Move Media

Track tape volumes as they are moved from location to location. Use this information to locate the volumes if they need to be restored.

The Move Media action is used to update a volume's media state as it is moved between an onsite tape library and an offsite vault. If volumes are not being taken to an offsite vault for secure storage, this action is not necessary. Each volume has a Media State property whose value is a logical designation that is related to the volume's physical location. As a tape volume is moved from one location to another during its lifecycle, its Media State property is changed to reflect the new location.

Some media state updates are made automatically by the server based on known events, and other predictable events that require media state updates can be automated by using server schedules and scripts. You can also change the media state of one or more volumes by using the Operations Center. Before you make media state changes by using the Operations Center, determine whether your organization uses scripts to automate move-media actions and, if so, what actions are scripted. You must understand your organization's schedules and scripts to ensure that you do not interfere with the regular actions that they automate.

The following items are available on this page:

Destination Media State

Select the new media state for the selected volumes, which are listed on the Move Media page. Each media state represents a discrete movement of a volume within the larger stages of a volume's lifecycle. A volume's lifecycle consists of the following three general stages:

The volume is checked into the library and is part of a retention storage pool, a copy storage pool, or a container-copy storage pool. Data is written to the volume. When the volume is full, it is taken by courier to an offsite vault.
If the volume contains data that needs to be restored, the volume is brought back onsite. After the data is restored, the volume can be moved back to the offsite vault.
All data on the volume expires. For volumes in retention storage pools, the expiration dates are reached for all of the retention sets that have data on the volume. The volume is brought back onsite to be reused.

Each media state supports only a subset of the media states as valid destinations. Some media states are not valid destinations because they do not logically follow the current media state. However, depending on how finely your organization wants to track a volume's movements, your organization might skip over certain media states. For example, some organizations do not use the COURIER media state to track that a volume is being physically moved to the offsite vault. Instead, these organizations set the media state to VAULT before the volume arrives at the vault location.

The Destination Media State list shows only the media states that are valid destination media states for all of the selected volumes. If there is no destination media state that is valid for all of the selected volumes, you cannot move any of the volumes. However, all of the destination media states are shown and you can select a media state from the list to identify which volumes do not support the selected state. You can then click Cancel to close the Move Media page, and select only volumes that support the media state. If you initiated the Move Media action for a retention set from the Retention Sets page, you must instead initiate the Move Media action for selected volumes only. To initiate the Move Media action for selected volumes of a retention set, open the Volumes tab of the retention set's Details notebook.

The following table describes the meaning of each media state, and which states are valid destination media states. The media states are ordered in this table to roughly reflect the typical lifecycle of a volume. The media states track a volume as it moves from your onsite library to an offsite vault, and then back onsite for either data restoration or tape reuse.

