How to configure external tape drives in TSM

Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) also supports external tape drives such as StorageTek VolSafe Ultrium drives, these type of drives use media that cannot be overwritten. IBM recommends not to use these kind of media for short-term backups of client backups, server database, or export tapes. There are two methods for using VolSafe media and drives. 

• Define a device class using the DEFINE DEVCLASS command and specify DEVTYPE=VOLSAFE. You can use this device class with EXTERNAL, SCSI, and ACSLS libraries. All drives in a library must be enabled for VolSafe use.

• Define a device class using the DEFINE DEVCLASS command, and specify DEVTYPE=ECARTRIDGE and WORM=YES. 

• For VolSafe devices, WORM=YES is required and must be specified when the device class is defined. You cannot update the WORM parameter using the UPDATE DEVCLASS command. You cannot specify DRIVEENCRYPTION=ON if your drives are using WORM media.

To configure a VolSafe device in a SCSI library using the DEVTYPE=ECARTRIDGE parameter, follow this below steps

• Define a library

         define library TSMLIB libtype=scsi

• Define a drive

          define drive TSMLIB drive01

• Define a path:

• Define a device class:

How to enable encryption on Ecartridge Drives

The DRIVEENCRYPTION parameter specifies whether drive encryption is enabled. This parameter ensures Tivoli Storage Manager compatibility with hardware encryption settings for empty volumes.

Tivoli Storage Manager supports the Application method of encryption with Sun StorageTek T10000B drives. The Library method of encryption is supported only if your system hardware supports it.  You cannot use drive encryption with write-once, read-many (WORM) media.

Also Read: Monitoring and Managing Tape Volumes

The Application method, in which Tivoli Storage Manager generates and manages encryption keys, is defined through the hardware. To use the Application method, set the DRIVEENCRYPTION parameter to ON. This setting permits the encryption of data for empty volumes. If the parameter is set to ON and the hardware is configured for another encryption method, backup operations fail. 

• Define a library:

• Define a device class, ECART_ENCRYPT, and specify Tivoli Storage Manager as the key manager:

• Define a storage pool

           define stgpool ecart_encrypt_pool ecartencrypt 

To disable encryption on new volumes, set the DRIVEENCRYPTION parameter to OFF. The default value is ALLOW. You can use drive encryption for empty volumes if another method of encryption is enabled.