Sit Nick the Ardent: Confession is good for the soul. Sort of...
Could it be that your predecessor wrote the code for SPTAPE? SPTAPE did not support Standard Labels. Thus, your predecessor might have been playing it safe by ensuring that the tape was writable (tab turned to write; old school: "ring in"), would use ANY mounted tape, even if it was not yet initialized. Also, by placing 10 tape marks on the tape, that if anything went wrong with the SPTAPE DUMP it would be more clear that nothing was actually dumped - so he/she did not use data from a previous non-labeled SPTAPE DUMP. :public_flogging on To quote: "Now I find that after a week of this, mounts of these seven volumes are failing because there's not standard label on these tapes.". But you didn't run an initial, manual test of the whole process -- running the actual code making the backups? And check the results manually? And... you let it run for a week without checking the results at *all*? You're getting too old for that sort of mistake! :-) [14th century. Via Old French ardant < Latin ardent-, present participle of ardere "to burn"] :public_flogging off Mike Walter Hewitt Associates The opinions expressed herein are mine alone, not my employer's. "Nick Laflamme" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent by: "The IBM z/VM Operating System" <[email protected]> 03/20/2006 10:04 AM Please respond to "The IBM z/VM Operating System" <[email protected]> To [email protected] cc Subject Re: SPXTape & standard labels? Nick Laflamme wrote: > In an attempt to bullet-proof my system from Yet Another Mistake > Operators Make, I used TAPE WVOL1 to put standard labels on the seven > cartridges we use for nightly SPXTAPE dumps and changed how our > DUMPNSS SVM invokes our home-grown TMS so it now asks the TMS to > verify the label on the tape before the drive is attached to the SVM. > > I also ran manual tests in which I did SPXTAPE dumps to each of the > seven tapes after labelling them, rewound them, and made sure that > TAPE DVOL1 still showed a tape label. It seemed to work as I expected. > > Now I find that after a week of this, mounts of these seven volumes > are failing because there's not standard label on these tapes. > > Is what I'm trying supposed to work? I don't know how to put an explanation into the list archives without also making all of you read it, so, here goes.... My predecessor put code into the routine that calls SPXTAPE to first: TAPE WTM 10 Yeah, that'll nuke a volume label, just a little bit. Otherwise, what I'm trying to do should work just fine. Gun, bullet, foot, predecessor's trigger finger! Sigh, Nick The information contained in this e-mail and any accompanying documents may contain information that is confidential or otherwise protected from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient of this message, or if this message has been addressed to you in error, please immediately alert the sender by reply e-mail and then delete this message, including any attachments. Any dissemination, distribution or other use of the contents of this message by anyone other than the intended recipient is strictly prohibited.
