Manually Creating Partitions

You can manually create partitions any time after the initial configuration of the library. The maximum number of partitions that you can create is equal to the number of tape drives in the library.

You can mix tape drive interface types , tape drive vendors, and media types in partitions that you create manually. Exception: You may not mix drive vendor types (for example, HP and IBM) in partitions that are configured for library managed encryption (see Configuring Partition Encryption).

The library must contain at least one unallocated tape drive and one unallocated slot to manually create a partition. (Exception: EDLM library managed partitions can contain zero slots.)  If no unallocated tape drives or slots exist, you must modify or delete partitions to free resources. For information on modifying partitions, see Modifying Partitions. For information on how to delete a partition, see Deleting Partitions.

The first SCSI or Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) tape drive assigned to a partition is designated as the control path tape drive by default. If the partition contains only Fibre Channel (FC) tape drives, a control path tape drive is automatically selected only if FC I/O blades are not installed in the library. If FC I/O blades are installed in the library and the partition contains FC tape drives that are directly connected to host applications, you must manually select a drive control path for that partition. Do not select a drive control path for partitions that are connected to an FC I/O blade. For more information about control paths, see About Control Paths.

Before creating a partition, verify that all tape drives are unloaded and all cartridges are in their appropriate storage slot locations. For information on unloading tape drives, see Unloading Tape Drives.

NOTE: This operation should not be performed concurrently by multiple administrators logged in from different locations. You can access the appropriate screens, but you cannot apply changes while another administrator is performing the same operation.

Administrators can manually create partitions. Users cannot manually create partitions.

1. From the Setup menu, select Partitions.

   The Setup - Partitions screen displays.

2. Click Create.

   The Create Partition - Basic Settings screen displays.

3. From the Select Partition Type drop-down list, select either Standard or Library Managed (EDLM). All partitions are Standard except for those which contain EDLM scanning drives for EDLM scanning purposes. For more information about EDLM, see About Extended Data Lifecycle Management.
4. Type a name to describe the new partition into the Enter Name text box.
   
   

   NOTE: Partition names are limited to 12 lower-case alphanumeric characters and underscores (_).

5. Type the number of slots to assign to the new partition into the Enter Number of Slots text box.
   
   

   NOTE: The number in parentheses indicates the number of slots available for use in the partition. For standard partitions, the number equals the number of licensed slots available, and the default equals the total number of available slots. Since EDLM partitions can contain both unlicensed and licensed slots (using all unlicensed slots before using licensed slots), the number in parentheses equals the total number of licensed and unlicensed slots, and the default equals the number of unlicensed slots available. You can configure EDLM partitions to use zero slots if desired.

6. If desired, select an emulation type from the Emulation Type drop-down list. The default is ADIC Scalar i500. This setting allows the partition to appear as a different library type to the host. In most cases, you can ignore this setting and just use the default. However, if your host application does not support the default and cannot recognize the partition using the default setting, you can choose a library type that your host has previously qualified. This makes the partition appear to the host as the selected library type and should allow the host to communicate.
7. Select a barcode format from the Set Media Barcode Format drop-down list. This setting tells the library how to read and report barcodes of the tape cartridges in the partition. The supported formats are:
   • Standard (default) — Five to 16 characters total, including a barcode number and optional two-character media ID. If a media ID is included, the label must have a five to 14 character barcode number followed by a media ID; for example, “XXXXXXXXXXXXXXL4”. If a media ID is not included, the label must have a five to 16 character barcode number; for example, “XXXXX” or “XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX”. Only the barcode number is reported to the host.
   • Standard Six — Six character barcode number with or without a two-character media ID; for example, “XXXXXXL4” or ”XXXXXX”. Only the six character barcode number is reported to the host.
   • Plus Six — Six character barcode number followed by a two-character media ID; for example, “XXXXXXL4”. The six character barcode and media ID are reported to the host.
   • Extended — Five to 16 characters total, including a barcode number and optional two-character media ID. All characters are reported to the host, regardless of the barcode label having a media ID or not. If a media ID is included, the label must have a five to 14 character barcode followed by a media ID; for example, “XXXXXXXXXXXXXXL4”. If a media ID is not included, the label must have a five to 16 character barcode number; for example, “XXXXX” or “XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX”.
   • Media ID Last — Five to 14 character barcode number followed by a two-character media ID, for example, “XXXXXXXXXXXXXXL4”. The media ID is reported to the host last, as in “XXXXXXXXXXXXXXL4”.
   • Media ID First — Five to 14 character barcode number followed by a two-character media ID, for example, “XXXXXXXXXXXXXXL4”. The media ID is reported to the host first, as in “L4XXXXXXXXXXXXXX”.

