Mainframe Data Library 100S · Mainframe Data Library 100S Installation Guide Part Number...

Mainframe Data Library 100S

Installation Guide

Part Number 40-03335-A0-001

powered by

26 Crosby Drive, Suite 100 · Bedford, MA. 01730 · (781)272-8200

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Statement

WARNING: This equipment generates, uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy and if not installed and used in accordance with the instruction manual, may cause interference to radio communications. It has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class A computing device pursuant to Subpart J of Part 15 of FCC Rules, which are designed to provide reasonable protection against such interference when operated in a commercial environment. Operation of this equipment in a residential area is likely to cause interference in which case the user at his own expense will be required to take whatever measures may be required to correct the interference.

THIS EQUIPMENT HAS BEEN TESTED CONCERNING COMPLIANCE WITH THE RELEVANT RFI PROTECTION REQUIREMENTS BOTH INDIVIDUALLY AND ON A SYSTEM LEVEL (TO SIMULATE NORMAL OPERATION CONDITION). HOWEVER, IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THESE RFI REQUIREMENTS ARE NOT MET UNDER CERTAIN UNFAVORABLE CONDITIONS IN OTHER INSTALLATIONS. IT IS THE USER WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR COMPLIANCE OF HIS PARTICULAR INSTALLATION.

COMPLIANCE WITH APPLICABLE REGULATIONS DEPENDS ON THE USE OF SHIELDED CABLES. IT IS THE USER WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR PROCURING THE APPROPRIATE CABLES.

Bus-Tech Mainframe Data Library 100S Installation Guide Part Number 40-03335-A0-001 July 2009

© Copyright 2009 by BUS-TECH, INC. 26 Crosby Drive, Suite 100 Bedford, MA. 01730 Voice: (781) 272-8200 Fax: (781) 272-0342 All Rights Reserved.

The information contained in this document is proprietary.

Duplication of this document or any part thereof should be undertaken only with the written permission of Bus-Tech, Inc.

Acknowledgments: Bus-Tech, Mainframe Data Library, and Virtuent are trademarks of Bus-Tech, Inc.

Ethernet is a registered trademark of Digital Equipment Corporation, Intel® Corporation and Xerox Corporation.

IBM, System/390, and OS/390 are registered trademarks of International Business Machines, Inc.

Other names are used herein for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Table of Contents i

Table of Contents

About This Publication ....................................v Who Should Use This Publication .....................v

How to Use This Publication .............................v

What is Included in This Publication ............... vi

Chapter 1 . Introduction..................................1 Installation and Configuration ...........................2

Chapter 2 . Hardware Installation .................3

Installing the System Unit ..................................3

System Connections ...........................................3

Connecting a FICON Channel ...........................4 FICON Interface Status Indicators ................4

Connecting an ESCON Channel ........................5 ESCON Interface Status Indicators ...............5

Network Connection ..........................................5

Fibre Channel IBM 3592 Connection ................5

Controls and Indicators ......................................6

Initial Power Up .................................................8 Setting System Passwords .............................9

Root Password Prompt .....................................10

Reference Material ...........................................11

Chapter 3 . Configuring the Network Interfaces ........................................................13

Ethernet Channel Bonding ...............................17 Unbonding ...................................................21

Jumbo Frames ..................................................22

Chapter 4 . Configuring the Library ...........27 Creating a New Subdirectory ...........................28

Connecting the Sub-Directory to the Filesystem ........................................................31

Chapter 5 . Configuring Virtual Devices .....37 General Configuration Parameters ...................39

Adding Devices ................................................42

Modifying or Deleting Devices .......................44

Selecting an Active configuration ....................47

RAID Error Notification ..................................48

Chapter 6 . Using MDL-100S with z/OS, OS/390, or MVS .............................................51 Configuring the Devices ..................................52

Real 3480/3490/3590 ...................................52 Manual Tape Libraries .................................53 MTL-Related IBM maintenance ..................55

Bus-Tech’s Unit Information Module .............55

Virtuent Scratch Utility Program .....................56 VTSCR Parameters ......................................58 RMM Considerations ...................................60 TMS Considerations ....................................61 TLMS Considerations ..................................61 TSM Considerations ....................................61

VTCMD Utility Program .................................61

DFSMShsm Considerations .............................63

Specifying Tape Compaction ...........................63

Missing Interrupt Timer ...................................64

Dynamic Device Reconfiguration (DDR) Considerations..................................................64

