C Barcode Labels Overview

This appendix describes the requirements for tape barcode labels used in Oracle's StorageTek tape libraries. All tapes must have a proper barcode label. Mis-aligned, mis-oriented, or improperly-labeled tapes may cause equipment damage.

Contents

• Barcode Standards

• Label Design

• Label Care

See Also

• "Volume Label Format Options"

Barcode Standards

StorageTek libraries use labels based on the Code 39 barcode standard (refer to ANSI/AIM BC1/1995, Uniform Symbology Specification - Code 39). This standard uses discrete barcodes, meaning a fixed pattern of bars represents a single character. Each character is composed of five black and four white bars, where three bars are wider than the others.For example, Figure C-1 represents the letter A using six narrow bars and three wide bars (two black and one white).

Figure C-1 Code 39 Barcode Standard — Letter A

When multiple barcode characters are arranged together as a label, a narrow white bar is placed between the individual characters. This bar is called the inter-character gap.

Figure C-2 Code 39 Barcode Standard — Inter-Character Gap

Label Design

Each label must have a six-character volume serial ID (vol-id) and a one- or two-character media ID. The media ID identifies the tape type. The labels can only use the uppercase letters A through Z, the numbers 0 through 9, and an asterisk (*) for the start and stop character (for example, *ABC123L6*, where ABC123 is the vol-id and L6 is the media ID).

The StorageTek T-series tape labels made by Tri-optic use a dollar sign ($) as the start and stop character. Never use the asterisk or dollar sign as part of the customer-defined characters of a barcode. Barcode algorithms only decode the characters between the end stops, ignoring any characters outside. Refer to the table below for examples.

Table C-1 Start and Stop Character Placement

Actual Barcode Label	After Decoding	Result
*ABC123L6*	ABC123L6	Correct label
*ABC*23L6*	ABC	Misplaced stop character
*ABC1234L6	Unreadable	No stop character

Figure C-3 Barcode Placement Standards (T10000 and LTO)

1. Start character

2. Volume ID

3. Media ID

4. Stop character

LTO Labels

These tapes require an eight-character label — a six-character vol-id and a two-character media ID. The media ID characters are:

• L5 = Generation 5

• L6 = Generation 6

• L7 = Generation 7

• L8 = Generation 8

• LV = Generation 5 WORM

• LW = Generation 6 WORM

• LX = Generation 7 WORM

• LY = Generation 8 WORM

• CU = Universal cleaning

T10000 Labels

These tapes require an eight-character label — a six-character vol-id and a two-character media ID. The media ID characters are:

• T1 = T10000 A/B data

• T2 = T10000 C/D data

• TS = T10000 A/B sport

• TT = T10000 C/D sport

• CT = cleaning (A and B only)

• CL = universal cleaning

Cleaning and Diagnostic Labels

Cleaning and diagnostic tapes require unique labels to distinguish them from data tapes. The first three alphanumeric characters in the vol-id determine the type of tape.

• Cleaning tapes — use CLNnnn for the vol-id plus the cleaning-specific media ID, where CLN is the cleaning tape identifier and nnn is a sequence of numbers (for example, CLN001CU could be an LTO cleaning tape label).

• Diagnostic tapes — use DG[space]nnn plus the media ID, where DG[space] is the diagnostic tape identifier, and nnn is a sequence of numbers (for example, DG 001L6 could be an LTO6 diagnostic tape label).

Tape Label Examples

Figure C-4 Example Tape Labels

1. Data tapes

2. Cleaning tapes

3. Diagnostic tapes

Label Care

Proper label care is required to prevent barcode read errors or damage to the equipment:

• Keep the barcode intact. Do not mark or damage the barcode label or place any kind of tape across the label.

• Remove old labels completely before applying a new label. Do not apply a new label on top of an old one.

• Do not use sharp instruments to seat or remove a label.