JPH0887388A - Library system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To allow an access request based upon a label name without paying attention to a data type name when requesting access to a library device. CONSTITUTION: The library system, equipped with the library device 1 equipped with a storage part 4 where plural storage media are stored, plural drive parts 3-0 and 3-1 for reading and writing the storage media, and an accessor 2 which moves the storage media and a host computer 9 which manages the storage media in the library device, is equipped with a volume information table 8 which contains label names, volume series numbers, and cell addresses and a library control part 7 which automatically selects a desired storage medium by referring to the volume information table 8 and controls the mounting of the medium on the drive part.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a library system, and more particularly to a library apparatus, which is configured to reduce the burden on an administrator when physically mounting / unmounting and logically mounting / unmounting a magneto-optical disk. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As shown in FIG. 7, a library apparatus 1 is provided with an accessor 2, a magneto-optical disk drive unit 3, a rotating cell drum 4 and the like. The accessor 2 is a robot that conveys a storage medium in the library apparatus. For example, the accessor 2 takes out a storage medium 10 such as a magneto-optical disk housed in the cell C of the rotating cell drum 4 and uses it as a magneto-optical disk drive 3-0 or 3 Mount it on -1,
On the contrary, the storage medium mounted on the magneto-optical disk drive 3-0 or 3-1 is taken out and stored in a predetermined cell. The storage medium is taken out from or stored in the cell C, or the magneto-optical disk drive. It has a medium operating unit 2-0 that mounts or unmounts to 3-0 or 3-1 and an accessor mechanism unit 2-1 that controls this medium operating unit 2-0.

The accessor 2 is fixed to a belt 1-2 which is vertically moved by a drive section 1-1 and is vertically movable along a guide 1-4. A balancer 1-3 is fixed to the belt 1-2.

The magneto-optical disk drive unit 3 is for reading / writing a storage medium. In this example, two magneto-optical disk drives 3 are used for performing this read / write.
On the storage medium 10 in which −0 and 3-1 are provided, a volume serial number is written for each of A side and B side.

The rotary cell drum 4 stores a large number of storage media, and in the illustrated case, four columns 4-0 to 4-4.
-3. The number of columns is appropriately selected depending on the number of storage media to be stored. 4-0, 4 in the column
As clearly indicated by -1, a large number of cells C, C ... Are provided, and the storage medium is stored in the cells C. The rotary cell drum 4 is configured to be rotatable by a drive unit (not shown).

When an access request command is received by the accessor 2 from the host side (not shown in FIG. 7), the command control section 2-2 decodes the command and issues a corresponding instruction to the accessor control section 2-3. Send to.

Based on this, the accessor control section 2-3 controls the rotation of the rotary cell drum 4, and the accessor 2
Is controlled to move up and down to a predetermined position, a storage medium for storing the data requested to be accessed is taken out, and this is mounted on the vacant one, for example, the magneto-optical disk drive 3-0. When the access is completed, this storage medium is taken out and stored again in the cell of the storage destination. The accessor mechanism unit 2-1 is provided with a state management unit 2-4 for managing the empty state of each cell on a non-volatile memory so that it can be recognized by observing which cell is empty. Has been done.

The library device 1 includes a storage medium 10
A loading / unloading port 5 is provided for loading and unloading one by one, and when the administrator inserts the storage medium 10, the medium operating unit 2-0 of the accessor 2 passes this via a transport path (not shown). Hold and store in a given cell. When ejecting, the medium operation unit 2-0 takes out the storage medium from a predetermined cell and ejects it from the loading / ejecting port 5. In addition, a large amount of storage medium 10 is loaded into the library device 1 at a time.
A large loading / discharging door 6 for discharging is provided,
By opening this, a large amount of storage medium 10 can be loaded or ejected at the same time.

[0009]

A physical mount / unmount request for a storage medium in such a library device (such as loading the storage medium into a disk drive,
The request to remove or the like) has been achieved by making a mount request to the library management unit (not shown) on the host processor side based on the volume serial number uniquely assigned in the library system.

