About This Guide
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## About This Guide

This guide documents OpenVault release 1.4.1 running on IRIX operating systems.

OpenVault is a package of mediation software that helps other applications manage removable media:

- This facility can support a wide range of removable media libraries, as well as a variety of drives interfaced to these libraries.

- The modular design of OpenVault eases the task of adding support for new robotic libraries and drives.

- User interfaces are provided by OpenVault client applications, which perform I/O to drives using standard system facilities after OpenVault has mounted and loaded media for the application.

This OpenVault Operator's and Administrator's Guide describes how to administer and operate OpenVault. It also provides an introduction to tertiary storage management.

## Intended Audience

This guide is intended for administrators who set up the OpenVault system and monitor its operation, and for operators who perform prescribed storage management tasks. To use the information in this guide, you should have the following experience:

- Understanding UNIX system infrastructure including devices and networking

- Writing UNIX shell and Perl scripts

- Using common text editors (for example, `emacs`, `jot`, `nedit`, or `vi`)

- Using backup utilities such as `cpio`, `tar`, `xfsdump`, or IRIX NetWorker

## What This Guide Contains

The following is an overview of the material in this guide:

- Chapter 1, “Understanding OpenVault”, describes OpenVault architecture and operation.

- Chapter 2, “Installing OpenVault”, details server and client setup.

- Chapter 3, “Cartridge Life Cycle”, discusses the treatment of media cartridges.

- Chapter 4, “Administering OpenVault”, presents procedures for system administrators.

- Chapter 5, “Operating OpenVault”, tells how to perform day-to-day operator tasks.

- Chapter 6, “Reconfiguring OpenVault”, talks about changing configurations.

- Chapter 7, “Tertiary Storage Management”, is a conceptual introduction to this topic.

- Appendix A, “OpenVault Troubleshooting”, discusses OpenVault error conditions.

- Appendix B, “OpenVault Man Pages”, lists OpenVault administration commands.

## Related Publications

The following documents contain additional information that may be helpful:

- The IRIX Admin: Backup, Security and Accounting manual describes regular IRIX storage management utilities.

- The OpenVault Application Programmer's Guide describes the client side of OpenVault, showing how applications can make OpenVault requests in a prescribed format.

- The OpenVault Infrastructure Programmer's Guide describes the server side of OpenVault, showing how to write control programs for removable media libraries and drives.

## Obtaining Publications

To obtain SGI documentation, go to the SGI Technical Publications Library at:

    http://techpubs.sgi.com
    .

## Conventions

The following conventions are used throughout this document:

Convention |  | Meaning
`command` |  | This fixed-space font denotes literal items such as commands, files, routines, path names, signals, messages, and programming language structures.
`manpage`(x) |  | Man page section identifiers appear in parentheses after man page names. The following list describes the identifiers:
1 | User commands
1B | User commands ported from BSD
2 | System calls
3 | Library routines, macros, and opdefs
4 | Devices (special files)
4P | Protocols
5 | File formats
7 | Miscellaneous topics
7D | DWB-related information
8 | Administrator commands
Some internal routines (for example, the `_assign_asgcmd_info`() routine) do not have man pages associated with them.
variable |  | Italic typeface denotes variable entries and words or concepts being defined.
`user input` |  | This bold, fixed-space font denotes literal items that the user enters in interactive sessions. Output is shown in nonbold, fixed-space font.
[ ] |  | Brackets enclose optional portions of a command or directive line.
... |  | Ellipses indicate that a preceding element can be repeated.

## Reader Comments

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  http://techpubs.sgi.com

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  Technical Publications
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New Features in This Guide |  | Chapter 1. Understanding OpenVault