Device Operations for Tape Library and Standalone Devices

Every Backup is accessed through a device server node in the Enterprise. In a SAN environment, DPX dynamically attaches nodes to tape drives.

The following are tasks that you perform on either a tape library device or a standalone device.

Up-ing a Device

The Up function puts a device back in service. There are four distinct tasks relating to up-ing a device that can be accessed through the Control Devices window.

Up-ing a Standalone Device

Requirement for Up-ing a standalone device:

• The device status must be down.

To Up a standalone device, do one of the following:

• Right-click the required device name or icon to display a context menu. If the device is not up, select Up Device.
• Select the device you want to up and do one of the following.
  • From the menu bar, select Device > Up.
  • On the task panel, click Up Device.

Up-ing appears in the status field. After you have upped the device, Up-ed appears in the status field.

After the device is upped, Down Device replaces Up Device on the context menu of the upped device.

Up-ing a Standalone SAN Device

Requirement for Up-ing a standalone SAN device:

• The SAN device status must be down.

To Up a standalone SAN device, do one of the following:

• Right-click the required SAN device name or icon to display a context menu. If the SAN device is not up, select Up Device.
• Select the SAN device you want to up and do one of the following.
  • From the menu bar, select Device > Up.
  • On the task panel, click Up Device.

Up-ing appears in the status field. After you have upped the SAN device, Up-ed appears in the status field.

After the device is upped, Down Device replaces Up Device on the context menu of the upped device.

Up-ing a SAN Path

Requirement for Up-ing a SAN path:

• The SAN path status must be down.

Note.

SAN devices often have more than one path, so one path can be down while another is up.

To Up a SAN path, right-click SAN device whose path you want to up, then select
Path Up > path_name.

Up-ing a Tape Library Device

Requirement for Up-ing a tape library device:

• The device status must be down.

To Up a tape library device, do one of the following:

• Right-click the required tape library device name or icon to display a context menu. If the tape library device is not up, select Up Device.
• Select the tape library device you want to up and do one of the following:
  • From the menu bar, select Device > Up.
  • On the task panel, click Up Device.

Up-ing appears in the status field. After you have upped the tape library device, Up-ed appears in the status field.

After the device is upped, Down Device replaces Up Device on the context menu of the upped device.

Downing a Device

The Down function puts a device out of service. Normally, DPX uses all the devices in a device cluster. If, for some reason, you do not want to use a particular device, use this function to put the device out of service temporarily. This saves you from having to modify the device cluster. There are four distinct tasks relating to downing a device that can be accessed through the Control Devices window.

Downing a Standalone Device

Requirements for Downing a standalone device:

• The device status must be up.
• The device must be released (not acquired).

To Down a standalone device, do one of the following:

• Right-click the required device name or icon to display a context menu. If the device is up, select Down Device.
• Select the device you want to down and do one of the following:
  • From the menu bar, select Device > Down.
  • On the task panel, click Down Device.

Downing appears in the status field. After you have downed the device, Downed appears in the status field.

After the device is downed, Up Device replaces Down Device on the context menu of the downed device.

Downing a Standalone SAN Device

Requirements for Downing a standalone SAN device:

• The SAN device status must be up.
• The SAN device must be released (not acquired).

To Down a standalone SAN device, do one of the following:

• Right-click the required SAN device name or icon to display a context menu. If the SAN device is up, select Down Device.
• Select the SAN device you want to down and do one of the following:
  • From the menu bar, select Device > Down.
  • On the task panel, click Down Device.

Downing appears in the status field. After you have downed the SAN device, Downed appears in the status field.

After the device is downed, Up Device replaces Down Device on the context menu of the downed device.

Downing a SAN Path

Requirement for Downing a SAN path:

• The SAN path status must be up.

Tip.

SAN devices often have more than one path, so one path can be up while another is down.

To Down a SAN path:

• Right-click the SAN device whose path you want to up, then select
  Path Down > path_name.

