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Steve Richter wrote: > > If you would explain > > how your VTS appears on the system, does it show up as a tape device ( > TAP02 ), do I SAVLIB LIB( xxxx ) DEV(TAP02) to save a library to it, How > does it cable attach to the system, .... > > then it would be easier to understand what you are selling. > > Steve Richter I'm not selling it yet, I'm still designing it with your input. Our basic techonology is a SCSI target card in a PC attached by a standard IBM SCSI cable (the same one you would use for your tape drive.) The device I am emulating is a 7208 model 2 or 12 8MM tape drive (depending on your AS/400 box). On older AS/400s it attaches thru the 2621 dual SCSI interface, I don't remember the new interface number offhand. (go see the tech support area of www.elstore.com, look for Niagara CD Recorder.) The AS/400 never knows that it is anything else than a 7208. So you save to it with SAVLIB, SAVOBJ, or a copy to tape, or an RPG program. When you write to the tape interface, I write to PC disk (or theoretically to some other device, or the Internet). Why? because it is FAST. The first time you do an INZTAP command and have the completion message come back as fast as you press the enter key, you know it is something a little different. I code everything you write, the data and the filemarks, into a file on the PC. When you REWIND I position back to the first part of the file, when you move forward and back tape marks I do the same. When you unload the file I close it, create a new file name and get ready to handle your next 'logical' tape. You can save lots of data to that PC disk, especially if you compress it (up to 16 per one in our tests, depeneding on the AS/400 data you are mocing to the PC). So you do your backup in a fraction of the time it takes to tape. (What fraction that is depends on how much your AS/400 is now waiting on your tape drive.) This writes your backup to the VTS hard drive. AS far as the AS/400 is concerned you are done. meanwhile a PC compression task is running in the background, compressing the data blocks a lot. AS that is completed, it starts writing the backup file to another tape, or DVD, or CD. The nice thing is you can write two or more identical copies. Verify them if you want. (Remember tape verify?) Or do something else with the data. Want to load your PC database in batch from the AS/400? Write it to tape, then have the PC side convert it. DVDs are slow, but it won't slow up your backup because the data is safe on a RAID mirrored disk. How many of you are throwing your old tapes out on schedule? If you write the same tapes over and over until you get errors, chances are your previus backup was no good too. Keep your most recent backups, or most used tape images, on the PC hard drive. We are also looking for interlock technology that would let us put hard drives in a drawer and use them like tape cartidges. (The drawer part is easy.) And of course you could use this thing as near line storage for the AS/400. i noticed oiver the weekend that IBM has a mainframe tape library called Virtual Tape System, so I think I will be going back to the 1995 name I had for this thing - Intelligent Backup System. I alos have a way to control the thing from the AS/400 side thru CL. -- Brad Jensen brad@elstore.com President Electronic Storage Corporation Tulsa OK USA 918-664-7276 LaserVault Report Retrieval & Data Mining www.Laservault.com www.eufrates.com - Add distance learning to your site with easy course preparation
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