How STA Tracks and Reports Media Validation

STA uses a queue to track media validation requests. STA reports the current state, initiator, and results of the test.

Media Validation Request Queue

Based on the policies enabled, STA automatically selects media to validate and places it on the media validation queue. Once compatible media validation drive becomes available, STA initiates validation for the media.

If you remove drives, media, or library connections from your tape library system, any associated pending STA validation requests remain in the request queue until you explicitly cancel them.

See Manage the Media Validation Requests Queue.

Media Validation Request States

As STA processes the validation request, it updates the media's state. Requests are typically processed through the following sequence:

  • Pending – The request has been submitted and is waiting for a compatible validation drive to come available. The MV Status Information attribute may display additional details.

  • Starting – The drive has been reserved for the validation operation.

  • In-Progress – The validation is in progress. The MV Time Spent Validating and MV Estimated Time Remaining attributes are continually updated as the operation proceeds.

  • Completed – The validation has completed.

In addition, the following Request States may occur at any time:

  • Error – An error has occurred with the request. The Request Status Information attribute may display additional details.

  • Stopping, or Stop Requested – The request has been stopped, either manually or by a media request from a host application.

Media Validation Initiators

Media validation can be started by other applications. The Initiator attribute indicates the source of the media validation. Options are as follows:

  • Drive – Indicates the validation was initiated directly on the T10000C or T10000D drive.

  • Host – Indicates an external host application, such as Oracle's StorageTek Storage Archive Manager (SAM). These applications do not use the internal media validation capabilities of the T10000C and T10000D drives.

  • Library – Indicates the library command-line interface (CLI). Only Oracle support representatives are authorized to initiate media validations through the CLI. However, library administrators can use the CLI to cancel pending or in-progress validations. See the applicable Library Guide for details.

  • SLC – Indicates SL Console.

  • STA – Indicates STA.

Media Validation Results

When a validation completes, the media is returned to a media slot, and STA displays the results and recommendations for user action. Following are attributes on the Media Validation Overview screen that you may find useful for interpreting validation results, particularly for validations that result in errors.

MV Result

STA assigns one of the following values to each completed validation:

  • Use – The media passed validation.

  • Degraded – Migrate the data and scratch the media.

  • Failed – Migrate the data and disposition the media according to your site's policies.

  • Unknown – May occur in the following situations:

    The validation was canceled by STA or interrupted by a host request for the media.
    An error occurred during the validation.
    Communication between STA and the library was interrupted during the validation.
    The media information record (MIR) is corrupted.
    The validation was initiated by an application other than STA and STA has not received sufficient information from the library to determine the result.
MV DQI

The data quality index (DQI) is a measure of the amount of error correction left on the media, computed by STA based on the results of the validation. This value is expressed as a percentage, with a higher value indicating a better result. This attribute is blank in the following cases:

  • The validation is a Basic Verify.

  • The validation resulted in an media validation Perm Status of True.

  • The validation resulted in an Invalid MIR error.

MV Recommendation

This attribute includes recommendations from STA for user action. Following are some messages you may see.

  • Media OK: continue using.

  • Media Degraded--Perform Qualification.

  • Corrupted MIR: Rebuild MIR and Re-run Media Validation.

  • Disposition Drive.

  • Permanent error encountered: Perform drive qualification.

  • Not enough data to determine MV results. Rerun media validation.

  • Degraded Media: Rerun Media Validation Using a Different Drive.

  • Media Validation Interrupted.

MV Status Information

This attribute is usually blank but may contain information about issues that occurred with the validation request. It may explain the problem or suggest corrective action to take. Following are some messages you may see:

  • Drive Timeout; MDV manager cancel – Indicates STA requested the library to return the media to a media slot because the validation took more than nine hours to complete. This is usually the result of a library operational error. If the Read Percentage attribute for the validation exchange is less than 100 percent, then the validation did not complete. If this status recurs for the media, there is probably an issue with the media; if it recurs for the drive, there is probably an issue with the drive.

  • Library returned error code – Indicates an error code returned by the library while processing the validation request. The error code is also listed in the Library Error attribute.