Is there any command to tell you which LPAR has a tape drive assigned?
Problem report:
"This morning when I was checking the tapes on the different systems, I
found that VMBACKUP on VMDEV2 was stuck. I found there was a problem with
drive 366. There was a mount pending for VMBACKUP. I put all the backup
jobs on HOLD. That did not kill the pending VMTAPE mount. I issued a
CANCEL for the mount and the response said that a cancel was already
queued. This generally implies a mess. I looked at the VMTAPE console and
found the following
09:38:10 VMBACKUP 326 VMTTIC499A Dev 0366 DRIVE ASSIGNED ELSEWHERE.
09:38:10 VMBACKUP 326 VMTTIC078A INTERVENTION REQUIRED on 366.
Unfortunately when a drive is assigned elsewhere, you need a crystal ball
to find out where. The drive was attached to VMTAPE and MIM said that
VMTAPE on VMDEV2 had it. I went to VMDEV3 and tried to attached the drive
to myself. It said it was assigned elsewhere."
Alan (dot) Ackerman (at) Bank of America (dot) com
We did figure out who had the tape drive assigned. We are testing CA-BAB
(Brightore Archive Backup) on a Linux guest, and it turns on the ASSIGN
bit. BAB has a bug that sometimes fails to turn off the ASSIGN bit when i
t
is done with the drive.
But, short of running around to all LPARs and all guests, how were we
supposed to figure out who has the drive assigned?
Would this be worth a SHARE requirement? Or did we just overlook some
command?
On Thu, 18 Aug 2005 13:43:47 +0200, Kris Buelens <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
wrote:
>ASSIGN is a CCW to "protect" a drive when connected to multiple systems.
>When a drive is ASSIGNed, other systems cannot access the device.
>
>In the very old past (pre VM/ESA), VM (and other operating systems) did
an
>ASSIGN as soon as the drive was placed online. VM changed this to
>postpone the ASSIGN until the drive is attached to a guest. At least,
>that's the default, you can use ATTACH NOASSIGN to keep an attached dri
ve
>still "free" for other systems.
>
>Kris,
>IBM Belgium, VM customer support
>
>
>
>
>Tom Cluster <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Sent by: VM/ESA and z/VM Discussions <[email protected]>
>2005-08-18 07:14
>Please respond to
>VM/ESA and z/VM Discussions
>
>
>To
>[email protected]
>cc
>
>Subject
>VARY ONLINE w/ASSIGN - 3590 tape
>
>
>
>
>
>
>We're getting 3590 drives, so I'm reviewing the 3590 bucket, which
>contains VM63285. It speaks of a problem that's encountered when you
>vary a 3590 online using the ASSIGN option. This is a new option to
>me, and when I look at the doc for VARY it doesn't explain it enough
>for me to really understand what it does. (The default is
>NOASSIGN.) Elsewhere I saw a reference to "tape drives that support
>the ASSIGN option." Apparently the 3590 is such a drive. Is this
>related to the ability to have a drive attached to more than one
>guest at the same time?
>
>- Tom.
>
>Tom Cluster
>County of Sonoma
>Santa Rosa, CA
>(707) 565-3384 (Tuesdays and Wednesdays only)
>========================
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