Generally, this mount request needs to be made by the administrator of the library system.
The system administrator needs to manage the volume serial numbers using, for example, a list display of the volume serial numbers.
Moreover, accessor 2 indicates that the physical mount was successful.
The user must make a logical mount request after being sent back by. Therefore, the user must recognize the information for each data area written on the storage medium, that is, the label name, the start address of the data area and its size, the data type, etc. It is necessary to make a logical mount request by
Because of this, management was difficult.

Further, in order to allow a plurality of users to access a physically mounted storage medium at the same time and improve the efficiency of use of the storage medium, whether the storage medium to be used by the user side is currently mounted or not. It was necessary to control whether or not it is possible to unmount the used storage medium and return it to the cell.

A conventional mount request process will be briefly described with reference to FIG. (1) The user inputs the volume serial number and makes a mount request. As a result, the host computer (not shown in FIG. 8) determines which cell address of which library device the storage medium of the volume serial number is accommodated in by the library control unit.

(2) Then, a volume is secured so that the storage medium of this volume serial number is not accessed by another access request. (3) Then, the host computer reserves an unused drive for the accessor 2 of the library device. In the example of FIG. 6A, if both the drives 3-0 and 3-1 are in use, one of them will wait until one becomes free.

(4) In this way, for example, the drive 3-
When 0 is secured, the library control unit of the host computer issues a physical mount request specifying the cell address to the accessor 2. This gives accessor 2
Controls the drive 3-0 to take out a predetermined storage medium from the cell and mount it on the drive 3-0.
As a result, the storage medium is physically mounted on the drive 3-0.

(5) Then, the user can specify which storage area of the volume serial number is the label name, which is the data necessary for the logical mount request for enabling the data access to the host computer, and the data area (start address and Range), and a data type (for example, continuous data type or tree type), and the library controller issues a logical mount based on this. This allows the host computer to access the desired label name on the storage medium.

As described above, conventionally, in general, management of storage media and control of mounting / unmounting are performed by the user checking the volume serial number and cell address by checking the list display, and recognizing the label name, data area, and data type. However, there is a problem in that a heavy burden is placed on the user and a heavy burden is placed on the system administrator or application developer.

Therefore, the object of the present invention is to allow the user who mounts / unmounts the storage medium to specify the cell address of the storage medium, the A side, the B side, the data area, etc., the data type, etc. By issuing a command from the host computer to the library device, it is possible to perform physical mount and logical mount, and to execute it in response to logical mount requests for the same volume from multiple users. Or
It is to provide a library system that can reduce the burden on a system administrator or an application developer by enabling a physical mount when all logical unmounts are completed.

[0018]

To achieve the above object, in the present invention, a library control unit 7, a volume information table 8, a label information table 11 and the like are provided on the host computer 9 side as shown in FIG. The volume information table 8 has label names for each volume serial number,
The library number, which is the number of the library device, the cell address of the storage destination, the volume side information indicating the side A or the side B, and the like are written in the nonvolatile memory when the storage medium 10 is initialized. Created. The label information table 11 is provided with a library number, a cell address, a volume surface, an access number classification, etc. for each label name, which is created on the real memory when the storage medium 10 is physically mounted. It is a thing.

The storage medium 10 stores a volume serial number, data area information indicating the start address of the data area and its size, and the like in the head portion, that is, the volume information storage area, and the label name of the data area and the label name of the data area. The data type is entered in each label area.

[0020]

When the user accesses the storage medium 10 in the library apparatus 1, the user designates the label name of the access destination and requests the logical mount. Based on this, the library control unit 7 accesses the volume information table 8 and recognizes the volume serial number, library number, cell address, and volume surface of the data area of the label name, that is, the storage medium in which the label area exists, and from the others. It secures it so that it cannot be accessed, and instructs accessor 2 to put the storage medium containing the data area of that label name on a free drive. When the drive is secured by this, a physical mount is issued. , The desired storage medium is taken out from the cell address and mounted on an empty drive, for example, drive 3-0. At this time, the library control unit 7 refers to the volume information table 8 and creates a label information table 11 having each section as shown in FIG. 1B on the real memory of the host computer 9 for the volume serial number. To do.

The drive 3-0 thereby sequentially reads the label names from the volume side and sends them sequentially to the library control section 7. Such a label information table 11
After creating, the library controller 7 obtains the start address of the data area of the desired label name, the size of the data area, the data type, etc. A logical mount request in which "etc." is entered is issued to the host computer 9. Then, +1 is entered in the number of accesses of the label information table 11. In this case, if there is a logical mount request for an area with another label name having the same volume serial number, +1 is also entered for the access count classification of that portion of the label information table 11.

When the host computer 9 finishes accessing the desired label name, the number of accesses returns to zero. Then, when the number of accesses of each label name of the same volume serial number returns to 0, the library control unit 7 outputs a physical unmount request with the cell address added to the accessor 2, whereby the storage medium drives the drive 3-0 to the cell Returned to.

[0023]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of contents of a storage medium, a volume information table, and a label information table in the present invention, FIG. 4 is an operational explanatory diagram of the present invention, FIG. 5 is a plurality of access requests , The logical mount process explanatory diagram when the storage media of the same volume serial number are performed,
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the logical unmount process. In the figure, the same symbol parts as the others indicate the same parts.

The host computer 9 is provided with a library control unit 7, a volume information table 8 and the like. The library control unit 7 includes a label information table 11, a request control unit 12, a main control unit 13, a resource management unit 14, a library interface unit 15, and an I / O interface unit 1.
6, a logical mount count section 17 and the like are provided.

The library controller 7 controls the access to the library device 1. The volume information table 8 is a table indicating which volume serial number the label name exists in, and is created in the nonvolatile memory when the storage medium 10 is initialized. The volume serial number as shown in FIG. Each label name existing for each, the library number indicating the number of the library device in which the storage medium of the volume serial number is stored, the cell address, and the volume indicating whether the storage medium is on the A side or the B side Information such as the surface is also entered.

The label information table 11 is created in the real memory when the storage medium is physically mounted in the drive, and the library number, the cell address, and the number of accesses outside the volume surface are entered for each label name. The number of accesses is incremented by 1 when a logical mount request is made for each label name, and is decremented by 1 when the logical mount is completed.

The request control unit 12 receives an access request in which a label name is specified, decodes the request, adds the label name to the main control unit 13, and transmits the access request. .

The main controller 13 comprehensively controls the library controller 7 based on the access request,
The volume information table 8 is created, the label information table 11 is created, physical mount / unmount is output to the accessor 2 of the library device 1, logical mount / unmount is issued to an OS (not shown), label information Control such as entering the number of accesses in the access number section of the table 11 is performed.

The resource management unit 14 manages whether the library device 1 is normal or abnormal. When the library device 1 is abnormal, the main control unit 13 displays an error and stops access to the device. Notice. When a plurality of library devices are connected, the main control unit 13 manages whether each library device is normal or abnormal, and suspends access to the abnormal device.
Notify the user and display an error.

The library interface section 15 inputs and outputs control signals to the accessor 2 of the library apparatus 1. The I / O interface unit 16 inputs and outputs control signals and data to the drives 3-0 and 3-1 of the library device 1.

The logical mount count section 17 adds +1 to the logical access count in response to this request for each user when a logical access request is made for each label name, and makes -1 when the access for each user is completed. It is a thing.

Next, the operation of FIG. 2 will be described based on the flowchart shown in FIG. (1) When a mount request to which a label name is added is issued by the user, the request control section 12 of the library control section 7 of the host computer 9 decodes this and the main control section 1
Propagate to 3. The main control unit 13 thereby refers to the volume information table 8, recognizes the volume serial number from the label name, and at the same time obtains information such as the library number, cell address, and volume surface.

(2) Based on these, the main control unit 13 creates the label information table 11 of the volume serial number to which the number of accesses is further added on the real memory.
Further, the main control unit 13 instructs the accessor 2 via the library interface unit 15 to apply the storage medium of the volume serial number to a free drive, and access the volume surface from other sources. Secure so that it cannot be done. The accessor 2 secures an unused drive, for example, the drive 3-0.

(3) After securing the unused drive in this way, the main controller 13 instructs the accessor 2 to
Issue a physical mount request that specifies the cell address volume side and label name. As a result, the storage medium is taken out by the accessor 2 from the designated cell address and physically mounted on the drive 3-0.

(4) Next, in the drive 3-0, the area of the label name of the storage medium is read by the volume surface and the label name, the data type, the start address of the data area, and the size information are read, and these are mainly read. Control unit 13
Send to.

(5) Based on these, the main controller 13 issues a logical mount request including the label name, data type, start position and size of the data area to the OS (not shown). As a result, the OS of the host computer 9 accesses the data area of the label name of the storage medium on the drive 3-0.

(6) When the logical mount is successful in this way, the logical mount count section 17 counts the numerical value "1" and stores it in correspondence with the label name. (7) At this time, +1 is entered in the access number section of the label name area of the label information table 11 to monitor the access status. When the access is completed, the value of the access number category is decremented by one. As a result, if the numerical value of the access number category becomes zero, the numerical value "+1" corresponding to the label name counted in (6) is also decremented to zero.

Next, referring to FIG. 5, a plurality of access requests
The logical mount processing when the storage media of the same volume serial number are performed will be described. Since (1) to (6) are the same as in FIG. 4, they will be briefly described.

(1) When a mount request to which a label name is added is issued by the user, the request control unit 12 of the library control unit 7 decodes and transmits it to the main control unit 13. The main control unit 13 thereby refers to the volume information table 8 and obtains the information necessary for creating the label information table 11.

(2) Based on these, the main control unit 13 creates the label information table 11 of the volume serial number to which the number of accesses is further added on the real memory.
The main control unit 13 also secures the volume surface so that it cannot be accessed by others. The accessor 2 secures an unused drive, for example, the drive 3-0.

(3) Next, the main controller 13 uses the accessor 2
A physical mount request specifying the cell address, the volume side, and the label name is issued. As a result, the storage medium is taken out from the designated cell address and physically mounted on the drive 3-0.

(4) As a result, the drive 3-0 reads the area of the label name of the storage medium by the volume surface and the label name, reads the data type, the start address of the data area, and the size information, and controls them mainly. Part 1
Send to 3.

(5) Based on these, the main controller 13 issues a logical mount request including a label name, data type, data area range, etc. to the OS (not shown). As a result, the OS of the host computer 9 accesses the data area of the label name.

(6) When the logical mount is successful in this way, the logical mount count section 17 counts the numerical value "1" and stores it in correspondence with the label name. (7) At this time, +1 is entered in the access number category of the label name area of the label information table 11.

(8) When there is an access request for the same label name in the state where the storage medium is mounted on the drive 3-0 and logical mounting is performed in this way,
When there is an access request for another label name with the same volume serial number, the following processing is performed. In this case, since the storage medium of that volume serial number is in use, the above (2)
Securing the volume follows the route that failed.

-1 When an access request is made to the same label name as the label being logically accessed, the logical mount request of (5) is not made, but the logical mount count section 17 of (6).
Does not perform the counting operation. However, for the access status monitoring in (7), the main control unit 13 writes the value of the access number category of the label name area, which is +1.

-2 Then, when the first access request ends, the main control unit 13 decrements the value of the access number category by -1. Therefore, in the area of the label name being accessed, the access is continuously performed until the value of the access number classification based on the access status monitoring becomes zero. Then, when all the access requests are completed and the numerical value of the access number division becomes zero, the main control unit 13 sets the numerical value "1" of the logical mount number part 17 counted in (6) to zero, and Indicates that there is no access request for the label name.

-1 When an access request is made to another label name for the same volume serial number as the one being logically accessed, the main controller 13 issues a logical mount request to this new label name in the same manner as described above. Issue. Then, +1 is entered in the logical mount count section 17 for the new label name.

-2: The main control unit 13 performs the access status monitoring control of (7) in response to this access request,
Enter +1 in the access count category of the new label name. If there are multiple access requests for this new label name, the numerical values will be entered according to the number.

-3 When the previous logical access is completed, the logical access is performed to the area for the new label name,
When the value of this access number classification is decremented by 1 each time access is completed and becomes zero, the logical access is terminated and the numerical value corresponding to the new label name in the logical mount count section 17 entered in -1 is also set to zero.

