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Jeff Hall · Guest

Hi all, thanks in advance for all help that is offered.

Two questions:
1. Is is possible to setup an IBM 3583 tape library with a single drive in
"sequential mode" or does it only work in "random access mode"?

2. Does anyone have any sample tapeutil scripts for managing a 3583 tape
library? All I want to do with tapeutil is to unmount one tape and mount the
next one (similar to sequential mode mentioned above). The problem I am
having with tapeutil is, when I issue the following commands:
tapeutil -f /dev/smc0 unmount
(then)
tapeutil -f /dev/smc0 mount

It loads the same tape that I just unmounted, when I wanted the next one in
line.

Thanks!
Jeff
aixrules@gmail.com

Guest

Hi all, thanks in advance for all help that is offered.

Two questions:
1. Is is possible to setup an IBM 3583 tape library with a single
drive in
"sequential mode" or does it only work in "random access mode"?

2. Does anyone have any sample tapeutil scripts for managing a 3583
tape
library? All I want to do with tapeutil is to unmount one tape and
mount the
next one (similar to sequential mode mentioned above). The problem I am

having with tapeutil is, when I issue the following commands:
tapeutil -f /dev/smc0 unmount
(then)
tapeutil -f /dev/smc0 mount

It loads the same tape that I just unmounted, when I wanted the next
one in
line.

Thanks!
Jeff

sure....
step 1 inventory your library to find your "drive address" with the
following: tapeutil -f /dev/smc0
here's one of mine

tapeutil -f /dev/smc0 inventory |pg
Reading element status...

Robot Address 0
Robot State .................... Abnormal
ASC/ASCQ ....................... 4087
Media Present .................. No
Source Element Address Valid ... No
Media Inverted ................. No
Volume Tag .....................

Drive Address 23
Drive State .................... Normal
ASC/ASCQ ....................... 0000
Media Present .................. No
Robot Access Allowed ........... Yes
Source Element Address Valid ... No
Media Inverted ................. No
Same Bus as Medium Changer ..... Yes
SCSI Bus Address ............... 0
Logical Unit Number ............ 0
Volume Tag .....................

as you can see my tape drive address is 23

you can also specify a slot address with the mount/unmount commmand

tapeutil -f /dev/smc0 mount x (where x is the slot you want to mount
from) (same goes for unmount)

given my drive address in the library is 23 here my sample mksysb
backup script

cat savesysnightly
#this exec runs nightly and saves the rootvg volume group to tape
echo 'backup the rootVG volume group to tape(nightly copy)'

now=`date`
echo backup started on $now
tapeutil -f/dev/rmt0 unload
tapeutil -f/dev/smc0 move -s 23 -d 6
tapeutil -f/dev/smc0 move -s 1 -d 23
echo 'run back up using command mksysb -miX /dev/rmt0'

/usr/bin/mksysb -e -miX /dev/rmt0

tapeutil -f/dev/rmt0 unload

tapeutil -f/dev/smc0 move -s 23 -d 1

now=`date`
echo backup of nightly mksysb completed on $now
echo
'*********************************************************************'
echo
'*********************************************************************'

the first unload command is in case some prior job left it's tape in
the drive

I would then move the prior jobs tape to an empty slot
I then load my mksysb tape using the move parameter of tapeutil, source
slot 1 to destination slot 23 (the drive)

do backup
when finished unload the tape from the drive
have robot move tape from drive (23) back to slot 1
BTW the unload command to the drive (rmt vs smc) must occur so the tape
is ejected far enough
for the robot to grab it.

The reason we use tapeutil move command vs mount is that in libraries
with a "split" configuration...(multiple drives, multiple slots, and
mutiple hosts sharing the library) the mount/unmount command only works
on the first half of the library. For instance a 2 drive, 20 slot
library in split mode will process the unmount/mount command for only
the first 10 slots.. a tapeutil command to mount/unmount slots 11-20
fails.

The move command with -s source and -d destination works consistently
for all slots, and all libraries that we own. I turned this in to IBM
long ago, and as far as I know it has never been fixed. BTW, IBM does
not actually own the Atape driver code AFAIK

Hope this helps.

capeme · Joined: 14 Sep 2005 Posts: 1

I am looking for a full backup script to backup my many data filesystems using an IBM 3583 LTO drive with medium changer..I need to run it from the cron nightly and have it switch to next available tape each night??
Help!!!!
_________________
Thanks,
Capeme

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