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Chapter 6 HPSS Configuration
HPSS Installation Guide September 2002 387
Release 4.5, Revision 2
6.8.13.2 LTO PVR Information
6.8.13.2.1 Vendor Software requirements
HPSS is designed to work with the AIX tape driver (Atape) software to talk to the IBM 3584 LTO
Library over a SCSI channel. Currently HPSS is only supported for the AIX version of the Atape
driver. Please note that the PVR must run on the same node that has the Atape interface and this
node must have a direct SCSI connection to the library.
Please refer to The 3584 UltraScalable Tape Library Planning and Operator Guide and IBM Ultrium
Device Drivers Installation and User's Guide for more information
6.8.13.2.2 Configuration Requirements
When Configuring an HPSS PVR to manage an LTO library, the Drive Address configuration
entries (in the Devices and Drives configuration) should match the SCSI address (location) of the
drive in the library. Running an inventory, either through the "tapeutil" utility that comes with the
Atape driver or directly on the library console should give you this information. Typically the first
drive is located at location 257 for a single frame library.
The LTO PVR must run on the same node that has the Atape interface and this node must have a
direct SCSI connection to the library. Please note that the control channel for the library is shared
with the data path for the first drive in the library over the same SCSI interface.
The LTO PVR requires an SMC device special file to access the robot. For AIX systems, this file is
usually named /dev/smc0 and can be created using the System Management Interface Tool (SMIT)
or using cfgmgr.
The 3584 Library can be partitioned into multiple logical libraries which can each be controlled by
a separate PVR. This is useful if you have a large library, since you can allocate a set of tapes to a
specific set of drives under a logical library.
While HPSS can theoretically share an IBM robot with other tape management systems, this is not
recommended. If a robot is shared, care must be taken to ensure that a drive is not used by any other
tape management system while that drive is configured as unlocked in HPSS. This is important
because HPSS periodically polls all of its unlocked drives even if they are not currently mounted.
The SMC device special file is not available to other tape management programs. Additional device
special files may be created for other programs.
6.8.13.2.3 Cartridge Import and Export
When importing new cartridges into HPSS, the cartridges must be entered into the 3584 Import/
Export (I/E) station before any HPSS import operations re performed. The HPSS LTO PVR moves
the cartridges into an available slot while importing into HPSS. When an HPSS tape export
command is issued, the cartridges will be placed in the I/E ports and can then be manually
removed. Tapes that are entered into the library without an HPSS import or tapes that are not
removed after an HPSS export should not affect HPSS in any way, HPSS will simply continue to
function as if these tapes did not exist in the library.
Cleaning cartridges are managed by the LTO library directly and should not be imported into the
HPSS system.