About Control Path Failover

When using Library Managed Encryption (LME) on library partitions, you can choose whether to reuse encryption keys for each partition. This feature is

If an LTO-5 and higher Fibre Channel tape drive is the control path for a partition, you can select another LTO-5 and higher Fibre Channel tape drive in that partition as the control path failover. This means that if the control path tape drive fails, the failover tape drive becomes the control path for the partition. The failed-over tape drive remains the control path for the partition until it fails or the library is rebooted. When either of these events occurs, the library starts over and attempts to use the original control path tape drive as the control path, and the original failover tape drive for failover.

Details about control path failover include:

The control path and failover tape drives must be appropriate for the type of failover: HP LTO-5 and higher FC drives for Basic Path Failover, IBM or HP LTO-5 and higher for Multi-Control Path Failover, or IBM LTO-6 and higher FC drives for Advanced Path Failover.
The control path and failover tape drives must have their topology configured as Point to Point (see Setting Tape Drive Parameters).
The control path and failover tape drives must be connected to an NPIV-enabled switch on the same fabric. They must not be connected to an FC I/O blade.
The control path and failover tape drives are assigned by location in the library, so even if you replace a tape drive, the library will still fail over or revert to the specified location.
The control path for the partition is assigned a virtual World Wide Port Name (WWPN), which is listed in the library’s System Information Report in the Library Partitions section (see Viewing System Information).
A tape drive can be configured for both control path failover and data path failover.
You can manually force a failover (see Forcing Control Path Failover).

See also: