Running Manual EDLM Tests

You may wish to evaluate media outside of the automatic EDLM scanning policies. To do this, you can run a manual EDLM can. Manual scans are given highest priority and go to the top of the scanning queue. As soon as an EDLM scanning drive has finished its current scan, it will accept the tape scheduled for a manual scan. Once all manual scans are finished, the scan queue continues as normal.

Manual EDLM scans can be run on any tape in the library, as long the following conditions are met:

• An EDLM license must be installed on the library.
  
• The EDLM library managed partition must be configured on the library.
  
• The cartridge you want to scan must be readable by a tape drive in the EDLM library managed partition per standard LTO-gen-based backwards-compatibility limitations.
• The cartridge you want to scan must be labeled properly. Unlabeled media cannot be selected for manual scans.
  
• The cartridge can be located in any partition, including the EDLM library managed partition. However, the tape cartridge must not be located in an EDLM drive.
• If a tape is currently being scanned, you cannot select it for manual scanning.
  

To run a manual EDLM test, do the following:

1. Log on as an administrator.
   
2. Select Tools > EDLM > Test Selection.
   
   The Tools - EDLM Test Selection screen appears.
3. From the Partition drop-down list, choose the partition that contains the tape(s) you want to scan.
   
4. From the Scan type drop-down list, choose the type of scan to perform (Quick, Normal, or Full).
   • 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:
   1. • 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 (default) — 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:
   1. • 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:
   1. • 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.
5. If you want the test to continue on error, select the Continue On Error check box. By default, during normal and full scans, a cartridge memory (CM) test is performed first. If that fails, the rest of the scan (the tape test) is skipped and the test fails. When you select Continue On Error, the tape test is performed even if the CM test fails. In some cases enabling Continue on Error may provide you with information about additional errors on the tape, such as if more than one error condition applies.

Continue on Error applies to the following error conditions after a successful read of the CM data:

1. The thread count exceeds 10,000.

2. There are unrecovered errors indicated in the tape alert flags.

3. The tape write pass exceeds 99% of the estimated tape life in complete writes.
   

6. Select the tape(s) to scan from the table. To select all tapes listed, select the check box at the top of the check box column. To filter the displayed list, enter a barcode or portion of a barcode in the Filter by barcode field and click Find.

NOTE: If you select a tape that is not supported by the EDLM scanning drives, once you click Apply, a dialog box message will appear stating, “You have selected to scan media that may not be supported by any of the EDLM drives installed in the library. The media type may not be supported (LTO5, LTO6, etc) or the media could be encrypted and encryption has not been configured for the EDLM partition. If you continue, these scans may not complete successfully. Are you sure you want to do this?” If you continue, the tape will be queued for scan, but may fail.

7. Click Apply.
   
   The test is queued. Once the test is queued, a Success message appears. This does not mean the test was run or that the tape passed the test, it just means that the test is queued.
8. Click Close to close the Success message.
9. To view the test results, select Tools > EDLM > Test Results (see Working With EDLM Test Results).
   

See also:

•  About Extended Data Lifecycle Management