Chapter 7 . Using MDL-100S with VSE .....65 Overview ..........................................................65

Configuration Parameters Unique to VSE .......65

VSE Programs ..................................................66

VSE Sample Jobs .............................................67

Tape Drives ......................................................67

VIRMOUNT Utility.........................................68

VIRMAINT Utility ..........................................69

Dynam/T Support.............................................70

ii MDL-100S Installation Guide

VIRSSD Utility for Dynam/T Operation .........70

Dynam/T Message Exit ....................................72

Using Dynam/T ................................................73 Create New Tape Data Sets .........................73 Prepare a Scratch Pool .................................73 Volume Scratching and Erasing with Dynam/T ......................................................74

BIM-EPIC ACL Support .................................75

VIRSSE Utility for EPIC Operation ................76

Using CA-EPIC or BIM-EPIC .........................77 Creating New Tape Data Sets ......................78 Volume Scratching and Erasing with EPIC .79

All Environments .............................................80 Multiple VSE Images ...................................80 Specifying Tape Compaction .......................80 Sending Console Commands and Running Scripts from VSE .........................................80

Chapter 8 . Using MDL-100S with VM .......83

Installing VTSCR and VTCMD ......................83

VTSCR .............................................................84

VTCMD ...........................................................87 Using VTCMD to Mount a VOLSER .........88

Chapter 9 . System Operation......................89 VT Console ......................................................89

Starting / Stopping Tape Devices ....................90

Initializing Scratch Volumes............................94

Virtual Tape Operator Commands ...................95 Command Syntax .........................................95 EXPORT Command ....................................95 HELP Command ..........................................95 IMPORT Command .....................................96 INITIALIZE Command ...............................96 LOAD Command .........................................97 QUERY Command ......................................97 QUIESCE Command ...................................98 READY Command ......................................99 RESET CHANNEL ADAPTER Command 99 REWIND Command ....................................99

SAVE TRACE Command .........................100 SET Command ...........................................100 SHOW Command ......................................102 SNMP Command .......................................102 STOP CHANNEL ADAPTER Command 102 UNLOAD Command .................................103 UNQUIESCE Command ...........................103 UNREADY Command ..............................103

Library Utilities ..............................................104 awsprint ......................................................104 awsdir .........................................................105

System Poweroff / Reboot .............................108

Unlocking the Console ...................................109

Changing Passwords ......................................109 masadmin Password ...................................110 root Password .............................................111 VNC Password ...........................................112

Set Date and Time ..........................................112 Using an NTP Server .................................113

Restore Factory Default Configuration Files .115

Manage Log Files ..........................................115

Chapter 10 . Using Data Encryption .........117

Defining Encryption Keys .............................119

Chapter 11 . Back-End Tape Support.......127 Direct Tape .....................................................127

Data Compression ......................................129 Data Encryption .........................................129

Tape Export / Import Utilities ........................130 Export .........................................................132 Import .........................................................133

Appendix A. Volume Handling ...................135 Volume Serial Numbers .................................135

Scratching Volumes .......................................136 Deleting ("Erasing") a Scratch Volume's Data ............................................................137

Mounting Volumes ........................................137 Mounting A Specific Volume by VOLSER137

Table of Contents iii

Mounting a "SCRTCH" or "PRIVAT" Volume .......................................................139

End of Volume Conditions ............................140 Logical End of Volume ..............................140 Physical End of Volume ............................141 End of Data ................................................141

Error Conditions .............................................141 Mount Loops ..............................................141 Out of Disk .................................................141

Appendix B. Load Display Command – CCW Opcode x’9F’ ......................................143 Load Display Data .........................................144

Format Control Byte (FCB) ...........................144

Help and Service Information.....................147 Step 1: Problem Solving ................................147

Step 2: Preparing for the Call .........................147

Step 3: Placing the Call ..................................148 Additional Technical Support Resources ..148

Index ..............................................................149

Customer Response ......................................153

About This Publication v

About This Publication This Guide provides the information necessary to install and use Bus-Tech's Mainframe Data Library (MDL) 100S Controller.

