Spectra T50e - Page 232

Chapter 8—Configuring and Using Media Lifecycle Management Media Lifecycle Management Overview
August 2017 User Guide—Spectra T50e Library
230
Data Cartridge Tracking
AprimaryfunctionofMLMistotrackthehealthandusageofthedata
cartridgesthatarecurrentlyin,orwerepreviouslyin,thelibrary.
Functional Overview EachtimeaSpectraCertifiedMLM‐enableddata
cartridgeisloadedintoadrive,MLMrecordsover30datapointsaboutthe
cartridge.Thesedatapointsincludehealthinformation,thecartridgeage,
howmanytimesitwasloadedandintowhichdrives,andhowmany
errorsitaccumulates.Italsorecordswhenthecartridgeisexportedfrom
thelibraryandbywhom.EachMLM‐enableddatacartridgehasaunique
identifierthatallowseachcartridgetobetrackedthroughoutitslife,even
ifitsbarcodelabelisdamagedorremoved.
Remaining Capacity Calculations Inadditiontomediahealth,thelibrary
usesinformationintheMLMdatabasetoestimatetheRemainingCapacity
reportforthecartridgesintheselectedpartition.Ifthepartitioncontainsa
mixofMLMandnon‐MLM‐enableddatacartridges,thereportonlyshows
theestimatedcapacityontheMLM‐enabledcartridges.
Note: Untiladatacartridgeisloadedinto,threaded,andthen
unloadedfromadriveforthefirsttime,itsremainingcapacityis
notincludedinthe RemainingCapacityreport.
Cleaning Cartridge Tracking
Functional Overview Thelibrarytracksexpiredcleaningcartridgesinthe
cartridgeinventoryanddoesnotattempttouseanexpiredcleaning
cartridge.YoucanidentifyexpiredcartridgesbyexaminingtheInventory
screen.Expiredcleaningcartridgesareidentifiedbyan“x”nexttotheslot
number.
WhenyouenableMLManduseSpectraCertifiedMLM‐enabledLTO
cleaningcartridges,MLMtracksandreportsusageinformationforthe
cleaningcartridges.Thisinformation,whichincludesthenumberofcleans
remainingandthecartridgehealth(good,nearexpiration,orexpired),is
storedintheMLMdatabase.
Important
LTO-5 and later generation drives support a tape format called Linear Tape File
System (LTFS).
LTFS uses an area in the cartridge MAM that was previously used for LTO-5 cartridge
MLM data. Starting with BlueScale12.0.3, the library’s BlueScale software
automatically moves the MLM data to a protected area of the MAM the first time an
LTO-5 data cartridge is loaded into and then unloaded from an LTO-5 drive running
firmware version B6W1 or later. See
Support for LTFS for LTO-5 Data Cartridges on
page 196 for detailed information about how support for LTFS impacts MLM.