BackBox H4.00 User Manual

Product Description
14 BackBox H4.00 User Manual
Virtual volume mounts
A virtual volume can be manually “mounted” using the Web user interface, but this
process is normally automated by the BackBox EMS Extractor. The EMS Extractor
listens for mount requests and sends the required command to the Domain Manager
that will forward the request via IP to a selected VTC.
Volumes are normally unloaded by the tape application after use. Unused volumes
kept loaded for unexpected reasons are automatically unloaded, as documented
below.
Automatic mount
For a mount to be automatically processed, the $ZSVR mount request, logged to
EMS, must identify the volume label to load.
The volume label allows the Domain Manager to discriminate between
BackPak virtual volumes and volumes managed by other storage systems,
such as physical drives.
There is currently no SCRATCH tape management in the BackBox software.
Therefore a request for a generic SCRATCH volume without specification of a
specific label, is not automatically processed. The operator must choose and
mount the volume “manually”.
The mount request identifies the volume label in EMS when:
• The user specifies an explicit volume name in the TAPE DEFINE, or
• The user does not specify the volume name, but uses a tape catalog
that will choose the volume to be used and include its label in the
mount request.
Since TMF manages its own tape catalog, TMF mount requests always specify the
volume label to load.
In backups and other tape applications, using DEFINE of class TAPECATALOG will let
DSM/TC include the volume label in the mount request. DSM/TC always specifies the
chosen label, and other catalogues can be set to specify a label.
Assign a tape device
When a specific tape device is not specified by the tape application, the Domain
Manager automatically assigns a virtual device. To be assigned, a device MUST be:
• Defined on the Guardian node from which the mount request is
issued, and
• Free, according to the Guardian tape system, and
• Emulated by a VTC that can access the Data Store where the tape
image is stored, i.e. by a VTC that is designated as a route to the
Data Store. And