The following terms may be used as synonyms for the PCI ESCON Adapter in this publication and in some software installation screens:

Bus-Tech PCI to ESCON Adapter

ESCON adapter

channel adapter

The following terms may be used as synonyms for the PCI FICON Adapter in this publication and in some software installation screens:

Bus-Tech PCI Bus to FICON Adapter

FICON Adapter

channel adapter

The following term is used as a synonym for the Mainframe Data Library throughout this publication:

MDL

All MDL controllers, including the MDL-100S are built on Bus-Tech’s tape-on-disk software known as “Virtuent”. Whenever the term “Virtuent” is used within this manual it refers to the tape-on-disk software running in the MDL-100S.

Who Should Use This Publication

This publication is intended for the system administrator responsible for installing and configuring the Mainframe Data Library 100S to connect with a z/OS, OS/390, MVS, VM, or DOS/VSE mainframe.

How to Use This Publication

This manual is specific to the MDL model 100S.

This publication is organized into distinct chapters. Refer to those chapters specific to completing the task(s) you are performing

vi MDL-100S Installation Guide

What is Included in This Publication

This User's Guide contains information on how to complete the following tasks:

Install the MDL 100S into an industry standard rack

Connect channel interfaces, network interfaces and storage to the MDL

Configure the IP network in the MDL

Configure the library within the MDL

Configure the mainframe operating system to connect and use the MDL library

Chapter 1. Introduction 1

Chapter 1. Introduction The Bus-Tech Mainframe Data Library is a family of mainframe channel attached controllers which provide a tape-on-disk system for IBM or IBM-compatible mainframes. MDL is a hardware / software solution that together provides FICON or ESCON connectivity to the mainframe and emulates a collection of IBM 3480, 3490, or 3590 tape drives. As the mainframe writes a tape volume to any of the emulated drives the MDL creates a file on disk (Figure 1-1).

Figure 1-1. MDL Stores Tape Volumes on Disk

The tape emulation in all MDL models is provided by a common tape-on-disk software package known as Virtuent.

The MDL-100S is a single, rack mountable controller capable of providing a complete virtual tape solution including internal RAID protected storage.

MDL-100S base models provide either a single FICON or ESCON interface to the mainframe and emulate up to 32 tape drives. An optional 2nd FICON interface or 2nd and 3rd ESCON interfaces can be added to the controller.

Unlike other MDL models which use externally attached open-systems storage, MDL-100S includes internal Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) disks configured in a Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) configuration to provide space for storing tape volumes written from the mainframe.

VOLSER 1

VOLSER n

Tape Volumes on Disk

2 MDL-100S Installation Guide

Installation and Configuration

There are several installation and configuration steps that must be completed to successfully connect a Mainframe Data Library-100S to a System/390 compatible mainframe. These steps include:

1. Unpacking and mounting the MDL unit in a rack.

2. Connecting the MDL to a mainframe channel.

3. Defining the library configuration in the MDL.

4. Configuring the virtual tape drives on the MDL.

5. Configuring the tape drives in the System/390 operating system.

6. Configuring VSE interface applications (VSE only).

7. Activating the MDL tape drives.

8. Initializing the virtual tape volumes.

9. Starting / Stopping the MDL-100S.

Each of these steps will be covered within this manual.

Chapter 2. Hardware Installation 3

Chapter 2. Hardware Installation

Installing the System Unit

The Mainframe Data Library 100S (MDL) is shipped as a 2U (3.5” high) rack mount system. The MDL is designed to install into an industry standard 19” RETMA communications rack. Your system is shipped with a slide rail kit in order to allow MDL to be easily serviced without having to remove it from the rack.

Follow instructions that accompanied the rail kit to mount the rails into your rack and then mount the MDL-100S onto the rails.

System Connections

The standard MDL-100S configuration includes 1 or 2 FICON interfaces or 1, 2, or 3 ESCON interfaces depending on how it was configured at the time it was ordered. Two Gigabit Ethernet interfaces (ETH0 and ETH1) are provided to allow for remote configuration and administration and optional IP-based data replication. Monitor, keyboard, and mouse ports are also available although MDL does not require attachment of monitor, keyboard and mouse for operation.

Figure 2-1. MDL-100S System Connections

The MDL-100S may also have a single port fibre channel HBA for attachment of a point-to-point IBM 3592 tape drive.

