When a tape is to be exported to a remote data center, it must be removed from the MAREN catalog of the local data center using the MARENADM statement EXPORT-VOLUME.
When the tape is received by the remote data center, the MAREN administrator there adds it to the MAREN catalog in the data center using the MARENADM statement IMPORT-FOREIGN-VOLUME. In this procedure, an archive number that already exists in the MAREN catalog may be specified and entered. While the foreign tape is used in the remote data center, the tape with the same archive number which already existed there cannot be used.
After the tape has been processed in the remote data center, it is removed from the MAREN catalog there using the MARENADM statement EXPORT-VOLUME. From this point in time, the original tape with the same archive number can be used again.
While the tape is exported from the dispatching data center, the system there cannot access it. When it is returned to the local data center, it must explicitly be made available again using the MARENADM statement IMPORT-VOLUME.
If the tape belongs to a location served by an archive system, the export and import operations are performed together with the eject and insert operations at the archive system’s import/export unit.
A virtual tape from a virtual archive system cannot be exported.