JPH09282110A - Medium management method and management device in library device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To bring a storage capacity managed by a library close to the maximum storage capacity of the library as much as possible. SOLUTION: This device is provided with a real cell 2 for housing a real medium, a driving device for setting the real medium 11 and reading or writing data recorded in the real medium 11, a real medium housing body 1 for respectively housing the real medium 11 and an accessor for taking out the real medium 11 from the real medium housing body 1 and housing, it. Then, the real medium 11 is divided into plural sections, the sections are considered as virtual cells and the real medium 11 is managed corresponding to the management information of the virtual cells.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a medium management method and a management device in a library device for automatically taking out and storing a storage medium (hereinafter referred to as a medium) such as a magnetic tape, a magnetic disk and an optical disk.

As the number of external storage devices such as magnetic tape devices (MTU), magnetic disk devices, and optical disk devices handled by computer systems increases, the efficiency and reliability of the operation management of these media and the ease of maintenance are increased. Etc. are required. Therefore, there is provided a library device that stores a large number of media and automates the operation of taking out and housing the media.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional library device for storing a medium, when recording, reproducing, or storing data, one medium is taken out from a cell to be stored in a recording / reproducing device (driving device) according to an instruction from a host computer. After carrying, recording and reproducing, the medium is stored in the original cell again when the processing is completed.

[0004]

The storage capacity per medium continues to increase as the performance of the medium improves.
On the other hand, the evaluation of the performance of the library device includes the number of stored media and the maximum storage capacity. In order to improve the performance of the library device, data management is performed so that the free space of the storage area of the medium managed by the library device is as small as possible, and the storage capacity actually stored by the library device is made as close as possible to the maximum storage capacity. It is necessary to manage the medium.

In the conventional library apparatus, regardless of the amount of data recorded per medium, if the volume (specified value of medium) is different, the data is recorded on another medium. Therefore, when managing a large amount of such a medium with a small recording amount, the actual storage capacity managed by the library is significantly smaller than the maximum storage capacity of the library, and the performance of the library deteriorates.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a library medium management method and a management apparatus capable of managing the storage capacity of a medium managed by the library as close as possible to the maximum storage capacity of the library.

[0007]

According to the present invention, an actual cell for accommodating an actual medium, a drive device for setting an actual medium and reading or writing data recorded in the actual medium, and an actual medium are individually accommodated. In a library device that includes a real medium container and an accessor that extracts and stores the real medium from the real medium container, the real medium is divided into a plurality of partitions, and the partitions are regarded as virtual cells. The actual medium is managed according to the management information.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the principle of the present invention. FIG. 1 (a) is a conceptual diagram showing the relationship between a real medium storage body for storing a real medium and a real cell and a virtual cell. FIG. 1B is a diagram showing the relationship between the partition (virtual cell) of the real medium and the directory portion. FIG. 1C is a diagram for explaining the movement of the virtual medium.

In FIGS. 1 (a), 1 (b) and 1 (c),
Reference numeral 1 is a real medium storage body having a real cell for storing a real medium. Reference numeral 2 is a real cell, and shows a case where it has four cells, that is, a real cell A, a real cell B, a real cell C, and a real cell D as an example. Further, each real cell corresponds to a plurality of virtual cells as shown in the real cell A (FIG. 1 (a) shows an example in which there are three virtual cells of virtual cell 0, virtual cell 1 and virtual cell 2). It has been shown).

Reference numeral 11 denotes an actual medium having data as recording area units as partitions (virtual cells) (see FIG. 1).
(b) and FIG. 1 (c) show an example in which there are three partitions (virtual cells)).

Reference numeral 12 denotes a directory section, which holds management information of partitions (virtual cells). It has information indicating the partition number (virtual cell number) and whether or not the memory is stored. In FIG. 1B, the virtual cell 0 (section 0) indicates that data is recorded (the storage presence / absence flag is 1). Virtual cell 1 (section 1) indicates that no data is recorded (the storage flag is 0). Virtual cell 2
(Section 2) represents that data is recorded. A virtual cell is a virtual medium, a virtual cell in which data is recorded represents that a virtual medium exists, and a virtual cell in which data is not recorded represents that a virtual medium does not exist.

