Copying backstore volumes

Products

• Vtape Virtual Tape System

Issue/Introduction

I have several backstore volumes in an old tape library that needs to be decommissioned.  Does VTAPE have a utility that will do a tape to tape copy into a different library?

 

Environment

Release : 12.6

Component : CA VTAPE

Cause

N/A

Resolution

The Vtape RECYCLE utility can be used to migrate data from an 'old' tape library into a 'new' tape library such that Vtape still tracks the virtual volume data 'migrated' into the new tape library.  As an example, moving data for a single physical backstore tape into the new tape library can be accomplished at the specific volume level, such as with: 

RECYCLE PHYSICAL(200000),TARGET(DUPLEX)

In this case, in the VTGROUP Vtape parmlib member for the group that is associated with this physical volume you would have: 

PRIMARY=<your tape esoteric for old tape library>

DUPLEX=<your tape esoteric for new tape library>

This will create a new copy of the PRIMARY/physical tape onto the volumes of the new tape library, with Vtape tracking the new backstore tapes in the new tape library.   If you have multiple backstore tapes to process, you can list each one on a separate RECYCLE command, such as: 

RECYCLE PHYSICAL(200000),TARGET(DUPLEX)

RECYCLE PHYSICAL(200001),TARGET(DUPLEX)

RECYCLE PHYSICAL(200002),TARGET(DUPLEX)

Also, this type of processing can be performed at the group/subgroup level if many volumes need to be migrated into the new tape library, and all volumes reside within a given group/subgroup.  See the CA Vtape Administering manual for more details on the RECYCLE utility.  

Additional Information

CA Vtape Administrating manual, RECYCLE Utility:

https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/ca-mainframe-software/traditional-management/ca-vtape-virtual-tape-system/12-6/administrating/recycle-utility.html