User's Manual

90 Managing media
• medium volume size identifier (vol.info)
• Data compression is not supported for disk media.
• Location information, which you get by running the fsemedium --list command, is not valid for
disk media. For details, see ”Checking the status of media” on page 104.
Adding media to an FSE media pool
By adding media to an FSE media pool, you prepare them so they can be used by FSE. Note that the
parameters specified in an FSE media pool configuration determine the characteristics for all media added
to this media pool, such as the number of medium volumes and the system volume size and location. See
”FSE medium volumes” on page 86for a description of data and system volumes and ”Disk media” on
page 87 for disk media specifics.
1. Create an entry for an FSE medium and add it to a configured FSE media pool using the fsemedium
command, specifying the medium barcode:
Repeat this step for all media that you plan to add to the FSE implementation at this time.
2. If you want to add non-disk FSE media, physically place all newly-added FSE media into free slots in
the corresponding library. Trigger a physical library inventory update (medium barcode rescan) using
the following command:
Once the media are added to the FSE media pool, you must format and initialize them, which prepares
them for use as the secondary storage space in FSE.
Formatting media
Formatting is the first step of preparing a medium for use in the FSE implementation. Formatting creates
partitions on the medium. These partitions are called FSE medium volumes. The number of the medium
volumes that can be created by formatting depends on the media family of the medium and the limitations
imposed by FSE. A medium is partitioned according to the parameters specified in the corresponding FSE
media pool configuration.
CAUTION: Formatting erases all data on the medium.
A medium is formatted using the following command:
If particular medium has already been used in the FSE implementation or contains certain types of data,
you must use forced formatting to format it. The following command initiates forced formatting for a
medium:
For more information on the fsemedium command, see the FSE Command-Line Reference.
The following table helps you determine what kind of formatting is allowed for different kind of media that
are identified by FSE.
fsemedium --add Barcode --pool PoolName
fselibrary --update-inventory LibraryName --rescan
fsemedium --format Barcode
fsemedium --format Barcode --force
Medium contents Type of formatting
Regular (--format) Forced (--format --force)
Blank (new) YES YES
Unknown (contains data of unknown format) YES YES
Tar volumes NO YES
ECMA/ANSI volumes NO YES