Automated tape drive sharing in a heterogeneous server and application environment

A computer program product, comprising:

• a computer-readable storage medium having a computer-readable program code stored therein, said computer-readable program code containing instructions configured to be executed by a processor of a computer system to implement a method of automatically sharing a tape drive in a heterogeneous computing environment, said method comprising:
• said computer system receiving a first message that includes an identifier of a tape drive shared among a plurality of computer systems in said heterogeneous computing environment, an identifier of a source port of a second computer system, and an indication of a first change in a reservation status of said tape drive, wherein said computer system and said second computer system are included in said plurality of computer systems;
• said computer system determining said tape drive is connected to said computer system based on said identifier of said tape drive;
• said computer system determining said identifier of said source port does not identify any host bus adapter installed in said computer system;
• said computer system determining said indication of said first change indicates a first command from said second computer system that reserves said tape drive for said second computer system;
• and
• responsive to said determining said indication of said first change indicates said first command, said computer system setting said tape drive offline in a first application executing in said computer system.

A computer-implemented method of automatically sharing a tape drive in a heterogeneous computing environment, said method comprising executing program code of a library reservation agent by a processor of a computing unit, said program code stored in a computer-readable storage medium, wherein said executing program code includes:

• said library reservation agent determining a change in a reservation status of a tape drive based on a command received by said tape drive, wherein said library reservation agent is a software agent executing in a tape library controller coupled via a network to a plurality of computer systems in said heterogeneous environment, and wherein each computer system of said plurality of computer systems executes a drive-sharing agent;
• said library reservation agent determining an identifier of said tape drive;
• said library reservation agent determining said tape drive is shared among said plurality of computer systems, wherein said determining said tape drive is shared is based on said identifier of said tape drive;
• said library reservation agent determining an identifier of a source port of a first computer system of said plurality of computer systems, wherein said command is received by said tape drive from said first computer system;
• and
• said library reservation agent sending a message to said drive-sharing agent executing in said plurality of computer systems, wherein said message includes said identifier, said identifier of said source port, and an indication of said change in said reservation status of said tape drive, wherein a result of said sending said message is a state of said tape drive being set in an application based on said change in said reservation status and being set by said drive-sharing agent executing in a second computer system of said plurality of computer systems, and wherein said application is executing in said second computer system.

A computer-implemented method of automatically sharing a tape drive in a heterogeneous computing environment, said method comprising executing program code of a reservation-sharing agent by a processor of a computing unit, said program code stored in a computer-readable storage medium, wherein said executing program code includes:

• said reservation-sharing agent determining a change in a reservation status of a tape drive based on a command received by said tape drive, wherein said reservation-sharing agent is a software agent executing in a tape library controller coupled via a network to a plurality of computer systems in said heterogeneous environment;
• said reservation-sharing agent determining an identifier of said tape drive;
• said reservation-sharing agent determining said tape drive is shared among said plurality of computer systems, wherein said determining said tape drive is shared is based on said identifier of said tape drive;
• said reservation-sharing agent determining an identifier of a source port of a first computer system of said plurality of computer systems, wherein said command is received by said tape drive from said first computer system;
• said reservation-sharing agent determining said tape drive is connected to a second computer system of said plurality of computer systems based on said identifier of said tape drive;
• said reservation-sharing agent determining said identifier of said source port does not identify any host bus adapter installed in said second computer system;
• said reservation-sharing agent determining said change in said reservation status includes a reservation of said tape drive for said first computer system by said command;
• and
• responsive to said determining said change in said reservation status includes said reservation of said tape drive, said reservation-sharing agent setting said tape drive offline in an application executing in said second computer system.