The MDL-100S includes a 1 + 1 redundant power system. Both primary and redundant power connectors must be plugged in to provide redundancy. Each power supply provides 750 Watts of power and is self-selecting, operating at 100-120V or 200-240V.

Keyboard

Mouse

Fibre Channel

Channel 0

Channel 1

ETH 0 ETH 1 Monitor

Channel 2


Connecting a FICON Channel

Each MDL FICON interface has a single LC-type fiber optics connector. The type of cable you must use depends the type of connector on the mainframe (which may be either LC or SC) and the type of fiber optic cable (single-mode or multi-mode) supported by the mainframe channel. MDL FICON interfaces may be ordered either with single-mode or multi-mode fiber optic cable support. Single-mode fiber optic cable has a micron rating of 9/125. Multi-mode fiber optic cable has a micron rating of either 50/125 or 62.5/125.

To connect the MDL to a FICON channel simply remove the FICON wrap plug inserted for shipment and plug the male LC fiber connector on the cable directly into the LC female connector on the MDL interface. Ensure the cable end is fully inserted into the socket. You should hear a click as the connector locks into place.

FICON Interface Status Indicators

Each FICON interface has a four character display visible on the back edge of the system adjacent to the interface connector. The display will scroll the status of the interface. Under normal operating conditions the version of the interface’s emulation firmware will be displayed.

The FICON Adapter also has three LED indicators visible through its backplate that indicate which speed the link is running 1, 2, or 4 Gbps. When the link is up the LED will be on steady and if there is traffic it will blink. The numbers stamped into the faceplate correspond to the speed.

Yellow LED 4 Gbps

Green LED 2 Gbps

Amber LED 1 Gbps

Activity

Off Off Off Power Off

On On On Power On

Flash Flash Flash Loss of Synchronization

Flash in Sequence

Flash in Sequence

Flash in Sequence

Firmware Error

On/blink Off Off 4 Gbps link Up / Active

Off On/blink Off 2 Gbps link Up / Active

Off Off On/blink 1 Gbps link Up / Active


Connecting an ESCON Channel

Each MDL ESCON interface has a single ESCON MT-RJ connector.

To connect the MDL to an ESCON channel simply remove the ESCON wrap plug inserted for shipment and plug an IBM-compatible ESCON channel cable directly into the connector. Ensure the cable end is fully inserted into the socket. You should hear a click as the connector locks into place. An ESCON converter cable has been provided in case your ESCON cable uses ESCON duplex connectors. The cable provides a male MT-RJ connector on one end and a female ESCON duplex connector on the other (Figure 2-2).

Figure 2-2. ESCON Converter Cable

ESCON Interface Status Indicators

Each ESCON interface has a four character display visible on the back edge of the system adjacent to the interface connector. The display will scroll the status of the interface. Under normal operating conditions the version of the interface’s emulation firmware will be displayed.

Network Connection

As shown in Figure 2-1 the MDL-100S has 2 Gigabit Ethernet ports labeled Eth0 and Eth1 which may be used for connection to an IP network. These ports are normally used to connect to a PC/laptop for configuration and administration and optionally to connect to your corporate network for IP-based data replication.

Bus-Tech supplies an Ethernet crossover cable with the system allowing a point-to-point connection between a laptop and the MDL-100S for initial setup and configuration. When connecting the MDL-100S to your network use a standard Cat 6 Ethernet cable to connect to either of these ports.

Fibre Channel IBM 3592 Connection

If your MDL-2000 is equipped with the optional support for IBM 3592 / TS1120 attachment there is a single fibre channel port for this purpose. Bus-Tech only

ESCON Duplex

ESCON MT-RJ


supports a point-to-point fibre channel connection between the MDL-100S and a single IBM 3592 tape drive. The fibre channel port supports standard multi-mode fibre optic cabling with an LC connector.

Controls and Indicators

Figure 2-3 shows the front of the MDL-100S with the front bezel removed and overlaid with an enlarged view of the control panel area.

Figure 2-3. MDL-100S Front Panel

The six drive bays on MDL-100S are all occupied with 1 TB disks. These disks are configured into a RAID 5 configuration and provide four (4) separate logical units (LUNs). The first of these LUNs is used to house the operating environment of the MDL-100S and is not available for customer use. The remaining 3 LUNs are approximately 1.5 TB each in size and will be configured to make up the MDL virtual library.

