Question about VOLSER for LTO and/or Ultrium LTO tapes

[ProtoWhich]

When I dump the data from an Ultrium 3 tape's cartridge memory (the CM), and parse through it, I can see most of what I'm interested in about the tape, it's capabilities, it's manufacturer information, it's serial number, etc., all the physical stuff like sizes and speeds, pretty much everything.

What I don't see is any obvious spot for a VOLSER (other than on the tape itself, perhaps in a first record, I haven't yet checked the tape). And shouldn't the VOLSER contain as the last of it's 6 digits, the generation of the tape? So if it's Ultrium 3, that 6th digit would be a 3. I keep looking for that in the serial numbers. But I'm not finding it necessarily.

So is the VOLSER stored in the CM or is it only there if I want to put it there after reading the tape or after reading the barcode label myself? It's a standard thing of course, but I'm just trying to figure out where it is, since it's not really discussed in any of the technical reference documents that I have.

I guess until I get this question answered, I'll have to read it from the tape itself, but I know some people want to store it in the CM. Or is there some other kind of memory that's readable and maybe writeable (like the user section that can be written with 0x803 types of commands). The CM is normally 0x806.

I hope my question is clear - if not, please feel free to clarify as I pretty much need to know which fields on the tape and/or it's cartridge memory to read and write (having to do with the VOLSER). My serial number is 10 digits long. Has the number of digits increased since generation 1? Perhaps?

I read that it's in the Cartridge memory and that it should be in the dump I did of the 4096 bytes. I can find the reference that I read if need be.

 

[ProtoWhich]

I know that some reader-analyzers "associate" the bar code label with the cartridge memory. ??

 

[ProtoWhich]

I guess the VOLSER has more to do with how the tape is being used - perhaps as part of a giant collection? It's not a physical serial number but just something to help keep track of it? Is that the whole barcode thing?

 

[marclant]

If your library is configured for 6 character labels, the last 2 are truncated (L#).
If your library is configured for 8 character labels, you will see the generation at the end.

More info:
https://www.google.ca/search?q=tsm+...=#q=tsm+library+6+or+8+character+site:ibm.com

Don't switch from 6 to 8 (or vice-versa) without doing your homework, might need to relabel the tapes, which means data loss.

So is the VOLSER stored in the CM or is it only there if I want to put it there after reading the tape or after reading the barcode label myself? It's a standard thing of course, but I'm just trying to figure out where it is, since it's not really discussed in any of the technical reference documents that I have.

When you label a volume, if you use the barcode as the label source, it will use the volume name on the barcode sticker and write that to the first few blocks of the physical media, and also use that in its inventory. The label will be 6 or 8 characters depending on your config.

 

[ProtoWhich]

If your library is configured for 6 character labels, the last 2 are truncated (L#).
If your library is configured for 8 character labels, you will see the generation at the end.

More info:
https://www.google.ca/search?q=tsm+...=#q=tsm+library+6+or+8+character+site:ibm.com

Don't switch from 6 to 8 (or vice-versa) without doing your homework, might need to relabel the tapes, which means data loss.

When you label a volume, if you use the barcode as the label source, it will use the volume name on the barcode sticker and write that to the first few blocks of the physical media, and also use that in its inventory. The label will be 6 or 8 characters depending on your config.

 

[ProtoWhich]

Thanks.

When you label a volume, if you use the barcode as the label source, it will use the volume name on the barcode sticker and write that to the first few blocks of the physical media, and also use that in its inventory. The label will be 6 or 8 characters depending on your config.

Volume = The tape.
It = The tape drive and it's program, such as a library program, perhaps even with an RFID scanner.
Physical media first few blocks = the tape itself or is it some memory not on the cartridge? I think it's the first few blocks on the tape itself
and then I can later also record this myself (if I want to) in the Cartridge memory.

The reason I'm so confused is that a co-worker of mine told me that I had to read the VOLSER from the cartridge memory. I don't mind if I have to
get it from the tape itself, it's just more work. Perhaps I should simply check for the VOLSER on the tape, and then write it to the CM for later use
if I find it there. I'm sorry that I'm so confused but noone ever mentioned the tape to me. The tapes I have right now do NOT have barcode labels
so I'll have to just invent some fake ones just to emulate this process, or perhaps I can buy some that have already been labelled and dump
the cartridge memory and see if it's in there somewhere or is it in fact on the tape. I can also start reading the tape's first few blocks as a regular
practice as I develop my program.

I'm trying to understand how to develop a process that puts the VOLSER somewhere in cartridge memory - there's plenty of room on the cartridge memory.
There might be a standard for this process - I need to find this out. Perhaps there is a standard location but the specification documents do NOT mention
the VOLSER at all since the actual serial number of the physical medium is all they are interested in. It's just a little confusing as that serial number has nothing
to do with the VOLSER (apparently).

One is a logical (organizing) serial number and the other is made at the factory for the physical medium. I assume these are different as the library system is
the user's own system.

As for the 6 or 8, I'll have to look into that. I don't think that will bother me in my work?

 

[marclant]

Volume = The tape

Yes, tapes are volumes in the Spectrum Protect world, but not all volumes are tapes.

