Tape reporting features

The tape reporting facility provides the following features:

• Auditing enables you to detect any 'out of sync' conditions that exist between the various data sources; for example, the tape catalog, the z/OS catalog, and so on.
• Query enables you to view information from the TSCAN results of your choice for a single entity, such as a tape volume, a tape unit, or a data set name.
• Reporting enables you to select an online view of the report in which you are interested and enables you to print the report using the BMC AMI Storage batch reports process.

When you submit the SVOS TSCAN command, the tape reporting facility examines the status of the tape environment and extracts data from the available sources. This process extracts data and stores a refreshed set of tape-related information. This stored data (MVS data spaces and data sets) is available for faster scrutiny, such as further analysis, query, and reporting, from online or batch requests.

The tape reporting facility gathers information multiple sources for both real and virtual tape volumes (ATLs and conventional tape devices). The following table lists the software that the tape reporting facility interrogates when it gathers data that represents the tape environment.

Some of the available data, such as AMS data set catalog entries and SMF record types 21, 73, 74, 94, and the STK user type are common to most environments. Some data will vary for different environments depending on the hardware and software that is used (for example, HSC and SMF user records or AMS library and volume catalog entries and SMF type 94 records). This alternate software usage can be separated into the following arbitrary categories. The following table shows software by usage category:

• Tape management
• Storage management
• Data archiving
• ATL real volumes
• ATL virtual tape volumes

After the tape reporting facility extracts and merges the volume data, it produces a detailed tape inventory report for all real and virtual volumes. The report notes exceptions between data sources for common elements. For nonscratch volumes, it shows the data sets on the volume and the location of the volume. For StorageTek ATLs, the inventory lists such items as the library location, selection count, insertion time, and last selection and mount times.

Because the tape reporting facility records statistics at the device level, utilization and performance data is available and summarized at the ATL-, device-, and volume-level, and the data is grouped by user-defined applications.

The information on the reports enables you to locate performance problems caused by excessive or under-utilization of the storage media (tape, DASD, cache storage) or hardware (ATL, CU, device). You can use the information to make decisions about device selection and allocation, such as Automatic Class Selection (ACS) for management, storage, and data, to achieve these performance improvements:

• Balanced work load
• Reduced physical volume movement
• Reduced virtual volume thrashing

You can also use the information to accomplish these tasks:

• Make data-migration decisions for migration levels (MLs) that minimize delays that are caused by volume mounts that are associated with data set recall
• Generate reports that provide the data you need to better plan and forecast tape resource needs
• Redistribute shared tape devices to suit the work load
• Identify a resource shortage (scratch volumes, empty cells, available cache, devices) before the shortage becomes critical