Managing tapes

Tapes are added to the system inventory with the TAPEADD command. A tape can be added to the System Free Pool (also called the System Pool) or directly to a private pool that has been previously defined. External tapes (also called foreign tapes) can only be added to a private tape pool.

Any tape in the System Free Pool must have a status of FREE, but a tape in a private pool can have a status of USED or FREE. The initial status of a tape is set when the tape is added to the inventory.

  • The system will change the status of a FREE tape to USED if the tape is mounted with write access for a private pool request.
  • The system will change the status from USED to FREE when a tape is processed during expiration date processing.

Type of library

The TAPEADD command defaults to manual (MAN) when tapes are added to the inventory. Be sure to specify ATL and a library name in the TAPEADD command for any volumes that are in an automated tape library. If necessary, the TAPEMOD command can be used to modify the library type after a volume has been added.

Use of TAPEDEL to remove volumes

The TAPEDEL command can be used to remove volumes from the Tape Manager inventory. It is recommended that internal volumes reside in the system free pool before the TAPEDEL command is issued. It is recommended that external volumes in a private pool have the use status set to FREE before the TAPEDEL command is executed.