Topics | How To | Troubleshoot | Related Topics
Validating Drives in a Library
Migrating Tape Library to a New MediaAgent
Use QProfile Utility to Display Drive Utilization or Library Job Details
You can open the Library and Drive Configuration window from the CommCell Console. You can access this window from CommCell Console of the Control Panel.
The Library and Drive Configuration window is used to perform the following operations on all supported libraries in the selected MediaAgents.
To display the existing libraries and drives that are configured for the selected MediaAgent(s).
Use the Detect Devices option to display the detect status for all devices that are controlled by MediaAgents.
Library configuration enables MediaAgents to utilize the library as storage resources. Master drive pool and drive pool configuration creates the necessary entries for these entities in the CommServe database. Drive configuration enables a MediaAgent to read and write data through the media drive.
In order to share a library among MediaAgents, either directly or via a Storage Area Network (SAN), you must properly configure and map the resident drives. The Library and Drive Configuration window can be used for this purpose and also if you want to modify the configuration of a shared library.
In order to use the media within a library, the MediaAgent must collect information about the new media and update the media database through the discovery process.
The Validate feature verifies that the MediaAgent has access to each physical device through the device’s mapped SCSI address. During the validation process, the MediaAgent mounts a media into the selected drive(s) and displays a status message indicating whether the operation succeeded.
The Library and Drive Configuration window supports the manual process to deal with SCSI changes on the library and drives, if necessary. The SCSI hardware issues involved in library and drive configuration are explained in detail in each of the library configuration sections.
The MediaAgent detects any SCSI changes when you stop and re-start the services as described in Update the SCSI address of a configured library within the CommServe database. You can also verify whether the SCSI configuration of devices within the CommCell correctly matches the current configuration, by performing an exhaustive detection operation as described in Detect Devices Using Exhaustive Detection.
If there are any major changes to the hardware that affects your existing SCSI mapping, such as replacing a library, follow the appropriate procedure described in Hardware Changes.
Configuration information of libraries, master drive pools, drive pools and drives can be viewed from the Library and Drive Configuration window.
Deconfiguring a library or drive disables software communications between the MediaAgent and the device. For comprehensive information, see Deconfiguring Libraries and Drives.
The Library and Drive Configuration window displays several tabs. Each of these tabs can are used for distinct purposes as described in the following sections.
The following table lists the levels in the Data Paths tab tree, together with the information that is presented at each level.
Level in Tree |
Information Displayed |
Details |
Library (tape or optical libraries only) | library name | The default library name includes the library manufacturer and model. |
media changer SCSI ID | Complete SCSI ID (including SCSI card number, bus, target, and LUN) of the library’s media changer. | |
associated MediaAgent | The MediaAgent that controls the media changer in the library. | |
configuration and detection status | See Detection and Configuration for detailed information. | |
Master Drive Pool (tape or optical libraries only) | master drive pool name | |
configuration status | See Detection and Configuration for detailed information. | |
Drive Pool (tape or optical libraries only) | drive pool name | |
associated MediaAgent | The MediaAgent that controls the drives belonging to this drive pool. | |
Drive (tape or optical libraries only) | physical location | The number by which the library identifies the drive internally. |
drive name | The default drive name includes the drive manufacturer and model. | |
SCSI ID | Complete SCSI ID (including SCSI card number, bus, target, and LUN) of the drive. | |
configuration and detection status | See Detection and Configuration for detailed information. | |
Library (disk) | library name | |
associated MediaAgent | The MediaAgent that control the disk library. | |
Mount Path (disk only) | mount path number | The number by which the MediaAgent identifies the mount path, internally. |
path | File system path for disk storage. |
Although the library’s display of the drive numbers may start with a number other than 1 (e.g., 0), the MediaAgent always starts numbering physical locations within a library from 1. |
Ensure that the actual SCSI numbers and drive numbers in the library correspond to the SCSI numbers and drive numbers displayed for the library in the Library and Drive Configuration window. If you are not sure, or if there is a mismatch, run the exhaustive detection process. For information on performing exhaustive detection on libraries and drives, see Detect Devices Using Exhaustive Detection.
Detection is the process by which the selected set of MediaAgents, on which the detection process is run, establishes hardware communications with storage devices. Device detection is of two types; Detection, and Exhaustive Detection.
When a device has detect success status, it indicates that the system has all of the information necessary to use the device. Note that the system only detects devices for which device drivers are loaded. A device may also have the following status:
See Detect Devices for step-by-step instructions.
Note that some devices (e.g., the library associated with a stand-alone drive) have no detection status, since they are virtual entities and as such have no hardware components that can be detected.
On AIX MediaAgents, the presence of a number of SCSI adaptors may result in slowing down the detection process. If you know that some of these adaptors are not required by the MediaAgent you can skip them during the detection process. See Device Detection on AIX MediaAgent is Slow for more information.
