About Extended Data Lifecycle Management

Extended Data Lifecycle Management (EDLM) is a licensed feature that provides data protection and integrity checking by scanning your tape cartridges, providing results, and allowing StorNext to migrate data from bad or suspect tapes. EDLM allows you to run manual scans on any tape cartridge in the library at any time, and performs automatic scans according to schedules and policies that you set up.

To use EDLM, you will set up one or more dedicated partitions to be used for scanning. These partitions are called “library managed” partitions because they are not accessible by hosts. You can manually scan a tape cartridge at any time, or you can set up automatic scanning schedules and policies. Scanning takes place using “EDLM scanning drives” which are different from regular tape drives. You cannot use regular tape drives to perform EDLM scans.

You need administrator privileges to configure EDLM.

Configuring EDLM on the library consists of the following steps. See the Scalar i500 User's Guide for more details.

  1. Install EDLM-scanning drives in the library. Connect each EDLM-scanning drive to one of the four initiator ports in a Fibre Channel I/O blade. If you have more than four EDLM-scanning drives, you will need to use more than one Fibre Channel I/O blade.
  2. Install the Extended Data Lifecycle Management license on the library. See Applying a License Key.
  3. Install the EDLM plug-in for the SNAPI client (optional). See Installing the EDLM Plug-in for SNAPI.
  4. Configure StorNext host settings (optional). See Configuring StorNext Host Settings.
  5. Create one or more EDLM library-managed partition and set up automatic EDLM scanning policies on partitions (standard or EDLM partitions). See Manually Creating Partitions.
  6. If you plan to use an EDLM partition to scan tapes encrypted using library managed encryption, you will also need to configure that partition for library managed encryption, so that it can request the correct encryption keys from the encryption key servers. Without the proper encryption keys, the EDLM scanning drives cannot perform normal or full scans on encrypted tapes. Select Setup > Encryption > Partition Configuration. See Configuring Partition Encryption.

Other things you can do with EDLM:

Creating a "Known Good Tape"

Before you begin using EDLM, Quantum recommends creating a "known good tape" for non-production purposes which can be used later for testing on EDLM drives.

To create a known good tape, fill a tape to near capacity with non-encrypted data. This non-production tape can later be used for testing with or without encryption enabled.

Cleaning for EDLM Drives

Cleaning for EDLM drives must be done through the library's manual cleaning feature or automatic cleaning feature. Simply inserting a cleaning tape into an EDLM drive will not initiate cleaning because EDLM drives are configured for a partial load, and the drive won't load the tape to clean the drive.

Incomplete EDLM Scans

In rare cases, various operational issues could prevent an EDLM scan from properly initiating. These instances will be indicated in individual EDLM scan result details as “I/O Blade Component Failure.” This message does not necessarily mean there are hardware issues with the I/O blade or tape drive, but may indicate logical errors within operational software for these components. 

If these indications are observed within individual EDLM scan result details, Quantum recommends power cycling I/O blades being utilized for EDLM scans using the remote user interface's Setup > FC I/O Blade > FC I/O Blade Control screen. 

Please refer to the online help located on the Setup > FC I/O Blade > FC I/O Blade Control screen for further details on power cycling FC I/O blades.

NOTE: If an EDLM scan is in progress during an intentional or unintentional power cycle, the scan session may remain in "In Progress" status. Verify scan results by looking at the details for the media in question.