Spectra T950 - Page 503

Appendix A — Best Practices MLM Best Practices
November 2016 User Guide—Spectra T950 Library
503
Use only Spectra Certified
Media with MLM support (both
data and cleaning cartridges)
in the library
Toensurethebestpossibleperformance,useSpectraCertified
Media.ChecktheSpectraLogicwebsiteforthemostup‐to‐date
mediaavailability.Donotuseanymediathatisnotapprovedby
SpectraLogicforuseinthelibrary.
ThelibraryusesinformationintheMLMdatabasetomonitorthe
healthofthemediainthelibrary.ForMLM‐enabledmedia,the
detailedhealthreportsletyoudeterminewhetheraparticulardata
cartridgeispastitsusefulthresholdordeterminewhethera
particularcartridgeisexperiencinghigherrorsratesorretries.For
MLM‐enabledcleaningcartridges,youarenotifiedwhena
cartridge
isapproachingtheendofitsusefullife.
AlthoughMLMtracksthegeneralhealthofmediathatisnotMLM‐
enabled,detailedhealthinformationisnotavailableforthismedia.
Do not routinely share LTO-4
media between LTO-4 and
LTO - 5 o r la t e r g e ne ration
drives
BeginningwithBlueScale12.0.7,afteranLTO‐4cartridgeisloaded
intoanLTO‐5orlatergenerationdrive,thealgorithmusedto
calculatethemediahealthscorewheneverthecartridgeis
subsequentlyloadedinanLTO‐4driveisadjustedtomaintain
consistentmediahealthreportingregardlessofthegenerationdrive

usedwiththecartridge.
AsabestpracticeforyourLTO‐4media,SpectraLogicrecommends
thatyouconfigureLTO‐4drivesinseparatepartitionsfromLTO‐5
andlatergenerationdrivesandthatyoudonotroutinelyshare
LTO‐4mediabetweenLTO‐4andLTO‐5orlater
generationdrives.
Do not reformat LTO-5 data
cartridges to use LTFS until
after each cartridge is loaded
into an LTO-5 drive
LTO‐5andlatergenerationdrivessupportatapeformatcalled
LinearTapeFileSystem(LTFS).
LTFSusesanareaintheLTO‐5cartridgeMAMthatwaspreviously
usedforMLMdata.BeforereformattingLTO‐5cartridgestouse
LTFS,makesuretheyareproperlypreparedbyloadingandthen

unloadingeachcartridgeintoanLTO‐5drivethatisusingfirmware
versionB6W0orlater,beforeyoureformatthecartridges.
Always operate the library
with Media Lifecycle
Management enabled
Ifyoudisableandthe nre‐enableMediaLifecycleManagement,any
loads,reads,writes,errors,and anyothertaperelatedeventsthat
occurwhileMLMisdisabledarenotre cordedintheMLMdatabase.
Guideline Description