Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment
Jr, If you are interested in, I can send you a copy of our z/VM440. Regards Alain Le 4/04/08 3:26, « Imler, Steven J » [EMAIL PROTECTED] a écrit : Hmmm ... Les, Alain did say z/VM FOUR.FOUR ... it's for sure there are likely CP changes (DIAG 254 things come to mind) that might effect this behavior in some way ... again keeping in mind his HOST is running z/VM 4.4.0 (except for the test when everything WORKED! [when he had z/VM 5.3 running 1st level in addition to his test guest system]). In any case, I have no way to go back to prove this ... all our hosts are z/VM 5.3 and we generally are running the GA release of z/VM at GA for all our hosts. So it's been a LONG time since we've had z/VM 4.anything as top dog. JR JR (Steven) Imler CA Senior Software Engineer Tel: +1 703 708 3479 Fax: +1 703 708 3267 [EMAIL PROTECTED] -Original Message- From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Les Geer (607-429-3580) Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2008 08:42 PM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment Les and JR, Firstly : Thanks to gave me the info 'PMH 84921,004,000'. I asked our hardware to l ook at this. I don't have a feedback yet. Secondly : I was able to IPL our z/VM530 today and ... - from z/VM440, I ipled z/VM530 2nd lvl and did a test about the target : nothing changed. Problem still alive :( - I ipled z/VM530 1st lvl and did a test, then did it again and again to be absolutely sure. I washed my glasses and yes our problem disappeared. NO MORE PROBLEM !!! So it was not a hardware problem. Glad to see this has been corrected in the z/VM version. There isn't anything in a newer release of z/VM that would change the behavior of this problem. It really is a hardware problem. This problem only occurs when you use VOLSPECIFIC as a target category on a mount request. Best Regards, Les Geer IBM z/VM and Linux Development
Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment
Hi Alain, Actually, in this case, I really don't really feel like going back in time :-) In reality, it would need to be a real crisis for me to get authorization to use a LPAR to IPL z/VM 4.4.0. I'm just happy for you that you should finally have this problem resolved when you are up and running z/VM 5.3 in production! JR JR (Steven) Imler CA Senior Software Engineer Tel: +1 703 708 3479 Fax: +1 703 708 3267 [EMAIL PROTECTED] -Original Message- From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Alain Benveniste Sent: Friday, April 04, 2008 12:12 PM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment Jr, If you are interested in, I can send you a copy of our z/VM440. Regards Alain Le 4/04/08 3:26, « Imler, Steven J » [EMAIL PROTECTED] a écrit : Hmmm ... Les, Alain did say z/VM FOUR.FOUR ... it's for sure there are likely CP changes (DIAG 254 things come to mind) that might effect this behavior in some way ... again keeping in mind his HOST is running z/VM 4.4.0 (except for the test when everything WORKED! [when he had z/VM 5.3 running 1st level in addition to his test guest system]). In any case, I have no way to go back to prove this ... all our hosts are z/VM 5.3 and we generally are running the GA release of z/VM at GA for all our hosts. So it's been a LONG time since we've had z/VM 4.anything as top dog. JR JR (Steven) Imler CA Senior Software Engineer Tel: +1 703 708 3479 Fax: +1 703 708 3267 [EMAIL PROTECTED] -Original Message- From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Les Geer (607-429-3580) Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2008 08:42 PM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment Les and JR, Firstly : Thanks to gave me the info 'PMH 84921,004,000'. I asked our hardware to l ook at this. I don't have a feedback yet. Secondly : I was able to IPL our z/VM530 today and ... - from z/VM440, I ipled z/VM530 2nd lvl and did a test about the target : nothing changed. Problem still alive :( - I ipled z/VM530 1st lvl and did a test, then did it again and again to be absolutely sure. I washed my glasses and yes our problem disappeared. NO MORE PROBLEM !!! So it was not a hardware problem. Glad to see this has been corrected in the z/VM version. There isn't anything in a newer release of z/VM that would change the behavior of this problem. It really is a hardware problem. This problem only occurs when you use VOLSPECIFIC as a target category on a mount request. Best Regards, Les Geer IBM z/VM and Linux Development
Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment
A word of caution here, I realize it appears the problem is resolved going from z/VM 4.4 and 5.3. However, I can not tell you any change that has been made to Diag X'254' nor RMS that would have magically allowed a target category of VOLSPECIFIC to be honored by the ATL on a mount command. I can tell you, hardware has identified situations where VOLSPECIFIC is not honored as a target category on a mount command. And I am not aware the fix has been released. Make sure you consider this carefully before going into production. JR, didn't you make a change at one time where the set category was done separate from the mount? Could it be in one of the environments this code was being executed? Best Regards, Les Geer IBM z/VM and Linux Development Hi Alain, Actually, in this case, I really don't really feel like going back in time :-) In reality, it would need to be a real crisis for me to get authorization to use a LPAR to IPL z/VM 4.4.0. I'm just happy for you that you should finally have this problem resolved when you are up and running z/VM 5.3 in production! JR JR (Steven) Imler CA Senior Software Engineer Tel: +1 703 708 3479 Fax: +1 703 708 3267 [EMAIL PROTECTED] -Original Message- From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Alain Benveniste Sent: Friday, April 04, 2008 12:12 PM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment Jr, If you are interested in, I can send you a copy of our z/VM440. Regards Alain Le 4/04/08 3:26, =AB=A0Imler, Steven J=A0=BB [EMAIL PROTECTED] a =E9crit=A0: Hmmm ... Les, Alain did say z/VM FOUR.FOUR ... it's for sure there are likely CP changes (DIAG 254 things come to mind) that might effect this behavior in some way ... again keeping in mind his HOST is running z/VM 4.4.0 (except for the test when everything WORKED! [when he had z/VM 5.3 running 1st level in addition to his test guest system]). In any case, I have no way to go back to prove this ... all our hosts are z/VM 5.3 and we generally are running the GA release of z/VM at GA for all our hosts. So it's been a LONG time since we've had z/VM 4.anything as top dog. JR JR (Steven) Imler CA Senior Software Engineer Tel: +1 703 708 3479 Fax: +1 703 708 3267 [EMAIL PROTECTED] -Original Message- From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Les Geer (607-429-3580) Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2008 08:42 PM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment Les and JR, Firstly : Thanks to gave me the info 'PMH 84921,004,000'. I asked our hardware to l ook at this. I don't have a feedback yet. Secondly : I was able to IPL our z/VM530 today and ... - from z/VM440, I ipled z/VM530 2nd lvl and did a test about the target : nothing changed. Problem still alive :( - I ipled z/VM530 1st lvl and did a test, then did it again and again to be absolutely sure. I washed my glasses and yes our problem disappeared. NO MORE PROBLEM !!! So it was not a hardware problem. Glad to see this has been corrected in the z/VM version. There isn't anything in a newer release of z/VM that would change the behavior of this problem. It really is a hardware problem. This problem only occurs when you use VOLSPECIFIC as a target category on a mount request. Best Regards, Les Geer IBM z/VM and Linux Development
Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment
Les, As soon as the 3494 HW folks (once again) permitted the specification of TARGETCAT VOLSPECIFIC on a p2p MOUNT command, I had to revoke/reverse the fix that separated the single MOUNT request into a SET VOLCAT VOLSPECIFIC followed by a MOUNT for the volser. The SET VOLCAT VOLSPECIFIC had to be done first to ensure no one else could select the tape before the MOUNT completed ... to prevent tape stealing. That ended up completely defeating fast scratch ... so VTS mounts were taking 3 to 5 minutes due to the back-end data being recalled because the tape was not in a Scratch Category when the MOUNT request was issued. That PTF was reversed in September 2003 ... JR JR (Steven) Imler CA Senior Software Engineer Tel: +1 703 708 3479 Fax: +1 703 708 3267 [EMAIL PROTECTED] -Original Message- From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Les Geer (607-429-3580) Sent: Friday, April 04, 2008 01:55 PM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment A word of caution here, I realize it appears the problem is resolved going from z/VM 4.4 and 5.3. However, I can not tell you any change that has been made to Diag X'254' nor RMS that would have magically allowed a target category of VOLSPECIFIC to be honored by the ATL on a mount command. I can tell you, hardware has identified situations where VOLSPECIFIC is not honored as a target category on a mount command. And I am not aware the fix has been released. Make sure you consider this carefully before going into production. JR, didn't you make a change at one time where the set category was done separate from the mount? Could it be in one of the environments this code was being executed? Best Regards, Les Geer IBM z/VM and Linux Development Hi Alain, Actually, in this case, I really don't really feel like going back in time :-) In reality, it would need to be a real crisis for me to get authorization to use a LPAR to IPL z/VM 4.4.0. I'm just happy for you that you should finally have this problem resolved when you are up and running z/VM 5.3 in production! JR JR (Steven) Imler CA Senior Software Engineer Tel: +1 703 708 3479 Fax: +1 703 708 3267 [EMAIL PROTECTED] -Original Message- From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Alain Benveniste Sent: Friday, April 04, 2008 12:12 PM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment Jr, If you are interested in, I can send you a copy of our z/VM440. Regards Alain Le 4/04/08 3:26, =AB=A0Imler, Steven J=A0=BB [EMAIL PROTECTED] a =E9crit=A0: Hmmm ... Les, Alain did say z/VM FOUR.FOUR ... it's for sure there are likely CP changes (DIAG 254 things come to mind) that might effect this behavior in some way ... again keeping in mind his HOST is running z/VM 4.4.0 (except for the test when everything WORKED! [when he had z/VM 5.3 running 1st level in addition to his test guest system]). In any case, I have no way to go back to prove this ... all our hosts are z/VM 5.3 and we generally are running the GA release of z/VM at GA for all our hosts. So it's been a LONG time since we've had z/VM 4.anything as top dog. JR JR (Steven) Imler CA Senior Software Engineer Tel: +1 703 708 3479 Fax: +1 703 708 3267 [EMAIL PROTECTED] -Original Message- From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Les Geer (607-429-3580) Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2008 08:42 PM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment Les and JR, Firstly : Thanks to gave me the info 'PMH 84921,004,000'. I asked our hardware to l ook at this. I don't have a feedback yet. Secondly : I was able to IPL our z/VM530 today and ... - from z/VM440, I ipled z/VM530 2nd lvl and did a test about the target : nothing changed. Problem still alive :( - I ipled z/VM530 1st lvl and did a test, then did it again and again to be absolutely sure. I washed my glasses and yes our problem disappeared. NO MORE PROBLEM !!! So it was not a hardware problem. Glad to see this has been corrected in the z/VM version. There isn't anything in a newer release of z/VM that would change the behavior of this problem. It really is a hardware problem. This problem only occurs when you use VOLSPECIFIC as a target category on a mount request. Best Regards, Les Geer IBM z/VM and Linux Development
Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment
Les and JR, Firstly : Thanks to gave me the info 'PMH 84921,004,000'. I asked our hardware to l ook at this. I don't have a feedback yet. Secondly : I was able to IPL our z/VM530 today and ... - from z/VM440, I ipled z/VM530 2nd lvl and did a test about the target : nothing changed. Problem still alive :( - I ipled z/VM530 1st lvl and did a test, then did it again and again to be absolutely sure. I washed my glasses and yes our problem disappeared. NO MORE PROBLEM !!! So it was not a hardware problem. Glad to see this has been corrected in the z/VM version. Regards Thanks to both for your contiguous support Alain Benveniste
Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment
