Tivoli Storage Manager for Windows: Administrator's Guide


Chapter 8. Defining Device Classes

A device class represents a device type that can be used by TSM. TSM uses the device class to determine which device and storage volume type to use to:

One device class can be associated with multiple storage pools. Each storage pool is associated with only one device class.

Each device class is characterized by its device type, which indicates the type of storage volumes that are used to store data.

For random access storage, TSM supports only the DISK device class. The DISK device class is predefined by TSM. However, you can define many storage pools associated with the DISK device class.

For sequential access storage, TSM supports the following device types:

Device Type Media Type Device Examples
3570 IBM 3570 cartridges -
3590 IBM 3590 cartridges -
4MM 4mm cartridges IBM 7206-005
8MM Tape drives that use 8mm cartridges IBM 7208-001 and 7208-011
DLT Digital linear tape (DLT) cartridges -
DTF Digital tape format (DTF) cartridges -
ECARTRIDGE StorageTek cartridge tape drives STK SD-3 and 9490
FILE File system or storage volumes Server
GENERICTAPE Tapes compatible with Windows devices Tape drives supported by a Windows tape device driver.
LTO LTO Ultrium cartridges IBM 3580, 3581, 3583, 3584
OPTICAL 5.25-inch rewritable optical cartridges 5.25-inch optical drives
QIC Quarter-inch tape cartridges IBM 7207
REMOVABLEFILE Iomega Zip or Jaz drives, or CDROM media Removable media devices that are attached as local, removable file systems
SERVER Storage volumes or files archived in another TSM server TSM target server
WORM 5.25-inch write-once read-many (WORM) optical cartridges 5.25-inch optical drives

See the following sections:

Tasks:
"Defining and Updating Device Classes for Tape Devices"
"Defining and Updating Device Classes for Generic Tape Devices"
"Defining and Updating Device Classes for Optical Devices"
"Defining and Updating Device Classes for Removable File System Devices"
"Defining and Updating FILE Device Classes"
"Defining and Updating SERVER Device Classes"
"Requesting Information about a Device Class"
"How TSM Fills Volumes"
"Deleting a Device Class"

In this chapter, most examples illustrate how to perform tasks by using a Tivoli Storage Manager command-line interface. For information about the commands, see Administrator's Reference, or issue the HELP command from the command line of a Tivoli Storage Manager administrative client.

Tivoli Storage Manager tasks can also be performed from the administrative Web interface. For more information about using the administrative interface, see Quick Start.


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