Optical storage solution

["Carley, Neil" <carleyn1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi everyone,

I am looking into possibly adding a #3995 optical storage drive to our
system  to, in the short term help our current DASD(or lack of it!) problem.
.I have read through the IBM documentation etc. but would appreciate if
someone who has experience of using these drives could explain how exactly
the data end of things work ?
The below scenario kind of outlines my questions/confusions.


Say,
I have 5000 libs on my system 1000 of which are rarely accessed (none the
less critical), how exactly do I archive these off DASD onto the optical
solution (savlib(libxxx) dev(opt02))? and what way do they appear when they
are there ?

If I need to access/use one of the above libs or data contained in
it, how do I do it ?
do I view the data from the optical, and if I need to change/update it then
do I restore it back to ASP disk, make my change and then save it back to
the
optical ?

Should I change/update the above lib or data in it can I write it
back to where it was on the optical in the updated form ?

What if multiple users require data residing on the optical library at the
same time, does it work like a tape drive would, i.e. 1 drive 1 user, or
will it
buffer requests for the use of the internal drive as they come into the
system and process them in turn ? Also if it is a model with more than 1
internal drive can more than 1 user use the optical library at the same
time
assuming they are not requiring data from the same optical cartridge ?

Hope these questions don't seem too trivial but I want to be sure of how it
all works.
Needless to say if you think of any other significant running conditions
etc. for the solution please advise.

Regards & thanks

 Neil


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