define a new logical library, device class, and storage pool. Procedures for setting up policy for a new drive in a multiple-drive library will vary, depending on the types of drives and media in the library.

This section provides a general overview of media compatibility and describes how to replace a drive, set up policy to handle multiple media formats in the same library, and migrate previously stored data to new media.

Overview of Media Compatibility Issues

Sometimes a new drive has a limited ability to use media formats supported by a previous version of the drive. Often, a new drive can read but not write to the old media. By default, existing volumes with a status of FILLING will remain in that state after a drive upgrade. In some cases, you might want to continue using an older drive to fill these volumes. This will preserve read/write capability for the existing volumes until they have been reclaimed. If you choose to upgrade all of the drives in a library, pay attention to the media formats supported by the new hardware. Unless you are planning to use only the latest media with your new drive, you will need to be aware of any compatibility issues. For migration instructions, see Migrating to Upgraded Drives.

To use a new drive with media it can read but not write to, you should use the UPDATE VOLUME command to set the access for those volumes to read-only. This will prevent errors caused by read/write incompatibility. For example, a new drive may eject media written in a density format it does not support as soon as the media is loaded into the drive. Or a new drive may fail the first write command to media partially written in a format it does not support.

When data on the read-only media expires and the volume is reclaimed, you should replace it with media that is fully compatible with the new drive. Errors can be generated if a new drive is unable to correctly calibrate a volume written using an older format. To avoid this problem, ensure that the original drive is in good working order and at current microcode levels.

Removing a Drive

To remove a drive, perform the following procedure:

  1. Stop the Tivoli Storage Manager server and shut down the operating system.
  2. Remove the old drive and follow the manufacturer's instructions to install the new drive.
  3. Restart the operating system and the Tivoli Storage Manager server.
  4. Delete the path from the server tpo the drive. For example, enter:
    delete path server1 lib1 srctype=server desttype=drive
    
  5. Delete the drive definition. For example, to delete a drive named DLT1 from a library device named LIB1, enter:
    delete drive lib1 dlt1
    
  6. Define the new drive and path. This procedure will vary, depending on the configuration of drives in your library. See Defining a New Drive.

Defining a New Drive

How you define a new drive depends on several factors, including:

Replacing a Drive With Another of the Same Type

Perform the following task to add a drive that supports the same media formats as the drive it replaces:

Define the new drive and path
For example, to define a new drive and name it DRIVE1 and a path to it from SERVER1, enter:
define drive lib1 drive1
 
define path server1 drive1 srctype=server desttype=drive library=lib1
   device=mt3.0.0.1

You can use your existing library, device class, and storage pool definitions.

Upgrading All of the Drives in a Library That Contained Only One Type of Drive

You must decide how to handle any new types of media supported by the new drives. See Overview of Media Compatibility Issues for more information.

The following scenario assumes you already have a library device defined as follows:

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Library    Library   Private     Scratch     External                           |
|Name       Type      Category    Category    Manager                            |
|-------    -------   --------    --------    --------                           |
|LIB1     349X        200       201                                              |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Define each new drive and path
For example, to define a new drive and name it DRIVE1, enter:
define drive lib1 drive1 
 
define path server1 drive1 srctype=server desttype=drive library=lib1
   device=mt3.0.0.1

Update device class and storage pool definitions

Upgrading Some of the Drives in a Library That Contained Only One Type of Drive

Each type of drive requires a separately defined logical library. If a library contains only one type of drive and you upgrade only a subset of those drives, you must define an additional logical library.

The following scenario assumes you already have a library device defined as follows:

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Library  Library  Private   Scratch   External                                  |
|Name              Category  Category  Manager                                   |
|-------  -------  --------  --------  --------                                  |
|LIB1     349X     200       201                                                 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Define a new logical library and path for each new type of drive
For example, to add a logical library named LIB2 for the same physical device already defined as LIB1, enter:
define library lib2 libtype=349X scratchcategory=401 privatecategory=400
 
define path server1 lib2 srctype=server desttype=library 
   device=lb3.0.0.0 

Define each new drive and path to the new library
To define a new drive named DRIVE2 to the logical library named LIB2 and a new path to the drive, enter:
define drive lib2 drive2 
 
define path server1 drive1 srctype=server desttype=drive library=lib2
   device=mt3.0.0.1

Update device class and storage pool definitions

To define a new device class, enter:

define devclass new_dev_class devtype=3590 format=drive library=lib2 
   estcapacity=40G
 

For accurate reporting of capacity information, you must specify the ESTCAPACITY parameter.

To define a new storage pool, enter:

define stgpool new_stg_pool new_dev_class maxscratch=number_of_new_tapes

You can then use the CHECKIN LIBVOLUME command to check the new media into the logical library LIB2.

