Media Management Administrator › Media Management Administrator

Media Management Administrator

The Media Management Administrator (MM Admin) is for Windows users, and lets you protect, control, and manage your media resources. Using the MM Admin, you can organize tape movement to off-site storage locations, define retention policies to ensure that your tapes are protected from premature overwrite, secure access to tape-resident files, and maintain a comprehensive inventory of tape library resources.

Note: To use the MM Admin, you must install the Enterprise Module and the Central Management Option.

MM Admin activities are recorded in the CA ARCserve Backup Activity Log. This includes information, warnings, and errors. This important function allows you to centrally keep track of all MM Admin operations.

To manage media using MM Admin, you must create a vault, create a schedule, select a Vault Criteria Descriptor, and define a rotation.

The following terms apply to Media Management:

• Vault--Any identifiable storage area or location that you define.
• Slot--When a tape volume is vaulted, virtual slots in a vault are assigned. Each slot is used to store one tape volume.
• Schedule--Determines when a tape volume should be placed in or removed from a vault.
• Rotation--Determines when to move tape volumes, and is associated with a schedule. Each rotation you define points to a vault.
• Vault Criteria Descriptor (VCD)--Defines the controlling data set you want to use for the selected tape volume. You can choose the controlling data set by media name or file name, or you can select an individual media as the controlling data set.
• Vault cycle--The actual movement of tape volumes. You must describe the vault, the tape volumes, and the rules for tape volume movement by creating a Vault Criteria Descriptor (VCD) record. Media Management uses this information to execute a vault cycle when movement is scheduled.
• Reports--Each time a vault cycle is executed, five reports are generated before another vault cycle can be initiated. Two of these reports, the Shipping Content Report and Receiving Content Report, provide detailed records of the result of the cycle and the current location of your tape volumes. An Inventory Report is also available, which you can generate at any time.