Introduction › How to Manage Scratch Tape Availability and Status › Set Tape to Scratch Status

Set Tape to Scratch Status

The following example is for customers that have CA TLMS. If you use CA 1 or IBM's DFSMSrmm tape management systems, the process is similar. Instead of using the CA TLMS Volumes object, for CA 1 use the CA 1 Volumes object. For DFSMSrmm, use the DFSMSrmm Volumes object.

Use the following procedure to manage scratch tape availability and set tape status to scratch using CA TLMS.

Follow these steps:

1. Add the Investigator module to your dashboard from the Module Library, and click Start New Investigation.

   The Investigator opens.

2. Select Storage from the discipline drop-down list.
3. Expand the Diagnostics & Investigations, Tape Resource Management, Tape Management System, CA TLMS, and Volumes directory in the Storage object tree, and open the CA TLMS Volumes object.

   A message is displayed advising that you must create a filter.

4. Click the Customize Your Tabular Data View (Wrench) icon on the Investigator toolbar, to open the Select and Reorder Columns dialog.
5. Select Scratch from the drop-down list in the Summarize by field, (optional) clear the check-box next to Always use this column configuration, and click Save.

   The object updates and provides the total number of tapes with scratch status (true) and the total number of tapes with no-scratch status (false).

6. Do one of the following:
   • If the number of scratch tapes available is within your available scratch tape policy limits, you have completed the investigation.
   • If the number of rows (records) is not within your available scratch tape policy limits, perform the next step.
7. Click the expansion-arrow in front of "false (number)" to list the tapes that do not have scratch status.
8. Identify candidates that can be set to scratch status. For example, look for the object field that indicates expiration date/type.
9. Select the rows of the items you want to set to scratch status.

   Important! If a tape has scratch status, any data it contains can be overwritten. Do not set a tape to scratch status unless you are sure the data it contains can be overwritten.

   The lines representing the tapes that you want to scratch are selected.

10. Select Scratch Status in the Administrative Actions section of the Actions pane.

    The Actions dialog opens.

11. Click Submit.

    The tapes are set to scratch status.

12. (Optional) Click the notes icon in the Investigator toolbar to add a note to the items that you set to scratch status, to indicate what you did and when.

You have identified and set tape candidates to scratch status. You have enough scratch tapes available to meet your needs.