ADIC Switches User Manual

AML/J

Operator

Guide

Copyright © 1998 ADIC/GRAU Storage Systems GmbH&Co.KG
All rights reserved.

This document may be reproduced or transmitted neither in excerpts nor completely in any form
with any media (neither electronically nor mechanically, including photocopying and recording)
and by no data storage or recall system with the excepti o n of an approva l on the part of ADIC /
GRAU Storage Systems.

ADIC/GRAU Storage Systems reser ves the ri ght to correc t, to updat e or to modify the informa tion
contai ned in this document.

DAS is a registere d trade mark of ADIC /G RAU Storage System s Gmb H

DAS is a trade mark of ADIC/GRAU Storage Systems GmbH

Other trade marks are the property of the relevant owner.

Document number: DOC D00 025-A
Published on: March 31, 1999

ADIC/GRAU Storage Systems GmbH&Co.KG • Eschenstra ße 3 • D-89558 Böhmenkirch

Contents

1 Introduction

1.1 Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-1

1.2 Target group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-1

1.3 Layout of the Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-1

1.4 Further documentation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2

1.5 Explanation of the symbols and notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2

1.6 Technical support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3

1.7 Product observation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-4

2 Description of the system

2.1 Overview of the system components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-1

2.2 Host connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-1

2.3 Description of function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-2

2.4 Functional units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-2

2.4.1 Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3

2.4.2 Control cabinet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3

2.4.3 AML Management Unit (AMU) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3

2.4.4 Storage cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-5

2.4.5 Handling unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-6

2.4.6 I/O unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-7

2.5 Cartridges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-7

2.6 Technical Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-8

2.6.1 Electrical system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-9

2.6.2 Noise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-9

2.6.3 Climatic conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-9

3Safety

3.1 Use as intended. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-2

3.2 Warning indications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-3

3.3 Scope. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-5

3.4 Protective devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3-5

3.4.1 System access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-5

3.4.2 Mechanical lock. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-5

3.4.3 Main switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-5

4Operation

4.1 Switches on the control cabinet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-1

4.2 Starting the AML/J system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-3

4.3 Stopping the AML/J system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4-4

4.3.1 Normal stopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-4

4.3.2 Emergency shutdown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-5

4.4 Restarting the AML/J system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4-6

4.5 Manual operating mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-7

4.6 Switching over to Dual-AMU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-8

5 Menus and commands

5.1 Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-1

5.1.1 Layout of the menu bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-2

5.1.2 Selecting a command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-2

5.1.3 Change size of the windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-3

5.1.4 Move windows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-3

5.1.5 Close window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-3

5.2 Menu overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-4

5.3 Shutdown menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-5

ii Contents

DOC D00 025-A

5.4 Edit menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-7

5.5 View menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-8

5.5.1 Archive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-8

5.6 Operations menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-19

5.6.1 Operator login . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-19

5.6.2 Manual Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-20

5.6.3 Disaster Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-22

5.7 Admin menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-23

5.7.1 Administrator Login . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-23

5.8 Window menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5-24

5.9 Help menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-25

6 Processing media

6.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-1

6.2 I/O unit/C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6-3

6.2.1 Inserting cartridges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-4

6.2.2 Ejecting cartridges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-5

6.3 I/O unit/D (HICAP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-6

6.3.1 Inserting cartridges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-7

6.3.2 Ejecting cartridges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-8

6.4 I/O unit/E . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-9

6.4.1 Inserting cartridges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-9

6.4.2 Ejecting cartridges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-10

6.5 Disaster Recovery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-11

March 31 , 1999

iii

iv Contents

DOC D00 025-A

1 Introduction

1.1 Contents

This Guide contains information and instructions for the safe operation
of the AML/J syste m.

1.2 Target group

This Guide is written for users who work with the AML/J.

1.3 Layout of the Guide

The Guide is broken down into the following chapters:
Chapt er 1 Introduction - Notes on the use of the Guide
Chapt er 2 Overview - Contains general information on the

AML/J components.

Chapt er 3 Safety - Describes the danger symbols, mes-

sages, safety functions and consider ations for
the safe opera tion of the AML/J.

Chapt er 4 Operation - Describ es the functions for switch-

ing the AML/J on and off.

Chapt er 5 Menus a nd com m ands - Describes the menus

and the commands executed by the AML/J.

Chapt er 6 Processing media - Describes t he I/O unit an d its

use.

