Tape Subsystem Exception Report

This report indicates if the tape subsystem has permanent errors or is operating within acceptable limits. It is a good tool to use for system maintenance.

The following are recommendations for using this report:

Set LIMITS on temporary errors to prevent printing excessive errors. See LIMIT Control Statement for LIMIT control statement details.
Use temporary errors to track system degradation.
The errors shown may relate to megabytes processed.
The tape subsystem exception report format and content vary somewhat according to the device type involved. See for more information about specific products.

Figure 1 shows an example of the tape subsystem exception report.

Note: The following example is for a 3490E tape subsystem. Column headings may differ depending upon the specific device.

Figure 1. 3490 Subsystem Exception Report Example

SUBSYSTEM EXCEPTION                               1     REPORT DATE  063 97
       3490                                             PERIOD FROM  049 97
                                                               TO    052 97

 2                                          TEMP WRT(CT)   TEMP RD(CT)
CURRENT LIMITS               HARDWARE         999  5        999  1
  MBYTES/ERR                 VOLUME            40  3        200  1


                                                                                                  12           13 
    3         4         5   6   7         8                    9                 10   11 
           VOLUME     DEVNO    EQU  ----MB/ERR PERM----  ----MB/ERR TEMP----     BUS OVR     TOTAL - MBYTES    HDR
EXCEPTION  SERIAL     /CUA CPU CHK  READ(CT)   WRITE(CT) WRITE(CT)   READ(CT)    OUT RUN      READ   WRITE     SER

HARDWARE
  PERMANENT ERROR
                       5A3   E   1    0   0       0    0  1339 1       0   0       0   0      3249      1339
                       5A7   E   0    0   0       0    0   0   0       0   0       0   0      3985      1160
HARDWARE
  FAILED TEMPORARY READ OR WRITE LIMITS
                       5BC   E   0    0   0       0    0   0   0     428   1       0   0       428        1

VOLUME OR CREATING DRIVE
  PERMANENT READ OR WRITE ERRORS ON MORE THAN ONE DRIVE
           L30570   1  5A5   F   1    0   0       3    1   0   0       0   0       0   0         0        3    00000
           L27530      5A2   E   0    0   0       5    1   0   0       0   0       0   0         0        5    00000

VOLUME OR CREATING DRIVE
  FAILED TEMPORARY READ OR WRITE LIMITS ON MORE THAN ONE DRIVE
           L70630      5A4   F   0    0   0       0    0   0   12      0   0       0   0         0        0    00000
           L72930      5B2   F   0    0   0       0    0   0   0      39   1       0   0        39        0    00000
VOLUME
  FAILED TEMPORARY READ OR WRITE LIMITS
           B42750      5BC   E   0    0   0       0    0   0   0       0   1       0   0         0        0
           B07146      5A2   E   0    0   0       0    0   0   0      73   1       0   0        73       73

 15                                                      16 
TOTAL NUMBER OF DRIVES FAILING LIMITS   004 (20%)       TOTAL NUMBER OF  VOLUMES USED   = 823
                       PASSING LIMITS   016 (80%)        TOTAL NUMBER OF VOLUMES LISTED =   6

 14 
CPU  MODEL SERIAL NUMBER
 E   3081      210819
 F   3081      010819

1

REPORT DATE is the Julian date the report ran.

PERIOD FROM is the Julian date of the earliest record.

PERIOD TO is the Julian date of the latest record.

2

CURRENT LIMITS and megabytes/error for both the hardware and the volume are the limit values from the limit control statement. For details on using the LIMIT statement, see LIMIT Control Statement and Magnetic Tape Devices.

3

There are five exception categories:

Hardware Permanent Error
All CUAs with a tape permanent error are listed, or there are read/write errors on more than one drive not identified by a common volume identifier. Details of the permanent errors are found on the Tape Permanent Error Summary report. When the CUA has an X as the last digit, sense bytes 16-17 have indicated a control unit failure.
Hardware Failed Temporary Read or Write Limits
All CUAs that have an error rate equal to or exceeding the specified limits are shown (but are not identified by a common volume identifier). Use the Temporary Error Summary report and the Volume Statistics Summary report for more details.
Volume or Creating Drive Permanent Read or Write Errors on More Than One Drive
The indicated volume has permanent errors on more than one drive. The volume may have been written (created) on one drive but has read errors detected on another drive. Use the Permanent Error Summary report and the Volume Statistics Summary report for more details.
Volume or Creating Drive Failed Temporary Read or Write Limits on More Than One Drive
The indicated volume has an error rate equal to or exceeding the specified limit on more than one drive. The volume may have been written (created) on one drive but has read errors detected on another drive. Use the Temporary Error Summary report and the Volume Statistics Summary report for more details.
Volume Failed Temporary Read or Write Limits
The indicated volumes has an error rate equal to or exceeding the specified volume limits as shown. Use the Temporary Error Summary report and the Volume Statistics report for more details.

4

The volume serial number.

5

The device number in XA mode or the primary control unit address (PCUA).

6

Identifies the host processor reporting the exception, and is shown as a value of A through H. The actual CPU model and serial number are shown at the bottom of the report 14 .

7

The number of equipment checks that have occurred.

8

MB/ERR PERM is the reliability and error counts for permanent errors as shown in the following table:

TYPE	DESCRIPTION
READ	Is the average number of megabytes read per permanent read error.
CT	Is the number of permanent read errors that have occurred.
WRITE	Is the average number of megabytes written per permanent write error.
CT	Is the number of permanent write errors that have occurred.

9

MB/ERR TEMP is the reliability and error counts for temporary errors as shown in the following table:

TYPE	DESCRIPTION
WRITE	Is the average number of megabytes written per temporary write error.
CT	Is the number of temporary write errors that have occurred.
READ	Is the average number megabytes read per temporary read error.
CT	Is the number of temporary read errors that have occurred.

10

The number of bus out checks that have occurred.

11

The number of overruns that have occurred.

12

Total-MBYTES

READ is the total number of megabytes read.
WRITE is the total number of megabytes written.

13

The header serial number on the tape volume. The header number is derived from the last 4 digits of the control unit serial number that wrote the volume, with the drive address added to the last position.

For example:

Header serial is 3892F.
The last 4 digits of the control unit serial number are 3892.
Drive address is F.

14

Identifies the CPU 6 listed in the error summary lines of the report.

15

Lists the total number of drives:

Pass or Fail	Description
FAILING LIMITS	The number and the percentage of drives that exceeded the limit controls for temporary errors and lists all drives that had permanent errors. These drives are included in this report.
PASSING LIMITS	The number and the percentage of drives that were within the limit controls for temporary errors and had no permanent errors. These drives are not included in this report.

16

Lists the total number of volumes:

Used or Listed	Description
USED	Is the number of volumes used during the report period that did not exceed the limit controls for temporary errors and had no permanent errors.
LISTED	Is the number of volumes used during the report period that exceeded the limit control values for temporary errors and all volumes that had permanent errors.