Catalog Options
Tape Manager offers several alternatives for the tape catalog information. Tape Manager catalog and RMM catalog options are described below.
Tape Manager catalog
The volume and control information is maintained on CMS minidisks or in SFS directories owned by Tape Manager. This is referred to as "Tape Manager catalog" operations and it provides two additional alternatives: Dedicated Catalogs and Shared Catalogs.
- Dedicated Catalog
- Each z/VM® image running Tape Manager has a dedicated tape catalog. This is the typical implementation if Tape Manager is running on a single system and it can be an option for multiple systems. When multiple systems are installed with a Dedicated Catalog, each system typically has a dedicated range of volume serial numbers.
- Shared Catalog
- Multiple z/VM images run
Tape Manager with a shared tape catalog. This implementation can be
selected even if Tape Manager is initially installed on only one system,
where it can provide tape service for a second level z/VM instance, for example.
- Each Tape Manager instance in a Shared Catalog implementation must have Tape Manager installed.
- Each Tape Manager instance that shares a catalog is referred to as a Tape Manager node.
- One, and only one, of the nodes will be the catalog node and that instance will own the tape catalog.
- Any other Tape Manager instance sharing the catalog will be a request node.
For a Shared Catalog environment, the minimum configuration for each Tape Manager request node is a local TMM (running as a request node) and DMM. In addition, an LMM machine must be defined on a request node whenever an IBM or STK automated tape library or virtual tape server is to be used on that node.
RMM catalog
Another alternative for maintaining volume and control information is referred to as "RMM catalog". The volume and control information is maintained in a DFSMS/MVS Removable Media Manager (RMM) catalog on a z/OS® system.
Tape Manager supplies an additional component, the z/OS RMM Started Task agent (the "RMM agent"), that is used when running with an RMM catalog. This RMM agent is installed on z/OS from files on the z/VM installation ID using JCL that is also supplied there.
The RMM agent uses the standard RMM Application Programming Interface (API) to pass requests and information to RMM. Authorization and catalog information flows between Tape Manager and RMM. For example, when a user on the z/VM system requests a tape mount, an authorization request is sent to the RMM agent. If RMM approves the request, information about the volume (for example, the RMM media name) is sent back to Tape Manager where the request continues to completion.
For more information, refer to Alternative processing using an RMM catalog.