Downing a Tape Library Device

Requirement for Downing a tape library device:

• The tape library device status must be up.

To Down a tape library device, do one of the following:

• Right-click the required tape library device name or icon to display a context menu. If the tape library device is up, select Down Device.
• Select the tape library device you want to down and do one of the following:
  • From the menu bar, select Device > Down.
  • On the task panel, click Down Device.

Downing appears in the status field. After you have downed the tape library device, Downed appears in the status field.

After the device is downed, Up Device replaces Down Device on the context menu of the downed device.

Standalone Device Operations

Note.

You cannot perform these device operations on any device you have configured as a Disk Directory.

Reading a Label

Use this function to read the label (volser) of a Media Volume contained in a drive.

Requirement for Reading a label:

• The device status must be up.

To Read a media volume label, do one of the following:

• Right-click the required device name or icon to display a context menu. Select Read Label.
• Select the device of which you want to read the volume label and do one of the following:
  • From the menu bar, select Device > Read Label.
  • On the task panel, click Read Label.

The device is acquired, and Reading label appears in the status field.

After the label has been read, the volume serial number, as stored on the media volume label is displayed under the VOLSER column heading. The device is released after the Read Label function is completed.

See also.

Reading a Tape Library Media Label in the DPX 4.9 Reference Guide.

Writing a Label

Use the write label function to label a media volume contained in a drive. This function adds a label to a media volume that has been assigned to a media pool. This allows you to label a media volume manually as opposed to having the device control function automatically label the media volume.

Note.

Relabelling an already used tape will make the data recorded on the tape inaccessible for future use.

Requirement for writing a media volume label:

• The device status must be up.

To Write a Label, do one of the following:

• Right-click the required device name or icon to display a context menu. Select Write Tape Label.
• Select the device to which you want to write the volume label and do one of the following:
  • From the menu bar, select Device > Write Label.
  • On the task panel, click Write Label.

The device is acquired, and Writing Label appears in the status field.

After the label has been written, the volume serial number, as stored on the media volume label is displayed under the VOLSER column heading. The device is released after the write label function is completed.

See also.

Labeling Tape Library Media.

Formatting a Media Volume

Use this function to format a media volume contained in a drive.

Requirement for formatting a media volume:

• The device status must be up.

To format a media volume, do one of the following:

• Right-click the required device name or icon to display a context menu. Select Format Tape.
• Select the device on which you want to format a media volume and do one of the following:
  • From the menu bar, select Device > Format Tape.
  • On the task panel, click Format Tape.

The device is acquired, and Formatting tape appears in the status field.

After the media volume has been formatted, the volume serial number, as stored on the media volume label is displayed under the VOLSER column heading. The device is released after the Read Format function is completed.

See also.

Formatting Tape Library Media.

Verifying a Media Volume

Use the Verify Tape option to ensure that DPX can read either an entire media volume or a particular media volume partition. This option applies to a media volume in a single non-NDMP drive. You can choose the level of verification that you want the device control function to perform.

Requirement for verifying a media volume:

• The device status must be up.

To verify a media volume:

1. Do one of the following:

   • Right-click the required device name or icon to display a context menu. Select Verify Tape.
   • Select the device on which you want to verify a media volume and do one of the following:
     • From the menu bar, select Device > Verify.
     • On the task panel, click Verify Tape.

   The device is acquired, and Verifying tape appears in the status field.

   
   The Verify Media dialog box appears.
   The following describes the fields on the Define Verify Media dialog box:

   • Level

     Specifies the data verification technique DPX uses when checking a media volume. The higher the verification level the greater the safety and the longer the verification takes. Each verification level builds upon the preceding level. For example, level 3 performs level 1 and level 2 verification as well. Choose a verification level from the pull-down menu.

