Administrator's Guide


Notes on Operations

The following sections summarize choices and procedures you need to be aware of when operating removable media devices for ADSM. The sections give pointers to additional information.

Mount Operations for Manual Libraries

Volumes are mounted as a result of mount requests from ADSM. For manual libraries, you can monitor the mount requests on the server console or by using an administrative client in mount mode or console mode. Someone you designate as the operator must respond to the mount requests by putting in tape volumes as requested.

For more details, see Chapter 6. "Managing Removable Media Operations".

Handling Messages for Automated Libraries

For automated libraries, ADSM works with the library to accomplish volume mounts. Mount messages are not sent to an operator. However, information about problems with the library are still sent to the mount message queue. You can see these messages on administrative clients that have been started with either the mount mode or console mode parameter. However, you cannot use the ADSM REPLY command to respond to these messages. For more details, see Chapter 6. "Managing Removable Media Operations".

Cleaning Drives in Automated Libraries

When you want to use a cleaning tape, manually enter the tape into the library and follow the manufacturer's procedures.

ADSM does not support cleaning operations for SCSI libraries and does not mount cleaning cartridges or tapes. For most libraries, ADSM uses the cleaning slots, or fixed slots, for data tapes. Keeping a cleaning cartridge in a SCSI library can slow ADSM operations. If the library has a bar-code reader and the cleaning cartridge has a bar-code label, ADSM notes the location of the cleaning cartridge and then ignores it.

Collocation

Collocation is a process by which the server attempts to keep all files belonging to a client node or a client file space on a minimal number of sequential access storage volumes. You set collocation on or off for each sequential access storage pool, which includes tapes. By using collocation, you can reduce the number of volume mounts required when users restore, retrieve, or recall many files. However, when collocation is on, more volume mounts are required when clients store files.

To understand the advantages and disadvantages of collocation, see "Collocation on Sequential Access Storage Pools" and "How Collocation Affects Reclamation".

Single Drive Libraries

To allow ADSM to automatically reclaim volumes in a library that contains only one drive, you can set up a special storage pool to be used for reclamation. See "Reclaiming Volumes in a Storage Pool with One Drive" for more information about a reclamation storage pool.


[ Top of Page | Previous Page | Next Page | Table of Contents | Index ]