load tapes for 10/180 library

[Boon Shin]

Hi,

I was just wondering if there is anyway to load the tapes from the cap to the storage slots for the 10/180 library via the LED panel?

If not, are the only alternatives :
1) Shutdown library, open door and remove directly from slots
2) Using uma commands to control the library

I have both ways to be too cumbersome and disruptive.

Any advice on how to use this library is greatly appreciated. I am too use to the 6/60 E-Surestore library interface.

[Michael Tully]

Hi,

Below is a link to all manuals for this
model tape library unit. I hope it
contains the information your after
in regards to loading tapes from the
cap.

If your using OmniBack to can enter
and eject tapes from the command
line or from the GUI. There is no need to go and open doors etc. You can create a
script to eject tapes automatically
from the slots in the library to the
mailslot (the door).

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/DocumentIndex.jsp?contentType=SupportManual&docIndexName=manuals&locale=en_US&prodTypeId=12169&prodSeriesId=63828&prodSeriesName=hp+surestore+tape+library+model+10%2F180

[Boon Shin]

Thank you for the link. I have actually check through the manual and it did not mention if there is any control directly from the library to move tapes from slots to slots.

i.e. why I would just like to confirm if there is any other way to do this from the library directly. It will be really troublesome to try and load/unload 100 odd tapes every day from the library. I would need to do that 10 times if using the cap. On top of having to have a laptop available directly to control the library.

[Michael Tully]

You could open the door, load in
the 100 tapes into the slots, and get
omniback to do a barcode scan
(providing your using barcodes)

[Boon Shin]

Thanks for the suggestion but I was hoping to avoid that as it is pretty troublesome having to unlock the door using a key everytime. In addition, it also disrupts any potential backups/restores that may be running.

[Paul Barmettler]

Boon Shin,

if your libary is connetcet to a LAN you can start a browser, enter your libaries name (or IP-adress).
Now the "Web Based Libary" will start and you can do (and see) what ever you want.

Kind regards

[Boon Shin]

I have also tried this but the web library interface does not give you an option to load tapes from the cap to the storage slots as well. This is similar to the LED panel from the library.

I think this seems to be just how a 10/180 library work. It's pretty frustrating as I have gotten use to control everything from the LED panel with the 6/60 library. Now the 10/180 looks so foreign.

If only the library is smart enough to have a one step option to automatically load tapes from mail slots to storage slots, that would really be nice :)

Anybody else who have experience with tape loading/unloading with the 10/180 library. Please share your daily routine.

Thank you!

[Angus Crome]

Boon Shin,

If I am reading this correctly, you are not using any third party software to control this
library. If that is the case, then using the uma or mc commands should not cause a disruption of your backups (ie, they are scripted). It would be a simple script to determine what slots are empty, how many tapes are in the cap, and populate that many free slots. In such a case, prefer the mc command as it is a little easier to understand.

However, if you are using Netback, Omniback, Legato, TSM or some other "grin" advanced backup method, then you should be able to script this function using that softwares' command line language. For omniback it would be the omnimm command and the mc command to get the free tape slots.

As for the front panel, I believe it is possible, but it would be a one at a time, multi-selection process. You can't select a range of slots and say fill them, although, I agree this could be a nice function to have. Especially, if you have to transfer a lot of tape in and out of the library at one time.

There are man pages for most software vendors commands and the mc command as well. MC can be found in /usr/sbin.