     Level 1	Reads the partition to ensure that it is readable.
     Level 2	Reads the partition and ensures that the SIDF headers are present and contain the correct information. Performs level 1 verification as well.
     Level 3	Ensures that each file on the media volume generates a checksum value that matches the one contained in the SIDF header. This verification is only performed if the checksum feature was set to ON in Destination Options when the backup was cataloged. Performs level 1 and level 2 verifications as well.

   • Partition #

     Indicates the partition you want to verify. The term partition refers to the backup on the media volume. A media volume contains multiple partitions or backups only if “Append Data” is selected in the Tape Usage field on the Set Job Destination Options screen. Enter 0 to verify the entire media volume.

2. Click OK. The Verify Media dialog box disappears.
   Use the Monitor Operations dialog to view status information about the verification. If the verification fails, it does not necessarily mean that you cannot restore data. You can restore everything up to the failure point. You may want to scan the media volume to determine the location of the failure point and to see just what files you can restore.

   See also. Monitoring Operations.

   After the media volume has been verified, the volume serial number, as stored on the media volume label is displayed under the VOLSER column heading. The device is released after the read format function is completed.

   See also. Verifying Tape Library Media.

Scanning a Media Volume

The Scan Tape Volume function displays what is on a media volume. The purpose of this option is to determine what data is on a media volume when you don’t know. Control Devices displays the file name, the node from which the file was backed up, and file attributes.

Requirement for scanning a media volume:

• The device status must be up.

To scan a media volume:

1. Do one of the following:

• Right-click the required device name or icon to display a context menu. Select Scan Tape.
• Select the device of which you want to scan a media volume and do one of the following:
  • From the menu bar, select Device > Scan Tape.
  • On the task panel, click Scan Tape.

The device is acquired. The scan media volume dialog box appears.

2. Change the Partition number as needed. The partition number identifies the partition that contains the backup. If you want to scan another partition, enter the number in the Partition field.
3. Click Scan.

The message “scanning...” appears in the Operation Status field while the tape is being scanned. After the scan completes, the scan function fills in the fields of the dialog box. The Operation Status field displays the number of files scanned during this pass. To scan more files, click Scan again.

The following describes the fields in the Scan Tape dialog box:

• Backup Name
  Identifies the backup definition in which the file was backed up.
• Backup Type
  Identifies whether the file was backed up as part of a base, incremental, or differential backup.
• Tape VOLSER
  Identifies the media volume on which the file resides.
• Backup Date
  Identifies the date on which the file was backed up.
• Total Files Scanned
  Displays a running total of files scanned for this partition.
• Operation Status
  Shows the status of the media scan.
• Scan Results
  Scan results are displayed in columns described as follows:

Partition	The partition on the media volume where the file or directory is backed up to.
Node	The name of the node where the file or directory was backed up from.
Date Modified	The date the backed up file was last modified before the backup.
Size	The size of the file.
File Name	The name of the file.

Warning!

If you click on the X in the upper right corner of the dialog box, you will close the dialog box and terminate the scan media procedure.

Acquiring a Device

Note.

Tape libraries can neither be acquired nor released.

Requirements for acquiring a device:

• The device status must be up.
• The device must be released (not acquired).

To acquire a device:

• Right-click the required device name or icon to display a context menu. Select Acquire Device.

Acquiring appears in the status field. After you have acquired the device, Acquired appears in the status field. The control path appears in the control path field, and the browser GUI or job name that has acquired the device appears in the Acquired By field. If you fail to acquire the device, Failed to acquire appears in the status field.

After the device is acquired, Release Device replaces Acquire Device on the context menu of the acquired device.

Acquiring a Drive in a SAN

A drive in your SAN can be acquired for the exclusive use of a specific Windows for the duration of a task. This eliminates problems such as unwanted interference from other machines, accidental tape label overwrites, and hardware access delays. When a drive is acquired for a particular device server, no application or driver on another machine on the SAN can access that drive until DPX explicitly releases the drive.

