Hi Hector,

I used to have the same questions as you, except I was the manager, not the
TSM guru.

Here is whatI recall.

Generally speaking a newly labeled tape gets assigned as a scratch tape.

For example, as I recall at my old site......1

To tell adsm/tsm of a tapes existance you would
checkin libvol 3494 search=yes status=scratch devtype=3590

STATus (Required)

  Specifies the volume status. Possible values are:

    PRIvate

    Specifies that the volume is a private volume that is mounted only when
it

    is requested by name.

    SCRatch

    Specifies that the volume is a new scratch volume. This volume can be

    mounted to satisfy scratch mount requests during either data storage

    operations or export operations.

Once TSM grabs a scratch tape, uses it, the category then is private.

If the tape is removed, or dropped in the library, becomes homeless, or
requires rechecking in the the status is private.... Been a while, but I am
sure someone (with everyday experience) could help.

On assigning the tape to storage pools.

This is done using DEFINE along the following lines:-

Syntax

>>-DEFine Volume--pool_name--volume_name------------------------>



   .-ACCess--=--READWrite--------.

>--+-----------------------------+------------------------------>

   '-ACCess--=--+-READWrite----+-'

                +-READOnly-----+

                +-UNAVailable--+

                |         (1)  |

                '-OFfsite------'


As for the assigning of Tapes Labels to storage pools. You can for example.

Assign all A  series tapes to a storage pool that contains only certain
client data. For example Backups from Servers. B series could be backups
from PC's and so forth. It could also be that C series tapes are controlled
by another server. D series for Disaster Recovery Tapes, etc......

We did this for a few years, but it became tedious and was unneccessary. Out
business also changed considerably and this was no longer required. But, if
we had to pull out all the tapes, and put them in another 3494 then at least
we had an idea what tapes contained what data.

I am sure someone with more "day to day" operational experience will be more
than happy to help you on this.

Cheers


Stephen






-----Original Message-----
From: Hector Chan [mailto:hector.chan AT INCYEDGE DOT COM]
Sent: 14 August, 2003 6:50 AM
To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
Subject: status=private


Hi there,

A generic question. I cannot find a satisfactory answer from the manuals.

Under what circumstances do we want to check in a newly labelled tape with
status=private ? Do we have to assign it to a storage pool as a subsequent
step or it's not going to be available?


Hector Chan