Mike Cassidy asked about using ADSM for AIX with 3490E11 devices.
Attached is some information that might be helpful. Thanks...Greg Tevis
Subject:Using 3490E Models E01/E11 with ADSM/6000 by Bill Delaney
A number of customers have expressed concern about the lack of
explicit instructions on how to use the 3490E Models E01/E11 tape
drives in conjunction with ADSM. To address this concern, I have
put together a set of instructions on how to use these drives with
the ADSM/6000 server:
1) Be sure to read the User's Guide for the drive for information
on how to use the front panel buttons and displays. The order
number for this publication is GA32-0298-00.
2) You must use the device driver that ships with the drive itself.
There is a base device driver (with a type keyword of 3490e) that
ships with AIX. ADSM WILL NOT WORK WITH THIS BASE DEVICE DRIVER!
The one that ships with the hardware uses a type keyword of A3490E.
Use SMIT to configure this one, and then give its special file name
to ADSM when issuing the DEFINE DRIVE command.
3) You can put the drive in any of the possible modes: MANUAL,
AUTOMATIC or SYSTEM. Here is a description of how the drive
behaves in each of these modes when used with ADSM:
MANUAL - All volume mounts take place through the top slot
(called the "priority slot") of the magazine. To mount
a new volume, you have to open the access door, put the
desired volume in the top slot close the access door,
and then press the START button. The ADSM server will
always put out request messages indicating which volume
is to be mounted in the drive.
AUTOMATIC - In this mode, you load the volumes into the magazine
in the order in which they are to be accessed. Then,
whenever a volume is dismounted from the drive, the
next volume in the stack is automatically loaded into
the drive. This mode only limited usefulness with
ADSM, since you can never really know the exact order
in which volumes will be needed by the server.
SYSTEM - In this mode, you will want to select the "Six+1,Stop"
configuration settings, as opposed to the "Seven" options.
When you do so, the top slot acts as the priority slot,
allowing manual loading of specific volumes that the ADSM
server might request via a request message. When using
ADSM with the drive in SYSTEM mode, you should pre-load
scratch volumes (i.e. labeled volumes that have NOT been
explicitly defined via an ADSM DEFINE VOLUME command)
into any/all of the bottom six slots in the magazine.
If ADSM needs a specific non-scratch volume mounted, it
will request the volume. The operator should respond by
putting the volume in the top slot, closing the door,
pressing the START or RESUME button, and then pressing
the START button to force a load from the priority slot
into the drive. When ADSM is done, it will unload the
volume back into the priority slot, at which time the
operator should remove the volume and store it. The
second case is when the ADSM server determines that it
needs a scratch volume for new output data. In this
case, the server will automatically load the next unused
volume from the lower six slots. The "Stop" in "Six+1,Stop"
means that and "End of Stack" message should be displayed
by the drive when all scratch volumes have been used up.
This informs the operator that the current volumes in the
magazine should be removed and stored, and new scratch
volumes should be loaded back into the magazine's lower
six slots.
4) Generally, SYSTEM mode (with the "Six+1,Stop" options) is the best for
the ADSM server. This provides a combination of the MANUAL and AUTOMATIC
modes, allowing ADSM to request specific volumes when necessary, while
also automatically loading scratch volumes if appropriate.
There is one quirk with SYSTEM mode which users should understand.
Special rules must be observed when loading scratch volumes into the
magazine, or else the ADSM server will not recognize that the magazine
has scratch volumes that can be automatically loaded into the drive.
Here are the instructions for loading scratch volumes:
a) If a volume is currently loaded in the tape drive itself:
Open the access door, remove all volumes from the magazine, load
new scratch volumes (they MUST be labeled!) into any/all of the
bottom six slots of the magazine, and close the door. The drive's
display will prompt you to press START or RESUME at this point.
You should press START to indicate that a fresh stack of volumes
is present.
b) If no volume is currently present in the tape drive itself:
Open the access door, remove all volumes from the magazine, and
put new scratch volumes in the top slot and in any/all of the bottom
six slots. In response to the message prompt on the drive, press
START to indicate that a fresh stack of scratch volumes is present.
Then, press START again to load the scratch volume from the top
slot into the drive. Eventually, if ADSM needs a scratch mount,
it will automatically detect the presence of the loaded volume and
proceed to use it. However, if the ADSM server determines that it
needs a specific non-scratch volume instead, it will unload the
scratch volume and prompt the operator to load the desired volume
instead. You can just return the "rejected" scratch volume to your
scratch pool or shelf and use it later. After this, ADSM will
continue to recognize that the magazine has scratch volumes and
will load them automatically when needed. The fact that you have
to explicity load a scratch volume via the priority slot when
refilling the magazine is due to a quirk in the drive microcode.
This issue is currently being studied, and hopefully a change can
be made so that this strange step can be avoided in the future.
5) Here's a tip on how to load a specific volume when the drive is in
SYSTEM mode. You must open the door, remove any cartridge that's
present in the top slot, insert the desired one, close the door,
press START or RESUME, and then press START to force the priority
slot volume to be loaded into the drive itself. If the desired volume
is already in the top slot when the server requests it, you STILL have
to open the door, pull the cartridge out, re-insert it, and continue
as described above. The START button will only load from the priority
slot if a physical volume change has been detected - hence the need
for removal and re-insertion.
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