On Fri, 6 Sep 1996, Barry Fruchtman wrote:

> Right.  We require pre-labelled to prevent overwriting
> of tapes which don't belong to ADSM and to track them
> once ADSM has used them ( or to re-use them when they become
> empty ).

        I'm having a problem with ADSM database backups prompting for
scratch volumes: I _DON'T_ want to use _ANY_ scratch volumes, but when I
run ADSM in roll-forward it only accepts scratch volumes for the
incremental DB backups.  I can specify a backup device class and volume
name when I manually perform fulls.  How do I set ADSM to perform
unattended database backups to a pool of non-scratch media dedicated to
them?  I'm considering having, say, 4 labeled tapes dedicated to DB
backups in a tape library, and those tapes will _NOT_ be part of any
storage pools migrated to by the backup pool.

> Barry Fruchtman
> ADSM Development

> > Basic questions I have:
> > -Does each tape with ADSM has to be labeled whether it will be used
> > as a scratch tape or not?

        Yes.  It needs to be labeled so ADSM can read its label and know
how to tell the database where your files are.

> > -If I have a tape and ADSM loads it as a scratch tape how will ADSM
> > now not to start from the beggining the next time?

        I don't think I understand the question entirely, but from what I
think I am seeing, the DB knows all and sees all when it comes to the
ADSM media (which is why the DB is roughly 2-5% of your total data
capacity).  When a request comes to, say, restore from a particular
tape, it will prompt for that tape, whether it is scratch or not.

        Personally, I find scratch tapes a bit of a hindrance.  I prefer
to have my tapes labeled and in pools so I can keep track of the tape's
condition, contents, etc.  It may take a few more mouse clicks or
keystrokes (which can always be put in a script) to add volumes to
storage pools, but it's well worth it.

> > This is what I understand so far. If a tape is labeled, but one has
> > not created storage pool for it, ADSM will mount it and use it as a

        Other way around: you create the storage pool FIRST and add tapes
to it (most of the time).

> > scratch tape (if the library has scratch volumes enabled). Once there
> > are no more files needed from that tape ADSM will drop the volume and
> > it can be re-used from "scratch" again. Is this the case? I have
> > tried reading the documentation, but I am still not clear.

        I suppose that's correct, but I haven't waited long enough for
scratch tapes to expire.  I just have 2 tape drives and I let the ADSM
system handle data consolidation among the tapes.

Matt
IBM infoSage system admin