In general, a backup device cannot be shared. Only one
person at a time can use it. Often, users cannot access media drives
without your assistance because media drives may be in a restricted
computer room or you may be required to monitor media drive use.
Users only have direct access to media drives when you provide them
physical access and configure media drives so that they are
automatically assigned to users. See "Automatically Assigning Devices,"
later in this chapter.
When a user (or a program) requests the use of a media drive and the
device is available, you mount the media so that the storage or Restore
process can begin. You mount the media by preparing it, loading it onto
the media drive, and placing the media drive online.
To prepare a backup device for storing or restoring files, use the
media from the user you are helping (or obtain it from your media
library) and mount it on the device.
When the media is ready, you see a VOLUME MOUNTED message on the
console. For example:
16:05/31/VOL (Unlabeled) mounted on LDEV#8
|
The VOLUME MOUNTED message indicates the logical device (LDEV) number of the media drive. In the example above, the LDEV number is 8.
Note the LDEV number. You use it to assign the device to STORE or RESTORE when you respond to the media request.