What I'm asking for is the ability to use existing SCSI tape > drives w/o having to rewrite applications not designed for them by way > of CP emulating a device that VM already supports, much as emulated FBA > disk allows unmodified operating systems to run on SCSI-only devices. > AFAIK, VTAPE doesn't provide that capability.
My understanding is that you can attach SCSI based tape drives to the mainframe. All you need is FCP adapters ($25k list price), and a processor that supports them (all current mainframes, from IBM) and current z/VM and/or zLinux systems (don't know about MVS and it may be a z/VSE 4 type thing). If that can be used, eventually, to solve your need, I doubt IBM would spend a lot of resources to emulate tapes under VM. We are looking at an IBM VTS to solve our virtual tape needs (i.e. no Operator intervention). Tom Duerbusch THD Consulting On Monday 29 May 2006 03:38, David Boyes wrote: > > How is "Emulated Tape" different from the VTAPE product from VSSI > > (Virtual > > > Software Systems, Inc.)? > > Unless I totally misunderstand what VTAPE does, it solves a different > problem. What I'm asking for is the ability to use existing SCSI tape > drives w/o having to rewrite applications not designed for them by way > of CP emulating a device that VM already supports, much as emulated FBA > disk allows unmodified operating systems to run on SCSI-only devices. > AFAIK, VTAPE doesn't provide that capability. > > Example: One of my customers has a large library with 30 SCSI LTO2 tape > drives in it and plenty of capacity -- a half-million dollar unit with > full-on automation, etc -- yet he still has to purchase, power and > maintain a 3590 and FICON-based connectivity just to support backing up > the VM side of his zSeries. If he could emulate a 3490 or 3590 and use > the LTO2 drives over FCP, that would be a significant cost benefit both > from acquisition and ongoing operational cost. > > > Is what you are asking for better than VTAPE -- or are you just asking > > IBM > > > to provide free what you can already get for a price? IBM might not > > want > > > to undercut a VM vendor. > > I think it is a different problem. If VTAPE does it, I'd like to know > how. > > David Boyes > Sine Nomine Associates