   NOTE: The library supports barcodes up to 16 characters on tape cartridge labels. However, a 16-character barcode label length may not be printable according to the Code 39 label specifications for the tape cartridge area to which the label is attached. The effective tape cartridge barcode label length, including any media ID, may be limited to a maximum of 12 characters.

8. From the table, assign one or more available tape drives to the partition by selecting the check box located to the left of the tape drive.

   NOTE: You may not mix drive vendor types (for example, HP and IBM) in partitions that are configured for library managed encryption (see Configuring Partition Encryption).

9. Click Next.

   The Create Partition - EDLM Policy Settings screen appears.

10. If desired, set up EDLM policies on this partition. The policy choices are explained below. Note that fewer policies are available on EDLM library managed partitions than on standard partitions because EDLM library managed partitions are inaccessible to hosts.
    
    If no EDLM library managed partitions have been created on the library yet, you will not be able to alter any settings on this screen. If this is the case, or if you do not wish to configure EDLM scanning policies on this partition, skip this step.
    
    • Allow concurrent scans — Select the number of tape drives that this partition can use for EDLM scans at any one time. If you have several partitions that will use EDLM scanning drives, you can use this feature to divide the EDLM drive resources so that a single partition with a large number of scans to perform can never “hog” all of the resources and prevent other partitions from performing their scans in a timely manner. Choices are: Unlimited (default), 1, 2, 3, or 4. “Unlimited” means that this partition can use all available EDLM scanning drives concurrently.
    • Report media inaccessible—
      
      • When this check box is de-selected (default), if a host requests a tape cartridge that is being scanned, the scan is cancelled and the tape cartridge is moved back to its original location to service the host request. The interrupted scan is not rescheduled. The EDLM report indicates the interruption or cancellation. This ensures that normal operations are not affected by EDLM scanning.
      • When this check box is selected, if a host requests a tape cartridge while it is being scanned, the library responds to the host that the tape cartridge is inaccessible.
        
        NOTE: This feature is currently disabled. The library always reports media accessible to hosts (i.e., the box is de-selected and cannot be selected).
    • Use StorNext Configuration — Select whether to use StorNext in conjunction with EDLM to perform certain EDLM operations; and, if so, which StorNext configuration to use. From the drop-down list, select None or select one of the StorNext configurations you set up previously (see Configuring the StorNext Host Settings).
    • Scan upon import — Choose whether to scan tapes as soon as they are imported into this partition; and, if so, which type of scan to perform. This policy is disabled by default. Choices are:
      • None (default) — Does not scan upon import.
      • Quick — Does not scan the tape. Evaluates data from the cartridge memory (CM) only. Takes less than one minute per tape. Examples of when to use a quick scan:
        • When you first import previously used scratch tapes into the library.
        • When you import data cartridges that have been used in other backup and archival environments and need to do a quick check to determine whether the tape cartridge is nearing end of life, at end of life, or may have had issues reading or writing.
      • Normal — Evaluates the cartridge memory (CM) and scans selected portions of the tape, focusing on areas most likely to indicate problems. Takes up to 20 minutes per tape. Examples of when to use a normal scan:
        • For tapes in frequent use within the library, with scanning triggered by drive-reported media Tape Alert events.
        • For tapes in frequent use within the library, with scanning being performed at regular time intervals.
      • Full — Evaluates the cartridge memory (CM) and scans the entire tape. Can take more than 2 hours on a full tape. Example of when to use a full scan:
        • When tape cartridges are accessed infrequently and are used primarily for onsite or offsite long-term data retention.
        • When tape cartridges with valuable data are introduced into the library and the state and condition of the tapes are unknown.
      • Scan based on Tape Alert — Choose whether to scan tapes based on Tape Alert count; and, if so, which type of scan to perform (Quick, Normal, or Full, described above). Select None to disable this policy. This policy is disabled by default.
        When enabled, a tape will be scanned if the number of Tape Alerts reported for that cartridge exceeds the user-specified value in the Tape Alert count field, described in more detail below.
        