In this way, by monitoring the number of accesses in the label information table 11, it is possible to judge how many access requests exist in which group, and when the total number of logical mounts becomes zero. It can be determined that a physical unmount request should be issued to the.

Next, the unmount process in the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. (1) The unmount request is input by the user with a label name added. When this is decoded by the request control unit 12 and transmitted to the main control unit 13, the main control unit 13 refers to the volume information table 8.

(2) Then, each access number division of the volume serial number of the label name that is logically mounted is checked to see if it is zero. (3) If it is zero, the main control unit 13 has no access request from the user and no one is accessing it. Therefore, the main control unit 13 determines whether the storage medium having the label name is mounted, for example, the drive 3-0. A logical unmount request is issued to it.

(4) When this request is successful, the main control unit 13 decrements the logical mount count unit 17 by -1, and counts down the logical mount count. (5) If the number of logical mounts is greater than 1, the main controller 13 determines that the user has issued an access request to the storage medium, terminates the unmount request, and does not perform physical unmount.

(6) However, if the number of logical mounts is zero, the main controller 13 issues a physical unmount request to the accessor 2. As a result, the accessor 2 releases the volume of the drive mounted on the storage medium, for example, the drive 3-0, releases the volume, and returns the volume to the cell.

As described above, in the present invention, the library controller manages the label name and the number of logical mounts, automatically determines the data type in response to the access request, and further monitors the access status to the data area. As a result, it is possible to perform physical mounting and logical mounting without allowing the user to specify the medium itself, and it is possible to continuously enable a plurality of users to access the same storage medium and improve usage efficiency. Moreover, it is possible to unmount the storage medium without the user managing whether or not the storage medium has been used.

In the above description, an example of a magneto-optical disk is described as a storage medium, but the present invention is not limited to this.

[0058]

According to the present invention described in claims 1 and 2, the user makes a mount request without being aware of the volume serial number and the data type written in each data area of the exchangeable medium. be able to. That is, the mount request can be issued without being aware of the removable medium. Therefore, the program can be easily developed.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, it is possible to allow a plurality of users to access the same storage medium, so that the use efficiency of the library device can be improved and the storage medium can be improved. It has become possible to shorten the time required for mount requests by reducing the number of physical replacements.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the library control unit manages the access status and the logical mount status, so that the storage medium to be unmounted by the user is not accessed and has been used. You can request unmounting without being aware of it.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a principle diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of contents of a storage medium, a volume information table, and a label information table according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a logical mount processing state when a plurality of access requests are made to a storage medium having the same volume serial number in the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a logical unmount process according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a library device.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional mount request process.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Library Device 2 Accessor 3 Drive Unit 4 Rotating Cell Drum 5 Loading / Ejecting Port 6 Mass Loading / Ejecting Door 7 Library Control Unit 8 Volume Information Table 9 Host Computer 10 Storage Medium 11 Label Information Table 12 Request Control Unit 13 Main Control Unit 14 Resources Management unit 15 Library interface unit 16 I / O interface unit 17 Logical mount count unit

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A storage device for storing a plurality of storage media, a plurality of drive units for reading and writing the storage media, a library device having an accessor for moving the storage media, and a storage medium for managing the storage media in the library device. In a library system equipped with a host computer, a volume information table in which a label name, a volume serial number, and a cell address are written, and a desired storage medium is automatically selected by referring to this volume information table and mounted in a drive section. A library system comprising a controllable library controller. 2. The library control unit, when the label name is input and an access request is made, causes the drive unit to read the data area of the label name, determines the data type of the data area, and makes this determination. 2. The library system according to claim 1, further comprising a main control unit that outputs a logical mount request for logically mounting the data area based on the data type. 3. The library control unit is provided with a logical mount count storage unit for storing the presence / absence of an access request in association with a label name, and the logical mount count storage unit is used to specify a specified storage medium without logical replacement. 2. The library system according to claim 1, wherein the data area is logically mounted. 4. The library control section is provided with a label information table for managing the number of access requests for the same label name, and when all access to the storage medium is completed, the drive section unmounts the storage medium to the storage section. 2. The library system according to claim 1, wherein the library system is returned.