Index

March 31 , 1999

1-1

1.4 Further documentation

DOC D00 024 AML/J Maintenance Guide
DOC D00 014 AML/J Software Backup
DOC D00 007 AML/J Installation Guide
DOC E00 003 AMU Installation Guide
DOC E00 007 AMU Problem Determination Guide
DOC E00 014 AML Controller User Guide
DOC E00 005 AMU Reference Guide

1.5 Explanation of the symbols and
notes

The following s ymbols and notes draw your attent ion to important i nfor­mation.

!

For detailed explanation of the symbols see Warning indic ations on page
3-3.

<1>+<2> Press keys simultaneously
italics Heading, e.g. Chapter 3, Safety

File name, e.g. dasdata.ini
Variable, e.g. clie nt_name

&KLFDJR

bold Special term, e.g. Scratch-Pool

courier Lines or terms in an input window

[courier] Optional parameters
Param1 | Param2 Alternative parameters

☞ Reference

Term appearing on the workspace of the AMU

- Program message

- Command

- Parameter or file

1-2 Introduction

DOC D00 025-A

1.6 Technical support

!

!

Warning
The use of the AML/J by untrained personnel can lead to dangerous

situations. The consequence can be severe to lethal injuries due to
moving or current-conducting parts. For this reason an introductory
course at ADIC/GRAU is recommended for all persons who handle the
AML/J.

The operator is responsib le that the followi ng functi ons are perfo rmed on
the system only by qualified personnel:

• Preparation for operation

• Setting up

• Starti ng th e system

• Application

• Shutting the system down

• Maintenance

• Restart

Warning
Yo u may perfor m certai n work and adaptations y ourself only if you are

qualified for this by corresponding education and training.
It is extremely important that the user is familiar with all safety rules

before working with the system and follows them.

If you cannot solve a problem with the aid of this document or if you are inter­ested in a recommendation regarding training, please contact your contract part­ner or the ADIC/GRAU Technical Assistance Center (ATAC).

ADIC/GRAU Storage Syst ems GmbH ADIC
Eschenstrasse 3 10949 East Peakview

avenue
89558 Boehmenkirch Englewood, CO 80112
Germany U.S.A.

We would be p leased to help you further.
Telefax: [phone]
Email: techsup @ ad ic.com
Telephone: [phone] North America

[phone] Germany
00800 9999 3822 (the rest of the world)

March 31 , 1999

1-3

1.7 Product observation

We are legally obliged to obser ve our product s even after delivery.
Therefore please notify us about everything which is of interest to us:

• Changed setting data

• Experience with the product

• Repetitive faults

• Difficultie s with this Guide

1-4 Introduction

ADIC-GRAU Stor age S ystem s GmbH ADIC
Eschenstrasse 3 10949 East Peakview
89558 Boehmenkirch avenue
Germany Englewood, CO 80112

U.S.A.

Telefax: [phone]
Email: techsup @ ad ic.com

DOC D00 025-A

Telephone: [phone] North America

[phone] Germany
00800 9999 3822 (the rest of the world)

March 31 , 1999

1-5

1-6 Introduction

DOC D00 025-A

2 Description of the system

2.1 Overview of the system components

Storage media such as magneti c tape cartr id g e s, optical disks and CD­ROMs are broug h t a u tomati c a l l y i n to th e a ss ociat e d d ri v e s an d fetche d
from there again with the AML/J. The storage media are brought to the
drives with the aid of software in the host and in th e AML/J contro l unit
and discharged from these drives again.

The AML/J is a modul ar system and consists of

• a basic module

− Handling unit

− Storage racks

− Control cabinet

− I/O unit (E/I/F)

• up to 9 extension modules (optional)

− Storage racks

− I/O unit (E/I/F)

March 31 , 1999

Figure 2-1: AML/J basic module

2.2 Host connection

AML/J is connected through the AMU (AML Management Unit) to one
or several hosts. The possi b ilitie s of the conn ect ion are describe d in the
AMU Reference Guide.

2-1

2.3 Description of function

The AML/J syste m can be instal led on the unfin ished floo r or on a false
floor .

The handling unit moves the cartridges between the storage cells, drives
and the I/O unit. The handling unit has a gripper. A barcode scanner on
the gripper identifies the cartridges at the compartments in the archive.
Further details are de scribed under Handling unit on page 2-6. The car­tridges can be brought into the AML/J system or moved out from the
system with the aid of the I/O unit without inte rrupti ng the work.
Additional details are described under I/O unit on page 2-7.

Manual access to the compartments in the archive, the handling unit and
the dri ve s is through an access door after switching off the power supply.