FIG. 1 (c) is a block diagram of section 0 in FIG. 1 (b).
The state where the virtual medium of (virtual cell 0) is moved to the partition 1 (virtual cell 1) is shown. That is, FIG. 1C shows that data is not stored in the partition 0 (virtual cell 0), data is stored in the partition 1 (virtual cell 1), and (virtual cell 2) is stored in the partition 2.

The operation of the basic configuration of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 will be described. In the configuration of FIG. 1, for example, when the data recorded in the partition 0 (virtual cell 0) is transferred to the partition 1 (virtual cell 1), for example, the source address and the destination address are specified. This is performed by using a move command (MOVE command or the like) similar to the conventional move, and designating the virtual cell number 0 as the source address and the virtual cell number 1 as the destination address. Then, by executing the command, the real medium 11 is taken out from the real cell A, set in a driving device (not shown), and the data of the section 0 is transferred to the section 1 (the virtual medium of the virtual cell 0 is set to the virtual cell 1). Move to). Then, the flag of the directory unit 12 indicating whether or not the virtual cell 1 is stored is rewritten to the storage (flag 1), and the flag indicating whether or not the virtual cell 0 is stored is set to no storage (flag 1) (FIG. 1 (c)). reference). Then, the real medium 11 is stored in the real cell A.

Alternatively, the present invention, as shown in FIG.
By moving the information of the virtual cell in the directory section 12, the virtual medium can be moved at high speed. FIG.
(a) is before the movement of the virtual medium. FIG. 2B shows the state after the movement of the virtual medium.

In FIG. 2, the virtual medium of virtual cell 0 is moved to virtual cell 1 (data stored in partition 0 is stored in partition 1).
Move to) is shown as an example. Before the movement, it is assumed that data is stored in the partition 0 (virtual cell 0) and the partition 2 (virtual cell 2). At this time, the directory part becomes as shown in the figure.

Therefore, instead of actually moving the data of the partition 0 to the partition 1, the information of the virtual cell 0 in FIG. 2A is moved to the information holding area of the virtual cell 1 and the information of the virtual cell 1 is transferred. Move to the information holding area of virtual cell 0. As a result, the directory part becomes as shown in Fig. 2 (b).

As shown in FIG. 2B, the virtual cell 0 (partition 0) is not stored in the directory portion, the virtual cell 1 (partition 1) is stored, and the virtual medium of the virtual cell 0 is This means that it has been moved to virtual cell 1.

As described above, according to the present invention, the partition of the real medium is divided into a plurality of partitions and treated as a virtual cell, so that the commands such as the conventional move command can be used as they are to efficiently use the real medium. Therefore, the storage capacity actually stored in the library device can be significantly improved without specially changing the management method. Moreover, since it becomes possible to move the virtual medium of the virtual cell simply by moving the information of the virtual cell,
The movement management of the data in the partition can be performed at high speed, and the performance of the library device can be greatly improved.

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the present invention.
An example of a library is shown. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 31 is an actual medium container.

32, 32 'and 33' are real cells,
It is a cell that stores a real medium. Each real cell comprises a plurality of virtual cells (in FIG. 3, each real cell is assumed to have three virtual cells).

33 "and 34 'are real media. The real media has a plurality of partitions (virtual cells). In FIG. 3, each real media has three virtual cells. 41 is an accessor A." Then, the real medium is taken out from the designated real cell and set in the designated MTU 1, 2, 3 (51, 52, 53), or the designated MTU 1, 2, 3 (51, 5)
2, 53), the actual medium is removed and stored in a designated actual cell.

Reference numeral 42 is an accessor B. 51 is MTU
It is a (magnetic tape unit) and is a drive device that performs writing and reading on the set real medium (magnetic tape).

In FIG. 3, the real medium 33 "has an accessor A (4
1) is taken out from the real cell 32 ', and MTU1 (5
It means that it is set to 1). Also, the real medium 3
4'is MTU3 (53) by Accessor B (42)
The operation is shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of the system configuration of the library device of the present invention. In FIG. 4, reference numeral 61 is a host computer, which is a computer for controlling the operation of the library apparatus 71.

Reference numeral 62 denotes a library control unit, which is a CP
It is composed of U, memory, library support program, and management table. 63 is a CPU.