Table 1. Media States
Media State	Description	Valid Destination Media States
None	When a volume is defined to a storage pool, but is empty, it does not have a media state.	There are no valid destination media states that can be explicitly specified. When the volume is checked into the library and contains data, the server automatically places the volume in the MOUNTABLE media state.
MOUNTABLE	The volume is checked into the library. While the volume's Filling State is not Full, data can be written to the volume. Volumes in this media state might be moved to one of the valid destination media states for the following reasons: The volume is full and is being moved to an offsite vault. The media state of the volume is changed to the NOTMOUNTABLE, COURIER, or VAULT media state. These three media states all track the movement of a tape volume as it is taken to an offsite vault. The media states NOTMOUNTABLE and COURIER are optional. Depending on how finely your organization wants to track a volume's movements, your organization might skip over the NOTMOUNTABLE and COURIER media states. When you move from the MOUNTABLE media state to the NOTMOUNTABLE, COURIER, or VAULT media state, the server checks the volume out of the library. Data on the volume is needed to restore data to a client. The volume's media state is changed to RESTOREONLY. The volume remains in the library but its access mode is changed to read only.	NOTMOUNTABLE COURIER VAULT RESTOREONLY
NOTMOUNTABLE	The volume is onsite, and is ready to be sent to an offsite vault. This media state is one of three states (along with the COURIER and VAULT states) that track the movement of a tape volume as it is taken to an offsite vault. Depending on how finely your organization wants to track a volume's movements, your organization might skip over this media state. Volumes can instead be moved directly from the MOUNTABLE media state to the COURIER or VAULT media states.	COURIER VAULT
COURIER	The volume is being moved to an offsite vault. This media state is one of three states (along with the NOTMOUNTABLE and VAULT states) that track the movement of a tape volume as it is taken to an offsite vault. Depending on how finely your organization wants to track a volume's movements, your organization might skip over this media state. Volumes can instead be moved directly from the MOUNTABLE or NOTMOUNTABLE media states to the VAULT media state.	VAULT
VAULT	The volume is in an offsite vault. It can be retrieved from the vault if it is needed to restore data. When the server detects that the volume contains only expired data, the server automatically places a volume in the media state VAULTRETRIEVE. By using the Operations Center, you cannot set a volume to the VAULTRETRIEVE media state. The VAULTRETRIEVE media state is a signal that the empty volume can be brought back onsite and reused.	COURIERRETRIEVE ONSITERETRIEVE
COURIERRETRIEVE	The volume is being moved back onsite from an offsite vault. This media state is one of two states (along with the ONSITERETRIEVE state) that track the movement of a tape volume as it is brought back onsite. Depending on how finely your organization wants to track a volume's movements, your organization might skip over this media state. Volumes can instead be moved directly from the VAULT or VAULTRETRIEVE media state to the ONSITERETRIEVE media state.	ONSITERETRIEVE
ONSITERETRIEVE	The volume was retrieved from an offsite vault. It is back onsite and can be checked into the library for data restoration or tape reuse. A volume can be brought back onsite to be reused when all of the data on the volume expires. To reuse the volume, check it into the library by using the CHECKIN LIBVOLUME command. If the volume was originally a scratch volume, moving it to the ONSITERETRIEVE media state returns the volume to scratch status. The volume is deleted from the database and does not appear in the Operations Center. Volumes in this media state might be moved to one of the valid destination media states for the following reasons: The volume must be checked into the library so data can be restored to a client. To check in the volume, you would move the volume to the RESTOREONLY media state. Restriction: By using the command line, you cannot explicitly move a volume from the ONSITERETRIEVE media state to the RESTOREONLY media state. By using the command line, you must issue the CHECKIN LIBVOLUME command, which adds the volume to an automated library and also changes the volume's media state to RESTOREONLY. However, by using the Operations Center, you can explicitly move a volume from the ONSITERETRIEVE media state to the RESTOREONLY media state. The Operations Center issues the CHECKIN LIBVOLUME in the background. The volume was retrieved from the offsite vault, but its data does not need to be restored to a client. The volume can be returned to the offsite vault. The destination media state in this case would be NOTMOUNTABLE, COURIER, or VAULT depending on how finely your organization wants to track a volume's movements.	RESTOREONLY NOTMOUNTABLE COURIER VAULT
RESTOREONLY	The volume is checked into the library to enable restoration of data. To ensure that the volume can be used only for data restoration, its access mode is read only. Volumes in this media state might be moved to one of the valid destination media states for the following reasons: The data was restored from the volume and the volume can now be returned to the offsite vault. The destination media state in this case would be NOTMOUNTABLE, COURIER, or VAULT depending on how finely your organization wants to track a volume's movements. The data was restored from the volume and the volume can now be returned to the offsite vault. Your organization uses scripting to automatically move volumes that are full and in the MOUNTABLE media state to the offsite vault. In this case, an administrator might change the volume to the MOUNTABLE media state to use the scripting to move the volume back to the offsite vault. The volume was moved from the MOUNTABLE media state to the RESTOREONLY media state to restore data. The data was restored, and the volume is moved back to the MOUNTABLE media state to continue filling the volume with new data. Tip: When a volume in the RESTOREONLY media state is moved to the MOUNTABLE media state, its access mode remains as read only. To continue writing to the volume, you must enable the volume for read/write operations manually by issuing the UPDATE VOLUME command and specifying the ACCESS=READWRITE parameter setting.	NOTMOUNTABLE COURIER VAULT MOUNTABLE

Include Database Backup

When volumes are being moved to an offsite vault, specifies whether to also move a database backup offsite. Moving database backup volumes offsite helps ensure that data on the other volumes can be restored if your database is lost or damaged. Only the most recent database backup that is on tape can be included. The most recent database backup can be a full, a full plus incremental, or a snapshot database backup.

If you are including a database backup, make sure that it is current enough to restore data from the other volumes if necessary. The database backup date and time must be later than the date and time that data was last written to the volumes.

Location

Optionally, provide information about a volume's physical location when it is in the destination media state. For example, if you are moving volumes to the COURIER or COURIERRETRIEVE media state, you might specify the name and contact information of the courier. For some media states, default location text is set for the server. You can accept these defaults or you can specify your own location text.

Tip: You can set the default location text for the NOTMOUNTABLE, COURIER, and VAULT media states by using the following server commands:

To specify default location text for the NOTMOUNTABLE media state, use the SET DRMNOTMOUNTABLENAME command.
To specify default location text for the COURIER media state, use the SET DRMCOURIERNAME command.
To specify default location text for the VAULT media state, use the SET DRMVAULTNAME command.

The volumes table shows the volumes to be moved to the destination media state. Information about each volume, such as its current media state and access mode is shown.

Tip: The changes that you make to the volumes are logical changes for tracking purposes only. Because associated actions must be taken for the physical media, it is sometimes useful to create a list of the volumes. For example, if volumes must be moved offsite, you might need to send a list of the volumes to the courier. If volumes were brought back onsite for data restoration, you might need to send a list of the volumes to the client administrator who is restoring the data. To export data from the volumes table, click the Export to CSV icon

For more information about using IBM Spectrum Protect commands, see the IBM Spectrum Protect documentation.