Upgrading All of the Drives in a Library That Contained More than One Type of Drive

The following scenario assumes you already have two logical libraries defined. For example:

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                                                |
|Library  Library  Private   Scratch   External                                  |
|Name              Category  Category  Manager                                   |
|-------  -------  --------  --------  --------                                  |
|LIB1     349X     200       201                                                 |
|LIB2     349X     300       301                                                 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Update drive and path definitions for each logical library
For each library, follow the guidelines in Upgrading All of the Drives in a Library That Contained Only One Type of Drive. For accurate reporting of capacity information, you cannot use a global scratch pool with this configuration.

Upgrading Some of the Drives in a Library That Contained More than One Type of Drive

The following scenario assumes you already have two logical libraries defined, for example:

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                                                |
|Library  Library  Private   Scratch   External                                  |
|Name              Category  Category  Manager                                   |
|-------  -------  --------  --------  --------                                  |
|LIB1     349X     200       201                                                 |
|LIB2     349X     300       301                                                 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

You must update the drive and path definitions for each logical library. Follow the guidelines in Upgrading Some of the Drives in a Library That Contained Only One Type of Drive. For accurate reporting of capacity information, you cannot use a global scratch pool with this configuration.

Migrating to Upgraded Drives

If you upgrade all of the drives in a library, you can define a new DISK storage pool and set it up to migrate its data to a storage pool created for the new drives. You can then update your existing management class definitions to begin storing data in the new DISK storage pool. This allows you to preserve your existing policy definitions to migrate and expire existing data, while using the new drives to store new data.

Cleaning Drives


Task Required Privilege Class
Clean drives System or unrestricted storage

You can use the server to manage tape drive cleaning. The server can control cleaning tape drives in SCSI libraries and offers partial support for cleaning tape drives in manual libraries. For automated libraries, you can automate cleaning by specifying the frequency of cleaning operations and checking a cleaner cartridge into the library's volume inventory. The server mounts the cleaner cartridge as specified. For manual libraries, the server issues a mount request for the cleaner cartridge. There are special considerations if you plan to use server-controlled drive cleaning with a SCSI library that provides automatic drive cleaning support in its device hardware

Deciding Whether the Server Controls Drive Cleaning

If your library includes its own functions for drive cleaning, you need to decide which method to use: The device's built-in drive cleaning or the TSM server's drive cleaning. Device manufacturers that include automatic cleaning recommend its use to prevent premature wear on the read/write heads of the drives. For example, SCSI libraries such as STK 9710, IBM 3570, and IBM 3575 have their own automatic cleaning built into the device.

To avoid problems, use either the device's built-in drive cleaning, or the server's drive cleaning, but not both. Drives and libraries from different manufacturers differ in how they handle cleaner cartridges and how they report the presence of a cleaner cartridge in a drive. Consult the manufacturer's information that accompanies the library and the drives for an explanation of how the library and drive handle and report the presence of cleaner cartridges. The device driver may not be able to open a drive that contains a cleaner cartridge. Sense codes and error codes that are issued by devices for drive cleaning vary. If a library has its own automatic cleaning, the library usually tries to keep the process transparent to all applications. However, this is not always the case. Because of this variability, the server cannot reliably detect a cleaner cartridge in a drive for all hardware. The server also may not be able to determine if the library has started a cleaning process. Therefore, it is important to choose one method or the other, but not both.

Some devices require a small amount of idle time between mount requests to initiate the drive cleaning. However, the server tries to minimize the idle time for a drive. These two conditions may combine to prevent the device's control of drive cleaning to function effectively. If this happens, try using the server to control drive cleaning. Set the frequency to match the cleaning recommendations from the manufacturer.

If you decide to have the server control drive cleaning, disable the device's own drive cleaning function to prevent problems. For example, while the device's own drive cleaning function is enabled, some devices automatically move any cleaner cartridge found in the library to slots in the library that are dedicated for cleaner cartridges. An application such as Tivoli Storage Manager does not know that these dedicated slots exist. You will not be able to check a cleaner cartridge into the server's library inventory until you disable the device's own drive cleaning function.

If you decide to have the device control drive cleaning and then you have problems, consider using the drive cleaning control provided by the server.

Cleaning Drives in an Automated Library

Set up server-controlled drive cleaning in an automated library with these steps:

  1. Define or update the drives in a library, using the CLEANFREQUENCY parameter. The CLEANFREQUENCY parameter sets how often you want the drive cleaned. Refer to the DEFINE DRIVE and UPDATE DRIVE commands. Consult the manuals that accompany the drives for recommendations on cleaning frequency.

    For example, to have DRIVE1 cleaned after 100GB is processed on the drive, issue the following command:

    update drive autolib1 drive1 cleanfrequency=100
    

    Consult the drive manufacturer's information for cleaning recommendations. If the information gives recommendations for cleaning frequency in terms of hours of use, convert to a gigabytes value by doing the following:

    1. Use the bytes-per-second rating for the drive to determine a gigabytes-per-hour value.
    2. Multiply the gigabytes-per-hour value by the recommended hours of use between cleanings.
    3. Use the result as the cleaning frequency value.
    Note:
    For IBM 3570 and 3590 drives, we recommend that you specify a value for the CLEANFREQUENCY parameter rather than specify ASNEEDED. Using the cleaning frequency recommended by the product documentation will not overclean the drives.
  2. Check a cleaner cartridge into the library's volume inventory with the CHECKIN LIBVOLUME command. For example:
    checkin libvolume autolib1 cleanv status=cleaner cleanings=10 checklabel=no
    

    After the cleaner cartridge is checked in, the server will mount the cleaner cartridge in a drive when the drive needs cleaning. The server will use that cleaner cartridge for the number of cleanings specified. See Checking In Cleaner Volumes and Operations with Cleaner Cartridges in a Library for more information.

