Re: 3570 c12 tape drive question -- MIDRANGE-L

> I'm hoping this is simple...
Well, I'm afraid it's not extremely simple, but, if you're suffering from the
same problems I had when trying to control our 3590, which I understand works
similar to your 3570, once it's set up properly, you should have no problems
trying to do what you want with it.

I'm guessing the same as the other responses you've seen so far, but don't
know the terminology on the 3570 device.  Same thing on our 3590; once we
switched from "Automatic" mode to "Random" (or is it "Library"?), everything
started working hunky-dory.

Get familiar with the WRKMLBSTS command.  Use option 9=Work with Volumes.
This should set the cartridges in motion, loading & unloading each one so the
system knows what you've got.  After it's gone through each of those, you'll
get a "Work with" display with each of the cartridges listed.  When you do,
you'll see something like this:

          Work with Tape Cartridges     S44C1588
                                       06/14/01  12:53:29
Library Device:   TAPMLB01

Type options, press Enter.
  1=Add   2=Change   4=Remove   5=Display   6=Print ...
 10=Initialize tape   11=Display tape   13=Dump tape
 14=Duplicate tape    15=Check tape ...

     Cartridge   Volume
Opt  ID          ID          Status
 _   CLN001      *UNKNOWN    Inserted
 _   THU1W1      THU1W1      Inserted
 _   THU2W1      THU2W1      Inserted
 _   THU3W1      THU3W1      Inserted


Parameters or command
===>

When the status is "Inserted", you have to use option 1=Add to be able to use
the cartridge; this changes the status to "Available".  At this point, you can
use options 10-15.

Assuming auto-config worked properly, the tape device description you use is
the media library device, "TAPMLB01" or some such.  The tape drive device,
TAP01, or whatever the "resource" is for the media library device, is no
longer used in your tape commands, WRKCFGSTS will show such a device as
"varied off".  For example:
SAVLIB LIB(*NONSYS) DEV(TAPMLB01) VOL(THU1W1 THU2W1 THU3W1)

I have avoided any setups involving "tape categories", although others on this
list do use that - I just have found no benefit for doing so in our
environment.  It defaults to *NOSHARE, which basically says that the cartridge
belongs only to this AS/400.

Note that if you run DSPTAP on the cleaning cartridge, it will load the
cleaning cartridge and run the cleaning operation.  It may well be that any
operation that loads the cleaning cartridge into the drive may do this.

Since I have only one drive and one 10-slot magazine, I don't know if there
are special considerations for your 2-drive setup.

HTH

- Dan
Dan Bale says "BAN DALE!"
IT - AS/400
Handleman Company
248-362-4400  Ext. 4952
D.Bale@Handleman.com
  Quiquid latine dictum sit altum viditur.
  (Whatever is said in Latin seems profound.)

-------------------------- Original Message --------------------------
> I'm hoping this is simple...
>
> This tape drive has 2 tape bays, and a 20 slot magazine...  I can't seem
> to figure out how to do a backup, and tell the tape drive to use the next
> available tape automatically... If I select the tape manually it will
> work, but that seems to defeat the purpose of having the 20 slot magazine
> holder...
>
> any suggestions...
>
> thanks, tim
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