We share a 3494 with a mainframe vts and a aix/rs6k based tsm server. The vts origionally had 6 frame units with 6 drives (base end unit, high availability frame at the other end, and 4 storage frames with drives). To support TSM we've now added 8 more frames and 12 drives.
It took the IBM folks a little work to get the library manager set up to allow dual connections, but once done it's worked very well. Since each system has it's own dedicated tape drives performance isn't a problem. Our vts doesn't access the robot for mounts very often, so robot access contention isn't a problem. The only problem we have had is coordinating outages with with the mainframe folks when we needed the new frames added. Adding frames to a 3494 NOT a fast process - the last set of 4 frames we installed for TSM required an 8 hour outage. >From our perspective - it's been a big win and few problems. Rick On 30 Oct 2001, at 16:59, Mahesh Tailor wrote: > Hello, all! > > I am not a 3494 expert, so please forgive my ignorance in the way I refer to this >platform. > > We have a 3494 VTS system/library installed that is currently being used by our >OS/390 mainframe for its backups. I would like to know if it is possible for me have >TSM utilize this system for it's storage also? Is there any good documentation about >how to do this? > > Also, I spoke with our Tivoli TSM marketing specialist about this and was told, in >fairly certain terms, that this was a **BAD** idea because of two reasons: > > 1) BAD performance > 2) the same thing that happened to the 3466 (i.e. Tivoli does not recognize it or >support it as a true TSM platform) IS GOING to happen to the 3494 system, since it is >also somewhat based on the same concept and that if we implement this, we were almost >sure to lose support from Tivoli in the near future. > > BTW, one reason I ask is that I have a 3466 and am having a hell of a time getting >support for this platfrom ever since Tivoli inherited ADSM/TSM and given the strong >word of caution from a TSM person at Tivoli, I am reluctant to proceeed with the 3494 >integration and upgrade. > > Can anyone tell me whether any of this is true and lay my fears to rest? > > In case you don't feel comfortable emaling the list, please send me a message >directly and I will ensure that your email stays confidential. > > TIA > > Mahesh Tailor > WAN/NetView/TSM Administrator > Carilion Health System > Voice: 540-224-3929 > Fax: 540-224-3954 >
