SSL1016 tape autoloader- VMS dcl mount won't load/reload

[Thomas Griesan]

Hello people!

We have a storageworks SSL1016 tape autoloader hanging off an integrity/itanium rx2620-2 via SCSI and we want to use simple VMS dcl commands (mount, dismount, backup) to process a simple backup cycle of a fixed number of tapes in a circular fashion.

The trouble is that $mount or $dismount/unload doesn’t cause the next tape in sequence to be loaded.

It must be preloaded into the drive itself (not just magazines) to access it at all. However, $dismount/unload WILL unload it from the drive and make it inaccessible by following mount commands.

We have the SSL1016 set to Seq Cycle mode from the front panel.

Previous tape drives I've used with stackers like say a TA90 did not behave this way.

Now, I realize that page 44-46 of reference guide only implies that it will load the next tape if backup fills up one tape and needs another. It does not imply it will do what I’m talking about.

Are we going to need more than good ole DCL command to do this?

We want to do something vaguely like this:

3 tapes total, loaded in slots 1,2,3.

First day $mount and $backup to tape 1, then $dismount/unload it (which would/should load tape 2).

Second day $mount and backup to tape 2 and $dismount/unload which should load tape 3.

Third day backup/incremental to tape 3 with diff data, but don’t unload it and backup more things all week, each day and only $dism/unl on last day of incr backups.

Then repeat weekly.

We will check labels to verify we are on the right tape.

We just need either $dismount/unload or $mount to load the next tape.

Sorry for the verbosity, but I wanted to be clear. ;-)

Thanks TONS!!!
Tom