-----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Paul Gilmartin Sent: Monday, February 23, 2009 5:05 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Pedantic Tape Analyzer?
Lately, examining a dump of a tape output from SAS TAPECOPY, I noticed that the volser in the HDR1 records did not match the volser in the VOL1 record. OK. IBM doc says this field is defined but not verified by OPEN/CLOSE processing, etc. But I'm working on a utility of my own, for complex reasons. I'd like to do better than SAS. How can I verify the result? Is there a utility to which I could pass a (putatively) standard labeled tape, such as that output from SAS TAPECOPY which would report loud and clear on irregularities such as the volser mismatch, possible block count errors in trailer labels, all such? Bruce Black probably would have known; we all miss him; I for some volunteer research he did when I asked another stupid question years ago. <snip> I don't know if you want to go this far, but if your tape utility is also going to have some part(s) that are not fully "attached" (that is, must be linked to your main routines), you could "put" them into the "system" Label Exit (DFP/DFSMS part of the system?). I know it exists, but I don't know the name. I know you can use it to handle things for AL tapes (that's how I stumbled upon its existence about 8 months ago). During the pass to the exit of the label(s), you could verify that they match the VOL1 contents. I don't know when or how that exit point is invoked for trailer labels. Otherwise, you will probably have to satisfy yourself with the DCB label exit point -- unless you want to do EXCP and BLP :-) . Regards, Steve Thompson -- Opinions expressed by poster may not reflect those of poster's employer. -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