For details on the commands, see Administrator's Reference.

Checking In Cleaner Volumes

You must check a cleaner cartridge into an automated library's volume inventory to have the server control drive cleaning without further operator intervention.

It is recommended that you check in cleaner cartridges one at a time and do not use the search function of check-in for a cleaner cartridge.

Attention: When checking in a cleaner cartridge to a library, ensure that it is correctly identified to the server as a cleaner cartridge. Also use caution when a cleaner cartridge is already checked in and you are checking in data cartridges. Ensure that cleaner cartridges are in their correct home slots, or errors and delays can result.

When checking in data cartridges with SEARCH=YES, ensure that a cleaner cartridge is not in a slot that will be detected by the search process. Errors and delays of 15 minutes or more can result from a cleaner cartridge being improperly moved or placed. For best results, check in the data cartridges first when you use the search function. Then check in the cleaner cartridge separately.

For example, if you need to check in both data cartridges and cleaner cartridges, put the data cartridges in the library and check them in first. You can use the search function of the CHECKIN LIBVOLUME command (or the LABEL LIBVOLUME command if you are labeling and checking in volumes). Then check in the cleaner cartridge to the library by using one of the following methods.

Manual Drive Cleaning in an Automated Library

If your library has limited capacity and you do not want to use a slot in your library for a cleaner cartridge, you can still make use of the server's drive cleaning function. Set the cleaning frequency for the drives in the library. When a drive needs cleaning based on the frequency setting, the server issues the message, ANR8914I. For example:

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|ANR89141I Drive DRIVE1 in library AUTOLIB1 needs to be cleaned.                 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

You can use that message as a cue to manually insert a cleaner cartridge into the drive. However, the server cannot track whether the drive has been cleaned.

Operations with Cleaner Cartridges in a Library

When a drive needs to be cleaned, the server runs the cleaning operation after dismounting a data volume if a cleaner cartridge is checked in to the library. If the cleaning operation fails or is cancelled, or if no cleaner cartridge is available, then the indication that the drive needs cleaning is lost. Monitor cleaning messages for these problems to ensure that drives are cleaned as needed. If necessary, use the CLEAN DRIVE command to have the server try the cleaning again, or manually load a cleaner cartridge into the drive.

The server uses a cleaner cartridge for the number of cleanings that you specify when you check in the cleaner cartridge. If you check in more than one cleaner cartridge, the server uses one of them for its designated number of cleanings. Then the server begins to use the next cleaner cartridge.

Visually verify that cleaner cartridges are in the correct storage slots before issuing any of the following commands:

To find the correct slot for a cleaner cartridge, use the QUERY LIBVOLUME command.

Cleaning Drives in a Manual Library

Cleaning a drive in a manual library is the same as setting up drive cleaning without checking in a cleaner cartridge for an automated library. The server issues the ANR8914I message when a drive needs cleaning. For example:

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|ANR89141I Drive DRIVE1 in library MANLIB1 needs to be cleaned.                  |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Monitor the activity log or the server console for these messages and load a cleaner cartridge into the drive as needed. The server cannot track whether the drive has been cleaned.

Error Checking for Drive Cleaning

Occasionally an administrator might move some cartridges around within a library and put a data cartridge where TSM shows that there is a cleaner cartridge. TSM uses the process in this section to recover from the error. When a drive needs cleaning, the server loads what its database shows as a cleaner cartridge into the drive. The drive then moves to a READY state, and TSM detects that the cartridge is a data cartridge. The server then performs the following steps:

  1. The server attempts to read the internal tape label of the data cartridge.
  2. The server ejects the cartridge from the drive and moves it back to the home slot of the "cleaner" cartridge within the library. If the eject fails, the server marks the drive offline and issues a message that the cartridge is still in the drive.
  3. The server checks out the "cleaner" cartridge to avoid selecting it for another drive cleaning request. The "cleaner" cartridge remains in the library but no longer appears in the TSM library inventory.
  4. If the server was able to read the internal tape label, the server checks the volume name against the current library inventory, storage pool volumes, and the volume history file.

Deleting Drives

You can delete a drive by issuing the DELETE DRIVE command.

Task Required Privilege Class
Delete drives System or unrestricted storage

A drive cannot be deleted if it is currently in use. If a drive has a volume mounted, but the volume is currently idle, it can be dismounted as described in Dismounting Idle Volumes.

Note:
A drive cannot be deleted until the defined path to the drive has been deleted. Also, a library cannot be deleted until all of the drives defined within it are deleted.


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