The controls and indicators on the MDL-100S are as follows:

A. LAN 2 Activity LED (eth0)

B. LAN 1 Activity LED (eth1)

C. Power/Sleep Button

Turns the system power on/off.

Warning: Do not press the Power/Sleep button while the MDL in online to the host. Follow the shutdown procedures described later in the installation guide before pressing the Power/Sleep button.

D. Power/Sleep LED

Continuous green indicates the system is powered on. Blinking green indicates the system is sleeping No light indicates the system does not have power applied to it.


E. Disk Activity LED

A continuous light indicates drive ready status. The light blinks off to indicate disk activity.

F. System Status LED

Continuous green indicates the system is operating normally Blinking green indicates the system is operating in a degraded condition Continuous amber indicated the system is in a critical or non-recoverable condition

G. ID LED.

A blue light that lights when the ID Button has been pressed. There is a second blue ID LED that can be seen on the back of the unit when the ID Button has been pressed and this LED is lit. The ID LEDs allow you to identify the system you are working on in a rack with more than one system.

H. ID Button (see above description for ID LED).

I. Reset Button

Reboots and initializes the system.

Warning: Do not press the Reset button while the MDL is online to the host. Follow the shutdown procedures described later in this manual before pressing the Reset button.

J. USB Connector

K. NMI button

Pressing this recessed button with a paper clip or pin issues a non-maskable interrupt and puts the system into a halt state for diagnostic purposes.

L. Video Connector

All LEDs are visible through the front bezel. The bezel must be removed to press the NMI, Power, Reset, or ID buttons.


Initial Power Up

The MDL-100S uses an administrator console for configuration and control. There are two alternatives for providing console capabilities. First, a monitor, keyboard, and mouse may be attached directly to the system. Alternatively, a PC may be Ethernet attached to either of the system’s Gigabit Ethenet (LAN) ports. The MDL console is then accessed using either a Java-enabled web browser or the open-source application known as “vncviewer”.

If you elect to attach a monitor, keyboard, and mouse, the monitor should be capable of a1024x768 resolution and you’ll need a standard PS/2 style keyboard and mouse. Once the monitor, keyboard, and mouse are attached you may power up the MDL.

A yellow Ethernet cross-over cable has been supplied to allow you to plug a PC (laptop) directly into one of the LAN interfaces (without an Ethernet hub or switch). Once you are attached to the LAN, power up the MDL.

Both LAN ports have been pre-configured with default IP addesses. LAN 1 (Eth0) is configured with the IP address 192.168.1.1. LAN 2 (Eth1) is pre-configured with the IP address 192.168.2.1. Both addresses use a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. To access the MDL desktop with a Java-enabled web browser you will need to configure your laptop or PC with an appropriate IP address based on which port you have connected to. For example, if you plug into LAN1 (Eth0) then you might configure your PC with address 192.168.1.2 subnet mask 255.255.255.0. If you were plugged into LAN2 (eth1) then you might configure your PC with address 192.168.2.2 subnet mask 255.255.255.0. Once you have your PC configured and attached open your browser and enter the IP address for the LAN interface you are connected, a colon (:), and the port number 5801. For example, to access the desktop from LAN 1 (eth0) you would enter:

http://192.168.1.1:5801/

To access the desktop from LAN 2 (eth1) you would enter:

http://192.168.2.1:5801/

You will be prompted for a password which is set to “bustech” by default.

As an alternative to using a Java-enabled web browser, you can use the open-source application vncviewer to access the MDL. The vncviewer application can be downloaded from a number of Internet sites. For example, at the time this manual was written, a Windows executable version of vncviewer was available at the following site:

http://www.tightvnc.com/download.html


The port used by vncviewer is 5901. To to access the desktop from LAN 1 (eth0) with vncviewer you would enter the address:

192.168.1.1:1 or 192.168.1.1:5901

at the vncserver prompt. From LAN 2 (eth1) you would enter:

192.168.2.1:1 or 192.168.2.1:5901

To enable access through a firewall, your firewall must allow access to port 5901 for vncviewer or port 5801 for web browser access.

Setting System Passwords

The first time you power on the MDL, you must set three system passwords.

The root user is the system’s superuser - the primary administrator - and has permission to perform absolutely any task on the MDL. For obvious reasons, the root user’s password should be a very strong password that would be difficult for an unauthorized user to guess.

