ADSM documentation, etc.

We are using version 2 release 1 of ADSM with a 3494 robot and 3590 tape
drives.

As evidenced by my previous posting here, it hasn't been as smooth as I would
have hoped.  However, I have now been able to write to 3590 tapes managed by
the 3494.

The two pieces of information which have held me up the most in the last few
days are the following.

1) The version 2 documentation for checkin libvolume is incorrect with
respect to using 349x libraries and the 3590 tape drives.  A note in the
syntax diagram for this command states the following.

"The DEVTYPE parameter only applies to 349X libraries containing both 3490
and 3590 devices."

Similar text is written when describing the DEVTYPE parameter.

This is WRONG.  In fact, without the DEVTYPE=3590 parameter, the 3494 will
ignore the 3590 tapes, even though there are NO 3490 tapes in the library.

2) The use of the category numbers in ADSM and the 3494 have been a source of
confusion.  The following are important pieces of information which I have
found (with a significant degree of effort).

As David Bohm described in his post to this list, the scratch categories for
the 349x library are different for 3490 and 3590 tapes.  Specifically, the
category for the 3590 tape category is the scratch category specified in ADSM
incremented by 1.

Based on my trial and error, I have found that I needed to set the category
number for tapes at the 3494, before ADSM will check them into the library.

The sequence which I believe is necessary is the following.

   1) Use the ADSM utility dsmlabel to label the tapes which are intended to
      be checked into the library.

      Note: The 3494 seems to require that the tapes are in category ff00
      before it will label the tapes.  I need to investigate further, to see
      if it will label tapes which are pre-set to the scratch or private
      categories.

   2) Use the 'stand-alone' device commands on the 3494 to assign the
category
      numbers to the tapes which have been labeled using dsmlabel.

      Note: The 3494 treats the category number as a HEX value for both
      display and input.  ADSM treats the category number a decimal value.
      Be sure convert the value to HEX when dealing with tape categories on
      the 3494.

   3) Use the ADSM checkin libvolume command (see #1) to allow ADSM to find
      the scratch volumes for the library.

So far, I have found that this sequence works.  I haven't found documentation
which helps me to understand the requirements or options for this process.  I
need to spend some more time, to understand if there are any short cuts for
this method.  Setting the category on the 3494 using the 'stand-alone' device
is very clumsy and time consuming.

Does anybody know of any documentation in this area?  Does anybody know any
better ways of labelling, categorizing, and checking in tape volumes for the
3590 drives with a 3494?

Anyway, I think I'm over the hump now, and we should be bringing the backup
processes in to ADSM over the next couple of weeks.

Kent

--
Kent Johnson                        Internet: johnsk6 AT rpi DOT edu
Kent Johnson                        Internet: johnsk6 AT rpi DOT edu
Unix Systems Programmer (VCC 217)      Phone: (518) 276-8175
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute         Fax: (518) 276-2809