        The Tape Alerts included in the count are:
        • 01h (1)– Read Warning
        • 03h (3) – Hard Error
        • 04h (4) – Media
        • 05h (5) – Read Failure
        • 06h (6) – Write Failure
        • 12h (18) – Tape Directory Corrupted on Load
        • 33h (51) – Tape Directory Invalid on Unload
        • 34h (52) – Tape System Area Write Error
        • 35h (53) – Tape System Area Read Error
        • 37h (55) – Loading Failure
        • 3Bh (59) – WORM Medium Integrity Check Failed
      • Tape Alert count — Use this field in conjunction with the Scan based on Tape Alert policy. From the drop-down list, select the number of Tape Alerts allowed before a scan is performed.
      • Normal scan time interval — Scans a tape if the listed time interval since the last scan was performed has been exceeded. In the text box, type a time interval (in days) after which a scan will be performed. A value of zero (default) means the this policy is disabled. Note: When deciding the interval, consider the number of tapes to be scanned in the entire library, as well as the type of scan to be performed. Full scans can take more than 2 hours on full tapes. Over-scheduling can cause delays or cause tapes not to be scanned as intended.
      • Full scan time interval —- Same as Normal scan time interval above.
      • Scan based on StorNext suspect count — Only available if you selected Use StorNext Configuration above. The suspect count is a means by which StorNext Storage Manager determines when to stop writing data to tape. If you select this policy, a tape will be queued for EDLM testing when its suspect count threshold is reached. If the EDLM test indicates the tape is good, you can reset the suspect count on the StorNext application and continue to use the tape. For more information on suspect counts and resetting suspect counts, refer to your StorNext application’s documentation.
      • DisableRAS ticket for bad or suspect media —- Select this check box if you wish to disable summary RAS tickets and RAS ticket e-mail notifications stating media is bad or suspect media based on the results of EDLM scans. By default, these summary RAS tickets are disabled (i.e., this check box is selected), because this information is available from the EDLM test results. Note: RAS tickets for specific drive and media issues found during EDLM scans will never be disabled. Only the summary results tickets and notifications (stating media is suspect or bad) can be enabled or disabled.
      • Initiate StorNext copy operation for —- Only available if you selected Use StorNext Configuration above. Automatically requests StorNext Storage Manager to copy all data from a bad and/or suspect tape to another tape. From the drop-down list, you can choose to copy bad tapes, suspect tapes, or both. You can also choose Disabled, which disables the policy. This policy is disabled by default. A RAS ticket will be generated for each request to copy data indicating whether the request succeeds or fails.
11. Click Apply.
    
    The Progress Window displays. The Progress Window contains information on the action, elapsed time, and status of the requested operation.
    • If Success displays in the Progress Window, the partition was successfully created. Click Close to close the Progress Window.
    • If Failure displays in the Progress Window, the partition was not created.
12. Save the library configuration.

    For instructions on how to save the library configuration, see Saving the Configuration.

See also:

• Working With Partitions
• Automatically Creating Partitions
• Modifying Partitions
• Deleting Partitions
• Changing Partition Access
• Changing the Partition Mode
• Unloading Tape Drives
• Configuring Partition Encryption
• About EDLM