The masadmin user is the user that runs the MDL console. Though masadmin does not have the permissions to perform administrative tasks like root, masadmin should also be protected with a strong password to prevent unauthorized usage.

The vnc password is the password used to remotely access the MDL desktop and will be required whenever you attempt to access the system from a web browser or the vncviewer application. After you enter a vnc password you will be asked if you want a vnc view-only password. If you want to allow someone to monitor the MDL console without being able to operate it respond to the prompt with “y” and then enter a view-only password. Otherwise respond to the view-only password prompt with “n”.

On initial power on all three passwords have been set to ‘bustech’.

The first time the MDL is powered up an automatic script will prompt you for each of the three passwords, root, masadmin, and vnc (See Figure 2-4).

Your passwords should be a mix of capital letters, lower case letters, and numbers and should be a minimum of six (6) characters in length.


Figure 2-4. Entering a masadmin Password

CAUTION: Be sure to save the new passwords in a safe place. If you forget the passwords you may not be able to recover them without performing a complete system installation.

Exit the password change script by pressing the ENTER key.

Root Password Prompt

Often when you are performing system administrator activities on the MDL you will be prompted with a root user password prompt as shown below in Figure 2-5. Whenever you receive this prompt, you need to respond to it with the root user password you supplied during initial poweron of the MDL (See page 9) in order to continue the function you are performing when the prompt appears.

Figure 2-5. Prompt for root Password


Reference Material

The following Intel® documentation may be of use:

“Intel® Server System SR2500AL User’s Guide”, order number D31969-003

“Intel® Server Board S5000PAL User’s Guide”, order number D31968-002

Each of these documents may be downloaded from Intel’s web site (www.intel.com).

In you are installing MDL in a VSE environment using B I Moyle’s BIM-EPIC tape management system you will need to refer to the following manual:

“BIM-EPIC Installation and System Guide”

Chapter 3. Configuring the Network Interfaces 13

Chapter 3. Configuring the Network Interfaces The MDL-100S provides two Gigabit Ethernet LAN interfaces which may be used to:

Provide access to the MDL Administrator console (desktop)

Perform IP-based replication to a remote MDL-100S using Virtuent Replicator software (sold separately).

On initial power up both LAN interfaces are active and are pre-configured with an IP address. LAN1 (Eth0) has a default IP address of 192.168.1.1. LAN 2 (Eth1) has a default IP address of 192.168.2.1. You can connect your network to either of the LAN ports or to both.

To begin changing the MDL network configuration right-click anywhere on the MDL desktop. A menu will pop up (See Figure 3-1). Drag the mouse pointer over “Configure Ethernet Interfaces” and click the left mouse button.

Figure 3-1. Starting Network Configuration

Once you have responded to the root user password prompt (see Figure 2-5) the system will prompt for setup method (see Figure 3-2). Click Next to continue.


Figure 3-2. Setup Method Prompt

The Network cards configuration overview panel will display (see Figure 3-3).

Figure 3-3. Network Cards Configuration Overview

Only the two Gigabit Ethernet ports (Eth-0 and Eth-1) should be listed. The eth-0 device is labeled LAN 1 on the MDL Chassis. The eth-1 device is labeled LAN 2 on the chassis.


To modify a device’s IP configuration highlight the device and click Edit. The network address setup panel for the device you highlighted will be displayed (Figure 3-4).

Figure 3-4. Network Address Setup

Here you can assign the IP address and subnet mask. As shown the default IP address for eth0 is 192.168.1.1 and is automatically selected when you enter the screen. To change the IP address simply type in a new address. To change the subnet mask tab forward to the subnet mask field.

You can change the MDL system or domain names and assign a domain name server (DNS) to be used by clicking the “Host name and name server” button. The Host name and name server configuration panel (Figure 3-5) will be displayed.

Note: If you have more than one MDL connected on the same IP network, you should change the name(s) to make each system unique.

Enter the IP address(es) in the Name Server fields for any domain name servers (DNS) you want the MAS to be aware of.


Figure 3-5. Host Name and Name Server Configuration Panel

Complete the fields as appropriate for your network and then click Ok.

You can define any static routing information and a default network gateway by clicking the “Routing” button to display the “Routing configuration” panel (Figure 3-6).

