How to Store Tape Volumes

Introduction › Preparing the Tape Library › Determining Tape Storage Requirements › How to Store Tape Volumes

How to Store Tape Volumes

You must also decide the type of storage you will use for tapes, both at the data center and at off-site locations. Your choices are

Cabinets/filing slots
Boxes
Undefined storage

It is recommended that you use cabinets because CA TLMS will assign each tape to a unique cabinet slot, thus making it easy to find the tape when you need it.

You may have more than one type of storage at a location. For example, you may have both cabinet storage and box storage. But if you do, you cannot mix storage types under the same location ID. You must assign a different location ID to each type of storage at the same physical location. This allows CA TLMS to treat one physical location as multiple logical locations without any special handling on your part.

Cabinets

If you decide to use cabinets, you must give each cabinet at an off-site storage location a unique two-character alphanumeric cabinet identifier. You must also specify the number of filing slots in each cabinet. The maximum is 100 slots, so a cabinet that has more than 100 slots must be defined as two or more logical cabinets.

When a tape is to be moved, it will be identified on a report by both its cabinet ID and its slot number.

Boxes

If you decide to use boxes, you must give each box a unique four-character alphanumeric box identifier. You must also specify the maximum capacity of each box.

If boxes are assigned, only complete boxes (and not individual tapes) can be moved from one storage location to another. Therefore, when a tape is to be moved, it will be identified on a report by its box ID.

Box storage also has restrictions:

Boxes must be filled or partially filled at the data center before movement to an off-site storage location. CA TLMS fills boxes by specific retention control statements. That is, all data sets matching a specific retention control statement will be used to fill a box or set of boxes. Data sets matching other retention control statements will be used to fill other boxes. Therefore, you may want to define box storage only for groups of data sets, rather than for individual data sets. Otherwise, you may end up moving boxes with one data set per box.
Box control detail records are defined only at the data center.
Box storage can be used only for the following retention methods: date control (type 2), elapsed days control (type 5), or manual control (type 7).

Undefined Storage

Use this category for any type of storage that cannot be classified as cabinet storage or box storage.

More information:

Data Set Naming Standards

Understanding Tape Retention

Using the Tape Retention System (TRS)

Location Control Statements

Storage Definition Worksheet

The worksheet below may be copied or modified and used to gather the information you will need to define each storage location to CA TLMS.

Location ID (2 characters) __ Location Description (1-40 characters) ________________________________ Type of Storage (select one) ___ cabinet (off-site locations only) ___ box ___ undefined List all of the cabinets or boxes at this location. ~ If cabinets, give each cabinet a 2-character ID. ~ If boxes, give each box a 4-character ID. Then give the maximum number of volumes that can be stored. ID Number ID Number ID Number ID Number ____ __ ____ __ ____ __ ____ __ ____ __ ____ __ ____ __ ____ __ ____ __ ____ __ ____ __ ____ __ ____ __ ____ __ ____ __ ____ __ ____ __ ____ __ ____ __ ____ __ ____ __ ____ __ ____ __ ____ __ ____ __ ____ __ ____ __ ____ __ ____ __ ____ __ ____ __ ____ __ ____ __ ____ __ ____ __ ____ __ ____ __ ____ __ ____ __ ____ __