HP Storage Library System for OpenVMS

HP Storage Library System SPD 29.67.27
Version 2.9J for OpenVMS
• "Round robin" device allocation to distribute drive us-
age among available tape drives
• In an OpenVMS Cluster environment, automatic fail-
ure recovery from the loss of a processor to allow
continuous access to the SLS for OpenVMS media
databases. This feature requires two server licenses.
SLS version 2.9J-ECO01 and later use MRU V1.8A for
performing loader or library related operations on new
media libraries. MRU V1.8A is also required for facil-
itating migration from SLS/MDMS V2.x to ABS/MDMS
V4.x environment.
Remote Device Facility (RDF™)
The Remote Device Facility (RDF) software is included
within SLS and is optionally installed during the SLS
software installation procedure. No additional license is
needed for RDF when used along with SLS.
RDF allows SLS to access tapes from other OpenVMS
nodes across the DECnet or DECnet-Plus network for
backup and archive operations. RDF includes the fol-
lowing capabilities:
• RDF servers that execute tape I/O requests on behalf
of a remote client. Servers are located on systems
that have tape drives attached or on systems that can
access drives through the OpenVMS TMSCP Server.
• RDF clients that provide the communications inter-
face between applications reading or writing data to
a tape drive and to the RDF servers.
SLS for OpenVMS software makes access to remote
tape drives transparent to SLS backup and archive op-
erations by issuing RDF commands as appropriate if a
designated tape drive is a remote one. SLS for Open-
VMS software also manages volume load requests to
remote systems to allow unattended backups or to com-
municate with a console operator. SLS for OpenVMS
makes no direct use of the remote disk capabilities in-
herent in RDF.
LICENSE OPTIONS
To qualify a variety of configuration requirements, the
following SLS for OpenVMS license options are avail-
able:
• SLS for OpenVMS VAX Server
• SLS for OpenVMS Alpha Server
• SLS for OpenVMS VAX Client
• SLS for OpenVMS Alpha Client
SLS for OpenVMS VAX and OpenVMS Alpha Server:
SLS for OpenVMS server software provides full func-
tionality, as described above, to users on the node or
OpenVMS Cluster on which SLS is executing. A node
or OpenVMS Cluster executing SLS for OpenVMS soft-
ware provides media management services for itself and
for any "client nodes" connected to it. At least one SLS
for OpenVMS server license in the network is required
for use of the SLS for OpenVMS product.
SLS for OpenVMS VAX and Alpha Clients:
SLS for OpenVMS Client software provides backup
scheduling and archiving services for the node or
OpenVMS Cluster on which it is executing, and acts as
a client of the SLS server software when the client re-
quires media management services.
Like the SLS Sever software, the SLS Client software
maintains SLS history files where it records information
about user files backed up or archived locally under its
control. The node executing SLS for OpenVMS client
software communicates using DECnet or DECnet-Plus
software to a node running the SLS for OpenVMS server
software. The SLS server node maintains the SLS me-
dia database. The SLS media database contains infor-
mation about volume location and pool access autho-
rization.
Each SLS for OpenVMS client node must be reached
from a node or OpenVMS Cluster system executing the
SLS for OpenVMS server software. Any number of SLS
for OpenVMS client nodes may be served by a single
SLS for OpenVMS server node.
Qualified DEVICES
The following libraries and loaders have been tested
and qualified by Storage Management Software Engi-
neering. However, Storage Management Software En-
gineering does not test each of the devices with every
possible combination of controllers and host systems.
Because Storage Library System and the Media Robot
Utility (MRU) run in common environments, these com-
binations are tested first with MRU. Upon successful
completion of the MRU tests, Storage Library System is
then tested in representative configurations. Note that
MRU is not a prerequisite for Storage Library System.
Therefore, to determine if your specific configuration has
been qualified follow these steps:
1. If you have a tape drive that is not software-defined
as a jukebox (is not a library or a loader device), refer
to the OpenVMS Software Product Description (SPD
25.01.xx) to determine if your tape drive is qualified
for your platform and controller/adapter combination.
2