Advanced Topics › z/VM Considerations › The Autopath Feature › How Autopath Works

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How Autopath Works

Autopath reacts to allocation recovery messages that occur due to a tape drive resource shortage in a z/OS guest. The stages of the Autopath process are:

  1. A tape request enters allocation recovery on z/OS due to a shortage of tape drives.
  2. Autopath examines the offline device list for Autopath-eligible devices.
  3. Autopath selects the first Autopath-eligible device that does not already have an outstanding Autopath request and is not already attached to the local system.
  4. Autopath attempts to attach the device. If the device is successfully attached to the local system, Autopath varies the drive ONLINE.

Note: When Autopath on one system detaches a drive for use by another system, it first VARYs the drive OFFLINE, if it is online.