4 Capacity Activation

There are two types of capacity:

Physical capacity — the number of storage cells that are physically present in the library.
Active capacity — the number of storage cells activated with a hardware activation file. The active capacity does not have to equal the full number of physical storage cells.

Configuring Active Capacity

In a non-partitioned library, purchased capacity is automatically activated after installing the hardware activation file. However, you can customize the configuration and select which cells will be automatically activated (see "Capacity Activation Tasks"). The automatic configuration activates storage cells in the same order as SCSI element numbering (see "Default Capacity Assignment").

In a partitioned library, capacity is assigned automatically, but the total number of storage cells allocated to all library partitions cannot exceed the activated capacity (see "Library Partitioning").

Coordinate with other library users before configuring the library to prevent conflicts.

HLI Connections

With HLI libraries, you can increase active capacity without stopping host jobs or having host connections go offline. When you decrease capacity, the library goes offline only momentarily and then comes back online automatically. After a configuration change, ACSLS and ELS must perform an audit of the library to account for the new library configuration information. Hosts can continue processing jobs while the audit takes place.

Adding Active Capacity

Whenever you add active storage cells, the library stays online. The library controller sends an asynchronous message to all hosts notifying them that the library configuration has changed.

Removing Active Capacity

The library goes offline temporarily whenever you deactivate a storage cell or remove an empty drive slot. The library comes back online after the configuration change is updated in the library controller database. The library controller sends an asynchronous message to all hosts notifying them that the library configuration has changed.

FC-SCSI Connections

With FC-SCSI libraries, the library goes offline temporarily with a Unit Attention condition whenever you:

Activate or deactivate a storage cell, drive, or CAP cell
Add, change, or remove a host LUN connection

Multiple error messages may be generated, and all hosts must issue the appropriate commands to update their library configuration information. See the appropriate tape management software documentation for detailed procedures and commands. In the case of adding or removing drives, the device SCSI numbering is updated as well.

Orphaned Ca rtridges

In non-partitioned libraries, an orphaned cartridge is a cartridge located in an inactive storage cells. In partitioned libraries, an orphaned cartridge is a cartridge located in a non-allocated cell or drive. Orphaned cartridges are inaccessible to all hosts.

A cartridge can become orphaned when reducing active storage capacity, changing partitioning, or manually moving a cartridge to an inaccessible cell.

If the SLConsole identifies an orphaned cartridge, it displays a warning message. To help resolve an orphaned cartridge, you can generate a report of orphaned cartridges, perform an audit of the library, or perform a recovery move on a cartridge. to resolving orphaned cartridges, see "Moving Cartridges (Recovery Moves)".

Capacity Icons in SLConsole

Table 4-1 Capacity Icons

Icon	Description
(rectangle with X)	Not Accessible — cell not available for activation (reserved for diagnostic cartridges, physically blocked, and so on).
(white rectangle)	Inactive — cell not yet licensed for use
(rectangle with triangle)	Active — cell licensed for use
(purple rectangle)	Selected — cell designated for activation or deactivation
(brown rectangle)	No activation needed — resource is active by default

Capacity Activation Tasks

Capacity changes cannot be performed at the local operator panel.

No changes are committed to the library controller database unless you click Apply at the top of the screen and confirm your choice. If you log off the SLConsole session, if the session times out, or if the connection to the library is lost before you save changes, any changes will be lost. At any time, you can discard changes and restore the last saved configuration by clicking Refresh.

Note:

Capacity is automatically applied in a partitioned library. You may only manually activate capacity in a non-partitioned library.

Modify Active Storage Regions

You can customize the active storage region by activating or deactivating storage cells or deselect storage cells so they will not be automatically activated when capacity is increased.

Select Tools > Select Active Cells.
Click a module to modify.
Click the Select Active Cells tab.

Click Move Left or Move Right to display an adjacent module.
Choose the Select by method, and click either the Add or Remove option.
Use the library map to select the storage cells you want to activate or deactivate.
To confirm and verify your changes, click Apply.
If there are no warnings, click OK. Proceed to step 9.
If there are warnings, click Details.

If orphaned cartridges are reported, do not continue with this procedure until you have performed recovery moves on the listed cartridges (see "Moving Cartridges (Recovery Moves)").
Reconfigure library host applications to recognize the changes (see the tape management software documentation).

Display Active Cells Report

These reports only display data saved to the library controller database.

Click Tools > Select Active Cells, and then click the View Reports tab.
Select a report:
- Cartridge Cell and Media Summary: Displays a detailed list of all library resources and their status (active or inactive).
- Orphaned Cartridge Report: Displays a detailed list of all orphaned cartridges.
To save the report as a comma-sperated value (csv) file, click Save to File.

Display Active Cell Detail

Use this procedure to display which storage cells are currently active, inactive, or selected for activation. You can also display detailed information about cartridge, drive, and storage cell locations.