Autonomic reclamation processing for tapes

摘要

Various embodiments for autonomic reclamation processing for tapes are provided. Instructions are received to perform reclamation processing on the formatted tape. Formatted tape is loaded into a tape drive for buffering active data during reclamation processing and consolidating all of the active data in capacity optimized manner on the same formatted tape. The formatted tape comprises metadata denoting active and inactive data blocks for files. The meta data of the formatted tape is read into a reclamation memory. The table is sorted and a starting block address is sorted. All active files ordered in the table starting at the starting block address are read into the reclamation memory. The files are written from the reclamation memory to the formatted tape from the starting block address and updating the table with new block addresses of the files. The meta data is updated with the updated table.

主权项

1. A method for autonomic reclamation processing for tapes by a processor device in a computing environment, the method comprising:
loading a formatted tape into at least one tape drive for buffering active data during reclamation processing and consolidating all of the active data in a capacity optimized manner on the same formatted tape, wherein the formatted tape comprises metadata denoting active and inactive data blocks for files; checking a format of the formatted tape according to format specifications; correcting the format of the formatted tape, if the format is not correct; receiving an instruction to perform reclamation processing on the formatted tape, if the format of the formatted tape is correct; reading the metadata of the formatted tape and using the metadata to determine the files which represent the active data and block addresses where the files are stored on the formatted tape and storing the active data and the block addresses in a table; sorting the table that includes active files and the block addresses by the block address in ascending order and determining a starting block address; reading all active files ordered in the table starting at the starting block address into the reclamation memory; writing the files from the reclamation memory to the formatted tape from the starting block address and updating the table with new block addresses of the files, the formatted tape being the same formatted tape on which reclamation processing and the reading of the metadata were performed; and updating the metadata with the updated table.