Defining an Optical or WORM Device Class

To define a device class, first complete the following fields and then click Finish, or click Cancel to end this task.

Device Class Name

Enter the name of the device class to be defined. The maximum length of this field is 30 characters.

Device Type

Select an option. This parameter is required.

Optical Specifies that the device class uses two-sided 5.25 inch rewritable optical media.
WORM Specifies that the device class uses two-sided 5.25 inch write-once read-many (WORM) optical media.
WORM12 The WORM 12 device type is only valid on AIX 4.1.4 or subsequent systems.
WORM14 The WORM 14 device type is only valid on AIX 4.1.4 or subsequent systems.

Recording Format

Select an option. This parameter is optional. The default is Drive.

Format Estimated Capacity Description
Drive Determined by drive capacity. The server selects the highest format that is supported by the drive on which a volume is mounted.

Avoid specifying DRIVE when a mixture of drives is used within the same library.

For example, do not use this option for a library containing some drives that support recording formats superior to other drives.

650MB 650MB Using a 650 MB 5.25-inch optical drive

Not valid for WORM12 or WORM14 device types

1300MB 1300MB Using a 1300 MB 5.25-inch optical drive

Not valid for WORM12 or WORM14 device types

2600MB 2600MB Using a 2600 MB 5.25-inch optical drive

Not valid for WORM12 or WORM14 device types

5200MB 5200MB Using a 5200 MB 5.25-inch optical drive

Not valid for WORM12 or WORM14 device types

5600MB 5600MB Using a 5600 MB 12-inch optical drive

Only valid for WORM12 device types

10200MB 10200MB Using a 10200 MB 14-inch optical drive

Only valid for WORM14 device types

12000MB 12000MB Using a 12000 MB 12-inch optical drive

Only valid for WORM12 device types

14800MB 14800MB Using a 14800 MB 14-inch optical drive

Only valid for WORM14 device types

25GB 25GB Using Sony Blue Laser read-write and WORM media

Not valid for WORM12 or WORM 14 device types

30GB 30GB Using Plasmon UDO1 read-write and WORM media

Not valid for WORM12 or WORM 14 device types

Library Name

Select the name of the defined library object that contains the optical drives used by this device class.

Mount Limit

Enter the maximum number of volumes that can be simultaneously mounted for the device class. The default is Drives.

The following are possible values:

Drives Specifies that the server determines the mount limit based on the number of drives defined and online in the library.
number Specifies the maximum number of drives used concurrently. This value can be any number from 0 to 256.

This value must not be allowed to exceed the number of drives defined and online in the library.

For external libraries, specify the number of drives for the library.

0 The value of zero prevents new transactions from gaining access to the storage pool.

Mount Retention Period

Enter the amount of time in minutes to retain an idle volume before dismounting it.

Estimated Capacity

Enter the estimated capacity for the volumes categorized by this device class.

You do not need to specify an estimated capacity unless the drives perform data compression, or you have volumes of nonstandard size.

The value must be an integer followed by one of these units:

K Kilobyte
M Megabyte
G Gigabyte

For more information on the default estimated capacity, see the Recording Format heading.

Mount Wait Period

Enter the length of time, in minutes, to wait for a volume to be mounted.