What does "Needs Validation" mean on a library slot status? (4045592)

Date: 10 Apr 08
Product & Version: All
OS Version: All
Module & Version: All
Application version: N/A

Symptoms:
When right-clicking on a slot and selecting "Status", the slot information might show "Needs Validation" in the top left corner.

This message means that NetVault has identified the tape based on its barcode, but has not yet physically read it in one of the drives.

Commonly, this occurs when an "Open Door" / "Close Door" is issued on a library that has a barcode reader (that includes VTL). Because there are barcodes, NetVault doesn't need to perform a full inventory (loading, reading and unloading each tape), and it can instead determine which tape is which by checking the barcode information.

However, as there is the chance of a duplicate barcode, or the barcode being swapped between the tapes, it can only be absolutely sure once that tape has been moved from its slot and read in a drive once. Until then, the slot status is displayed as "Needs Validation".

This is not a problem. NetVault will always read the tape header before writing to a tape.