Initialize Media using BRM (INZMEDBRM)

Where allowed to run: All environments (*ALL)
Threadsafe: No
Parameters
Examples
Error messages

The Initialize Media using BRM (INZMEDBRM) command prepares media for use in the BRMS system. This command is used to initialize a volume with a standard volume label for standard label magnetic volume processing.

Note: It is recommended that you use the INZMEDBRM command in place of the operating system INZTAP or INZOPT command. To assure the protection of media, BRMS disables INZTAP CHECK(*NO) and INZOPT CHECK(*NO) for users who do not have *SECADM, *SECOFR, *SERVICE or *SAVSYS authority. Unlike users of INZTAP and INZOPT, users of INZMEDBRM do not need these levels of authority in order to use the CHECK(*NO) option.

Virtual media and devices can be used with this command. The following restrictions apply to the use of virtual media and virtual devices.

To use this command, you must have the Backup Recovery and Media Services for IBM i licensed program installed.

Restrictions:

  1. This command should not be used by control group *EXIT item processing as results will be unpredictable.
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Parameters

Keyword Description Choices Notes
DEV Device Name Required, Positional 1
NEWVOL New volume identifier Character value Required, Positional 2
MEDCLS Media class Name Required, Positional 3
NEWOWNID New owner identifier Character value, *BLANK Optional
VOL Volume identifier Character value, *MOUNTED Optional
CHECK Check for active files *YES, *FIRST, *NO Optional
CODE Code *EBCDIC, *ASCII Optional
ENDOPT End of media option *REWIND, *UNLOAD Optional
CLEAR Clear *NO, *YES Optional
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Device (DEV)

Specifies the name of the device which is used to initialize the volume. The device name must be defined in the BRMS device table.

This is a required parameter.

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New volume identifier (NEWVOL)

new-volume-identifier
Specifies the identifier of the new volume.

For volumes that specify a Media class (MEDCLS) parameter using a tape density, the volume identifier is the volume identifier is a maximum of six characters in length. The identifier must contain only alphanumeric characters (A through Z and 0 through 9), and cannot contain blanks.

For volumes that specify a Media class (MEDCLS) parameter using an optical format, the volume identifier is a maximum of thirty-two characters in length. The identifier must contain only alphabetic characters (A through Z), numeric characters (0 through 9), hyphen (-), underscore (_), or a period (.). The first character must be alphabetic or numeric and the identifier cannot contain blanks.

This is a required parameter.

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Media class (MEDCLS)

The MEDCLS parameter defines the density used to format the volume. It does not define the media class the volume is assigned. Use the CHGMEDBRM command to change the media class assignment of the volume.

This is a required parameter.

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New owner identifier (NEWOWNID)

Specifies the volume owner's identifier to write in the volume label of the volume being written.

*BLANK
The owner identification field is set to blanks.
new-owner-identifier
Specify no more than 14 characters to identify the owner of the volume. If fewer than 14 characters are specified, the field is left-justified and is filled with blanks on the right.
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Volume identifier (VOL)

Specifies the existing volume identifier of the volume being initialized for use or indicates that the volume currently on the magnetic device should be initialized for use.

*MOUNTED
Any labeled or unlabeled volume that is placed in the specified volume device is initialized for use. To initialize a new or empty volume for use, *MOUNTED must be specified, and *NO must be specified on the Check for active files (CHECK) parameter.
volume-identifier
Specify the identifier of the labeled volume being initialized for use. This parameter value can be used only to initialize a volume for use that is already a labeled volume. If the volume on the specified device has a different volume identifier than the one specified or if it is an unlabeled volume, an error message is sent.
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Check for active files (CHECK)

Specifies whether a labeled volume should be checked for active data files before it is initialized for use. If an unlabeled volume is placed in the specified device, this parameter is ignored.

*YES
For tape volumes, all data file labels volume are checked or and an error is sent if any active files are found. For optical volumes, an error is sent if the volume is initialized.
*FIRST
Only the first data file label on the volume is checked. If there are no data files on the volume or if the first data file has expired, the volume is initialized for use without checking for any other files on the volume. If the first data file has not expired, the operation is ended and an error message is sent.

Note: For optical devices, specifying *FIRST is the same as specifying *YES.

*NO
Volume initialization continues with no checking for active files. To initialize a new or empty volume for use, *NO must be specified here and *MOUNTED must be specified on the Volume identifier (VOL) parameter.
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Code (CODE)

Specifies the character code in which the volume label is written. All data that is not save/restore data written after the label must be in the same code; codes cannot be intermixed on a volume that is not a save/restore volume.

Note: For optical devices this parameter is ignored.

*EBCDIC
The volume label is written in EBCDIC and is an IBM standard label; all additional data must also be written in EBCDIC.
*ASCII
The volume label is written in ASCII and is an American National Standard Institute standard label; all additional data must also be written in ASCII.
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End of media option (ENDOPT)

Specifies whether the volume is only rewound, or rewound and unloaded after it has been initialized for use.

Note: For optical devices, *UNLOAD is the only special value supported, other special values will be ignored.

*REWIND
The volume is rewound after it has been initialized for use.
*UNLOAD
The volume is rewound and unloaded. Some optical devices will eject the volume after the operation ends.
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Clear (CLEAR)

Specifies whether or not existing data on the volume will be cleared during the initialize process.

For an optical device this parameter only applies when the volume media type is *DVD-RAM.

Note: If the volume media type is *WORM the volume is never cleared regardless of the parameter setting. If the volume media type is *ERASE the volume is always cleared regardless of the parameter setting.

*NO
The volume is not cleared.
*YES
The volume is cleared of existing data prior to initialization.

Note: For optical devices, this option may take several hours to complete, depending on the media capacity.

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Examples

Example 1: Initializing a Volume

INZMEDBRM DEV(TAP06) NEWVOL(T00004) MEDCLS(QIC1000)

This command initializes volume T00004 using device TAP06. The volume is assigned a media class of QIC1000 and initialized using the density specified by the QIC1000 media class.

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Error messages

*ESCAPE Messages

BRM1317
Volume &1 cannot be initialized now.
BRM1917
Feature not installed.
BRM1921
Feature not licensed.
BRM4040
Access denied for user &1.
BRM4041
Access denied for user &1.
BRM40A2
BRMS product initialization required.
CPF9800
All CPF98xx messages could be signaled. xx is from 01 to FF.
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