I have implemented the TSM Library Manager feature.  I have 14 drives shared
among 4 TSM servers.  When I tried the categories and use whatever was
available if tsmsvr1 tried for drive 1 a couple of times and tsmsvr2 was
using it then tsmsvr1 marked it offline.  It made for a huge mess.  Now I
definitely have to keep tsmsvr2 (the server manager) up all the time unless
I am booting the other servers.  Occasionally I have had a check out for
tsmsvr1 show successful yet the tapes don't come out because there were not
enough drives.  occasionally I have also had where you have to cycle the tsm
software because there seems to be some communication problems.  Generally
that was when the operators didn't reply to the checkout and the checkout
timed out.  If I had a choice of whether to go back or not I wouldn't.  This
made things so much easier in the long run.  My tsm server are running with
one on an S85, two on a 6M1, and one on an S85 with all of them running aix
4.3.3 and after this weekend all of them running tsm 5.1  (two are still tsm
4.1.2)

-----Original Message-----
From: Joshua Bassi [mailto:jbassi AT IHWY DOT COM]
Sent: Wednesday, December 04, 2002 10:19 AM
To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
Subject: 3494 Partitioning or TSM Library Manager


All,

I am deploying 3 new TSM server on a single p690 LPAR.  There is a 3494
with 32-tape drives attached to the system.  I have a choice to make
whether to use the old 3494 category scheme to separate my 3 TSM servers
or should I use the TSM Library Manger feature to control access to all
32 tape drives?

First of all, how many customers are using the Library Manager feature
of TSM?  What kind of caveats are there in deploying this feature?  How
well does the automatic tape drive allocation work?  Thanks in advance.


--
Joshua S. Bassi
IBM Certified - AIX 4/5L, SAN, Shark
Tivoli Certified Consultant -ADSM/TSM
eServer Systems Expert -pSeries HACMP

AIX, HACMP, Storage, TSM Consultant
Cell (831) 595-3962
jbassi AT ihwy DOT com