Supported Storage Devices

The SAM-QFS environment supports a wide variety of tape storage and magneto-optical devices. The automated libraries that SAM-QFS supports can be divided into the following groups, depending on how they are attached to the environment:

• Direct attachment — A direct-attached library is connected directly to the host system using a Small Computer System Interface (SCSI). This connection can be either a direct connection or a Fibre Channel connection. For example, a direct attachment is used for StorageTek libraries from Oracle. The SAM-QFS system controls these libraries directly by using the SCSI standard for automated libraries.

• Network attachment — The SAM-QFS software can be configured as a client of the library's host system. The network-attached libraries include some of the StorageTek, ADIC/Grau, IBM, and Sony libraries. These libraries use a software package that is supplied by the vendor. In these cases, the SAM-QFS software works with the vendor software by using a daemon that is designed for the automated library.

The relationships between the devices that are managed within the SAM-QFS environment are defined in the master configuration file, /etc/opt/SUNWsamfs/mcf. The mcf file specifies the removable media devices, libraries, and file systems that are included in the SAM-QFS environment. Each piece of equipment is assigned a unique equipment identifier in the mcf file. Entries in the mcf file also define manually mounted archiving devices and automated library catalog files.

When possible, the system uses the standard Oracle Solaris disk and tape device drivers. For devices that are not directly supported in the Oracle Solaris OS, such as certain library and optical disc devices, the SAM-QFS software packages include special device drivers.

For a list of supported storage devices, contact your Oracle sales representative. For information about configuring storage devices, see Chapter 2, Configuring Storage Devices for Archiving.