You can only acquire drives that report Unique IDs. The feature works with any drive for which DPX has saved a Unique ID. See the description of the Unique ID field under Adding a Device.

If a power failure occurs on a machine for which a drive has been acquired but not yet released, follow either of these steps to avoid problems:

• Attempt to acquire and release the drive from the machine that was using the drive last. (You can attempt to re-read the tape label using the device path of the machine that used the drive last.)
• Power cycle the drive that was acquired.

Releasing a Device

Guidelines for releasing a device:

• The device status must be acquired.

To release a device:

• Release the device by right-clicking the required device name or icon to display a context menu. Select Release Device.

Releasing appears in the status field. After you have released the device, Released appears in the status field. The control path disappears from the control path field, and the management console or job name that has acquired the device disappears from the Acquired By field.

After the device is released, Acquire Device replaces Release Device on the context menu of the released device.

Canceling an Operation

To cancel a device operation, do one of the following:

• Right-click the device name or icon for which you want to cancel the operation to display a context menu. Select Cancel Device Operation.
• Select the device for which you want to cancel the operation and do one of the following:
  • From the menu bar, select Device > Cancel Device Operation.
  • On the task panel, click Cancel Device Operation.

The operation is cancelled and the status becomes acquired.

Monitoring a Selected Device

Use the Monitor a Selected Device function to obtain more detailed information about operations being performed on that device. You can also use Monitor a Selected Device to diagnose problems.

Note.

You cannot Monitor a Selected Device you have configured as a Disk Directory. Use the Monitor All Devices function for that purpose.

To monitor a selected device, do one of the following:

• Right-click the required device name or icon to display a context menu. The Device Operations Monitor dialog appears.
• Select the device you want to monitor and do one of the following:
  • From the menu bar, select Device > Monitor This Device.
  • On the task panel, click Monitor A Selected Device.

The Monitor a Device dialog appears. You can expand an item by clicking the + next to it.

Monitoring All Devices

Use the Monitor All Devices function to obtain more detailed information about operations being performed on all devices. You can also use Monitor All Devices to diagnose problems.

Tip.

You can monitor a device you have configured as a Disk Directory using the Monitor All Devices function.

To monitor all devices, do one of the following:

• From the menu bar, select Device > Monitor All Devices.
• On the task panel, click Monitor All Devices.

The Device Operations Monitor dialog appears. You can expand an item by clicking the + next to it.

Filtering Displayed Devices in the Control Devices Window

To filter devices displayed in the Control Devices window

1. Do one of the following:
   • Right-click a Control Devices Column Heading.
   • From the menu bar, select Device.
2. Select a filtering option.

The following describes the filtering options:

Show All Devices

Select Show All Devices to restore all devices to the resource tree as needed when Show Cluster, Show Only Free Devices, Show Only Active Devices, or Show Only InMount devices created the current resource tree display.

Show Only Free Devices

The Show Only Free Devices selection causes the window to display only devices that have not been acquired or downed.

If you have set Show Only Free Devices and acquire a device, that device is no longer free and disappears from the window. Selecting Show All Devices returns that device (and others not displayed) to the window.

Show Only Active Devices

The Show Only Active Devices selection causes the window to display only devices that are actively engaged.

Show Only In Mount Devices

The Show Only InMount Devices selection causes the window to display only devices that are waiting for a volume to be mounted.

Show Cluster

The Show Cluster selection is an entry only on the Control Devices column headings context menu. Selecting Show Cluster brings up a submenu list of device cluster. Clicking a device cluster name hides all other device clusters in the window. Clicking Show All Devices restores hidden clusters to the Device Resource Selection Space.

Warning!

Although filtering can be very helpful, you should be aware that changing a device status may cause it to disappear from the display while filtering is active. For example, if you have set Show Only Free Devices and acquire a device, that device is no longer free and disappears from the window. Selecting Show All Devices returns that device and other filtered devices to the window.