ADSM-L

Re: Offsite, Automated libraries, and reclamation.

1998-07-11 23:55:51
Subject: Re: Offsite, Automated libraries, and reclamation.
From: Jennifer Davis <jedavis AT DFW DOT NET>
Date: Sat, 11 Jul 1998 22:55:51 -0500
Tina,

I believe the reason for the failure is that should the tape have valid
data on it.... it can not be scratch. Try checking the tapes in as PRIVATE
instead.


Jennifer


At 07:46 AM 7/10/98 -0500, you wrote:
>If you can get your company to pay for the DRM license, that will make
>things much easier.  Then you get a command called 'Q DRMedia' that
>tells you whether the copypool and database backup tapes should be with
>the courier, at the vault, ready to be returned, etc.  Also the 'MOVe
>DRMedia' command changes the "Location" of the tapes to offsite and
>issues the checkout command for you.  I consider myself fortunate to
>have had this feature since we installed ADSM.
>
>Without that, though, I don't know what you do about database backup
>tapes.  But, you should be able to find the copypool tapes that can be
>returned by looking for those that are empty, but offsite.
>
>As for your question about checking in tapes that actually contain valid
>data, I can tell you about my experience with the 3494 library.  When I
>checkin tapes, I specify that they are scratch.  If a tape with data
>(that should have remained offsite) tries to checkin, it fails.
>
>Tina
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Carl Makin [SMTP:Carl.Makin AT IPAUSTRALIA.GOV DOT AU]
>> Sent: Thursday, July 09, 1998 10:47 PM
>> To:   ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
>> Subject:      Offsite, Automated libraries, and reclamation.
>>
>> I'm in the process of automating offsite storage of the copypool and
>> database backups.
>>
>> I can't find any description of what ADSM will do when I check the
>> tapes
>> back into the library.
>>
>> Currently it works like this;
>>
>> I have a perl script that interrogates ADSM and generates a list of
>> tapes
>> to go offsite.  These include both the copypool tapes and the ADSM
>> database
>> backups.  The script then ejects each tape from our 9714 library and
>> updates a DBM hash file which keeps track of tapes that are offsite.
>>
>> When the tapes are reclaimed, or the database backups expire
>> (volhistory
>> deleted), they vanish from the ADSM database.  I detect this by
>> comparing
>> the offsite tape list (DBM hash) against the active adsm tape list.
>> If
>> they don't appear in the active adsm list then I bring them back from
>> offsite.
>>
>> What I'm not sure about is how do I check them back in to the library.
>> The
>> documentation seems to indicate that I can just check them ALL back in
>> as
>> "scratch" and any that (by some chance) still have valid data, ie
>> still in
>> the ADSM database, will be automagically changed to "data".  Is this
>> correct?
>>
>> How are other people handling offsite backups with an automated
>> library?
>>
>>
>> BTW, one of the reasons I'm doing this, instead of using DRM, is the
>> poor
>> support ADSM has for getting multiple tapes out of the 9714 one at a
>> time.
>> The 9714 cartridge access port can only handle 1 tape at a time.  I
>> didn't
>> feel all that happy about having operators fish around inside the unit
>> to
>> remove tapes directly from their slots, nor did I like the large
>> amount of
>> typing required to remove cartridges one at a time.
>>
>>
>> Carl.
>
>