Reference numeral 64 is a memory. Reference numeral 65 denotes a management table, which is a management table of the library and has correspondence between the three-dimensional coordinates of the real medium and the virtual cell.

Reference numeral 67 is a library support program.
Reference numeral 68 denotes an input / output processing unit, which is a host computer 61.
And the library device 71.

Reference numeral 71 is a library device. A director (management device) 72 manages the operation of the MTU and accessor controller.

Reference numeral 73 is an MTU processing unit, and MTU 84
Is to control. Reference numeral 81 denotes an accessor controller processing unit that manages the operation of the accessor controller 82.

Reference numeral 82 is an accessor controller,
It controls the operation of the accessor. 83 is an accessor.

Reference numeral 84 is an MTU. Reference numeral 85 is a display. 86 is a magnetic disk device.

The operation of the configuration of FIG. 4 will be described later. FIG. 5 shows an embodiment of the management table of the present invention. Reference numeral 65 is a management table.

Reference numeral 110 denotes a virtual cell table, which has correspondence between virtual cell numbers and three-dimensional coordinates of virtual cells (three-dimensional coordinates of virtual cells will be described with reference to FIG. 6). Reference numeral 111 denotes an MTU table, which holds a device number of the MTU and a flag indicating whether it is in use (flag 1) or free (flag 0).

A virtual medium (volume) table 112 has a correspondence between a volume name and a virtual cell number in which the volume name is stored. FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram of a virtual cell according to the present invention, in which the virtual cell is represented by three-dimensional coordinates. FIG. 6 shows a case where there are 16 real cells and each real cell has 3 virtual cells.

In FIG. 6, reference numeral 31 designates a real medium container having 16 real cells in the XY plane. Reference numeral 32 is a real cell, which is a cell of the real medium container on the XY plane. Each real cell has three virtual cells represented by coordinates in the Z-axis direction.

A is a virtual cell 0 and has coordinates (0, 0,
0). B is virtual cell 1 and has coordinates (0, 0,
1). C is a virtual cell 2 and has coordinates (0, 0,
2). D is a virtual cell 45 having coordinates (3,
3, 0). E is a virtual cell 47 having coordinates (3,
3, 3).

When moving the medium from A (virtual cell 0) to B (virtual cell 1), the host computer issues the next move command. MOVE (0,0,0), (0,0,1) Upon receipt of this command, the library device moves the real medium in A (real cell 32) to the vacant MTU, and the virtual cell 0 data ( The virtual medium) is written in the memory of the host computer, the data (virtual medium) is written in the virtual cell 1, and the data (virtual medium) in the virtual cell 0 is erased. Then, the directory portion of the actual medium is updated, and the actual medium is returned to A (actual cell 2).

When moving the data recorded in the real medium between different real cells, the move command is similarly issued by the host computer. For example, when moving a virtual medium from cell A (virtual cell 0) in FIG. 6 to cell E (virtual cell 47), the next move command is issued.

MOVE (0,0,0), (3,3,2) Then, the library device moves the real medium in the cell A to the vacant MTU, and the data of the virtual cell 0 (virtual medium ) Is read on the memory, the data of the virtual cell 0 is erased, and the directory portion of the real medium is updated. Then, the actual medium is returned to the cell A. Next, the library device takes out the real medium in the cell D (coordinates (3, 3, 0)) and sets it in the MTU. Then, the data written in the memory is written in the virtual cell 2 (cell C) of the real medium, the data in the directory part of the real medium is updated, and the real medium is returned to the cell D.

The operation of FIG. 4 will be described. In the host computer 61, the library support program 67 issues a MOVE command. The command is transferred to the director 72 via the input / output processing unit 68. The director 72 obtains the numbers of the real media of the movement source and the movement destination (the numbers of the real cells storing the real media) based on the two-dimensional components of the three-dimensional coordinates received from the host computer. Moreover, the number of the vacant MTU is calculated. And
The source and destination data is transferred to the accessor controller 82 by the accessor controller processing unit 81,
The accessor controller 82 controls the accessor 83 to take out the real medium of the data transfer source and set it in the MTU 84. Therefore, the MTU processing unit reads out the data of the partition according to the address of the command, and the director 72
Transfer to internal memory. Then, the directory part of the actual medium is updated. Next, if it is the movement on the same real medium, the data held in the memory in the director 72 is taken out, the data is written to the movement destination partition (virtual cell) with the real medium set, and the directory portion is written. Is updated and the actual medium is returned to the taken-out actual cell. If data is to be moved to another real medium, the extracted real medium is returned to the original real cell, and the virtual cell to be written is referenced by referring to the two-dimensional component from the three-dimensional coordinates of the virtual cell specified by the command. Then, the number of the real medium that has is obtained, and the real medium is taken out from the real cell that stores the real medium. Then, the actual medium is set in the MTU. The MTU processing unit 73 takes out the data held in the memory of the director 72,
The data fetched from the memory is written to the virtual cell specified by the command coordinates. Then, the directory part of the actual medium is updated, and the actual medium is returned to the original actual cell.

