NAME

ltfs - Linear Tape File System support

AVAILABILITY

SUNWsamfs

DESCRIPTION

Oracle HSM can manage Linear Tape File Systems (LTFS) media. These volumes are only used for accessing customer data; Oracle HSM does not currently use LTFS volumes for archives.

For a volume to be considered as LTFS media, its must have the following Oracle HSM attributes: 1) it is unlabeled, 2) it is non-SAM, 3) it is marked as LTFS, and 4) it must be formatted with an LTFS file system.

Content Access

Oracle HSM has the ability to access the contents of LTFS media through a QFS file system. The contents of the media can be accessed on demand or bulk-loaded.

The samltfs command has two subcommands enabling content access. The first, attach, copies the file system meta-data from the LTFS volume into a empty directory on an Oracle HSM file system. The attached file meta-data in the Oracle HSM file system is associated with the LTFS media and the associated file. It is managed like any other Oracle HSM file. When the file is accessed on the Oracle HSM file system, the file is staged from the LTFS media. After the file's contents have been staged, the association with the LTFS media remains. It is also treated like any other file with regard to the archival and space management policies for the Oracle HSM file system.

To bulk-load the media's contents to A Oracle HSM file system, the samltfs command provides an ingest subcommand. It behaves similiarly to the attach subcommand, but after the media's contents are attached to the Oracle HSM file system, the contents are immediately scheduled to be staged.

Media Access

If the customer wishes to access the contents of a piece of LTFS media without copying the contents into an Oracle HSM file system, the samltfs command provides a load subcommand. This subcommand loads the specified LTFS media on a drive and mounts its file system. The customer can directly access the media's contents through the mounted file system. The unload subcommand is used to unmount the media and unload the media from the drive.

Media Management

If the customer needs to manage the LTFS media, the samltfs command provides three additional subcommands. The mkltfs subcommand is used to partition the media and create its file system. Conversely, the unltfs subcommand will erase the file system from the media and restore its partitions. If the customer suspects that the LTFS media is corrupted, the ltfsck subcommand will perform a basic file system check.

IMPORT AND EXPORT

The Oracle HSM import (1m) command has the capability of identifying LTFS media when the media is imported. No special support is necessary to export LTFS media.

SYSTEM LOG

The System Log (syslog) is used to record mount and processing status. It uses syslog's user facility. The following or similar needs to be added to ∕etc∕syslog.conf making sure the two fields are separated by a tab:

user.debug      ∕var∕adm∕sam-ltfs.log

That log's aging needs to be addressed based on the customer's requirements.

CONFIGURATION

LTFS support is not enabled by default. At a minimum a ltfs mount point must be specified in the defaults configuration. See defaults.conf (4) for more information.

EXAMPLE

Here is an example defaults.conf entry for ltfs which sets the number of concurrent tape accesses to 10 and the unload timeout to 10 minutes (600 seconds):

      #
      # This is part of file: ∕etc∕opt∕SUNWsamfs∕defaults.conf
      #

      ltfs = ∕mnt∕ltfs 10 600

FILES

defaults.conf: The configuration file for the StorageTek QFS and Oracle HSM software.