Import file paths and file placement

How to determine and affect where the eeadm tape import command places imported files.

Import file paths

The default import file path for the eeadm tape import command is /FS_name/IMPORT.

You can specify a custom import file path by using the -P <pathname> option. If the path specified does not exist, it is created.

File placement

When you issue the eeadm tape import command without any options, for each tape that is specified, a tape ID directory is created under the import file path directory. Then, the files on each tape are imported under the corresponding tape ID directory.

When the -R option is used, all the files on the tapes that are specified are imported directly under the import file path directory.

For all examples in the following flowchart that is shown in Figure 1, the default path (/<GPFS_Filesystem>/IMPORT) is used. If the path is specified with the option --path (or -P) option, files are imported at the specified path that uses the same logic that is shown in the flowchart.
Notes:
  1. A symbolic link that is saved to a tape can become a broken link. The target of the symbolic link is kept during save and import. The link becomes broken if the location where the symbolic link is imported is different from the original path location.
  2. Files from any tapes that were exported from IBM Storage Archive EE are not placed to their original path location in Storage Scale. Instead, they are placed with their original path location under the current Storage Scale mount point directory or Storage Scale mount point import directory, dependent on whether the -P option is specified:
    • When the -P option is specified, the files are placed with their original path location information under the Storage Scale mount point directory /<GPFS_Filesystem>/
    • When the -P option is not specified, the files are placed with their original path location information under the Storage Scale mount point import directory /<GPFS_Filesystem>/IMPORT.
    For example, if the file /mnt/gpfs/dir1/file1 is migrated to a tape that is then exported, the tape has the file with the path information /mnt/gpfs/dir1/file1.
    • When that tape is imported with -P /mnt/gpfs and -R, the file is placed in /mnt/gpfs/mnt/gpfs/dir1/file1 (assuming that the Storage Scale mount point is still /mnt/gpfs).
    • When that tape is imported without the -P option and with the -R option, the file is placed in /mnt/gpfs/IMPORT/mnt/gpfs/dir1/file1 (assuming that the Storage Scale mount point is still /mnt/gpfs).
Figure 1. File placement in Storage Scale after eeadm tape import
flowchart showing file placement logic