Process Overview

The goal of setting up a tape library to work with DPX is to enable you to run backups to and restores from the tape library. The following table describes the major steps in the tape library setup process.

Note that you can either set up a tape library manually or automatically. Both processes are described.

TaskSubtaskDescriptionRelated Topics

Pre-Setup

Physically connect tape libraries to controller nodes and device services and then install on each device server.

Process A. Automatic Setup

Use automatic setup for multiple device servers and tape libraries using the Device Configuration Wizard. The Device Configuration Wizard performs all the steps described in the Manual process and acts on the entire Enterprise.

Process B. Manual Setup

Use manually setup for and a single tape library with a single device server. There are two parts for manual setup, media changer setup and tape device setup as follows. The media changer needs to be detected, manually installed, verified, and configured. Tape devices need to be detected and configured.

Detection

Run the detect utility to list media changers accessible by a controller node and tape drives accessible by a device server.

Manual Installation

Create a media changer device file enabling communication between the controller node and media changer.

Verification

Test communication between controller node and media changer.

Configuration

Add the tape libraries to the Enterprise and assign tape drives to the tape libraries.

Media Configuration

Media configuration needs to be performed after either automatic or manual setup. Media configuration allows you to add, label, and pool media volumes.

The process chart provides two options:

  • Process A: Automatic Setup. This process should be used with new installations. It is strongly recommended for SAN installations. You can use Automatic Setup to install and configure a new tape library in an existing Enterprise. Automatic Setup is supported by any DPX client running an operating system supported for DPX device servers. An exception is Linux OES, which does not support the wizard.

    Nodes not specifically supported by the Device Configuration Wizard can still be configured partially through the wizard by assigning the non-supported node to a peer node then manually supplying device path names. See Using the Device Configuration Wizard.

See also. For the latest system compatibility details regarding supported hardware, file systems, applications, operating systems, and service packs, see Catalogic DPX 4.9.0 Compatibility Guide.

  • Process B: Manual Setup. This process should be used for those devices not handled by Automatic Setup (Process A).

As described in the introduction to this chapter, tape library installation and tape library configuration are the primary focal points of this manual. However, other required procedures are also mentioned in the process flow chart and in this manual. These include pre-setup, device detection, tape library verification, tape drive configuration, and media configuration.

File Locations

The files needed to perform the procedures described in this topic are in the Tape Library directory bin/JB.

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