TSM Tape Library related Interview Questions and Answers

This is the continuation for the previous post IBM Spectrum Protect Basic Interview Questions. If you need to learn IBM Spectrum Protect freely visit the page Tivoli Storage Manager Tutorials. 

16) Common reasons for Tape Library issues ?

    

Check if 

• Has the o/s changed.

• Has the host bus adaptor Or scsi adapter connecting to the device updated or replaced.

• Has the adapter  firmware changed

• Has the cabling between the computer and device changed

• Are any of the cable connections loose

• Has the device driver changed

17) What to do if drive goes offline ?

Try to make it online using update drive command

Update drive libraryname  drivename  online=yes.

If it is not coming to online then do power cycling means power on/off.

18) How to check the actlog for hardware errors ?

      Run the follwoing command to find the hardware and tape drive errors

      q actlog se=hardware begind=-1

19)  What to u do when the drive paths are offline?

Update the drive path by using

Update path sourcename destinationname sourcetype=server destinationtype=drive library=libraryname  online=yes

20) How to define a library ?

define libray libraryname  libtype=scsi shared=yes/no  

define drive libraryname drivename

21) How to define a path for library ?

define path sourcename  destinationname sourcetype=server  destinationtype=library device=devicename

22) How to define drive ?

define drive libraryname drivename  online=yes/no

23) How to define drive path ?

define path sourcename destinationname sourcetype=server  destinationtype=drive library=libraryname device=device name

24) How to checkin tapes into library?

checkin libvol libraryname volumename  search=no/yes/bulk  status=private/scratch checklabel=yes

Yes: server searches inside the library for volumes that are to be checked in.

Bulk: server searches for the library I/o ports  that are to be checked in automatically.

25) How to checkout tapes from library ?

checkout libvol libraryname volumename  remove=yes/no/bulk.

26) How to Label a volume ?

label libvol libraryname volumename checkin=scratch labelsource=barcode  checklabel=yes/barcoede  search=yes/no/bulk

27) How to define a device class ?

define deviceclass deviceclassname  devicetype=file directory=/filedev/  maxcapacity=sizeinmb (if it is a file device class)

define deviceclass deviceclassname  devicetype=lto  libr=libraryname (if it is a Tape device class)

28) How to audit library ?

audit library libraryname checklabel=barcode/yes

If checklabel=barcode, then it will audit by using only checking barcode labels, if you specify YES, it will read the inside the label of each tape volume in order to audit the library.

29) How to Audit volume ?

audit volume volumename fix=yes/no

If you use fix=yes, then TSM will delete the data which is corrupted and if you use fix=no, TSM will only report the damaged data information but will not delete it.

30) what will u do when the library is full ?

• First check  if all the DR volumes are checked out from the library and sent to offsite by using command

                            q drmedia  *  where state=mountable

• Otherwise use move data command to move the data manually.

• Start reclamation and see if it generates any scratch tapes.

• Check out all the primary storage tapes with status=FULL to make room for  scratch tapes.