Administrator's Guide

Chapter 6. Managing Removable Media Operations

ADSM allows you to use and reuse removable media to store data. You need to perform some steps to prepare removable media for initial use by ADSM. You also need to perform some steps to control how and when media is reused.

For manually mounted devices, ADSM sends messages that request that volumes be mounted when they are needed. For devices in automated libraries (such as a tape autochanger), ADSM interacts with the library to mount volumes, but sends messages when the library needs attention from an operator. ADSM also tracks the inventory of media in each automated library.

See the following sections:

Concepts:
"How ADSM Uses and Reuses Removable Media"
"Using Scratch Volumes and Private Volumes"
"Private and Scratch Volumes in Automated Libraries"
"Categories in 349X Automated Libraries"
Tasks:
"Preparing Removable Media for ADSM"
"Labeling Sequential Access Volumes"
"Informing the Server about New Volumes in a Library"
"Controlling ADSM Access to Volumes"
"Reusing Tapes in Storage Pools"
"Reusing Volumes Used for Database Backups and Export Operations"
"Managing Storage Volumes in Automated Libraries"
"Managing Media Mount Operations"

In this chapter, most examples illustrate how to perform tasks by using the ADSM command line interface. For information about the ADSM commands, see ADSM Administrator's Reference, or issue the HELP command from the command line of an ADSM administrative client.

All of the ADSM commands can be performed from the administrative client web interface. A Version 3 administrative client GUI is also available for the Windows NT and Windows 95 operating systems. For more information about using the administrative interfaces, see ADSM Quick Start. You can find detailed help for using the graphical user interfaces in the online help facilities.