On 3/29/18, 6:00 AM, "IBM Mainframe Discussion List on behalf of R.S." <[email protected] on behalf of [email protected]> wrote: > The formats like AWSTAPE add unnecessary level of complexity. Any media > used should be treated a s bunch of files - just like electronic > delivery or DVD delivery; and in fact tape delivery.
FWIW, doing a quick Google search turned up file 477 on the CBT tape that provides MVS utilities to manipulate AWSTAPE virtual tapes. http://www.cbttape.org/awstape.htm discusses it further. CMS Pipelines also has an AWSTAPE stage that does it. So, any way you can get one simple sequential binary file to the system in question is good enough once you get the service envelope via whatever means you get it. I think we've gotten into a rathole about optical media -- there is *nothing* in AWSTAPE that requires optical media; it just currently happens to be a cheap way to transport a reasonably large quantity of bits from A to B while preserving the capability to maintain customer chain of custody requirements, and at least from my viewpoint, it requires the least amount of rework from IBM to support -- not zero, but enabling an existing option for a new set of data has to be easier than a whole new concept. As Gary pointed out, IBM already has the necessary production capabilities and tooling to do it and has been doing it for quite a while for VM. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