The cartridges in the AML/J are moved by host requests. Primary
requests are for mounting and discharging cartridges in the drives and
for inserting/ejecting cartridges into/out from the AML/J.

Each cartridge can have an external machine and user readable label to
identify the cartridge in the AML/J at stocktaking and when adding a
cartridge to the AML /J. The AMU stores the p hysical s torage location of
the cartridge in a database which is based on the Volser (Volume Serial
Number).

Apart from the commands for moving the tape cartridges, the host can
also reque st stat us, con figurat ion an d cartrid ge storage i nfor mation fr om
the AML/J control unit.

2-2 Overview

2.4 Functional units

The A M L/J syst e m consists of the f ollowi n g functi o n a l u ni t s:

• Drives

• Control cabinet with:

• AML/J control unit

• AMU (AML Managemen t Unit)

• Stora g e c el ls ( l in e a r ra c k s)

• Handling unit

• I/O units

DOC D00 025-A

2.4.1 Drives

The AML/J system supports a large number of drives for different stor­age media.

2.4.2 Contr ol cabinet

The control unit of the system is housed in a control cabinet. This control
cabin e t co ntains :

• AMU PC

• Control unit

− Power supply

− Motor cont rol

− Interfa ce conve rt er

− Safe ty system

• Drive(s) (optional)

AMU PC

Control un it

Figure 2-2: Control cabinet

2.4.3 AML Management Unit (AMU)

The AMU is the control processor for the AML system. In the normal
mode the host com puter sen ds th e c omman ds to th e AMU f or c on tro lli ng
the system. The AMU is located next to further power supply compo­nents in the control cabinet Figure 2-2: on page 2-3.

It is possible to connect a second AMU PC in parallel to back up against
failures due to failures of the PC hardware. This redundant version is
called Dual-AMU, and a few cables have to be reconnected for the
change.

AMU monitor

Keyboard

March 31 , 1999

2-3

Hardware components

The AMU hardware consists of:

• A computer (AML controller) with screen, keyboard and trackball or

mouse

• Programmable Multi-Axis Controller (PMAC board)

• Network board (Token Ring, Ethernet or FDDI)

Software components

The AMU software components are:

• Operating system OS/2

• Communication Manager/2 , TCP/IP

• Database Manage r/2

• AML Management Software (AMS)

Tasks of the AMU:

• Host communication

− interprets the commands coming from the host computer

− checks these commands for executab ility

• Archive catalogue administration

− stores the logical coordinates of the compartments

− assigns the cartridges to the compartments

− knows the status of compartments and drives

− stores information on scratchpool administra tion

• Conversion of the logical coordinates into physical coordinates

• Commu n ication with the con t rol unit

• User interface

− for start-up

− for service

− for the opera to r

• Configuration (describes the individual structure of the archive)

2-4 Overview

Information
The AMU does not register the data contents of the cartrid ge s.

DOC D00 025-A

2.4.4 Storage cells

The AML/J system contains compartments (storage cells) in linear racks
(stationary storage segments (☞ Figure 2-3: ). Table 2-1: Coordinates of
the storage cells on page 2-5 contains the coordinates of the storage cells.

March 31 , 1999

Figure 2- 3: Example of storage cells

Table 2-1: Coordinate s of the storage cells

L3 - LD 01 - 99 01 01 - 99 01 - 99

Type Module Segment Row Compart-

ment

The module number corresponds to the number of the segment whereby
the assig nmen t o f the mod ule number s to t he se gmen t can be det erm ined
by the user at start-up and the segment is always 01. The rows are
coun te d from bel ow to abo ve and the co m p a r t me nts from the left to th e
right. Optical disks occupy two comp artments in the database.

2-5

2.4.5 Handling unit

The handling unit identifies and moves cartridges between the storage
cells, d rives and th e I/ O unit.

Figure 2-4: AML/J handling unit
Access to the archive compartments and the drives is facilitated with the

handling unit. The handling unit executes the commands of the AML
Managemen t Sof tware (AMS) a nd re turns status messages as response.

The handling unit is equipped with a (laser) barcode scanner. Typical
tasks of the han dling unit are insert ing and ejecti ng cartridges, placing
and gripping cartridges in the archive, mounting the connected drives
with the cartridges and reading a barcode label attached to the car­tridges.

Technical data of the handling unit

• Cartesian robot with 4 axes:

− 3 linear axes

− 1 rotary axis

• Drive with direct current servomotors

• Position measuring system (optical digital encoder) and home posi-

tion sensors

• Tran smission of the torque s with toothed dr ive belts

• Driving axis guided

− with rollers on 2 guide rods below

− by one guide rod with loose bearing (play compensation) above

2-6 Overview

DOC D00 025-A

2.4.6 I/O unit

The I/O unit facilitates inserti ng and ejecting cartridges with ou t inter­rupting normal processing (☞ Figure 2-5:).

