Setting up virtual tape storage

Follow these steps to set up your virtual tape storage.

If you do not already have virtual tape device type 63B0, create one and vary it on: 
CRTDEVTAP DEVD(TAPVRT01) RSRCNAME(*VRT) 
VRYCFG CFGOBJ(TAPVRT01) CFGTYPE(*DEV) STATUS(*ON)
Note: You can have up to 35 virtual tape devices active at one time.

Creating a virtual device using IBM Navigator for i

To create virtual devices using IBM® Navigator for i, perform the following steps:

  1. In IBM Navigator for i, expand Configuration and Service > All Tasks > Tape Devices > Create Virtual Device.
  2. Follow the instructions to create a virtual device.

Creating an image catalog using IBM Navigator for i

To create virtual images using IBM Navigator for i, perform the following steps:

  1. In IBM Navigator for i, expand Configuration and Service > All Tasks > Tape Devices > Create Image Catalog.
  2. Follow the instructions to create an image catalog.

Creating an image catalog and add volumes using the IBM i command line

The following examples show how to create an image catalog and add volumes using the CRTIMGCLG command.

This example shows how to create an image catalog and multiple virtual volumes with different attributes.
  • CRTIMGCLG IMGCLG(CLG1) DIR('/CLG1DIR') 
TYPE(*TAP)(Create an empty tape catalog.)
  • ADDIMGCLGE IMGCLG(CLG1) FROMFILE(*NEW) TOFILE(VOL001) 
IMGSIZ(5000) VOLNAM(VOL001)  (Add 1 new tape volume with a size of 5GB.)
  • ADDIMGCLGE IMGCLG(CLG1) FROMFILE(*NEW) TOFILE(VOL002) 
IMGSIZ(100000) VOLNAM(VOL002)  (Add 1 new tape volume with a size of 100GB.)
This example shows how to create an image catalog and multiple virtual volumes with the same attributes.
  • CRTIMGCLG IMGCLG(CLG1) DIR('/CLG1DIR') TYPE(*TAP) ADDVRTVOL(10) 
PREFIX(VOL) IMGSIZ(5000)  (Create an image catalog with 10 5GB tape volumes.)