IOCP? Can't you do that from PC-readable media these days?
-- Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz http://mason.gmu.edu/~smetz3 ________________________________________ From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <IBM-MAIN@listserv.ua.edu> on behalf of Edward Gould <edgould1...@comcast.net> Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2018 2:34 AM To: IBM-MAIN@listserv.ua.edu Subject: Re: VTL as 3490 vs 3590 > On May 22, 2018, at 1:04 AM, Timothy Sipples <sipp...@sg.ibm.com> wrote: > > Radoslaw Skorupka wrote: >> It is really nice sales pitch, but *technically* IBM it is no longer >> possible to write directly to a tape volume from z/OS. > > First of all, it's not a sales pitch. I don't do sales pitches very well. > > Second, it's also no longer possible to "write directly" to disk drives. > *All* mainframe-attached storage -- flash/SSD, disk, and now tape -- is > highly virtualized, with intelligent controllers equipped with caches. > > Why is this progress a problem? And it's a very long arc of progress, not > at all sudden. As I've carefully and accurately documented, there was > nearly 19 years of product overlap as IBM tape made the transition to > virtualized-physical. > > Finally, "ask your friendly IBM representative" about IBM TS1155/TS4500 > attachment to your IBM TS7700. I have no inside information on that, but I > do pay some attention to IBM's past practices. What I see is that, for > several generations of tape drives stretching back many years, IBM has > waited some period of time before certifying z/OS use of that new tape > drive/tape media/density. I suspect that's because IBM is just being that > extra bit careful with your most precious data (such as most of the world's > most important financial records) and its long-term retention needs, but > ask. Timothy, I disagree about your sales pitches a little. You do do them but not as blatant as others. I am wondering about your descriptions a little, from several perspectives IBM is cutting their head off. I have had about 5 times in my life as a sysprog, where various utilities *FROM* IBM absolutely needed a stand alone tape drive, i.e. one you had to mount a physical tape to do say a stand alone restore and the other function I needed was to supply the CE with a IOCP deck that was needed for a new system (fresh from IBM). There were others which I have done in mostly the middle of the night (one or two was with IBM[’s blessing). I know its not an ever day occurrence but the point is you still need a physical tape drive. I am attempting to remember other utility type functions that a physical tape was needed but it is late. Ed ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
