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5.5.1 Unlocking a Drive

A drive's administrative state can be unlocked to allow HPSS to make use of a drive. Before unlocking a drive, ensure that its hardware is functional and is fully configured into its host's operating system and into HPSS. Configuration of an HPSS drive is described in 5.2 Adding a New Drive.

From the HPSS Devices and Drives window (Figure 5-1 HPSS Devices and Drives Window), select the desired device/drive entries and then click on the Unlock button from the Drive button group. The drive can also be unlocked by bringing up the PVL Drive Information window and set its Administrative State to Unlocked .

5.5.2 Locking a Tape Drive

Locking a drive disallows its use by HPSS. Changing a drive's state to locked will ensure that the drive will not be used for new mounts, but it will not cause the dismount of any cartridges currently on the drive. The drive will be unloaded when the current client using the drive completes and dismounts.

A drive which is currently mounted can be locked. Locking a drive will not affect an active job which has a volume mounted. Once that job has completed, the drive will be dismounted and no further mounts will take place. This may be useful when preventative maintenance is required for an operating drive.

From the HPSS Devices and Drives window (Figure 5-1 HPSS Devices and Drives Window), select the appropriate device/drive entry and then click on the Drive Lock button. The drive can also be locked by bringing up the PVL Drive Information window and set its Administrative State to Locked.

Always lock the tape drive instead of the tape device. The Mover devices do not need to be locked or unlocked.

5.5.3 Repairing the State of a Device/Drive

A drive can enter an error or suspect state as viewed by the PVL, Mover, or both. After a drive has entered one of these abnormal states, it can be reset to return it to a normal state.

From the HPSS Devices and Drives window (Figure 5-1 HPSS Devices and Drives Window), select the device/drive entry and then click on the Mark Repaired button appropriate for that drive type. Another way to change a device/drive state to "repaired" is to bring up the Drive Information window (Figure 5-3 PVL Drive Information Window), then the Mover Device Information window (Figure 5-4 Mover Device Information Window) and change the Administrative State to Mark Repaired .

Repairing the state of a device/drive is only an instruction to the server to reset the device/drive state value. It does not correct any underlying problems that might still exist. Rather, it is a means by which the administrator can notify the server that the underlying problem has been addressed. It is used for problems that the server cannot fix by itself or problems that have been fixed unbeknownst to the server, such as a drive being offline or a tape getting stuck in a drive.

5.5.4 Resetting Drive Statistics

Both the PVL and Mover maintain statistics related to a drive. The PVL maintains an error count as well as a count of the number of times a cartridge is mounted. The Mover maintains the count of the number of errors encountered and the number of bytes read and written on the drive. These values can all be reset to zero by the Reset button located next to the statistic field on the appropriate window.