Alerts And Logging; Locating Management Functions - IBM TS4300 User Manual

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For information about using these features, see the IBM Tape Device Drivers Installation and User's Guide
(GA32-0565).

Alerts and logging

The library sends alerts about the library and attached tape drives, and offers audit-logging to track user
actions.
• TapeAlert Support: The tape library is compatible with TapeAlert technology, which provides error and
diagnostic information about the drives and the library to the host application. The library provides this
error and diagnostic information as TapeAlert flags that are reported to the application by the SCSI
LOG SENSE command. See "TapeAlert flags" on page 138.
• Email (SMTP - Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) Notifications: The library can configure email
notification of library events. The library must have network access to an SMTP server. See "Locating
Management functions" on page 79.
• Remote Logging (rsyslog): The library can send syslog (system log) notifications to a configured remote
(rsyslog) server. When system events occur, the TS4300 tape library creates a log of these events. With
this notification feature configured, the library sends a notification of the event to the syslog server. The
syslog server keeps its own log of system events. (The syslog server is a customer-provided server.) See
"Locating Management functions" on page 79.
• SNMP Support: The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) allows the library to send alerts
over a LAN network to a monitoring server.
Occasionally, the library might encounter situations that you want to know about. These situations can
be conditions that affect the library performance, such as an open door that causes the library to stop.
You might also want to log user actions, such as a cartridge move or export that is initiated from the
Management GUI. SNMP messages can alert you of these conditions.
The library provides a standard TCP/IP protocol that is called SNMP to send alerts about conditions over
a TCP/IP LAN network to an SNMP monitoring server. These alerts are called SNMP traps. Using the
information that is supplied in each SNMP trap, the monitoring server (together with customer-supplied
software) can alert operations staff of possible problems or operator interventions that occur. Many
monitoring servers can be used to send email or pager notifications when they receive an SNMP alert.
See the manual for your network management application.
The monitoring server must be loaded with systems management software that can receive and
process the trap. SNMP supports a get and get-response mechanism for an operator to gather more
information about a problem or query the library about its status. Through a monitoring server, the
operator enters a "get" using SNMP to request information about the library. A get-response is the
information that is provided in response to the get. This type of support generally requires an up-to-date
library Management Information Base (MIB). The SNMP server's MIB contains units of information
that specifically describe an aspect of a system, such as the system name, hardware number, or
communications configuration.
IBM provides the MIBs that are supported by the library. They include
– IBM TS4300 MIB
Type of information:
- The status of each drive in the library
- A list of all cartridges in the library
- The last trap or TapeAlert message that was sent by the library.
– IBM AUTOMATION QUERY MIB
Type of information:
- Library configuration
Chapter 1. Overview 25