Thanks for that information Mike. I guess I had not seriously considered the use of SMS controlled tape data sets. But, using SMS to control the device allocation for a device type migration makes perfect sense. I often run into shops that are not interested in using SMS controlled tape and don't even want to discuss it. For that reason I usually stay away from SMS for tape.
Is there really a sound reason, in today's data centers, to not use SMS? I have assumed the reason people don't use it is because it is a more complex setup and many tape people are just not knowledgeable enough about its use. What are the downsides of SMS for tape? It seems obvious that being able to control device allocation through ACS routine changes is much easier than mass JCL or catalog updates. Chuck Arney Arney Computer Systems -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Mike Wood Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2012 2:45 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Catalog Device Type Conversion Chuck, The device type in the catalog entry is only used during allocation when a tape data set is not on a system managed tape volume...... So, if you ensure that all new tapes to which you migrate existing data are system managed - you dont need to edit this field in the catalog. It is not just IBM libraries that can be system managed. For example EMC DLm uses MTL. Years ago I used MCNVTCAT to help build delete and define commands for such changes. Now I would try to avoid such by using alternate solution.... Mike Wood ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