Les and JR, Firstly : Thanks to gave me the info 'PMH 84921,004,000'. I asked our hardware to l ook at this. I don't have a feedback yet. Secondly : I was able to IPL our z/VM530 today and ... - from z/VM440, I ipled z/VM530 2nd lvl and did a test about the target : nothing changed. Problem still alive :( - I ipled z/VM530 1st lvl and did a test, then did it again and again to be absolutely sure. I washed my glasses and yes our problem disappeared. NO MORE PROBLEM !!! So it was not a hardware problem. Glad to see this has been corrected in the z/VM version. There isn't anything in a newer release of z/VM that would change the behavior of this problem. It really is a hardware problem. This problem only occurs when you use VOLSPECIFIC as a target category on a mount request. Best Regards, Les Geer IBM z/VM and Linux Development
Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment
Hmmm ... Les, Alain did say z/VM FOUR.FOUR ... it's for sure there are likely CP changes (DIAG 254 things come to mind) that might effect this behavior in some way ... again keeping in mind his HOST is running z/VM 4.4.0 (except for the test when everything WORKED! [when he had z/VM 5.3 running 1st level in addition to his test guest system]). In any case, I have no way to go back to prove this ... all our hosts are z/VM 5.3 and we generally are running the GA release of z/VM at GA for all our hosts. So it's been a LONG time since we've had z/VM 4.anything as top dog. JR JR (Steven) Imler CA Senior Software Engineer Tel: +1 703 708 3479 Fax: +1 703 708 3267 [EMAIL PROTECTED] -Original Message- From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Les Geer (607-429-3580) Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2008 08:42 PM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment Les and JR, Firstly : Thanks to gave me the info 'PMH 84921,004,000'. I asked our hardware to l ook at this. I don't have a feedback yet. Secondly : I was able to IPL our z/VM530 today and ... - from z/VM440, I ipled z/VM530 2nd lvl and did a test about the target : nothing changed. Problem still alive :( - I ipled z/VM530 1st lvl and did a test, then did it again and again to be absolutely sure. I washed my glasses and yes our problem disappeared. NO MORE PROBLEM !!! So it was not a hardware problem. Glad to see this has been corrected in the z/VM version. There isn't anything in a newer release of z/VM that would change the behavior of this problem. It really is a hardware problem. This problem only occurs when you use VOLSPECIFIC as a target category on a mount request. Best Regards, Les Geer IBM z/VM and Linux Development
Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment
I'm sure the people planning for the new hardware have considered it. I was just concerned that in their plan they had no native physical tape for VM. Original Message- From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Stephen Frazier Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 6:45 PM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment Have you considered how you will get data from the local VTS to the remote VTS? Smith, Ann (ISD, IT) wrote: Thanks. I was hoping to VMTAPE mount the maintenance tapes to the other VM systems as FOREIGN tapes. And yes, there will be a VTS at the remote DR site. -- Stephen Frazier Information Technology Unit Oklahoma Department of Corrections 3400 Martin Luther King Oklahoma City, Ok, 73111-4298 Tel.: (405) 425-2549 Fax: (405) 425-2554 Pager: (405) 690-1828 email: stevef%doc.state.ok.us * This communication, including attachments, is for the exclusive use of addressee and may contain proprietary, confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, any use, copying, disclosure, dissemination or distribution is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail, delete this communication and destroy all copies. *
Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment
I'm sure the people planning for the new hardware have considered it. I was just concerned that in their plan they had no native physical tape for VM. Ann, You should check. Our storage people brought in a remote VTS to replace tapes that were being physically moved offsite. They were completely unaware that a production VM system didn't just send tapes offsite, it had a DR process that required those tapes to be sent to another data center for recovery. If they had bothered to ask the VM group during design, instead of when they were ready to implement, they would have known this. Don't assume that your hardware planning people know anything about your DR process. You should have no trouble with your other concern, passing maintenance tapes between systems. The VTS will happily mount one system's tapes on other system. You can control that with the foreign tape exit in VM:Tape. You also need to decide whether you will divide up the virtual tape drives among your systems statically, or use a drive sharing product such as MIA or VM:Tape's STAM feature. VTS's have lots of addresses, so you may have enough to give each system its own. For those who are wondering, our VTS is in, but the physical tapes continue to go offsite until we can move the production users to another system that has a remote vaulting DR process. Dennis O'Brien No government deprives its citizens of rights without asserting that its actions are reasonable and necessary for high-sounding reasons such as public safety. A right that can be regulated is no right at all, only a temporary privilege dependent upon the good will of the very government officials that such right is designed to constrain. -- Herbert W. Titus and William J. Olson, attorneys for GOA
Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment
I suppose you would be aware of our peer-to-peer problem. When we got a 2nd 3494 in 2004, we decided to make them talk each other a s P2P mode. This situation revealed a major problem related to the target category. In basic mode, asking to mount a scratch through vmtape, rmsmastr changed the category from scratch to volspecific. No more true in P2P (for us). W e have upgraded our 3494, we have opened PMR, we have asked the IBM hardwar e their advice with no result. We even asked the dfsms doc to be changed related the p2p part to make it clearer. We had to developp something to change the categories according to what h as been mounted during the day. I would really like to know if someone is in the same situation Alain Benveniste
Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment
Rob do you know what might be causing the errors below?
Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment
I suppose you would be aware of our peer-to-peer problem. When we got a 2nd 3494 in 2004, we decided to make them talk each other as P2P mode. This situation revealed a major problem related to the target category. In basic mode, asking to mount a scratch through vmtape, rmsmastr changed the category from scratch to volspecific. No more true in P2P (for us). We have upgraded our 3494, we have opened PMR, we have asked the IBM hardware their advice with no result. We even asked the dfsms doc to be changed related the p2p part to make it clearer. We had to developp something to change the categories according to what has been mounted during the day. I would really like to know if someone is in the same situation I was under the impression with more recent PtP microcode levels the restriction on a mount that a target category could not be specified was removed. Best Regards, Les Geer IBM z/VM and Linux Development
Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment
Les, You are referring to the z/VM530 documentation, aren't you ? With or without target parameter in the MOUNT cmd, the targetcat is not changed under z/VM440 when asking for a scratch in P2P. Did the test with z/VM530, no change. This hardware situation is a major regression. We could not live if the problem was similar with MVS. We mount thousands VTS tapes a day. Alain Benveniste Le 25/03/08 20:03, « Les Geer (607-429-3580) » [EMAIL PROTECTED] a écrit : I suppose you would be aware of our peer-to-peer problem. When we got a 2nd 3494 in 2004, we decided to make them talk each other as P2P mode. This situation revealed a major problem related to the target category. In basic mode, asking to mount a scratch through vmtape, rmsmastr changed the category from scratch to volspecific. No more true in P2P (for us). We have upgraded our 3494, we have opened PMR, we have asked the IBM hardware their advice with no result. We even asked the dfsms doc to be changed related the p2p part to make it clearer. We had to developp something to change the categories according to what has been mounted during the day. I would really like to know if someone is in the same situation I was under the impression with more recent PtP microcode levels the restriction on a mount that a target category could not be specified was removed. Best Regards, Les Geer IBM z/VM and Linux Development
Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment
It might help if you included the error message. :) Gentry, Stephen wrote: Rob do you know what might be causing the errors below? -- Stephen Frazier Information Technology Unit Oklahoma Department of Corrections 3400 Martin Luther King Oklahoma City, Ok, 73111-4298 Tel.: (405) 425-2549 Fax: (405) 425-2554 Pager: (405) 690-1828 email: stevef%doc.state.ok.us
Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment
Hi Alain, I thought your finally got this ironed out and the problem was resolved? As Les states, that restriction was removed and this should not be a problem. We have several customers who run P2P configurations and do not have this problem. VM:Tape was changed (back) to use the TARGETCAT VOLSPECIFIC option on MOUNT SCRATCH requests at least 2 GenLevels ago (probably 5 or 6 years ago). JR (Steven) Imler CA Senior Software Engineer Tel: +1 703 708 3479 Fax: +1 703 708 3267 [EMAIL PROTECTED] -Original Message- From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Les Geer (607-429-3580) Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2008 03:03 PM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment I suppose you would be aware of our peer-to-peer problem. When we got a 2nd 3494 in 2004, we decided to make them talk each other as P2P mode. This situation revealed a major problem related to the target category. In basic mode, asking to mount a scratch through vmtape, rmsmastr changed the category from scratch to volspecific. No more true in P2P (for us). We have upgraded our 3494, we have opened PMR, we have asked the IBM hardware their advice with no result. We even asked the dfsms doc to be changed related the p2p part to make it clearer. We had to developp something to change the categories according to what has been mounted during the day. I would really like to know if someone is in the same situation I was under the impression with more recent PtP microcode levels the restriction on a mount that a target category could not be specified was removed. Best Regards, Les Geer IBM z/VM and Linux Development
Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment
Jr, Unfortunately, I have no weight to make the hardware change his position on this. I suppose I could use 'RMS supports PtP as a single node VTS' as a new argument to reopen an issue. But I think I found people more stubborn than me. Alain Le 25/03/08 23:08, « Imler, Steven J » [EMAIL PROTECTED] a écrit : Hi Alain, I thought your finally got this ironed out and the problem was resolved? As Les states, that restriction was removed and this should not be a problem. We have several customers who run P2P configurations and do not have this problem. VM:Tape was changed (back) to use the TARGETCAT VOLSPECIFIC option on MOUNT SCRATCH requests at least 2 GenLevels ago (probably 5 or 6 years ago). JR (Steven) Imler CA Senior Software Engineer Tel: +1 703 708 3479 Fax: +1 703 708 3267 [EMAIL PROTECTED] -Original Message- From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Les Geer (607-429-3580) Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2008 03:03 PM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment I suppose you would be aware of our peer-to-peer problem. When we got a 2nd 3494 in 2004, we decided to make them talk each other as P2P mode. This situation revealed a major problem related to the target category. In basic mode, asking to mount a scratch through vmtape, rmsmastr changed the category from scratch to volspecific. No more true in P2P (for us). We have upgraded our 3494, we have opened PMR, we have asked the IBM hardware their advice with no result. We even asked the dfsms doc to be changed related the p2p part to make it clearer. We had to developp something to change the categories according to what has been mounted during the day. I would really like to know if someone is in the same situation I was under the impression with more recent PtP microcode levels the restriction on a mount that a target category could not be specified was removed. Best Regards, Les Geer IBM z/VM and Linux Development
Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment
We are running zVM 5.2 and currently still have manual 3490 tape drives. We may soon be getting an IBM DS8300 (shared with zOS) with TS1120 virtual tape. We have 5 VM systems with separate VMTAPE catalogs. They currently do not have any native physical tape drives planned for the VM systems. We normally do maintenance on 1 VM system and use DDR and SPXTAPE to propogate to the other VM systems. Is anyone familiar with using virtual tape with DDR and SPXTAPE? Can I just VMTAPE mount the virtual tape as a FOREIGN tape and be able to do DDR restore and/or SPXTAPE load? I am also wondering about how to do SPXTAPE's for DR. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Ann Smith Mainframe Systems Support -zVM and zLinux Support Integrated Technology Delivery IBM Global Service Integrated Operations At The Hartford Work phone: 860-547-6110 Pager: 800-204-6367 Email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * This communication, including attachments, is for the exclusive use of addressee and may contain proprietary, confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, any use, copying, disclosure, dissemination or distribution is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail, delete this communication and destroy all copies. *
Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment
