Skip to Main Content
IBM System Storage Ideas Portal


This portal is to open public enhancement requests against IBM System Storage products. To view all of your ideas submitted to IBM, create and manage groups of Ideas, or create an idea explicitly set to be either visible by all (public) or visible only to you and IBM (private), use the IBM Unified Ideas Portal (https://ideas.ibm.com).


Shape the future of IBM!

We invite you to shape the future of IBM, including product roadmaps, by submitting ideas that matter to you the most. Here's how it works:

Search existing ideas

Start by searching and reviewing ideas and requests to enhance a product or service. Take a look at ideas others have posted, and add a comment, vote, or subscribe to updates on them if they matter to you. If you can't find what you are looking for,

Post your ideas
  1. Post an idea.

  2. Get feedback from the IBM team and other customers to refine your idea.

  3. Follow the idea through the IBM Ideas process.


Specific links you will want to bookmark for future use

Welcome to the IBM Ideas Portal (https://www.ibm.com/ideas) - Use this site to find out additional information and details about the IBM Ideas process and statuses.

IBM Unified Ideas Portal (https://ideas.ibm.com) - Use this site to view all of your ideas, create new ideas for any IBM product, or search for ideas across all of IBM.

ideasibm@us.ibm.com - Use this email to suggest enhancements to the Ideas process or request help from IBM for submitting your Ideas.

Status Submitted
Created by Guest
Created on Nov 20, 2025

Retention Sets and transitioning to new tape technology.

Hello,
There are customers who need to retain data for more than 10 years. However, a problem arises regarding technology lifecycles, as servers, disk arrays, and tape libraries are typically replaced every 5-10 years.
Consequently, the customer faces the challenge of migrating their Retentions Sets to new technology — in my case, a new generation of LTO tapes. 
I have been investigating the options for moving Retention Set data currently stored on LTO6 tapes to the new tape generation LTO9/LTO10.
The existing data movement options within the SP server always have some limitations and cannot be used.
MIGRATE STGPOOL
- RETENTION pool does not have the nextstgpool parameter.
MOVE DATA
- You can move files from a retention storage pool volume only to volumes in the same retention storage pool.
MOVE NODEDATA
- You cannot move node data into or out of a retention storage pool.

I have consulted this issue with IBM Support, and there is no other option within the SP server other than waiting for the Retention Set data to expire.

The only solution — which is very time consuming — is to restore all Retention Set data to temporary disk space and then create a new Retention Set/Archive on the new tape technology.

Would it be possible to consider a method for migrating Retention Set data on tapes during technology refreshes?


Thank you
Michal V.

I found a similar Idea in the "Future consideration" status, but there is still no progress.
https://ideas.ibm.com/ideas/SPF-I-3261

Idea priority High