In <bitnet.adsm-l%9602151052.AA86773 AT ymp.sara DOT nl>, hthta AT sara DOT nl 
(Henk ten Have) writes:
>Hi,
>
>I have a simple question: is it possible to use the
>tape-volumes in a storagepool in a circular way?
>What I see now, is that if a volume becomes empty
>(after all files have been deleted or after reclamation),
>this volume is used before "next" empty volumes
>in the storage pool are used.
>
>Example: ten volumes (0-9), volumes 0-5 are used and volumes 6-9 are empty,
>if volume 3 becomes empty, it is used before volumes 6-9 are used.
>So the 'last' volumes in a storage are never used if 'previous' volumes
>becomes empty.
>I know you can use the reusedelay parameter, but that's no guarantee
>all the volumes are used in a circular way.
>
>(we are running ADSM V2.1 on a SP2 (AIX 4.1.4.0) using 3494 with 3590 units).
>
>Regards,
>
>Henk ten Have                   SARA, Academic Computing Services Amsterdam
>Systemprogrammer                Kruislaan 415
>E-mail: hthta AT sara DOT nl           1098 SJ Amsterdam
>Phone : +31205923000            The Netherlands

I used to run my cartridge pool tapes like you want to.  To make them be
used sequentially, I updated all full tapes to be read_only.  If a tape
empties by itself, it won't get reused.  To reuse the tapes in an orderly
fashion, I would do 'move data' on the tapes in sequential order.  When
the highest number tape started filling, I would mark now empty low number
tapes 'readwrite'.  This may sound like a lot of work, but I have a console
aoutmation product to do most of it.  You just have to watch for the last tape
to start filling.

I don't do it anymore on the primary becasue I switched over to collocation.
I do do it on the copypool tapes because they are not collocated and are
offsite.  When that pool is 95% full, I will start rolling it over with
'move data' commands like I used to on the primary.

Bill Colwell
C. S. Draper Lab
Email: BColwell AT draper DOT com
Voice: 617-258-1550