StorageTek Nearline Automated Cartridge System › Setting Up an Automated Tape Environment With the ACS

Setting Up an Automated Tape Environment With the ACS

To set up the ACS interface to CA VM:Tape, follow these steps:

1. End CA VM:Tape.
2. Edit the VMTAPE CONFIG file:
   1. Add a PRODUCT HSC record to identify the user ID of the service virtual running the HSC code:

      PRODUCT HSC userid
      

      For more information about the PRODUCT record, see PRODUCT Record.

   2. Add or modify a DEVICE record to include tape drives that are inside or outside the ACS. The DEVICE record identifies tape drives CA VM:Tape will manage, including devices inside or outside the ACS.

      To identify any ACS devices, add or modify the DEVICE record in the VMTAPE CONFIG file as follows, replacing devices with the list of ACS devices:

      DEVICE devices
      

      You can use the NAME parameter on the DEVICE record to group tape drives. You can then direct tape mounts to a specific set of drives by specifying the group name using the NAME parameter on the MOUNT command. You can also use the LOCATION option on the MOUNT command to direct mounts to specific ACS locations.

      For more information about the DEVICE record, see DEVICE Record.

   3. You can optionally add one or more HSCRANGE records to indicate specific ranges of tapes for CA VM:Tape to consider belonging to a specific HSC location:

      HSCRANGE start_vol-end_vol location
      

      Note: If you implement HSCRANGE config file records, synchronization with the STK robot is bypassed during CA VM:Tape REFRESH processing.

      For more information about the HSCRANGE record, see HSCRANGE Record.

3. Save and exit the VMTAPE CONFIG file.
4. Define scratch pools in CA VM:Tape. For information about setting up CA VM:Tape scratch pools, see Scratch Pool Definition File. For information about using CA VM:Tape scratch pools with the HSC interface, see Scratch Pools.
5. Authorize the VMTAPE and the OPERATOR user IDs to issue HSC commands to the HSC service virtual machine. See the appropriate StorageTek documentation for further information.
6. Restart CA VM:Tape.
7. Use the CA VM:Tape HSC command with the START parameter to initialize the HSC interface, synchronizing the locations of the tapes in the ACS with the CA VM:Tape TMC:

   vmtape hsc start
   

   Because CA VM:Tape is defining the tape locations in the ACS for the first time, this step will take a few minutes to complete.

   For more information about the HSC command, see the Command Reference Guide.

8. You can use the CA VM:Tape SET LOCATION command to make the ACS the default location for all scratch tape mount and allocate requests. If the ACS location is not available, CA VM:Tape uses tape drives outside the ACS the NONARM drives.

   For example, to specify the ACS location ACS001 as the default location, enter:

   vmtape set location acs001
   

   For more information about the SET command, see the Command Reference Guide.

9. You can now use the ACS with CA VM:Tape.