The Uses of Storage Locations in BRMS

Generally speaking, BRMS refers to locations in two ways. First, BRMS uses a home location from which to draw and return available media. Then BRMS uses a storage location as a place where media is kept when not at home. Definitions of each are as follows:

Home location

The home location is where you store media available for backup use. The home location exists as a pool from which BRMS can draw and return media. After completing a move sequence, you should return media to the home location. After expiring media, you should return it to a home location. The physical location of your home location might be a computer room or an office or any location you define. If you use a single device, that can be your home location. However, if you use multiple media libraries, you must create a unique home location name for each library. You can base these unique names on media class or another attribute.

Storage locations

Storage locations are where you keep media that contains active data. Typically, you would keep media that contains active data in a vault or other safe storage location for a specified period of time. You do this so that copies of your system and user data are available in case of accident or disaster. You may have numerous storage locations depending on your needs. You should have at least one safe off site storage location, but you may want more. Or you might want a temporary storage location for certain volumes at certain points in their life cycles.

There are several BRMS displays that refer to locations. Following are brief summaries of how BRMS uses location information.

The system policy sets the default home location for your media. If you are using a stand-alone device, the default name for your home location is *HOME. You can use this default name or create your own home location name. If you are using a media library, you must rename the home location. You cannot use *HOME as a home location name for media that is stored in a media library. When establishing home location names for media libraries, consider using the same name as the device name. The names must be unique. If you use *HOME as the location name for an MLB, BRMS will try to reinsert ejected volumes.

The move policy has different location parameters: a home location parameter and multiple storage location parameters that you specify. The primary purpose of the move policy is to establish the move pattern of media from one location to another. For example, during a typical save cycle, media moves from its home location to the location where BRMS performs the save, and then to a vault or other safe location. After the move sequence completes, BRMS expires the media and tracks its return to the home location for future use. You define the move sequence in the move policy. The default value in the home location field in the move policy refers to the home location that is defined in the system policy, which is *HOME. You can find information about how to use the move policies later in this chapter.

The default value in the Storage location field on the media policy is *ANY. This instructs BRMS to draw media for backups from any location at which media is available. Generally speaking, this is likely to be the scratch pool if you are using a stand-alone device. If you specify *ANY while using an MLB device, BRMS may try to mount a volume that is not in library. To avoid this, do not use the *ANY value with media library devices. In addition, you should review this parameter occasionally, especially if you permit media to expire in other than the home location. Otherwise, BRMS might request the mount of a volume that is not at the home site.

The default value in the Location field on the Work with Devices display is *HOME. This location name signifies the location of the device that is specified in the Tape device field (the Media library field if the device is an MLB). For example, the location name for a stand-alone device would typically be COMPROOM. The location name for a library device is likely to be the same as the name of the device (for example, TAPMLB01).