Exhaustive detection is a process of associating drive numbers to its correct SCSI address. This is done by mounting a media to each of the drives in the library to obtain the drive’s SCSI address. The following icons are displayed in the Library and Drive Configuration window, depending on whether devices were successfully identified:
This icon is displayed for libraries and drives that were successfully identified during the exhaustive detection process. This indicates that the devices were successfully detected but not configured. (all configured devices have no icons.) | |
This icon is displayed for drive slots that are either empty, not detected or cannot be detected on the selected MediaAgent | |
This icon indicates that the exhaustive detection option was not selected and hence the detection process has performed a SCSI detect of the devices and made a best guess by associating drives and libraries to arrive at a tree structure. |
We strongly recommend that you perform an exhaustive detection of the devices the first time you configure the libraries and drives. When you start the exhaustive detection operation, the system will detect all the libraries (and drives) attached to selected MediaAgent(s). See Detect Devices Using Exhaustive Detection on all Devices Controlled by the MediaAgent(s) for step-by-step instructions.
This process attempts to mount a media in each of the selected drives to determine the drive numbers to its correct SCSI address. Due to the nature of this operation and depending on the number of drives, the time it takes to complete this operation may vary.
This procedure cannot be used for detecting stand-alone drives. |
After the initial configuration, exhaustive detection can be performed at the Library/Drive/Library Controller levels, in the following situations:
If the library and drive configuration has changed extensively and the library does not support the drive identifiers then perform the operation at the library level; for minor changes at the drive level, perform the operation at the drive level. See Detect Devices Using Exhaustive Detection on a Specific Library/Drive/Library Controller for step-by-step instructions.
If the library supports SCSI 3 the library can be configured without performing exhaustive detection.
To verify whether the library supports SCSI 3, run the ScanScsiTool.exe from the command prompt.
This tool is available in the following locations:
If SCSI 3 is supported, the Drive Identifiers will be displayed under the Library Information. You will notice that when SCSI 3 is present, a regular detection (as opposed to an exhaustive detection) will display the yellow question mark icon in the Library and Drive Configuration window, when the devices were successfully identified. |
Configuration is the process by which the MediaAgent software collects the information that is needed for software support of a device. This process must be performed in the Library and Drive Configuration window.
When a device has a configured status, it indicates that the MediaAgent has all of the information necessary to use the device.
If you have to share the same physical library between multiple CommCells, the library needs to be virtualized so that one virtual partition is assigned to a given CommCell. This can be achieved using library vendor provided options. |
The Scanscsitool can be used to configure Shared Disk and tape libraries from command line. The following section describes the command line and the option available to this tool:
To configure tape libraries:
Usage:
C:\Program Files\Company\Software\Base> ScanScsiTool.exe [option1|option2|...]
To create Shared Disk Library:
Usage:
ScanSCSITool -h <MediaAgent Name> -a <Magnetic_Library_Name> -f <Mount Path>
For Windows, you can also provide UNC Path when creating a shared disk library:
ScanSCSITool -h <MediaAgent Name> -a <Magnetic_Library_Name> -useUNC -f <UNC Path> -u <UserName> -p <Password>
Example:
C:\Program Files\Company\Software\Base>scanscsitool -h giant -a "SCSIMagLib" -f "D:\0113\Maglib_mountpath"
C:\Program Files\Company\Software\Base>scanscsitool -h giant -a "SCSIMagLib" -useUNC -f "\\scorpio\D\01132011\Magli_mountpath" -u scorpio\administrator -p password1
Scanscsi tool is used to create a shared disk library with one MediaAgent. To share the device with multiple MediaAgents, see Configure Multiple MediaAgents for a Static Shared Disk Device for step-by-step instruction. |
Options:
Host Options:
-h<hostname> | MediaAgent Name |
-i<instanceName> | Instance Name |
Auto Config options for MediaAgent (with '-h' option):
-n<libraryName> | Library Alias Name, if set, only configure the matched library |
-l<libraryID> | Library ID, if libraryID = 0, all detected libraries will be configured |
-s<libSerial#> | Library serial number, if not set, all detected libraries will be configured |
-a<magLibraryName> | Disk Library Alias Name, if set, only configure the matched disk library |
-m<magLibraryId> | Disk Library ID, if not set, a new Disk Library will be configured |
-f<mountpath> | Mount path |
-u<username> | User name for network mount path |
-p<password> | Password for network mount path |
-useUNC | To use UNC Path as mount path (For Windows only) |
When the validation process is performed from the Library and Drive Configuration window, the system identifies the drives in the library. During the validation process, for each drive, the system randomly picks up a media from one of the slots in the library and uses it to validate the drives. Every drive may use the same or a different media, depending on the randomization. Drive validation can be performed from the library, master drive pool, drive pool or from the individual drive.
Drive validation is not supported for optical libraries and libraries with WORM media.
Another form of drive validation can be performed from the CommCell Console. See Validate Drive for more details.
When tape library has been moved to the new MediaAgent, use the following steps to migrate the tape library to a new MediaAgent.
Use the steps described in Deconfigure Libraries to deconfigure the library. Once deconfigured the status of the library appear as not configured.
Use the steps described in Delete Deconfigured Libraries to delete the library.
See Change Data Path on Storage Policy Copy for step-by-step instructions.
Before using a new media, the system must collect certain information about it through a process known as discovery. When a media has been discovered its information is entered into the CommServe database. Media can be discovered from both the Library and Drive Configuration window and the CommCell Browser. For comprehensive information on discovering media, see Discover Media.
The QProfile utility in the Resource Pack can be used to show the drive utilization or attempts and failures of library jobs per a given interval. This utility will generate a report of the jobs associated with library jobs for a given time period. To obtain additional details regarding the given jobs, select the Details check box.