From 0912878ecf57d8e47863a2ef81f8d50ec383aecd Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Dietmar Maurer Date: Wed, 6 Jan 2021 14:11:35 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] tape: document new export-slots feature --- docs/tape-backup.rst | 42 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 42 insertions(+) diff --git a/docs/tape-backup.rst b/docs/tape-backup.rst index 9fe75813..2fd3c2ba 100644 --- a/docs/tape-backup.rst +++ b/docs/tape-backup.rst @@ -209,6 +209,48 @@ To test your setup, please query the status of the changer device with:: │ slot │ 16 │ │ │ └───────────────┴──────────┴────────────┴─────────────┘ +Tape libraries usually provide some special import/export slots (also +called "mail slots"). Tapes inside those slots are acessible from +outside, making it easy to add/remove tapes to/from the library. Those +tapes are considered to be "offline", so backup jobs will not use +them. Those special slots are auto-detected and marked as +``import-export`` slot in the status command. + +It's worth noting that some of the smaller tape libraries don't have +such slots. While they have something called "Mail Slot", that slot +is just a way to grab the tape from the gripper. But they are unable +to hold media while the robot does other things. They also do not +expose that "Mail Slot" over the SCSI interface, so you wont see them in +the status output. + +As a workaround, you can mark some of the normal slots as export +slot. The software treats those slots like real ``import-export`` +slots, and the media inside those slots is considered to be 'offline' +(not available for backup):: + + # proxmox-tape changer update sl3 --export-slots 15,16 + +After that, you can see those artificial ``import-export`` slots in +the status output:: + + # proxmox-tape changer status sl3 + ┌───────────────┬──────────┬────────────┬─────────────┐ + │ entry-kind │ entry-id │ changer-id │ loaded-slot │ + ╞═══════════════╪══════════╪════════════╪═════════════╡ + │ drive │ 0 │ vtape1 │ 1 │ + ├───────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼─────────────┤ + │ import-export │ 15 │ │ │ + ├───────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼─────────────┤ + │ import-export │ 16 │ │ │ + ├───────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼─────────────┤ + │ slot │ 1 │ │ │ + ├───────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼─────────────┤ + │ slot │ 2 │ vtape2 │ │ + ├───────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼─────────────┤ + │ ... │ ... │ │ │ + ├───────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼─────────────┤ + │ slot │ 14 │ │ │ + └───────────────┴──────────┴────────────┴─────────────┘ Tape drives