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CA1 Scratch with VOLSEQ=2.

PostPosted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 6:08 pm
by Bad Man
Hi We had a physical tape and we got it replaced with a new tape now the tape has been not going going to scrtach even using option 2 of CA1 because it says it's VOLSEQ=2. Now we have made DSN as null and even entere it in library but it will not scratch. can you help please. I displayed the detaiols of it using TMSBINQ and founf it was used way back in 2012 by a backup job and so whatever the VOLSEQ=1 was is no more active.

Re: CA1 Scratch with VOLSEQ=2.

PostPosted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 7:08 pm
by BillyBoyo
Can you paste any messages you get in trying to access this? Is it a problem with the tape catalog? Or the tape labels on the physical tape?

Re: CA1 Scratch with VOLSEQ=2.

PostPosted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 7:22 pm
by Bad Man
When I went to manually scratch it from option 2 of CA1 it said no it cant as VOLSEQ=2.

Re: CA1 Scratch with VOLSEQ=2.

PostPosted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 7:25 pm
by Bad Man
VOLSER = GA0217     ACTVOL=                            SMSMC= BLANKS         
DSN    = HEXZEROS                                      DSN17= HEXZEROS       
EXPDT  = 05-01-2012 ACCT= HEXZEROS                                           
FLAG1  = 61         FLAG2  = C8       FLAG3  = 00      BATCHID= 59 = TMSIONLN
FLAG4  = 00         FLAG5  = 00       FLAG6  = 00      HOOKID = FE =         
EDMID  =            WMC    = 00000    WWID   =          -          -         
CDATE  = 04-26-2012 CJOB   = DRBKPB07 CTIME  = 0645     CPGM   = ADRDSSU     
LDATE  = 04-26-2012 LJOB   = DRBKPB07 LTIME  = 0854     LPGM   = ADRDSSU     
CSTEP  = BACKUP     CDDNAME= TAPE2    CUNIT  = 3301     LUNIT  = 3301       
OUTDATE= ZEROS      OUTCODE=  VMS     SLOT   = 0000000  TRERRC = 00000       
BTHDATE= 03-02-2012 VENDOR = BLANKS   COUNT  = 00397    TWERRC = 00000       
DATECLN= ZEROS      USECLN = 00000    CLNCNT = 000      TRERRI = 00000       
VOLSEQ = 0002       ROBTY  =          ROBID  = 000      TWERRI = 00000       
1STVOL =            NEXTVOL=          PREVVOL=          PRERRC = 00000       
NUMDSNB= 00000      1STDSNB= 00000000 LSTDSNB= 00000000 PWERRC = 00000       
LABEL  = SL         DEN    = 3592     TRTCH  = EEF2     PRERRI = 00000       
RECFM  = U          LRECL  = 000000   BLKSIZE= 065520   PWERRI = 00000       
AUDATE = 01-26-2015 AUTIME = 1439     BESKEY = 00000    BLKCNT = 0000000000 
AUCODE = 00         AUFLAG1= 00       CPUID  = SYSB     USERID = GACSRMH     
VOLPERC= 008        FILPERC= 000      COMPRES= 051      CTLGCNT= 001

Coded to make more readable

Re: CA1 Scratch with VOLSEQ=2.

PostPosted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 9:18 pm
by nevilh
Tape will not go to scratch as it is part of a multi-volume dataset. If you know the original dataset name you can scratch the dataset and then the volume can be scratched.

Re: CA1 Scratch with VOLSEQ=2.

PostPosted: Sun Feb 01, 2015 8:54 am
by steve-myers
I am working from memory on this.

You cannot create a "scratch" tape through the "regular" CA1 utilities. Only the CA1 utilities that are periodically (usually once a day) run to find volumes that have expired or have expired data sets can "scratch" a tape volume and add the volume to the list of "scratch" volumes that can be pulled from the library for that purpose.

Nevilh is correct when he states that a volume that is one volume in a data set located on multiple volumes cannot be made a "scratch" tape until the data set itself is deleted. However, I'm not certain that is an issue here as there does not seem to be any data set information for the volume.

Looking through the volume report a couple of posts back, it looks to me as though the volume is in offsite backup vault VMS. Since it is off site, it cannot be a scratch tape. Since it has expired it should be recalled from the vault and marked by the library as in house. Then, I think, it can be used as a "scratch" tape.

Re: CA1 Scratch with VOLSEQ=2.

PostPosted: Sun Feb 01, 2015 11:27 pm
by Bad Man
I did a tms updte and change the volseq=1 and scratched the volseq=1 didnt exist and had been scratched long back as it was a backup from past 2 years back which scratches in 7 days and this tape was damaged and replaced.

Re: CA1 Scratch with VOLSEQ=2.

PostPosted: Mon Feb 02, 2015 5:38 am
by BillyBoyo
So you've got a multi-volume backup, the first volume of which no longer exists, and you want to release the second volume, unusable for anything at the moment, to scratch?

I'd go with Steve Myers' suggestion. It seems that the only thing CA1 knows about it that is stopping it being processed to scratch is that it is in a "vault".

It doesn't look like a tape which is "cataloged" as such, just a volume which is recorded as being in a vault, and which can't be reused until it is booked out of there.

If that works, ensure that procedures for dealing with damaged tapes take into account subsequent volumes where they exist.

If that fails, how about treating it is a "damaged" tape?