Configuring Recycling on Removable Media Cartridges

If you are recycling archive copies on cartridges in a library, create a recycler.cmd file.

If you are recycling by archive set, configure each library in the recycler.cmd file. This ensures that VSNs that do not fall into an archive set and can be recycled if needed.

Create a recycler.sh file to complete the operation.

Creating a recycler.cmd File

The recycler.cmd file contains general recycling directives. It can also contain directives for each library in the SAM-QFS environment. A typical recycler.cmd file contains the following directive lines:

• A logfile= directive to specify a recycler log file.

• One or more directives for each library that contains volumes to be recycled. This line must contain the family set name (from the mcf file) for the library being recycled. The family set name identifies the library to the recycler.

• During testing, include the ignore keyword. You remove the ignore keyword later.

As the root user, add one or more directive to the /etc/opt/SUNWsamfs/recycler.cmd file.

As an alternative, you can create a recycler.cmd file using SAM-QFS Manager software. For more information, see the SAM-QFS Manager online help.

Example 16-1 Sample recycler.cmd File

logfile = /usr/tmp/recycler.log
stk30 -hwm 51 -mingain 60 -ignore -mail root

The recycler.cmd file accepts the directives described in the following sections:

• logfile Directive: Specifying a Log File

• no_recycle Directive: Preventing Recycling

• library Directive: Specifying Recycling for an Automated Library

logfile Directive: Specifying a Log File

The logfile directive creates a recycler log file. This directive has the following format:

logfile = filename

For filename, specify the path to the log file.

The following is an example of a logfile= directive line:

logfile=/var/adm/recycler.log

Example 16-2 Sample Recycler Log File for Removable Media Cartridges

The following example shows a sample recycler log file for recycling removable media cartridges.

========== Recycler begins at Wed Dec 12 14:05:21 2001 ===========
Initial 2 catalogs:
0 Family: m160 Path: /var/opt/SUNWsamfs/catalog/m160
Vendor: ADIC Product: Scalar 100
SLOT ty capacity space vsn
0 at 25.0G 25.0G CLN005
1 at 48.5G 6.1G 000003
2 at 48.5G 32.1G 000004
3 at 48.5G 35.1G 000005
4 at 48.5G 44.6G 000044
5 at 48.5G 45.1G 000002
6 at 48.5G 45.9G 000033
7 at 48.5G 48.5G 000001
Total Capacity: 364.8G bytes, Total Space Available: 282.3G bytes
Volume utilization 22%, high 95% VSN_min 50%
Recycling is ignored on this robot.
1 Family: hy Path: /var/opt/SUNWsamfs/catalog/historian
Vendor: Sun SAM-FS Product: Historian
SLOT ty capacity space vsn
(no VSNs in this media changer)
Total Capacity: 0 bytes, Total Space Available: 0 bytes
Volume utilization 0%, high 95% VSN_min 50%
Recycling is ignored on this robot.
8 VSNs:
---Archives--- -----Percent----- m160
----Status----- Count Bytes Use Obsolete Free Library:Type:VSN
no-data VSN 0 0 0 87 13 m160:at:000003
no-data VSN 0 0 0 33 67 m160:at:000004
no-data VSN 0 0 0 27 73 m160:at:000005
no-data VSN 0 0 0 8 92 m160:at:000044
no-data VSN 0 0 0 7 93 m160:at:000002
no-data VSN 0 0 0 5 95 m160:at:000033
empty VSN 0 0 0 0 100 m160:at:CLN005
empty VSN 0 0 0 0 100 m160:at:000001
Recycler finished.
========== Recycler ends at Wed Dec 12 14:05:32 2001 ===========

no_recycle Directive: Preventing Recycling

The no_recycle directive disables recycling of volumes. This directive has the following format:

no_recycle media-type VSN-regexP [VSN-regexP...]

The following example excludes any tape volumes whose VSN identifiers begin with DLT:

no_recycle lt DLT.*

library Directive: Specifying Recycling for an Automated Library

The library directive enables you to specify various recycling parameters for the VSNs associated with a specific library. This directive has the following format:

library parameter [parameter...]

For library, specify the library's name as specified in the family set field of the mcf file.

For parameter, specify one or more space-separated parameter keywords from the following table.

Example 16-3 library Directive

The following example specifies the following for library gr47:

• The library qualifies for recycling when the volumes in the library are 85 percent full.

• The minimum percent gain is 40 percent.

• Only one volume is to be recycled. This is also a default setting.

• Recycling messages are emailed to root.

• No more than 1 gigabyte is to be re-archived. This value is the default, so it is not specified in the recycler.cmd file.

gr47 -hwm 85 -ignore -mail root -mingain 40

The following sections describe the parameters.

-hwm Parameter

By specifying a high-water mark, you set the percentage of media usage below which recycling cannot occur. This percentage is the ratio of the used space in the library to its total capacity. For example, a library that holds ten 20-gigabyte tapes, three of them 100 percent full and the remaining seven each 30 percent full, has the following media utilization percentage:

((3* 1.00 + 7 * 0.30) * 20G ) / ( 10 * 20G ) * 100%= 51%

This calculation does not distinguish between current data and expired data. It addresses only the amount of media used.

In the example, when the utilization percentage is 51 percent or less, the recycler does not automatically select any of the automated library's VSNs for recycling.

You can force a VSN to be recycled by using the following command to set the recycling flag:

# chmed +c lt. VSN

When the +c flag is set, the archiver does not write any more archive images to the volume. The +c flag can be viewed through the samu utility. For more information, see chmed(1M) in Sun QFS and Sun Storage Archive Manager Reference Manual and samu(1M) in Sun QFS and Sun Storage Archive Manager Reference Manual. For information about using the samu(1M) operator utility, see the Sun QFS File System 5.3 Configuration and Administration Guide.

-mingain Parameter

The minimum VSN gain percentage sets a lower limit on the amount of space to be gained by recycling a cartridge. For example, if a cartridge in an automated library is 95 percent current data and 5 percent is efficient, setting the minimum gain to 6 percent or more inhibits the recycler from automatically selecting this VSN.

-ignore Parameter

The -ignore parameter disables the recycler for a particular library. Use it while you are configuring and testing the recycler.

-mail Parameter

The -mail parameter specifies that the recycler sends email messages when recycling occurs on a library. The email message has the following subject line:

Robot robot-name recycle

Example 16-4 Sample Recycling Messages

I will recycle VSN vsn.
Cannot find any candidate VSN in this media changer.
Previously selected VSN _vsn_ is not yet finished recycling.
Previously selected VSN _vsn_ is now finished recycling. It will now be post-recycled.

Creating a recycler.sh File

If you are archiving on removable media cartridges, create a recycler.sh file.

If you are archiving only to disk, do not perform this step.

Determine your site's policy for recycled cartridges. Some sites relabel and reuse the cartridges and some sites remove the cartridges from the automated library to use later for accessing historical files.

The recycler executes the recycler.sh script when all the current images from a VSN have been re-archived to another VSN.

The recycler calls the /opt/SUNWsamfs/scripts/recycler.sh script with the following arguments:

Media type: $1 VSN: $2 Slot: $3 Eq: $4

For examples of the script, see recycler.sh(1M) in Sun QFS and Sun Storage Archive Manager Reference Manual or view the /opt/SUNWsamfs/examples/recycler.sh script, which shows how to relabel a recycled VSN and send mail to the superuser.