If necessary, the file name of the moved file is associated with the newly stored virtual cell,
The file table 112 is updated. Example 1 of the present invention
Is an embodiment of the principle explanation (1) of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of the first embodiment of the present invention, which is a flowchart of the operation of the director (management device). FIG. 7A is a flow chart when moving a virtual medium between the same real mediums. It is assumed that the medium is moved from virtual cell 0 to virtual cell 1.

S1 Receives a move command from the host computer (receives a move command for moving from virtual cell 0 to virtual cell 1). S2 Real media including real cell to virtual cell 0 (virtual cell A
Of the actual medium) and set it in the MTU.

S3 The data of the partition 0 (virtual cell 0) is written in the memory of the host computer. The contents of the S4 memory are written to the partition 1 (virtual cell 1).

S5: Data in the partition 0 (virtual cell 0) is erased, and the directory portion is updated. S6 Move the real medium to the original real cell. FIG. 7B is a flow chart in the case of moving a virtual medium between different real media. It is assumed that the virtual medium is moved from virtual cell 0 ((A (0,0,0)) to virtual cell 47 (E (3,3,2)).

S1 Receives a move command from the host computer (receives a move command for moving from virtual cell 0 to virtual cell 47). The real medium having the S2 virtual cell 0 is taken out from the real cell and moved to the MTU.

S3 The data of section 0 (virtual cell 0) is read into the memory of the host computer. S4 The data in the partition 0 (virtual cell 0) is erased and the directory portion is updated.

S5 The actual medium is returned to the actual cell (0,0). The real medium of the real cell (3, 3) including the S6 virtual cell D is taken out and set in the MTU.

The contents of the S7 memory are written into the partition 2 (virtual cell 47) and the directory portion is updated. S8 The real medium is returned to the real cell (3, 3).

Embodiment 2 of the present invention is a principle explanatory view (2) of FIG.
This is an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 8 is a flowchart of the second embodiment of the present invention, which is a flowchart of a director (management device) that moves a virtual medium by exchanging information of virtual cells in a directory section. It is assumed that the virtual medium is moved from the virtual cell 0 to the virtual cell 1 by exchanging the information of the virtual cell 0 and the information of the virtual cell 1.

The S1 director receives a move command for moving the virtual medium from the host computer (virtual cell 0
Receives a command to move a virtual medium to virtual cell 1).

The real medium including the virtual cell 0 is taken out from the real cell S2 and moved to the MTU. The contents of the S3 directory section are written to the memory. The data of the virtual cell 0 (information of the virtual cell 0) and the data of the virtual cell 1 (the information of the virtual cell 1) in the directory portion are exchanged on the S4 memory.

S5 Write the contents of the memory in the directory section of the real medium. S6 Move the real medium to the real cell (return the real medium to the original position). About Example 3 of the present invention.

In the above description, when one real medium is divided into a plurality of partitions, a method of managing them as virtual cells has been described. However, the present invention can also manage a plurality of real media as one virtual cell (one virtual media). The third embodiment of the present invention is such a library device.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of the third embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 9A shows, as an example, a case where a real medium having six real cells is managed as one virtual cell in a library device having 14 real cells.

In FIG. 9A, reference numeral 31 is an actual medium container. Reference numeral 32 is a real cell (the real cells have numbers 0 to 23).

A virtual cell 0 33 includes a real cell 0, a real cell 1, a real cell 4, a real cell 5, a real cell 8 and a real cell 9. 34 is a virtual cell 1, which is a real cell 2,
Real cell 3, real cell 6, real cell 7, real section 10, real cell 1
1 is included.

