Administrator's Guide

Processing for ADSM Batch Requests

Batch processing is done during ADSM MOVE MEDIA, MOVE DRMEDIA, and QUERY MEDIA command execution when performed on volumes in external libraries. The move commands will cause a QUERY to be issued for a volume. If the QUERY indicates that the volume is in the library, a subsequent EJECT for that volume is issued. As the move commands can match any number of volumes, a QUERY and an EJECT request is issued for each matching volume.

The QUERY MEDIA command will result in QUERY requests being sent to the agent. During certain types of processing, ADSM may need to know if a volume is present in a library. The external agent should verify that the volume is physically present in the library.

1. The server loads the external program in a newly created process and creates pipes to the external program.

2. The server sends an initialization request description string, in text form, into the standard input (stdin) stream of the external program. The ADSM server waits for the response.

3. When the external process completes the request, the process must write an initialization response string, in text form, into its standard output (stdout) stream.

4. The ADSM server sends the BEGIN BATCH request (stdin).

5. The agent sends the BEGIN BATCH response (stdout).

6. The ADSM server sends 1 to n volume requests (n > 1). These can be any number of QUERY or EJECT requests. For each request, the agent will send the applicable QUERY response or EJECT response.

7. The ADSM server sends the END BATCH request (stdin).

8. The agent sends the END BATCH response (stdout), performs any necessary cleanup, and calls the stdlib exit routine.