What does search really mean with checkin?

[ldmwndletsm]

The IBM document: https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/spectru...n-libvolume-check-storage-volume-into-library

States:

"SEARCHSpecifies whether the server searches the library to find volumes that were not checked in. This parameter is optional. The default is NO."

[ Question 1]
What do they mean by "not checked in" ??? Is that a typo? Do they really mean checked out? Why are we concerned about volumes not checked in if that's what we're trying to do?

Trying to unlock a lock that is not unlocked? I'm completely confused by the wording. Can someone kindly elucidate me on what this really infers.

[ Question 2]
And what in layman's terms is search=yes or no? Or even bulk?

Part of the confusion on my end may lie in the fact that there are two libraries, and it's never clear which one they mean. There's the physical library, i.e. the actual hardware itself. So you can checkout a tape into the Import/Export slot, and that tape is physically no longer in a storage slot and can now be removed from what I consider the library in the conventional sense, ever mind how many different partitions the library may be split up into for different applications., e.g. TSM.

Then there's the library of TSM (maybe a collection or aggregate?) as far as the tapes that it has available, or what is listed in the libvolumes table. I could checkout a tape but not actually export it, so it could still be in a storage slot, but now no longer in libvolumes. That right? I want to say that one of the search options or choices would accomplish that wherein you've checked it out, but not really in the sense that you would if you were going to shelve it or take it off site. Maybe I have it all wrong, but that was my impression.

Anyway, would appreciate some clarification. All lectures welcome.

 

[marclant]

What do they mean by "not checked in" ???

They mean exactly that, it's not checked in. Checked in tapes show up in Q LIBVOLUME, those not checked in don't. So when you check-in, you can search the bulk (I/O door), or yes, which will search all the slots in the library. For example, you could have 40 tapes to check-in, you could open the big door on the library and put them all in. Let the library scan them, and then checkin with search=yes.

Also, you could check out a tape with remove=no, and later check it in with search=yes.

And what in layman's terms is search=yes or no? Or even bulk?

Yes - search the entire library for all tapes not checked in (do not exist in Q LIBVOLUME)
No - doesn't search, you need to specify the volume name
Bulk - searches only the I/O door in front of the library.

 

[ldmwndletsm]

Thank you. That clears things up a lot.

[ Question ]
Does 'Yes' refer only to the library storage slots and excludes the I/O door? Or does it include everything? Clearly, 'Bulk' specifies only the I/O door.

Does 'NO' limit it to the library storage slots and excludes the I/O door? This seems to be the case as noted in my first example below.

[ Question ]
Private volume ABC123L6 was in an I/O slot in the door. I initially had run the following command, which hung, even after issuing a reply:

checkin libvol library_name ABC123L6 status=private checklabel=barcode

I had to cancel it. According to the IBM documentation, search defaults to 'NO'. So this should have been equivalent to:

checkin libvol library_name search=no ABC123L6 status=private checklabel=barcode

But that didn't work. Am I correct in inferring that it hung because it was looking for that volume in a cartridge slot and was not looking at the I/O door? According to the document:

"No Specifies that only the named volume is checked into the library. For SCSI libraries: The server issues a request to have the volume inserted into a cartridge slot in the library or, if available, into an entry port. The cartridge slot or entry port is identified by its element address. For 349X libraries: The volume might already be in the library, or you can put it into the I/O station when prompted."

This is a SCSI library. Is an I/O slot not the same as an ' entry port.' ?

I ended up running this command, which did work:

checkin libvol library_name search=bulk vollist=ABC123L6 status=private checklabel=barcode

The document states this for volume_name:

"This parameter is required if SEARCH equals NO. Do not enter this parameter if the SEARCH parameter equals YES or BULK."

Since I was using 'Bulk', I left off the volume name as instructed, but I wanted to force it to only bring in that one volume (there were others in the I/O slots/door), so I simply used vollist even though the list is trivial since there's only one volume. Seems kind of odd to have to specify vollist when there's only one volume, but clearly specifying just the volume_name is not permitted with 'search=Bulk'.

 

[marclant]

Does 'Yes' refer only to the library storage slots and excludes the I/O door?

Yes

Does 'NO' limit it to the library storage slots and excludes the I/O door?

Yes

This is a SCSI library. Is an I/O slot not the same as an ' entry port.' ?

No, a slot is inside the library only.

 

[ldmwndletsm]

Okey-dokey. I think I finally have a grasp of it all. The terminology has been throwing me off for a while now. Nice to get it cleared up. Thank you much.