It =

Spectrum Protect, formely TSM.

Physical media first few blocks = the tape itself

Media is the physical tape, the ribbon itself that spools on the spindles. Spectrum Protect doesn't interact with the CM directly.

Curious what it is you are trying to achieve or what problem you are trying to resolve?

 

[ProtoWhich]

Hi, sorry, I've been busy for the last 30 minutes with my program.

What I'm trying to resolve is actually quite simple. I've written a piece of software that runs on Linux that simply goes through
the CM's memory and dumps it. So next I will simply write a parser for that. I can tell that all of the information is there that is
contained in the LTO and/or Ultrium specification for cartridge memory. I can see all the manufacturer's info, the tape reader info,
etc.. I just need to make this more human-readable, but in the end, I only want a few of the fields. The reason I need to do
a little parsing is that there are different types of tape, different generations, and some with labels, some not, some new, some old, perhaps
even some damaged.

Then my next step will be to simply read the tape's VOLSER and write it to the CM. That's pretty much all my program has to do.

But in the last 30 minutes, I was just testing my program and it runs perfectly. I just need to add a little functionality to it that it doesn't
yet have. I would guess it will take me another week or so to put all of the logic in it since I have now noticed that Ultrium 3 has a couple
data fields that were not present in LTO 1. So I need to add logic for each generation as my program will have to run on many generations.
For this I will need the specs for all generations. And it will also need to run with different readers - currently I use an IBM.

For today, I will just worry about Ultrium 3 and it can read back two generations (ie. 1 and 2). That's fine, but I need to get the specifications.
When I parse, I find a field sometimes that was NOT mentioned in the spec. Usually, I only find a couple fields but they are bothersome, as I have
to pass over them.

I will have to read what Spectrum Protect is - I haven't heard of it until you mentioned it.
Thanks.

 

[marclant]

Ok, well you are on a TSM/Spectrum Protect Forum, which is why you probably didn't get much response in all the posts you have made so far.

All my answers were based on using tapes with Spectrum Protect and how it uses the tape labels.

You will have more luck in a tape hardware forum then if that's what you are after.

 

[ProtoWhich]

So I'm ok to be in ADSM.org, I'm just on the wrong SUB-forum? TSM - IBM Tivoli Storage Manager is the wrong sub-forum, I agree.

I accidentally posted in the wrong place - I need a forum that can get me the standards documents. I hope I don't have to pay for
the documents.

 

[marclant]

You are welcome here in ADSM.org, but there is no sub-forums for hardware specific questions like you have. The sub-forum for "Tape/Media Library" that you posted in is specific to being used with TSM/Spectrum Protect.

You might have more luck here with the type of questions you have:
https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/...id=11111111-0000-0000-0000-000000000846&ps=25

If you are looking for tape drive documentation, it's on Fix Central:
https://www-945.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/


After you select your tape drive and you hit continue, you should see the manuals in addition to the software.

 

[ProtoWhich]

Thanks for that link. I've tried it many times and I simply CANNOT find my tape drive. But I will keep trying. This is perhaps one that just takes
a lot of different names for the model of the tape drive. I just cannot find an entry for IBM Ultrium-TD3 nor for IBM LTO Ultrium 3 23r4762 or any other
variants. I'll keep looking, but any help/ideas appreciated. Could they have lumped the docs all under some generic name?

 

[ProtoWhich]

My tape drive was manufactured in 2007. It's not listed there.

 

[marclant]

Try the 3580, those are LTO3. For the most part, the documentation would not be LTO generation specific.

 

[marclant]

What you are doing is over my head, but the LTO SCSI reference might help: https://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=ssg1S7003556&aid=1

 

[ProtoWhich]

Actually, the above links are helping me as I had NOT realized that the IBM 3580 (of which there were a tremendous number of flavors), is considered an
Ultrium 3 which is my IBM - it's an Ultrium 3 with the same SCSI type of interfacing and so forth. So those IBM3580 docs should help a lot assuming I can
get them all. I am more focussed now. Thanks for the links. I will also check marclant's above link after I check the FixItCentral stuff - I am on Fixit Central
now and have the documents' links. So this should keep me going for a couple days!

 

[ProtoWhich]

I have to admit it though - I find that I click on link after link and there is always a version number, and I wind up with nothing. I have documents all over my hard-drive but I don't have them organized. One zip file for each product would be nice. I am actually taking a break for an hour - I'm just so sick of clicking on links, I need to get away from the Internet for an hour.

 

[ProtoWhich]

Ok, I'm now downloading the documents one by one. I just have to be patient.

 

[ProtoWhich]

There is one document that I would like to take a look at, since it's referenced by other documents, but I cannot find it, no matter how hard I look for it.

It's Volume 2 of the HP Ultrium Technical Manual. I want it for Generation 3 drives. I can find volumes, 3, 4, and other volumes, just not volume 2.
It's not a necessity that I look at this, but any help finding it is appreciated.

 

[ProtoWhich]

I found this volume for LTO 5 drives - but for those drives, I would need Volume 1, not Volume 2. Volume 2 is a tiny bit helpful for the LTO 5 drives.