Figure 2-5: I/O unit/E

2.5 Cartridge s

Each cartridge in the AML/J system can have an external user and
machine readable label for identifying the Volsers (Volume Serial
Number). The external label contains between one and 16 characters for
the Volser. The Volser is composed of the uppercase letters A-Z and the
numbers 0-9. The AML/J system supports different types of label (e.g.

“Code 39” and “STK”).

March 31 , 1999

2-7

2.6 Technical Data

Dimensions

Table 2-2: Size of the AML/J components

Width x depth Height

Basic module 1.00 m x 1.50 m

(3.28 ft x 4.92 ft)

Extension

module

Control cabinet

0.75 m x 0.82 m

(2.46 ft x 2.69 ft)

2.05 m

(6.73 ft)

Weight without/with cartridges (3480/3490)

Table 2-3: Weight of the AML/J components

Weight in lbs Weigh t in kg

With

media

Basic module 721 509 326 230 kg
Control cabinet - 331 - 150 kg
Extension module 688 454 311 205 kg

Without

media

With

media

Without

Maximum floor loading

Table 2-4: Floor loading of the AML/J components

media

2-8 Overview

Basic module
Extension module

390 kg/m

2

DOC D00 025-A

2.6.1 Electrical system

Table 2-5: Electrical data of the AML/J

Tota l sy s tem conn e c tion 230 V ± 10% 1, N, PE110 V ± 10% 1, N,

Europe North America

PE

Fuses
(by customer)

Power section voltage 48 V =
Frequency 50 Hz 60 Hz
Control voltage 24 V =
Degree of protection IP 50

Heat dissipation

Maximum 1.2 kW

2.6.2 Noise

Table 2-6: Noise caused by the AML/J

Total syste m 80 dB (A)

2.6.3 Climatic conditio ns

Table 2-7: Climatic conditions for operating the AML/J

Temperature 10 .. 32 °C

16 A fuse
slow-blow

10 A fus e
slow-blow

March 31 , 1999

Humi di ty 15 .. 80%

2-9

2-10 Overview

DOC D00 025-A

3Safety

Information
Apart from the safety provisions in this chapter, the local and specific

technical safety regulations apply.

Avoi d h a z ar d s du ri ng main t e n a nce and in ope ratio n of th e system by

• safety-conscious behaviour

• careful actions

CAUTION!
Knowledge of and observance of these instructions are indispensable

for the safe handling of the ADIC/GRAU Storage Systems AML/J sys­tems.

March 31 , 1999

3-1

3.1 Use as intended

The quotati on and the order confirmation as well as the scope de f ined in
this document are part of the AML/J documentation. Any use other than
that specified in this is consider e d to be not as intende d.

This system is intended for processing:

• Magnetic tape cartridges

• Optical disks

• CD-ROMs in the CADDY housing
Any use extending beyond this is not as intended.
ADIC/GRAU Storage Systems is not liab le for damages which ari se

because of use not agreed with it - the user bears the risk alone.
The following are also included in use as intended

• Compliance with the instructions in the instructions delivered with

the system ( this Guide, Op e rator and AMU Guides)

• Complia nce with the insp e ction and maintenance regulations

3-2 Safety

DOC D00 025-A

3.2 Warning indications

!

ADIC/GRAU classifies hazards into different categories. Ta ble 3-1 : shows the
relation betwe en symbols, signal words , a ctual hazards and possible conse­quences.

Table 3-1: Warning ind ications

Symbo l

Damage

to...

Persons

Signal word Definition Consequences

DANGER! Directly

threatening
danger

WARNING! Possibly

dangerous
situation

CAUTION! Less dangerous

situation

WARNING!

Dangerous

voltage!

CAUTION! Less dangerous

ATTEN-

TION!

Directly
approaching
electrical danger
situation

situation

Situation
possibly caus­ing damage

Death or very severe
injuries (maiming)

Possibly death or
very severe inj u rie s

Possibly light or
slight injuries

Death or severe
injury

Possibly light or
medium injury

Possibly damage of
the product and its
environment

March 31 , 1999

Material

Electro­statically
sensitive

Information Application tips

Potential risk of
damage to the
electronics

and other
important/use­ful information
and hints

Possibly damage to
the product

No dangerous or
damagi ng conse­quences for persons
or things

3-3