Save Media Management Menu

The Save Media Management Menu provides options to manage your media volumes and obtain information for those volumes. From this menu, you can select options to move tapes from one container to another, move containers from one location to another, or display lists of volumes by backup set rotation, container, location, or volume name. You also can perform tape management functions on individual volumes. If you use a scratch tape pool, you can manage it through this menu. You also can print various media reports and labels for your tapes.

To display the Save Media Management Menu, select option 2 on the Robot Save Main Menu.

Manage Save Media

The first four options on the Save Media Management Menu allow you to manage your media volumes from a number of different routes. These Manage Save Media options give you a wide range of methods to help you track your volume usage and location.

The first option on the Save Media Management Menu, By Backup Set Rotations, allows you to view and manage your media volumes by backup set rotation. When you select this option, the Backup Class Selection panel displays. It lists all the backup classes that are defined on all systems in a data center. When you select a backup class, you see the backup set rotations for that class.

Selecting option 2 on the Save Media Management Menu allows you to manage your save media by volume name. The Volume Inquiry panel lists all volumes defined to Robot Save in volume order, without regard to their location or use. You can use the volume options (described earlier in this section) to work with the media volumes.

When you select option 3 on the Save Media Management menu, Robot Save displays the Container Selection panel. This panel lists all the containers you have defined to Robot Save that currently contain volumes. Select a container to view the volumes assigned to the container and additional container information.

Select option 4, By Ad hoc Tape File Label, to see a list of the volumes used in ad hoc tape operations. Robot Save records the volume information for these operations. The Ad-hoc Volume Label Inquiry panel shows the volumes used in ad hoc operations.

Manage Scratch Pool

Options 5, 6, and 7, along with the media volume reports, allow you to manage the scratch tape pool. If you have selected automatic release of expired tapes to the scratch pool for a backup class, selecting option 7 releases the on-site expired tapes to the scratch tape pool. This also removes all library and object archive entries for these volumes. Instead of selecting this option every day, you can schedule the commands RBSRLSEXTP or RBSAUTOMOV (if you use automatic move sets) on Robot Schedule to release tapes to scratch. Note: In a data center, only the system on which you select option 7 or run a command releases its expired tapes to the scratch pool. Each system in the data center must release its own tapes to the scratch pool separately.

Select option 6, Scratch Pool Minimum Inventory Levels, to specify minimum inventory levels for certain types of save media. You can set an inventory level for save media that are shared by the whole data center, or just for a specific system. Setting a minimum helps you maintain control over the number of scratch volumes available for use. If you set a minimum value, use the RBSCHKINV command to check the inventory levels and send a message to the specified device if the level drops below your specified minimum. You can run the command interactively or schedule it to run regularly in Robot Schedule. If you do not use the command to check inventory levels, the only notification you receive is a message that prints in the Good Morning report.

Other Media Information

The Media Volume Reports option allows you to print reports that define where your tapes are located, forecast how many tapes you’ll need, which tapes you should use, when they expire, and when they should be moved. You can print a report detailing all the movement of tape volumes that use automated move sets. The Good Morning report gives you a summary view of volume statistics each day. You also can print volume labels if you’ve marked volumes for label printing.

For more information on media volume reports, see the Reports section.

The Move History Inquiry panel shows the movement of every volume that is part of a backup set that uses auto move processing. You can use this panel to check the movement history of volumes as they are moved automatically from one location to the next. To display the Move History Inquiry panel, select option 9 from the Save Media Management Menu.

Use the Purge Move History panel to purge media volume move history records. Because each move of each media volume creates a record, you should purge the history regularly. To display the Purge Move History panel, select option 10 on the Save Media Management Menu.