Reference numeral 35 is a virtual cell 2, which is a real cell 12,
The real cell 13, the real cell 16, the real cell 17, the real cell 20, and the real cell 21 are included. 36 is a virtual cell 3, which is a real cell 14, a real cell 15, a real cell 18, a real cell 1
9, a real cell 22 and a real cell 23 are included.

FIG. 9 (b) shows a virtual cell table corresponding to FIG. 9 (a). Reference numeral 110 is a virtual cell table of the present invention. The virtual cell table 110 has the virtual cell number 0 corresponding to the real cell numbers 0, 1, 4, 5, 8, and 9. It has a virtual cell number 1 corresponding to the real cell numbers 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, and 11. Although not shown below,
It has a virtual cell number 2 corresponding to the real cell numbers 12, 13, 16, 17, 20, 21 and the real cell numbers 14, 15, 1
It has a virtual cell number 3 corresponding to 8, 19, 22, and 23.

In this way, a plurality of real media can be collectively handled as one virtual media, and when the recording amount per cell (real cell) exceeds the storage capacity of one real medium, A plurality of real cells (real media) can be treated as one medium (virtual medium), and the storage capacity per cell can be virtually increased. Therefore, even when a plurality of real media must be managed as one file, the media can be easily managed, and the performance of the library device can be greatly improved.

[0061]

According to the present invention, a real medium can be efficiently managed by using a conventional command such as a move command. Therefore, one real medium with the maximum storage capacity can be treated as a plurality of virtual media with small capacities without changing the management method. As a result, it is possible to eliminate the waste of the storage capacity actually stored in the library device and significantly improve the performance.

According to the management method of the principle (2) of the present invention, since the virtual medium can be moved only by moving the information of the virtual cell of the directory portion, the movement management of the data of the partition can be performed at high speed. It is possible to improve the management efficiency of the library device.

Further, as in the third embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of real media can be collectively handled as one virtual media. In that case, the storage capacity per cell can be virtually increased, and the medium can be easily managed even when it is desired to manage a plurality of real media as one file. Therefore, the performance of the library device can be significantly improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view (1) of the principle of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view (2) of the principle of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a system configuration of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a management table of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram of a virtual cell of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a flowchart of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a flowchart of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing Embodiment 3 of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: Real medium container 2: Real cell A 11: Real medium 12: Directory part

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An actual cell for accommodating an actual medium, a drive device for setting the actual medium and reading or writing data recorded on the actual medium, and an actual medium container for individually accommodating the actual medium, In a library device including an accessor for taking out and storing a real medium from a medium container, the real medium is divided into a plurality of partitions, the partitions are regarded as virtual cells, and the real media are managed according to the management information of the virtual cells. A medium management method in a library device characterized by the above. 2. The virtual medium is considered to be present in the virtual cell when data is recorded on the partition, and the medium is considered to be absent when the data is not recorded. 1. A medium management method in the library device according to 1. 3. The medium management method in the library device according to claim 1, wherein data movement between partitions of a real medium is performed by moving a virtual medium between virtual cells. 4. The position of the virtual cell is defined by three-dimensional coordinates (x, y,
z), and the two-dimensional plane coordinate component (x, y) thereof is represented at the position where the real medium is actually stored in the real medium storage body. A medium management method in a library device. 5. A directory section for holding information of virtual cells is provided on a real medium, and the directory section has information indicating the presence or absence of the virtual medium, and the virtual cell information of the virtual medium is exchanged by exchanging the virtual cell information of the directory section. A medium management method in a library apparatus, which is characterized by performing replacement. 6. A method of managing a plurality of real media as one cell by setting a plurality of real cells storing real media as one virtual cell, and making a plurality of real media of the virtual cell one virtual medium. A medium management method in a characteristic library device. 7. A real cell for accommodating a real medium, a drive device for setting the real medium and reading or writing data recorded in the real medium, and a real medium container for separately accommodating the real medium, In a library device having an accessor for taking out and storing a real medium from a medium container, the operation of a drive unit and an accessor is managed, the real medium is divided into a plurality of sections, and the sections are virtual cells. A management device in a library device, which is characterized by managing a real medium according to management information of a virtual cell.