The mounted category allows a group of tapes to automatically be loaded into a tape device.
The media are mounted in the order in which they were placed into the category. It is similar in function to an Automatic Cartridge Loader (ACL) on the stand-alone 3490 devices. This function is available with the Set Tape Category (SETTAPCGY) command. The mounted category is provided for all tape library devices.
To load groups of tapes into a tape device for 3494 devices, use the Library Manager software. To load groups of tapes into a tape device for libraries other than the 3494, use i5/OS™ (the SETTAPCGY command). Because of this difference, the 3494 Library Manager software loads the next tape as soon as the previous tape is unloaded. For all other libraries, the tape resource is not loaded until a tape command requiring media is issued to the tape library device.
With a category of mounted, a tape resource is dedicated for category mount operations until a SETTAPCGY (*DEMOUNTED) command is issued. When the SETTAPCGY has been issued, any i5/OS command to the tape library device with VOL(*MOUNTED) will be directed to the tape resource that is set up for the mounted category.
One category of cartridge can be mounted per available tape resource. To mount more than one category for a tape library the MNTID parameter must be used with the SETTAPCGY command to identify the mounted category operations. A job can only have one mounted category session active at a time. The mounted category session can be released from the job that mounted the category of cartridges and can be assigned to another job by using the *RELEASE and *ASSIGN options on the SETTAPCGY command.