Spectra T950 - Page 282

Chapter 9 — Configuring and Using Media Lifecycle Management BlueScale Media Lifecycle Management
November 2016 User Guide—Spectra T950 Library
282
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accumulated.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.
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.Expiredcleaningcartridgesareidentifiedbyan“x”nexttothe
slotnumberontheInventoryscreen.
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.
Whenacartridgeisnearingtheendofitsuseful life,MLMnotifiesyouso
thatyoucanhaveanotheronhandtoreplaceit.Thisearlynotification
helpsprev ent failedcleaningsresultingfromusinganexpiredcleaning
cartridge.See
EnablingMLMandConfiguringGlobalSettingsonpage287
forinformationaboutsettingthethresholdforgeneratingthenotification.
Note: StartingwithBlueScale12.7.01,TS11x0technologycleaningtapes
arealwaystreatedasMLM‐enabledbytheBlueScalesoftware.
Important
LTO-5 and later generation drives support a new 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
Preparing LTO-5 Data Cartridges
to use LTFS on page 222 for detailed information about how support for LTFS
impacts MLM.