David, There is very little integration possible between the outboard library and the system/tape management system because the library does not communicate enough information to the host system. However, basic automation is possible via a utility like CBRSPLCS and your scheduling software based on your knowledge of when business applications are creating data on tape ready for export. Setting up the outboard policies is key; ensuring correct data is identified for copying ready for export. The library does at least notify the host system via messages when an export completes for a physical volume, and also when a reclaim occurs. Based on this it is possible to provide tracking and movement control. DFSMSrmm does this. A recent microcode level improved the categories used by the library to better enable software like rmm to know when volumes are library resident - and a corresponding apar to rmm exploits this. The library can move virtual volume copies within the library without host notification, making no sense of the host tracking physical residency. Also, as Tom rightly states there can be multiple copies. What we did with rmm was to provide a way to merge rmm and library details into a single report showing what data sets were on which physical volumes. See the http://publibz.boulder.ibm.com/cgi-bin/bookmgr_OS390/BOOKS/dgt2rr90/7.17?SHELF=EZ2ZBK0K&DT=20100623164051#HDRCXREP 7.17 Creating reports about data sets and volumes that are copy exported. Hopefully this will be useful when making recovery decisions.
What we should all hope for is improvements in how the library and host can communicate about current status and track/control events. Mike Wood ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
