And it seems that at times it really believes the L2, L3 or L4 designation and flat refuses to put a tape in a drive it thinks isn't correct. I have not been able to find any rhyme or reason for this or a simple way around it.
Thanks, Kelly J. Lipp VP Manufacturing & CTO STORServer, Inc. 485-B Elkton Drive Colorado Springs, CO 80907 719-266-8777 [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: ADSM: Dist Stor Manager [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Richard Sims Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2007 1:43 PM To: ADSM-L@VM.MARIST.EDU Subject: Re: [ADSM-L] 6 vs 8 (volume labels) On Nov 28, 2007, at 2:22 PM, Nick Laflamme wrote: > Oh, this is embarrassing. Could someone, perhaps from ADSM > development, explain Technote 1212111, please? It says explicitly that > > Different generations of media are identified by the trailing 2 > barcode characters of an 8-character external barcode. When only 6 > barcode characters are used, it is not clear what type a media is. I don't know how many developers remain from ADSM days (:-). I think the Technote suffers from not having a few more words, in saying that "not clear" means that it's unclear to the person looking at the Query LIBVolume output as to the tape type, given that TSM chooses to report Media Type by media code rather than interpreting to human language so that it would be immediately understandable. The technote implicitly suggests that tape type would be clear if the two identifier characters of the cartridge barcode also participated in the Volume Name. That would help, but still would be spartan: the Media Type column is what really should be expositing this. My non-authoritative understanding of barcode use is that, as Wanda says, TSM doesn't use the identifier characters directly, but only as part of the volume name as they lend uniqueness across media types in the library. It is through TSM checkin logic processing that TSM associates a volume with a device class, and thereafter uses that associative attribute for proper mounting, etc. TSM gets 8-character volume strings through a combination of library settings and device drivers at an appropriate level, where the string serves as just a cartridge identity. Confusion in this area is understandable in the absence of any TSM writings - per at least my searching - which come right out and say whether or not TSM uses the two-character type identifier in any functional way. We could use a good new or amended Technote to deliver the gospel. Richard Sims
