In fact we found out that for lto-3 and lto-4 tape drives in an IBM 3584 
library,  it is required that they change the serial number to match the old 
tape drive. Because IBM tracks the drives by serial number for maint contracts. 
This we found when the serial numbers that we send in for a maint contract 
renewal were kicked out as field engineering  had not been updating the serial 
numbers. But not for lto-2 tape drives.

len

-----Original Message-----
From: ADSM: Dist Stor Manager [mailto:ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU] On Behalf Of 
Sean English
Sent: Wednesday, July 08, 2009 11:47 AM
To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
Subject: Re: [ADSM-L] Replacing tape drives (or "there has to be a better way")

Zoltan,

The majority of our TSM servers are AIX and we do have a setup where we
share multiple library clients with one library.  When we have IBM CEs
come out and replace drives, they just change the serial number on the new
drive to match the old drive they are replacing.  Apparently there is a
way to do that on the drive itself.

Thanks,
Sean






Zoltan Forray/AC/VCU <zforray AT VCU DOT EDU>
Sent by: "ADSM: Dist Stor Manager" <ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU>
07/08/2009 11:30 AM
Please respond to
"ADSM: Dist Stor Manager" <ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU>


To
ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
cc

Subject
[ADSM-L] Replacing tape drives (or "there has to be a better way")






I need thoughts/suggestions/help on how to deal with SAN attached tape
drive replacements when a library is shared amongst 5-servers.

We just has a drive replaced, therefore giving us a new serial number
(3494ATL - TS1130).  All servers that use these drives/libraries are
RedHat Linux and use very current lin_tape drivers.

Currently, the method we use is to bounce each server so the system
rescans the SAN and gets the new serial number.

In the past, just stopping the TSM server and then restarting the lin_tape
driver would often be enough. Now with the latest lin_tape drivers, I
don't see the lin_taped daemon running any more.

Yes, I have tried updating the paths on the library manager server and
telling it to autodetect but that didn't help.

There has to be a better way!  If you have a similar configuration, how do
you handle this scenario?