Spectra T200 - Media Pools

Chapter 2 — Architecture Overview Library Partitions
December 2019 User Guide—Spectra T200, T380, and T680 Libraries
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Storage pool The chambers in a storage partition’s storage pool provide
the cartridge storage for a partition. You specify the number of chambers
assigned to the storage pool when you create a partition. See the next
section, Library Partitions, for detailed information about how the storage
pool is used in partitions.
 Each storage partition has its own storage pool; the pool contains at
least one chamber. The cartridges in the storage pool are available for
use by the host storage management software that accesses the
partition.
 A cleaning partition has at least one chamber in its storage pool and can
be shared by multiple storage partitions if they all use the same type of
cleaning cartridge. The cleaning cartridges stored in the cleaning
partition are only accessible when the library is configured to use the
Auto Drive Clean feature. They are not accessible to the storage
management software.
LIBRARY PARTITIONS
Partitions divide the library logically so that it appears as one or more
physical libraries — one library per configured partition. Partitioning
simplifies storage consolidation through the creation of virtual libraries,
each with its own drives and media. Each partition:
 Has exclusive access to the tape drives and media storage assigned to it.
 Can control the robotics to move media within the partition.
The library supports two types of partitions, storage partitions and
cleaning partitions. If any storage partitions use a Fibre Channel drive to
provide the robotic control path, you can configure a maximum of six drive
exporters in up to six storage partitions. If all storage partitions use either a
RIM, or QIP for the robotic control path, you can configure a maximum of 8
partitions for a T200 or 12 partitions for a T380 or T680. One or more
cleaning partitions can be configured in a single library. A single cleaning
partition can be associated with multiple storage partitions. Cleaning
partitions do not count against the partition maximum.
Notes:  Libraries running BlueScale software versions earlier than
BlueScale12.6.3 and using RIMs or QIPs to export the
partition, are limited to eight storage partitions.
 A single RIM or QIP can export up to eight storage partitions.
A RIM2 can export up to 12 partitions.
 The more partitions in a library, the longer each move can
take. If move requests can be sent to several partitions at
once, you may need to increase the timeout setting in your
storage management software.