TapeSaver®
Intelligent Storage Management Software
TapeSaver is a rule-based system, with rules that are easy to define and maintain, giving you complete control over the stacking process. Using Boolean logic and any attribute of the tape management catalog, you define rules that determine what gets stacked, when stacking occurs and placement of data to the appropriate device. Extensive wild-card capabilities help automate the selection of input and output files and volumes.
AT-A-GLANCE
- Tape dataset consolidation
- Dramatically reduce number of offsite tapes
- Interactive definition of rules based administration
- Flexible, selective stacking
- Scratch protection
FEATURES
- Tape Dataset Consolidation
TapeSaver is usually implemented in phases. Initially, TapeSaver should be used to reduce the number of volumes in your tape library. You can combine multiple datasets onto one tape, reel, or cartridge. Consolidation results in fewer tape volumes within the library and frees up tapes that can be returned to the scratch pool. Consolidation more than pays for the cost of TapeSaver in most data centers.
- Reduce Number of Offsite Tapes
In the second phase, you can use TapeSaver to reduce the number of required offsite storage slots. Because you need fewer slots, you save money. Also in the second phase, many users group related files in their tape libraries to improve its organization.
- Improved Efficiency from ATLs
As a third phase, TapeSaver users begin to manage the contents of any available automated tape library (ATL). Simple stacking tape datasets onto ATL cartridges can increase the capacity of the ATL from two to ten-fold, depending on the make-up of the tape datasets contained in the ATL. Increased automated capacity results in lower operator interventions.
You buy an automated tape device to reduce operator intervention and smooth out service levels; TapeSaver lets you focus that capability where it counts!
- Interactive Definition of Rules
All TapeSaver actions are performed according to a set of rules that you create and maintain. These rules specify which datasets are candidates for stacking or moving, how related files are grouped on tapes, and other operational parameters. You create and maintain these rules through TapeSaver’s simple, easy-to-use ISPF panels. Context-sensitive help is always available from the panels.
- Standardized Rules
In addition to rules designed for specific tasks, you can define a set of rules that TapeSaver applies to every execution. This allows you to enforce company-wide standards. For example, if you want to make sure that datasets created by proprietary software are never moved, specify this in the @MASTER set of rules. Since TapeSaver applies this set of rules to every execution, company standards are always enforced at all times. You can have two separate sets of standards; one for tape datasets and another for DASD datasets.
- Unattended Implementation of Rules
Once you have a set of rules that meet your objectives, you can run a job without any user intervention. You run the TapeSaver job at off-peak hours. TapeSaver integrates with any scheduling package so once your rules are set up, the execution of these rules can be automated.
- Analysis of the Effectiveness of Rules
TapeSaver lets you review the potential effectiveness of a set of rules through its Analysis feature. You run the analysis, review the results, and decide which set of rules most efficiently achieves your processing goals.
- Generate Pull Lists
After determining which set of rules you want to process, you can generate two pull lists:
- Tape Pull List in Volser Order allows you to retrieve the tapes from the library in VOLSER order.
- Tape Pull List in Usage Order allows you to sequence the tapes in the order they will be used during stacking.
- Together, these two reports make stacking easy to implement. You retrieve the correct tapes quickly and sequence them so that they are easy to find when they must be mounted.
- Flexible, Selective Stacking
TapeSaver gives you adaptable control over the data in your tape library because it offers great flexibility in the kind of rules you create. You can choose the tape medium, the hardware type, and the other datasets with which a dataset is stacked.
- Advanced Handling of Cycle Control Datasets
TapeSaver provides a facility that improves on the CA-1 TMSCYCLE facility. Without TapeSaver, multi-file volumes containing CCDs may be scratched before all the datasets on the volume have expired. With the TapeSaver TSCYCLE facility, tapes are not scratched until all of the files on the volume have expired.
- Dual Copy
TapeSaver allows you to create an extra copy of critical datasets after they are stacked or moved. This dual copy can act as a back-up.
- Stacking from DASD
DiskSaver is an optional component of TapeSaver that allows you to free up space on DASD volumes. With DiskSaver, you select candidate disk datasets, stack them on tape, and delete the original disk copy. DiskSaver lets you select the DASD volumes that you want to use for your selection.
- Scratch Protection
TapeSaver prevents a problem that occurs only in CA-1 environments. In CA-1 environments, when the first file on a multi-file tape expires, the entire tape is considered expired - even if secondary files on the same volume have not expired. Scratch Protection prevents premature expiration of secondary files by resetting the tape’s expiration date to the expiration date of the oldest file on the tape. When incorporated into the nightly CA-1 maintenance job, Scratch Protection ensures that the tape is not scratched until alldatasets are expired.
