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Conference turris::digital_unix

Title:DIGITAL UNIX(FORMERLY KNOWN AS DEC OSF/1)
Notice:Welcome to the Digital UNIX Conference
Moderator:SMURF::DENHAM
Created:Thu Mar 16 1995
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:10068
Total number of notes:35879

8901.0. "TZ857 support on V3.2G" by LOTIMA::P_MORRIS () Thu Feb 20 1997 04:52

    I wonder if anybody can quickly clear up this question.
    
    I have a customer with a DEC4000-710 (Cobra) running Digital Unix 3.2G
    Recently upgraded from OSF1 V1.3.
    This machine has a directly connected SCSI TZ857 DLT loader which 
    doesn't work properly.He also had a lot of problems getting this device
    to work under V1.3 OSF1.
    I have checked the SPD for Digital Unix V4.0/V3.2G & it is not listed
    as a supported device,in fact no tape loaders are listed.
    
    So the question is ,am I correct in believing that the TZ857 is not
    supported on a direct SCSI connection ?
    
    Also does Digital Unix support any loader devices?
    
    If this is supported do you have to make a special device file for the
    drive & another for the loader with MAKEDEV ?
    and/or does the kernel config file need to reflect the above,if so what
    entries are needed?
    
    	Regards
    	Phil Morris
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8901.1NETRIX::"[email protected]"Thu Feb 20 1997 09:228
The TZ857 is a tape drive and loader together.  The base OS recognizes
the tape drive as a TZ85.  There is no support for loaders in the
base OS.  In order to get the loader supported, the CLC kit (from
DECWET) needs to be installed.  This explains why there are no loaders
listed in the Digital Unix SPD.

Jan Reimers
[Posted by WWW Notes gateway]
8901.2SSDEVO::ROLLOWDr. File System's Home for Wayward Inodes.Thu Feb 20 1997 11:4812
	It is important to realize that none of the tape programs in the 
	base system supports auto-loaders.  The SCSI CAM Medium Changer
	driver is licensed software and only licensed through one of
	the software products that uses it; MRU, NSR, HSM, etc.  I
	mention this because MRU is the product I work on, and somebody
	using an unlicensed copy of the MC driver is taking potential
	revenue away from us.  MRU has the distiction of being very
	inexpensive.

	As for why the combination doesn't work, you've offered no
	clue what the problem is.  More information would be useful.
	
8901.3MRU sounds promising???LOTIMA::P_MORRISFri Feb 21 1997 04:2717
    Thanks for the prompt replies.
    
    The problem the customer is experiencing is what you would expect.
    Which is that running dump to the TZ857 seems to work OK with the
    Loader set to automatic,(so it loads the next tape in the loader
    automatically after the first one is ejected.).However when running
    restore,the restore reads the first tape OK but when the tape reaches
    EOT,restore bombs out back to the # prompt...not surprising I suppose.
    
    So what S/W does the customer need to support this device using dump &
    restore under 3.2G, & where can he obtain it from??
    
    Regards
    
    Phil
    MRU sounds promising as this is a direct connect SCSI device ie: not on
    a HSZ controller
8901.4SSDEVO::ROLLOWDr. File System's Home for Wayward Inodes.Fri Feb 21 1997 04:3413
	Dump and restore don't handle auto-loaders.  There is no 
	software that allows them to do this.  These programs
	were designed to run interactively and they don't handle
	the lack of an operator very well.  If the customer wants
	a backup product and can handle medium changers, get
	NSR.

	MRU doesn't help much either, since it has no way to
	interact with dump or restore.  Now, it may be possible
	to write a program which runs another program such as
	dump or restore, reads the prompts and provides suitable
	answers.  Such a program could do whatever was appropriate
	to manage the loader.
8901.5Customer likes MRULOTIMA::P_MORRISFri Feb 21 1997 07:458
    Thanks for the info 
    	
    I have talked to the customer & I think he will approach a reseller re:
    MRU.
    
    Regards
    
    Phil Morris