Physical tape drives

Use this page to view a summary of the state of all physical drives accessible to the IBM® TS7700 Cluster.

If the cluster does not possess a physical library, the Physical Tape Drives page is not visible on the TS7700 management interface.

Physical Tape Drives
The Physical Tape Drives table displays status information for all physical drives accessible by the cluster, including:
Drive Serial Number
The serial number of the physical drive.
Drive Type
The machine type and model number of the drive. Possible values are:
3592J1A
3592E05
3592E05E
A 3592 E05 drive that is encryption capable.
3592E06
3952E07
3592E08
359260F
359260G
Online
Whether the drive is currently online.

Note that the TS7700 and the 3584 Tape Library might report different online status for a drive. This is because the TS7700 connects to the drive over a Fibre Channel interface, while the 3584 connects over an RS422 interface. If this occurs, contact your IBM Service representative.

Health
The health of the physical drive. This value is obtained automatically at times determined by the TS7700. Possible values are:
OK
The drive is fully functioning.
WARNING
The drive is functioning but reporting errors. Action should be taken to correct the errors.
DEGRADED
The drive is functioning but at lesser redundancy and performance.
FAILURE
The drive is not functioning and immediate action should be taken to correct it.
OFFLINE/TIMEOUT
The drive is out of service or could not be reached within a certain time frame.
Role
The current role the drive is performing. Possible values are:
IDLE
The drive is currently not in use.
MIGRATION
The drive is being used to copy a virtual volume from the tape volume cache to physical volume.
RECALL
The drive is being used to recall a virtual volume from a physical volume to the tape volume cache.
RECLAIM SOURCE
The drive is being used as the source of a reclaim operation.
RECLAIM TARGET
The drive is being used as the target of a reclaim operation.
EXPORT
The drive is currently being used to export a volume.
SECURE ERASE
The drive is being used to erase expired volumes from the physical volume securely and permanently.
Encryption
Whether encryption is enabled or disabled on the drive.
Note: If you are monitoring this field while changing the encryption status of a drive, the new status will not display until you bring the TS7700 Cluster offline and then return it to an online state.
Mounted Physical Volume
VOLSER of the physical volume mounted by the drive. This field will be blank if the drive is IDLE.
Recording Format
The format the drive is operating in. Possible values are:
J1A
The drive is operating with J1A data.
E05
The drive is operating with E05 data.
E05E
The drive is operating with E05E encrypted data.
E06
The drive is operating with E06 data.
E06E
The drive is operating with E06E encrypted data.
E07
The drive is operating with E07 data.
E07E
The drive is operating with E07E encrypted data.
E08
The drive is operating with E08 data.
E08E
The drive is operating with E08E encrypted data.
55F
The drive is operating with 55F data.
55FE
The drive is operating with 55FE encrypted data.
60F
The drive is operating with 60F data.
60FE
The drive is operating with 60FE encrypted data.
Not Available
The format is unable to be determined because there is no physical media in the drive or the media is being erased.
Unavailable
The format is unable to be determined because the Health and Monitoring checks have not yet completed. Refresh the current page to determine whether the format state has changed. If the Unknown state persists for one hour or longer, contact your IBM Service Representative.
Requested Physical Volume
The VOLSER of the physical volume requested for mount. If no physical volume is requested, this field is blank.
To view additional information for a specific, selected drive, refer to the Physical Drives Details table on the Physical Tape Drives Details page:
  1. Click the radio button next to the serial number of the physical drive in question.
  2. Select Details from the Select Action drop-down list.
  3. Click Go to open the Physical Tape Drives Details page.