Tapes marked as private with no last use

[nandystam]

Hi

I have several tapes in our two libraries that are owned by one of our server instances but have no last use, for example this is a snippet of output from q libvol como:

COMO         M30180L3    Private          TSM3                 1,119   LTO   
COMO         M30188L3    Private          TSM2                 2,062   LTO

When I try to query the content, I get:

ANR2401E QUERY CONTENT: Volume m30180l3 is not defined in a storage pool.

When I try to force it to be a scratch tape, I get:

ANR8443E UPDATE LIBVOLUME: Volume M30180L3 in library COMO cannot be assigned a status of SCRATCH.

If I try to check the tape out and then back in, I get the same error as above.

The volhist output is below:

       Date/Time: 06/ 3/10 10:45:57 AM
     Volume Type: REMOTE
   Backup Series: 
Backup Operation: 
      Volume Seq: 
    Device Class: TSMDBDR
     Volume Name: M30180L3
 Volume Location: TSM3
         Command:

I was able to delete this volume from the volume history and then update it to scratch. But there are a few things I want to check:

1. What does a volume marked as private and no last use mean? I have read in other threads that it could be caused by an error reading the tape or something along those lines.

2. Given the tape appears to have no content (unless there is another way to verify this), was it safe to delete the volhist for this tape and then mark it as scratch?

3. Is there a recommended / better process for dealing with these circumstances?

Thanks

 

[TonyB]

Could be a volume defined to a stgpool which hasn't been used yet...

What did the volhistory show on the instance that owned the volume (or a q vol for that matter)?

 

[nandystam]

Could be a volume defined to a stgpool which hasn't been used yet...

What did the volhistory show on the instance that owned the volume (or a q vol for that matter)?

This is the volhist of one of the other tapes in a similar boat. The output is from the library manager

       Date/Time: 06/ 3/10 10:46:59 AM
     Volume Type: REMOTE
   Backup Series: 
Backup Operation: 
      Volume Seq: 
    Device Class: TSMDBDR
     Volume Name: M30188L3
 Volume Location: TSM2
         Command:

From the server instance in question:

       Date/Time: 06/ 3/10 12:54:49 PM
     Volume Type: EXPORT
   Backup Series: 
Backup Operation: 
      Volume Seq: 1
    Device Class: 3RDCOPY
     Volume Name: M30188L3
 Volume Location: 
         Command: export node dromedary filespace=/,/var,/net,/dbkup domain=uni-
                   x_pd devc=3rdcopy filedata=backupactive

So it looks like it was used to export data from a node to tape.. To my knowledge our exports no longer work because of a bug in TSM Server (v5.5.3)...

I queried the content this tape and there was nothing on it. I guess it is safe to delete?

 

[TonyB]

Hehe - depends on whether you need the exported data...up to you mate.

 

[nandystam]

Hehe - depends on whether you need the exported data...up to you mate.

The exports are very old, so they should be safe to delete. There's no other way to view the tape content than q content i assume?

I am having some issues deleting the volume out of the server instances' volume history

tsm3:delete volhist volume=M30180L3 type=export todate=today force=yes

Results in:

ANR2020E DELETE VOLHISTORY: Invalid parameter - VOLUME.

I'm sure I used exactly the same command in the library manager with success. The help shows no VOLUME parameter, but if you don't supply it how can you delete a particular volume out of the history?

Thanks for your help too

 

[TonyB]

np... I use the same command on instances here (although I don't use forced with exported data as I generally delete all exports in one go rather than specific tapes) - is the library client a particularly old TSM version?

If you want to see whats on the export volume you could try an import in preview mode.

 

[nandystam]

np... I use the same command on instances here (although I don't use forced with exported data as I generally delete all exports in one go rather than specific tapes) - is the library client a particularly old TSM version?

If you want to see whats on the export volume you could try an import in preview mode.

The library client is v5.5.3 like the library manager and other client nodes.

Here's the output from the activity log for import in preview mode:

11/ 2/10 12:07:42 PM  ANR0616I IMPORT NODE: Preview processing completed        
                       successfully. (SESSION: 17880, PROCESS: 131)             
11/ 2/10 12:07:42 PM  ANR0620I IMPORT NODE: Copied 0 domain(s). (SESSION: 17880,
                       PROCESS: 131)                                            
11/ 2/10 12:07:42 PM  ANR0621I IMPORT NODE: Copied 0 policy sets. (SESSION:     
                       17880, PROCESS: 131)                                     
11/ 2/10 12:07:42 PM  ANR0622I IMPORT NODE: Copied 0 management classes.        
                       (SESSION: 17880, PROCESS: 131)                           
11/ 2/10 12:07:42 PM  ANR0623I IMPORT NODE: Copied 0 copy groups. (SESSION:     
                       17880, PROCESS: 131)                                     
11/ 2/10 12:07:42 PM  ANR0624I IMPORT NODE: Copied 0 schedules. (SESSION: 17880,
                       PROCESS: 131)                                            
11/ 2/10 12:07:42 PM  ANR0625I IMPORT NODE: Copied 0 administrators. (SESSION:  
                       17880, PROCESS: 131)                                     
11/ 2/10 12:07:42 PM  ANR0891I IMPORT NODE: Copied 0 optionset definitions.     
                       (SESSION: 17880, PROCESS: 131)                           
11/ 2/10 12:07:42 PM  ANR0626I IMPORT NODE: Copied 0 node definitions. (SESSION:
                       17880, PROCESS: 131)                                     
11/ 2/10 12:07:42 PM  ANR0627I IMPORT NODE: Copied 0 file spaces 0 archive      
                       files, 0 backup files, and 0 space managed files.        
                       (SESSION: 17880, PROCESS: 131)

Looks like it's empty to me Thanks!

 

[TonyB]

Did you do an import node * (or an import node dromedary) from that volume? Looks empty from your output...

 

[nandystam]

I used import node dromedary.. so yeah looks empty to me, as are the other tapes I've tried