Abstract: A system employing a storage device and a host for configuration information exchange between the host and the storage device. In operation, the host manages host configuration information in a data management layer of a communication model, and communicates the host configuration information to the storage device by one or more data communication layers of the communication model. Likewise, the storage device manages storage device configuration information in the data management layer of the communication model, and communicates the storage device configuration information to the host by one or more data communication layers of the communication model.

Abstract: A method, system and program are provided for the retrieval of key label codes enabling access to encrypted data in a storage cartridge. An external key manager (EKM) wraps the data key used to encrypt the data with one or more encryption keys to form one or more encryption encapsulated data keys (EEDKs). The EEDK(s), which comprise a key label referencing the EKM containing their respective decryption key, are then stored on the storage cartridge along with the encrypted data. A key label list is generated and updated by querying one or more EKMs to collect the key labels they support. Once the key labels are collected, the existing list is purged and replaced with the new list of collected key labels. A key label is selected from the updated list and its associated EEDK is routed to the EKM containing the decryption key required to extract the data key it contains, which is then used to encode the data on the tape cartridge.