Retrieving the info on mounts from the chip would at least allow TSM to
record an accurate number for: "Number of Times Mounted" in the Volume
table.

There is a version of TAPEUTIL (non-IBM) that does provide at least a
dump of the chip info.  Check it out at http://www.mesa.nl/pub/tapeutil/


Orville L. Lantto
Storage Consultant
 
 
GlassHouse Technologies, Inc. 
200 Crossing Boulevard
Framingham, MA 01702
orville.lantto AT glasshouse DOT com 
www.glasshouse.com 

-----Original Message-----
From: ADSM: Dist Stor Manager [mailto:ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU] On Behalf Of
Mark Stapleton
Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2006 3:15 PM
To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
Subject: Re: [ADSM-L] Tape TTL

From: ADSM: Dist Stor Manager [mailto:ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU] On Behalf Of
Orville Lantto
>For newer tape technologies, the information is on the chip in each
>tape.  If only TSM would retrieve that info.

(Sounds like an opportunity for an inventive code writer.)

Technically, this is incorrect. The smart chip technology in LTO and
other tape cartridges tracks mounts/dismounts, duration of mounts, and
such. It does not track scratch tapes and really can't. Since scratch
tapes have no existence within storage pools (by definition), and
there's no way to track anything that doesn't reside within the library,
scratch tape tracking must be done externally; it can be done with a
fairly simple spreadsheet and a little ODBC connectivity to the TSM
database.

--
Mark Stapleton (mark.s AT evolvingsol DOT com)
Senior TSM engineer