A physical library is a collection of one or more drives that share similar media-mounting requirements. That is, the drive can be mounted by an operator or by an automated mounting mechanism.
A library object definition specifies the library type and other characteristics that are associated with that library type. For example, when you define an IBM® TotalStorage 3494 Tape Library, category numbers are used by for private, scratch, and write-once, read-many (WORM) scratch volumes.
| Library type | Description | More information |
|---|---|---|
| SCSI | A SCSI library is controlled through a SCSI
interface, attached either directly to the server's host by using
SCSI cabling or by a storage area network. A robot or other mechanism
automatically handles volume mounts and dismounts. The drives in
a SCSI library can be of different types. A SCSI library can contain
drives of mixed technologies, including LTO Ultrium and DLT drives.
For example:
Remember: Although it has a SCSI interface, the IBM 3494 Tape Library Dataserver
is defined as a 349X library type.
|
For information about configuring a SCSI library, see: |
| VTL | A virtual tape library (VTL)
is a hardware component that can emulate a tape library while it is
using a disk as the underlying storage hardware. Using a VTL, you can create variable numbers of drives and volumes because they are only logical entities within the VTL. The ability to create more drives and volumes increases the capability for parallelism, giving you more simultaneous mounts and tape I/O. VTLs use SCSI and Fibre Channel interfaces to interact with applications. Because VTLs emulate tape drives, libraries, and volumes, an application such as Tivoli Storage Manager cannot distinguish a VTL from real tape hardware unless the library is identified as a VTL. |
For information about configuring a VTL library, see Managing virtual tape libraries. |
| ACSLS | An automated cartridge system library software
(ACSLS) library is a type of external library that is controlled by
Oracle StorageTek ACSLS media-management software. The server can
act as a client application to the ACSLS software to use the drives. The
StorageTek software performs the following functions:
 Restriction: To use ACSLS functions, the StorageTek Library
Attach software must be installed. For more information, see ACSLS-managed libraries. |
For more information, see your StorageTek documentation. If you are using an ACSLS library and have enabled a firewall, refer to the StorageTek Automated Cartridge System Library Software Administrator’s Guide, Version 8.1 (April 2012 edition). |
| 349X | A 349X library is a collection of drives in
an IBM 3494. Volume mounts and
dismounts are handled automatically by the library. A 349X library
has one or more library management control points (LMCP) that the
server uses to mount and dismount volumes in a drive. Each LMCP provides
an independent interface to the robot mechanism in the library. 349X library objects contain only one device type (IBM 3590 or 3592) of drives. Thus, if you have 3590 and 3592 drives in your 349X library, you must define two library objects: one for your 3590 drives and one for your 3592 drives. Each of these library objects must have the same device parameter when their paths are defined. |
For information about configuring a 349X
library, see:
|
| Shared | Shared libraries are logical libraries that are represented physically by SCSI, 349X, ACSLS, or VTL libraries. The physical library is controlled by the Tivoli Storage Manager server that is configured as a library manager. Tivoli Storage Manager servers that use the SHARED library type are library clients to the library manager server. Shared libraries reference a library manager. | |
| Manual | In manual libraries, operators mount the volumes
in response to mount-request messages that are issued by the server. The server sends these messages to the server console and to administrative clients that were started by using the special MOUNTMODE or CONSOLEMODE parameter. You cannot combine drives of different types or formats, such as Digital Linear Tape (DLT) and 8MM, in a single manual library. Instead, you must create a separate manual library for each device type. You can use manual libraries as logical entities for sharing sequential-access disk (FILE) volumes with other servers. |
For information about configuring a manual library, see: |
| External | An external library is a collection of drives
that are managed by an external media-management system that is not
part of Tivoli Storage
Manager,
for example:
The Tivoli Storage Manager server provides an interface that allows the external media management system to operate with the server, mount and dismount volumes, and return library volumes to scratch. An external library allows flexibility in grouping drives into libraries and storage pools. The library can have one drive, a collection of drives, or even a part of an automated library. The external media manager selects the appropriate drive for media-access operations. You do not define drives, check in media, or label the volumes in an external library. |
For a definition of the interface that Tivoli Storage Manager provides to the external media management system, see External media management interface description. |
  Zosmedia |
A zosmedia library represents a tape or disk
storage resource that is attached with a Fibre Channel connection
(FICON®) and is managed by Tivoli Storage
Manager for z/OS® Media. A zosmedia library does not require drive definitions. Paths are defined for the Tivoli Storage Manager server and any storage agents that need access to the zosmedia library resource. |
For information about configuring a zosmedia library, see Configuring the Tivoli Storage Manager server to use z/OS media server storage. |
