Greetings,
    We have an IBM3584 library.  We needed a script which would
determine how many tapes were in the I/O doors of the library, and then
send an email to the Operators to empty the  I/O doors when the library
was mostly full.  We fill the I/O door several times a day in the course
of daily processing, so we need to notify the Operators regularly.  The
way that seemed the best to do this was a script which issued:
 
tapeutil -f /dev/smc1 inventory -i > /tmp/tapeinventory.out
 
The output file is easy to parse, and count how many slots contain
media, and spit out the email accordingly.  We run the script every 30
minutes.  But now that we have been running the script a couple weeks,
several times we have gotten TSM errors like this:
 
 
07/25/08 05:35:00     ANR8965W  The server is unable to automatically
determine 
                       the serial number for the device.  (SESSION:
21742)      
07/25/08 05:35:00     ANR8840E Unable to open device /dev/smc1 with file
handle 
                       11. (SESSION: 21742)

07/25/08 05:35:00     ANR8848W Drive LTO4_F1_D08 of library SUN2079 is

                       inaccessible; server has begun polling drive.
(SESSION:  
                       21742)

07/25/08 05:35:00     ANR1794W TSM SAN discovery is disabled by options.

                       (SESSION: 21742)

07/25/08 05:35:00     ANR8965W  The server is unable to automatically
determine 
                       the serial number for the device.  (SESSION:
21742)      
07/25/08 05:35:00     ANR8840E Unable to open device /dev/smc1 with file
handle 
                       11. (SESSION: 21742)

07/25/08 05:35:00     ANR8848W Drive LTO4_F1_D06 of library SUN2079 is

                       inaccessible; server has begun polling drive.
(SESSION:  
                       21742)

07/25/08 05:35:00     ANR1794W TSM SAN discovery is disabled by options.

                       (SESSION: 21742)

07/25/08 05:35:00     ANR8965W  The server is unable to automatically
determine 
                       the serial number for the device.  (SESSION:
21742)      
07/25/08 05:35:00     ANR8840E Unable to open device /dev/smc1 with file
handle 
                       11. (SESSION: 21742)

07/25/08 05:35:00     ANR8848W Drive LTO4_F1_D10 of library SUN2079 is

                       inaccessible; server has begun polling drive.
(SESSION:  
                       21742)

07/25/08 05:35:00     ANR1794W TSM SAN discovery is disabled by options.

                       (SESSION: 21742)

 
>From the timestamp we know it is exactly when our script which issues
the tapeutil command is running.  Apparently there are times when
issuing tapeutil interferes with TSM issuing commands through the
/dev/smc1 device to the library.  Perhaps tapeutil makes the device busy
for just a second?  I think that is the reason, because when I was
writing the script sometimes it would get a "device busy" error from
tapeutil, so my script had to be sensitive to that error, wait a few
seconds, and try again.  
 
Does anybody know of a way around this?   Anybody else done something
similar.  Is there a way via IP to get this information from the library
that won't interfere with /dev/smc1?

Best Regards,

John D. Schneider 
Lead Systems Administrator - Storage 
Sisters of Mercy Health Systems 
Email:  John.Schneider AT Mercy DOT net

 
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