Adding a Media Pool

Before adding a media pool, review the following prerequisites:

  • It is desirable for media pools to correspond to logical groups, such as business components (SALES_POOL, MARKET_POOL, etc.) or physical locations (EAST_POOL, WEST_POOL, etc.).

  • It is advantageous to locate a pool of media volumes near the backup devices where the volumes are mounted. This avoids the delay that can result when an operator must search elsewhere for the media volume requested by Catalogic DPX.

  • If the media pool is being used for multiple device clusters, it is especially important that the device clusters and the media pool are near each other. Because you cannot predict the media volumes in the pool for which Catalogic DPX prompts, all free volumes in a pool must be easily available to all device clusters that might need it.

Take the following steps to add a media pool in Catalogic DPX:

  1. From the Java-based DPX Management Interface, open the Configure tab in the function tab bar.

  2. From the task pane, open Media.

  3. In the main pane, click the Enterprise in the menu pane and click Add Media Pool in the Media Pool Tasks section of the task pane to open the Add Media Pool dialog.

  4. In the Add Media Pool dialog, enter the following fields:

    Media pool name

    Specify the name of the new pool. Use up to 48 alphanumeric characters.

    If your scratch pool name contains more than one number, only one of the numbers can be used to associate the scratch pool to a scratch pool on the tape library server. You can specify which end of the scratch pool name should be parsed for the associating number using either the -A right or -A left option. -A right (the default) will use the first number from the right of the scratch pool name, and -A left will use the first digit from the left. For example, use the option -A left to associate scratch pool BEXI_2_aug29 with scratch pool2 on your tape library server, and use -A right to associate scratch pool BEXS_US7year_1 with scratch pool1 on your tape library server. On Windows, add either -A right or -A left to the SSJUKER registry entry. On UNIX, add either -A right or -A left to the SSJUKER file in the bin subdirectory of the directory in which Catalogic DPX is installed.

    Attention! Do not update registries or environmental variables unless you fully understand what changes you are making. Bad registries or environmental variables can adversely affect applications or operating systems. You can Contact Catalogic Software Data Protection Technical Support for assistance.

    Media pools used with libraries controlled by the interface of the manufacturer require special naming conventions:

    Oracle StorageTek Automated Cartridge System Library

    For the media pool of the Oracle StorageTek Automated Cartridge System Library series, which is formerly known as StorageTek ACS, the name must be BEXS_n_, where n is the digit that you assigned to the scratch pool in the Oracle StorageTek ACS System Administrator (ACSSA). The pool name is limited to 14 characters.

    See also. For more information about registering Oracle StorageTek Automated Cartridge System Library with Catalogic DPX, see Chapter 41: Using Oracle StorageTek Automated Cartridge System Library.

    Quantum ADIC AML and Quantum ADIC SDLC

    For Quantum ADIC Automated Mixed Media Library (AML) or Quantum ADIC Scalar Distributed Library Controller (SDLC), the media pool must have the name BEXICn_. C_ is one or more characters used to differentiate media pools that use the same Quantum AML category as a scratch pool, and n is the AML/SDLC category used as a scratch pool. The pool name is limited to 14 characters.

    See also. For more information about registering the Quantum ADIC or SDLC series with Catalogic DPX, see Chapter 42: Using Quantum ADIC AML or SDLC Automated Storage Library.

    Media Type

    Select one of the following media types to register:

    • DISKDIRECTORY

      Use this media type to back up to DiskDirectory.

      See also. For more information about registering DiskDirectory with Catalogic DPX, see Backup to DiskDirectory.

    • LTO

    • CLOUD

      Use this media type to register the Amazon S3 storage or supported storage that is compatible with the Amazon S3 interface. You can use either the Amazon S3 Standard, Glacier, or Deep Glacier.

      See also. For more information about registering cloud storage with Catalogic DPX, see the following document:

    • DLT

    • GENERIC

    • 3480

    • 9840

    All media volumes in a pool must be the same media type.

    See also. For more information about registering DiskDirectory with Catalogic DPX, see Backup to DiskDirectory.

    Minimum Number Free Volumes

    Enter the minimum number of free media volumes you are allowing in the pool. When the number of free volumes falls below this number, Catalogic DPX issues a warning message. A practical threshold value is 2 times the number of drives. This quantity ensures that you receive warnings early enough to acquire new media volumes.

    Comment (optional)

    Enter an optional comment up to 48 characters.

    Alternate Tape Pools

    You can specify the alternate tape pools for the tape libraries. This option is not available for the cloud media.

    • Recycle Expired Tape

      When Catalogic DPX uses a tape from an alternate pool, it becomes part of the primary pool. Catalogic DPX allows you to recycle those volumes back to the alternate pools upon expiration.

      Select Yes to recycle expired volumes for the alternate pool. Or, select No so that the volumes in the alternate pools remain in the primary pool upon expiration.

    • Available Tape Pools

      Select an alternate pool in the Enterprise.

    • Append Offsite

      Select Yes so that Catalogic DPX appends tape libraries with the Offsite status to the alternate pool. In this case, you must enable the Append Offsite option in the backup's Job Destinations. Or, select No so that Catalogic DPX does not append the tape library with the Offsite status to the alternate pool.

    Click Add to add the new media pool in the Enterprise.

Alternate Media Pool Handling for Configuration

As mentioned, you can add an alternate pool to a tape media pool in your Enterprise. The ability to specify alternate media pools prevents media threshold errors and adds flexibility to your media pool implementations. If your primary media pool has no available media volumes, Alternate Pool Handling enables Catalogic DPX to reach into a separate, alternate pool to find available media volumes.

One possible implementation of this feature is to create a common scratch pool. To do so, define primary media pools each with zero volumes and one large scratch pool with many volumes. Then, designate the scratch pool as the alternate media pool for each of the primary media pools. Catalogic DPX adds the volumes in the scratch pool to the primary media pools as they are needed. This way, the volumes do not need to be specifically allocated in advance to the primary pools.

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