Someone there may be getting confused. The IBM DS8300 is a virtual tape system. It can work standalone as a disk based VTS or, in conjunction with the robotics side to make it a tape based VTS system (with a very large disk cache). Then, there is the IBM TS1120. These are real tape drives (not virtual). So, if your VM system can get access to your IBM TS1120 drives, just backup to them for off site storage. If you can only get access to the virtual tapes, then backup to a virtual tape and, on a system that has access to the IBM TS1120, do a tape copy from the virtual tape located in the IBM DS8300 to a real tape mounted in the IBM TS1120. The IBM TS1120 drives support hardware encryption. That is great. However, in a disaster recovery situation, it may not be so great. Until you get the disaster recovery tested with encryption, you may want to create your VM recovery tapes, without encryption enabled. With the VTS, you do have to execute some code to tell the VTS what tape you want. VMTAPE should be able to handle this. Tom Duerbusch THD Consulting Law of Cat Obstruction A cat must lay on the floor in such a position to obstruct the maximum amount of human foot traffic. Smith, Ann (ISD, IT) [EMAIL PROTECTED] 3/24/2008 1:41 PM We are running zVM 5.2 and currently still have manual 3490 tape drives. We may soon be getting an IBM DS8300 (shared with zOS) with TS1120 virtual tape. We have 5 VM systems with separate VMTAPE catalogs. They currently do not have any native physical tape drives planned for the VM systems. We normally do maintenance on 1 VM system and use DDR and SPXTAPE to propogate to the other VM systems. Is anyone familiar with using virtual tape with DDR and SPXTAPE? Can I just VMTAPE mount the virtual tape as a FOREIGN tape and be able to do DDR restore and/or SPXTAPE load? I am also wondering about how to do SPXTAPE's for DR. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Ann Smith Mainframe Systems Support -zVM and zLinux Support Integrated Technology Delivery IBM Global Service Integrated Operations At The Hartford Work phone: 860-547-6110 Pager: 800-204-6367 Email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * This communication, including attachments, is for the exclusive use of addressee and may contain proprietary, confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, any use, copying, disclosure, dissemination or distribution is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail, delete this communication and destroy all copies. *
Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment
Hi Ann, When you say VMTAPE ... I assume you mean CA's VM:Tape product. If this is the case, just call CA's VM Customer Support or open an issue yourself for VM:Tape via CASupport so we can get a bit more information about your configuration and make some recommendations about what the best options are for what you need to do. JR JR (Steven) Imler CA Senior Software Engineer Tel: +1 703 708 3479 Fax: +1 703 708 3267 [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Smith, Ann (ISD, IT) Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 02:42 PM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment We are running zVM 5.2 and currently still have manual 3490 tape drives. We may soon be getting an IBM DS8300 (shared with zOS) with TS1120 virtual tape. We have 5 VM systems with separate VMTAPE catalogs. They currently do not have any native physical tape drives planned for the VM systems. We normally do maintenance on 1 VM system and use DDR and SPXTAPE to propogate to the other VM systems. Is anyone familiar with using virtual tape with DDR and SPXTAPE? Can I just VMTAPE mount the virtual tape as a FOREIGN tape and be able to do DDR restore and/or SPXTAPE load? I am also wondering about how to do SPXTAPE's for DR. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Ann Smith Mainframe Systems Support -zVM and zLinux Support Integrated Technology Delivery IBM Global Service Integrated Operations At The Hartford Work phone: 860-547-6110 Pager: 800-204-6367 Email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * This communication, including attachments, is for the exclusive use of addressee and may contain proprietary, confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, any use, copying, disclosure, dissemination or distribution is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail, delete this communication and destroy all copies. *
Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment
We do DDR's and SPXTAPE every day to virtual (VTS) tapes. Treat them like physical tapes. SPXTAPE's for DR - same as using physical tapes: if the spool files won't fit on one tape you'll need to mount enough scratch tapes for SPXTAPE to use: vmtape mount scratch 181 dsn jrr.spxtape.1OF3 (retpd 21 vmtape mount scratch 182 dsn jrr.spxtape.2OF3 (retpd 21 vmtape mount scratch 183 dsn jrr.spxtape.3OF3 (retpd 21 CP SPXTAPE DUMP 181-183 SPOOL ALL (or whatever subsets of spool you want) I haven't tried it in a long time, but if you're not using the DFSMS sharing exit (or are, but code its rexx exec to allow it), you can mount any volid in the VTS by using DFSMSRM MOUNT commands. I'm not sure if VMTAPE supports that. Experiment, try it. The fine print on DFSMSRM MOUNT says a peer-to-peer VTS won't let you change a volume's category but that's not a show-stopper, shouldn't need to. This e-mail, including any attachments, may be confidential, privileged or otherwise legally protected. It is intended only for the addressee. If you received this e-mail in error or from someone who was not authorized to send it to you, do not disseminate, copy or otherwise use this e-mail or its attachments. Please notify the sender immediately by reply e-mail and delete the e-mail from your system. From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Smith, Ann (ISD, IT) Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 2:42 PM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment We are running zVM 5.2 and currently still have manual 3490 tape drives. We may soon be getting an IBM DS8300 (shared with zOS) with TS1120 virtual tape. We have 5 VM systems with separate VMTAPE catalogs. They currently do not have any native physical tape drives planned for the VM systems. We normally do maintenance on 1 VM system and use DDR and SPXTAPE to propogate to the other VM systems. Is anyone familiar with using virtual tape with DDR and SPXTAPE? Can I just VMTAPE mount the virtual tape as a FOREIGN tape and be able to do DDR restore and/or SPXTAPE load? I am also wondering about how to do SPXTAPE's for DR. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Ann Smith Mainframe Systems Support -zVM and zLinux Support Integrated Technology Delivery IBM Global Service Integrated Operations At The Hartford Work phone: 860-547-6110 Pager: 800-204-6367 Email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * This communication, including attachments, is for the exclusive use of addressee and may contain proprietary, confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, any use, copying, disclosure, dissemination or distribution is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail, delete this communication and destroy all copies. *
Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment
Thanks for the info. We did install DFSMS - at least now have an RMSMASTR id. But the new tape hardware is not yet installed. But we'll still be using VMTAPE since it manages the tape catalog. -Original Message- From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Romanowski, John (OFT) Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 3:17 PM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment We do DDR's and SPXTAPE every day to virtual (VTS) tapes. Treat them like physical tapes. SPXTAPE's for DR - same as using physical tapes: if the spool files won't fit on one tape you'll need to mount enough scratch tapes for SPXTAPE to use: vmtape mount scratch 181 dsn jrr.spxtape.1OF3 (retpd 21 vmtape mount scratch 182 dsn jrr.spxtape.2OF3 (retpd 21 vmtape mount scratch 183 dsn jrr.spxtape.3OF3 (retpd 21 CP SPXTAPE DUMP 181-183 SPOOL ALL (or whatever subsets of spool you want) I haven't tried it in a long time, but if you're not using the DFSMS sharing exit (or are, but code its rexx exec to allow it), you can mount any volid in the VTS by using DFSMSRM MOUNT commands. I'm not sure if VMTAPE supports that. Experiment, try it. The fine print on DFSMSRM MOUNT says a peer-to-peer VTS won't let you change a volume's category but that's not a show-stopper, shouldn't need to. This e-mail, including any attachments, may be confidential, privileged or otherwise legally protected. It is intended only for the addressee. If you received this e-mail in error or from someone who was not authorized to send it to you, do not disseminate, copy or otherwise use this e-mail or its attachments. Please notify the sender immediately by reply e-mail and delete the e-mail from your system. From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Smith, Ann (ISD, IT) Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 2:42 PM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment We are running zVM 5.2 and currently still have manual 3490 tape drives. We may soon be getting an IBM DS8300 (shared with zOS) with TS1120 virtual tape. We have 5 VM systems with separate VMTAPE catalogs. They currently do not have any native physical tape drives planned for the VM systems. We normally do maintenance on 1 VM system and use DDR and SPXTAPE to propogate to the other VM systems. Is anyone familiar with using virtual tape with DDR and SPXTAPE? Can I just VMTAPE mount the virtual tape as a FOREIGN tape and be able to do DDR restore and/or SPXTAPE load? I am also wondering about how to do SPXTAPE's for DR. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Ann Smith Mainframe Systems Support -zVM and zLinux Support Integrated Technology Delivery IBM Global Service Integrated Operations At The Hartford Work phone: 860-547-6110 Pager: 800-204-6367 Email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * This communication, including attachments, is for the exclusive use of addressee and may contain proprietary, confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, any use, copying, disclosure, dissemination or distribution is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail, delete this communication and destroy all copies. * * This communication, including attachments, is for the exclusive use of addressee and may contain proprietary, confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, any use, copying, disclosure, dissemination or distribution is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail, delete this communication and destroy all copies. *
Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment
It's probably me that is confused. I have been told VM will have virtual tape but no native tape. They also have used the term 'backend tape'. I obviously have more to learn. -Original Message- From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Tom Duerbusch Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 3:14 PM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment Someone there may be getting confused. The IBM DS8300 is a virtual tape system. It can work standalone as a disk based VTS or, in conjunction with the robotics side to make it a tape based VTS system (with a very large disk cache). Then, there is the IBM TS1120. These are real tape drives (not virtual). So, if your VM system can get access to your IBM TS1120 drives, just backup to them for off site storage. If you can only get access to the virtual tapes, then backup to a virtual tape and, on a system that has access to the IBM TS1120, do a tape copy from the virtual tape located in the IBM DS8300 to a real tape mounted in the IBM TS1120. The IBM TS1120 drives support hardware encryption. That is great. However, in a disaster recovery situation, it may not be so great. Until you get the disaster recovery tested with encryption, you may want to create your VM recovery tapes, without encryption enabled. With the VTS, you do have to execute some code to tell the VTS what tape you want. VMTAPE should be able to handle this. Tom Duerbusch THD Consulting Law of Cat Obstruction A cat must lay on the floor in such a position to obstruct the maximum amount of human foot traffic. Smith, Ann (ISD, IT) [EMAIL PROTECTED] 3/24/2008 1:41 PM We are running zVM 5.2 and currently still have manual 3490 tape drives. We may soon be getting an IBM DS8300 (shared with zOS) with TS1120 virtual tape. We have 5 VM systems with separate VMTAPE catalogs. They currently do not have any native physical tape drives planned for the VM systems. We normally do maintenance on 1 VM system and use DDR and SPXTAPE to propogate to the other VM systems. Is anyone familiar with using virtual tape with DDR and SPXTAPE? Can I just VMTAPE mount the virtual tape as a FOREIGN tape and be able to do DDR restore and/or SPXTAPE load? I am also wondering about how to do SPXTAPE's for DR. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Ann Smith Mainframe Systems Support -zVM and zLinux Support Integrated Technology Delivery IBM Global Service Integrated Operations At The Hartford Work phone: 860-547-6110 Pager: 800-204-6367 Email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * This communication, including attachments, is for the exclusive use of addressee and may contain proprietary, confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, any use, copying, disclosure, dissemination or distribution is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail, delete this communication and destroy all copies. *
Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment
Yes I do mean the CA VMTAPE product. I have opened issues with CA. I need to upgrade both VMTAPE and VMBACKUP, apply a patch to support encryption and convert to LMP keys. I've never supported these products but the folks at CA who support them are very helpful. No problems there. They are great to work with. I'm just trying to see how other VM Support folks make use of virtual tape in regards to DDR and SPXTAPE for maintenance and for DR. From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Imler, Steven J Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 3:16 PM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment Hi Ann, When you say VMTAPE ... I assume you mean CA's VM:Tape product. If this is the case, just call CA's VM Customer Support or open an issue yourself for VM:Tape via CASupport so we can get a bit more information about your configuration and make some recommendations about what the best options are for what you need to do. JR JR (Steven) Imler CA Senior Software Engineer Tel: +1 703 708 3479 Fax: +1 703 708 3267 [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Smith, Ann (ISD, IT) Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 02:42 PM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment We are running zVM 5.2 and currently still have manual 3490 tape drives. We may soon be getting an IBM DS8300 (shared with zOS) with TS1120 virtual tape. We have 5 VM systems with separate VMTAPE catalogs. They currently do not have any native physical tape drives planned for the VM systems. We normally do maintenance on 1 VM system and use DDR and SPXTAPE to propogate to the other VM systems. Is anyone familiar with using virtual tape with DDR and SPXTAPE? Can I just VMTAPE mount the virtual tape as a FOREIGN tape and be able to do DDR restore and/or SPXTAPE load? I am also wondering about how to do SPXTAPE's for DR. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Ann Smith Mainframe Systems Support -zVM and zLinux Support Integrated Technology Delivery IBM Global Service Integrated Operations At The Hartford Work phone: 860-547-6110 Pager: 800-204-6367 Email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * This communication, including attachments, is for the exclusive use of addressee and may contain proprietary, confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, any use, copying, disclosure, dissemination or distribution is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail, delete this communication and destroy all copies. *
Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment
Ann, You shouldn't have any trouble using virtual tape with VM or VM:Tape. We use it here, primarily for VM:Backup and VM:Spool. VM:Spool uses SPXTAPE under the covers. I'm sure DDR will work fine, too. One phase of our DR process mounts virtual tapes as FOREIGN on another VM system, and it works fine. My only question is, if your virtual tapes are in a VTS, how will you get them to the DR site? In our case, the VTS is physically at the DR site, and the production system has a channel extension connection to it. A peer-to-peer VTS might also be an option. Dennis O'Brien No government deprives its citizens of rights without asserting that its actions are reasonable and necessary for high-sounding reasons such as public safety. A right that can be regulated is no right at all, only a temporary privilege dependent upon the good will of the very government officials that such right is designed to constrain. -- Herbert W. Titus and William J. Olson, attorneys for Gun Owners of America -Original Message- From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Smith, Ann (ISD, IT) Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 14:56 To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Re: [IBMVM] Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment It's probably me that is confused. I have been told VM will have virtual tape but no native tape. They also have used the term 'backend tape'. I obviously have more to learn. -Original Message- From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Tom Duerbusch Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 3:14 PM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment Someone there may be getting confused. The IBM DS8300 is a virtual tape system. It can work standalone as a disk based VTS or, in conjunction with the robotics side to make it a tape based VTS system (with a very large disk cache). Then, there is the IBM TS1120. These are real tape drives (not virtual). So, if your VM system can get access to your IBM TS1120 drives, just backup to them for off site storage. If you can only get access to the virtual tapes, then backup to a virtual tape and, on a system that has access to the IBM TS1120, do a tape copy from the virtual tape located in the IBM DS8300 to a real tape mounted in the IBM TS1120. The IBM TS1120 drives support hardware encryption. That is great. However, in a disaster recovery situation, it may not be so great. Until you get the disaster recovery tested with encryption, you may want to create your VM recovery tapes, without encryption enabled. With the VTS, you do have to execute some code to tell the VTS what tape you want. VMTAPE should be able to handle this. Tom Duerbusch THD Consulting Law of Cat Obstruction A cat must lay on the floor in such a position to obstruct the maximum amount of human foot traffic. Smith, Ann (ISD, IT) [EMAIL PROTECTED] 3/24/2008 1:41 PM We are running zVM 5.2 and currently still have manual 3490 tape drives. We may soon be getting an IBM DS8300 (shared with zOS) with TS1120 virtual tape. We have 5 VM systems with separate VMTAPE catalogs. They currently do not have any native physical tape drives planned for the VM systems. We normally do maintenance on 1 VM system and use DDR and SPXTAPE to propogate to the other VM systems. Is anyone familiar with using virtual tape with DDR and SPXTAPE? Can I just VMTAPE mount the virtual tape as a FOREIGN tape and be able to do DDR restore and/or SPXTAPE load? I am also wondering about how to do SPXTAPE's for DR. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Ann Smith Mainframe Systems Support -zVM and zLinux Support Integrated Technology Delivery IBM Global Service Integrated Operations At The Hartford Work phone: 860-547-6110 Pager: 800-204-6367 Email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * This communication, including attachments, is for the exclusive use of addressee and may contain proprietary, confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, any use, copying, disclosure, dissemination or distribution is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail, delete this communication and destroy all copies. *
Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment
Backend tape usually refers to the tape drives that are assigned and dedicated to a tape based VTS system. So those tape drives that are dedicated to the VTS, can't be touched by any other method. They are not attached to the mainframe, but attached to the VTS. So, if you are going to create disaster recovery tapes, there needs to be, somewhere, mainframe attached tape drives. Then you just do a tape (virtual tape) to tape (real tape) copy. We are going to be doing the same thing, but only with the older IBM 3494 B10. We had to buy 4 tape drives for the B10, and then we bought another two drives (IBM TS1120) for offsite backups with encryption. We backup to the VTS, and when it is time to create off site tapes, tape to tape copies and stack a whole lot of files on a TS1120 cart G. We didn't need the capacity of the TS1120, but the encryption was a big selling point. I don't have a tape manager on VM. So I plan on defining a range of volsers that are not in our DYNAM/T catalog for use by VM. We can mount tape VM0001 which will always be the current DDR copy of 520RES. VM0002 is always the current copy of 520W01, etc. Then, when it is time to create the off site backups, have VSE mount VM0001 and copy to a TS1120 scratch tape as file 1. Copy VM0002 to the same tape as file 2, etc. I'm not sure if I will put the standalone utilities as file 1 or keep it on a separate tape(s). Once all of this is defined, I'll bring up another LPAR and do a trial disaster recovery restore... Tom Duerbusch THD Consulting Law of Cat Obstruction A cat must lay on the floor in such a position to obstruct the maximum amount of human foot traffic. Smith, Ann (ISD, IT) [EMAIL PROTECTED] 3/24/2008 4:55 PM It's probably me that is confused. I have been told VM will have virtual tape but no native tape. They also have used the term 'backend tape'. I obviously have more to learn. -Original Message- From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Tom Duerbusch Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 3:14 PM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment Someone there may be getting confused. The IBM DS8300 is a virtual tape system. It can work standalone as a disk based VTS or, in conjunction with the robotics side to make it a tape based VTS system (with a very large disk cache). Then, there is the IBM TS1120. These are real tape drives (not virtual). So, if your VM system can get access to your IBM TS1120 drives, just backup to them for off site storage. If you can only get access to the virtual tapes, then backup to a virtual tape and, on a system that has access to the IBM TS1120, do a tape copy from the virtual tape located in the IBM DS8300 to a real tape mounted in the IBM TS1120. The IBM TS1120 drives support hardware encryption. That is great. However, in a disaster recovery situation, it may not be so great. Until you get the disaster recovery tested with encryption, you may want to create your VM recovery tapes, without encryption enabled. With the VTS, you do have to execute some code to tell the VTS what tape you want. VMTAPE should be able to handle this. Tom Duerbusch THD Consulting Law of Cat Obstruction A cat must lay on the floor in such a position to obstruct the maximum amount of human foot traffic.
Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment
Thanks. I was hoping to VMTAPE mount the maintenance tapes to the other VM systems as FOREIGN tapes. And yes, there will be a VTS at the remote DR site. -Original Message- From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of O'Brien, Dennis L Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 6:06 PM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment Ann, You shouldn't have any trouble using virtual tape with VM or VM:Tape. We use it here, primarily for VM:Backup and VM:Spool. VM:Spool uses SPXTAPE under the covers. I'm sure DDR will work fine, too. One phase of our DR process mounts virtual tapes as FOREIGN on another VM system, and it works fine. My only question is, if your virtual tapes are in a VTS, how will you get them to the DR site? In our case, the VTS is physically at the DR site, and the production system has a channel extension connection to it. A peer-to-peer VTS might also be an option. Dennis O'Brien No government deprives its citizens of rights without asserting that its actions are reasonable and necessary for high-sounding reasons such as public safety. A right that can be regulated is no right at all, only a temporary privilege dependent upon the good will of the very government officials that such right is designed to constrain. -- Herbert W. Titus and William J. Olson, attorneys for Gun Owners of America -Original Message- From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Smith, Ann (ISD, IT) Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 14:56 To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Re: [IBMVM] Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment It's probably me that is confused. I have been told VM will have virtual tape but no native tape. They also have used the term 'backend tape'. I obviously have more to learn. -Original Message- From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Tom Duerbusch Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 3:14 PM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment Someone there may be getting confused. The IBM DS8300 is a virtual tape system. It can work standalone as a disk based VTS or, in conjunction with the robotics side to make it a tape based VTS system (with a very large disk cache). Then, there is the IBM TS1120. These are real tape drives (not virtual). So, if your VM system can get access to your IBM TS1120 drives, just backup to them for off site storage. If you can only get access to the virtual tapes, then backup to a virtual tape and, on a system that has access to the IBM TS1120, do a tape copy from the virtual tape located in the IBM DS8300 to a real tape mounted in the IBM TS1120. The IBM TS1120 drives support hardware encryption. That is great. However, in a disaster recovery situation, it may not be so great. Until you get the disaster recovery tested with encryption, you may want to create your VM recovery tapes, without encryption enabled. With the VTS, you do have to execute some code to tell the VTS what tape you want. VMTAPE should be able to handle this. Tom Duerbusch THD Consulting Law of Cat Obstruction A cat must lay on the floor in such a position to obstruct the maximum amount of human foot traffic. Smith, Ann (ISD, IT) [EMAIL PROTECTED] 3/24/2008 1:41 PM We are running zVM 5.2 and currently still have manual 3490 tape drives. We may soon be getting an IBM DS8300 (shared with zOS) with TS1120 virtual tape. We have 5 VM systems with separate VMTAPE catalogs. They currently do not have any native physical tape drives planned for the VM systems. We normally do maintenance on 1 VM system and use DDR and SPXTAPE to propogate to the other VM systems. Is anyone familiar with using virtual tape with DDR and SPXTAPE? Can I just VMTAPE mount the virtual tape as a FOREIGN tape and be able to do DDR restore and/or SPXTAPE load? I am also wondering about how to do SPXTAPE's for DR. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Ann Smith Mainframe Systems Support -zVM and zLinux Support Integrated Technology Delivery IBM Global Service Integrated Operations At The Hartford Work phone: 860-547-6110 Pager: 800-204-6367 Email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * This communication, including attachments, is for the exclusive use of addressee and may contain proprietary, confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, any use, copying, disclosure, dissemination or distribution is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail, delete this communication and destroy all copies. * * This communication, including
Re: Question about virtual tape in a zVM environment
Have you considered how you will get data from the local VTS to the remote VTS? Smith, Ann (ISD, IT) wrote: Thanks. I was hoping to VMTAPE mount the maintenance tapes to the other VM systems as FOREIGN tapes. And yes, there will be a VTS at the remote DR site. -- Stephen Frazier Information Technology Unit Oklahoma Department of Corrections 3400 Martin Luther King Oklahoma City, Ok, 73111-4298 Tel.: (405) 425-2549 Fax: (405) 425-2554 Pager: (405) 690-1828 email: stevef%doc.state.ok.us
