Overview - Media Management

Media management involves interaction among the CommServe, MediaAgents, client programs, storage devices and media. The sections that follow describe these entities as it relates to media management.

The CommServe StorageManager

The following media-related software modules reside on the CommServe:

• The Bull Calypso Media & Library Manager, a service that processes media-related communications between the CommServe and client programs.
• An IEEE-standards compliant media management engine. This software accesses the media management database and communicates with storage devices through Bull Calypso Media Mount Manager in the MediaAgent. (discussed below).

In addition, the CommServe maintains a database containing the CommServe and MediaAgent related information.

The MediaAgent

The primary task of the MediaAgent™ is to oversee the transfer of data between client programs and media. Each MediaAgent communicates locally to one or more storage units via some local bus (e.g. SCSI) adapter and includes the following software modules:

• The Bull Calypso Media Mount Manager, a service that routes requests for media operations from the CommServe to the media management engine.
• Library Controller manages the hardware operations of the media changer within a storage device (e.g., mounting, unmounting, importing, and exporting media). If the library is directly attached to a MediaAgent then there is one library controller per media changer. If the library is attached to multiple MediaAgents in a SAN environment, one or more Library Controllers associated with the MediaAgents can be configured to control the same media changer.

Client Programs

In the context of media management, a client program is any software module that can request media-related information or operations. Client programs include software residing on the CommServe, MediaAgents, and Clients computers. In fact, most components in the software access the media management subsystem. Requests for media management can be initiated by a user or by an internal operation. When a client program needs media-related information or operations, it sends a request to the CommServe, which routes the request to other modules within the media management system, as necessary.

CommCell Console Tree Levels for Media Management

In the CommCell Browser the Media Management information is available under Storage Resources. Each of the libraries configured in the library are displayed. The tree structure varies, depending on the library type - tape/optical library, stand-alone drive or disk libraries. This arrangement is reflected in the following sample tree structure in the CommCell Browser:

	MediaAgents: See MediaAgents.
	Libraries: Library Operations and Library Properties
	Master Drive Pools and Drive Pools: See Master Drive Pools and Drive Pools
	Drives: Drive Operations and Drive Properties
	Resource View: See Resource View.
	Media By Location: See Media By Location
	Media By Groups: See Media By Groups
	Disk Library and Mount Path: See Disk Libraries
	Stand-Alone Drives: See Stand-Alone Drives. (Removable Disk Drives are also displayed as stand-alone drives.)
	Vault Tracker: See Vault Tracker and VaultTracker Enterprise
	Orphaned Media: See Orphaned Media

Use CommCell Console Control Panel to establish advanced media management parameters.

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