Figure 3-6. Routing Configuration


Once you are sure your Ethernet interface is properly configured click Next on the “Network address setup” panel (Figure 3-4). The “Network cards configuration overview” panel (Figure 3-3) will display. Click Finish to save your changes and re-configure the network.

If you are attached to the MDL via the network you will temporarily lose your connection. Wait 15 – 20 seconds and then re-attach. Keep in mind that if you have just changed the IP address for the LAN port you are connecting through you will need to use the new IP address to attach.

If you are using a monitor, keyboard, and mouse attached directly to the MDL you can confirm that the network is running using a standard TCP/IP ping command. Click the Shell icon on the MDL desktop to open a terminal window. Type the command “ping ipaddress –c 5” where ipaddress is any valid IP address in your network. You should receive positive response to your ping as shown in Figure 3-7. (Note: not all systems respond to the ping. If you get no response, be sure the system you are sending the ping to normally responds to such a request).

Figure 3-7. Positive Ping Response

Ethernet Channel Bonding

Note: Unless you are planning to use Virtuent Replicator software to replicate your MDL virtual library to a remote location you do not need to configure channel bonding. Even if you are planning to use Virtuent Replicatior channel bonding should only be considered if you are sure your network and network switches can properly support this capability.

The Mainframe Data Library allows its two gigabit Ethernet ports to be bound together and used as one in order to provide fail over. The technique used to bind these interfaces together is generally referred to as “ Ethernet channel bonding”.

Once the two interfaces are bound together the MDL will use a single IP address and MAC address on the network. As long as either of the two ports is active, the system will continue to operate. When both interfaces are active, the MDL will use one of the interfaces for all traffic to / from the network. If that interface becomes disabled


the system will automatically failover and start sending and receiving traffic through the remaining interface.

When MDL is first initialized the two interfaces ARE NOT bound together. Each interface is configured to operate separately. As previously discussed, the two interfaces are each configured with their own IP address.

MDL provides two administrator commands that can be used to easily configure channel bonding. The command ‘bond’ will bind the two Ethernet ports together and establish a default IP address of 192.168.1.1 to the MDL. The command ‘unbond’ will unbind the two interfaces and re-establish the IP addresses assigned to each interface before they were bound together.

To bind the gigabit Ethernet ports together begin by right-clicking the desktop and click on “Administrator Shell” (Figure 3-8).

Figure 3-8. Opening an Administrator Shell

After responding to the root password prompt a window will appear for the Administrator’s Shell. Enter the command:

bond

and press “Enter”. The bond command will execute and the two Ethernet ports will now be configured as one. However, the change will not take effect immediately.


Once you have bound the channels together you will need to configure your IP environment following the procedure at the beginning of this chapter to change the network configuration. When the Network Card Configuration Overview panel appears it should now include the Bonded Ethernet Connection device indicating that you have bound the interfaces together (Figure 3-9).

Figure 3-9. Network Cards Configuration Overview with Channel Bonding

Because of the bonding one additional routing item needs to be configured. From Figure 3-4 click the Routing to go to the Route Configuration panel (Figure 3-6). Check the Expert Configuration check box and then the Add button.


Figure 3-10. Expert Route Configuration

A route definition pop-up panel will appear (Figure 3-11). Enter “default” for the route destination, the IP address of your gateway, and netmask 0.0.0.0. Save the entry by clicking Ok.

Figure 3-11. Defining a Route Entry

When you exit network configuration your network will automatically be restarted and bonding will be active.


Unbonding

To unbond previously bound gigabit Ethernet Interfaces, open an Administrator Shell and type in the command:

unbond

This will re-set the network configuration to what it was before the bond command was used. To enable the configuration after unbonding it, type:

rcnetwork restart

The network will be restarted using the previous unbonded configuration. Keep in mind that if you are connected to MDL through the IP network you may lose your connection. Figure 3-12 shows successful execution of unbond and network restart.

Figure 3-12. Unbond of Ethernet Interfaces


Jumbo Frames

Note: There is generally no reason to configure the Ethernet ports on the MDL-100S for jumbo frames. However, if you are planning to use Virtuent Replicator software and you are confident your network and network switches can support it, then jumbo frames can be configured on the MDL-100S ports.

By default MDL is configured with a standard Ethernet frame size of 1500 bytes.

When connecting to network attached storage (NAS) using the NFS protocol you may be able to provide improved MDL performance by using a larger frame size.

The MDL gigabit Ethernet interfaces support jumbo frames up to 8996 bytes. Be aware, however, that if you intend to use jumbo frames, all equipment in the network between the MDL and the NAS must be capable of supporting jumbo frames, gigabit speed, and full duplex transmission. In particular, be sure any Ethernet switches that may be used will support jumbo frames.

There are two configuration changes required to configure an Ethernet interface for jumbo frames. First you must specify the Speed and Duplex options for the interface(s). Then you must set maximum transmission unit (MTU) size to 8996. Each of these changes are explained below.

To modify the interface Speed and Duplex options right click anywhere on the MDL desktop and select “Administrator Shell”. Once you have responded to the root password prompt and the shell has opened type the following command:

kwrite /etc/modprobe.conf.local

and press Enter (see Figure 3-13).

Figure 3-13. Running kwrite to Configure Speed

At the bottom of the kwrite window you will find an options line that is commented out (Figure 3-14).


Figure 3-14. Default modprobe.conf.local File

You must set the speed and duplex setting for any interface you want to use with jumbo frames. You cannot allow it to auto-negotiate. To simply force both interfaces to Gigabit speed and full duplex simply uncomment the options e1000 line. Otherwise edit the values according to your needs. Figure 3-15 shows a sample configuration where eth0 (LAN 1) is configured for jumbo frames and eth1 (LAN 2) is configured to auto-negotiate.

Once you have modified the options line, save it using File and Save and then close kwrite using File and Quit.


Figure 3-15. Modified modprobe.conf.local

Be sure to manually set both interfaces (i.e. do not auto-negotiate) if you intend to use jumbo frames with channel bonding.

After modifying the Ethernet interfaces configuration you will need to restart the system in order to implement these changes. See page 108 for instructions on how to reboot the MDL.

With speed and duplex options properly set you can establish the use of jumbo frames by setting the MTU size on the network device. To set MTU size edit the device’s configuration by highlighting the device on the Network Cards Configuration Overview panel (Figure 3-3) and clicking Edit. When the Network Address Setup panel displays, click the General tab (see Figure 3-16).

WARNING: If you configure the Ethernet interface used for remote access via VNC to use jumbo frames then your VNC client and all network components between the client and the MDL will need to support jumbo frames. Otherwise you will not be able to attach. If you are using one Ethernet port (eth0, for example) for data transfer and the other Ethernet port (eth1) for remote accesss (VNC) it is recommended that you set jumbo frames only on the data interface (eth0).


Figure 3-16. General Tab

Set the MTU size to 8996 indicating jumbo frames. Click Next to save the change. Click Next then Finish to exit.

If you using channel bonding then set jumbo frames by editing the detailed settings of the bonded device.

Once you save these changes and exit the Ethernet configuration screens the network will automatically be restarted and your system should now use jumbo frames.

Chapter 4. Configuring the Library 27

Chapter 4. Configuring the Library The MDL-100S provides a customer useable library space of 4.5 TBytes. This space is organized into three (3) separate filesystems each approximately 1.5 TB in size.

The MDL-100S library is recognized by the Virtuent tape-on-disk software using the library name “tapelib”. By default each of the three filesystems within the MDL-100S must be connected to tapelib as a sub-directory. These sub-directories have not been pre-configured because the names of the sub-directories are the first 2 characters of the tape volume serial numbers that will be stored on the library (see Figure 4-1).

Figure 4-1. Sample Library Structure

As shown in this example, the library sub-directories are named ‘A0’, ‘A1’, and ‘A2’. Filesystem 1 which is pointed to by sub-directory ‘A0’ will hold any VOLSER beginning with ‘A0’. Using only numbers for the last 4 characters in the serial numbers this would imply 10,000 tape volumes with VOLSERs ranging from A00000 – A09999. Filesystem 2, pointed to by sub-directory ‘01’ will hold any VOLSER beginning with ‘01’. Using only numbers for the last 4 characters in the serial numbers this would imply 10,000 tape volumes with VOLSERs ranging from A10000 – A19999. Filesystem 3, pointed to by sub-directory ‘A2’ will hold any VOLSER beginning with ‘A2’. Using only numbers for the last 4 characters in the serial numbers would imply 10,000 tape volumes with VOLSERs ranging from A20000 – A29999.

As shown in Figure 4-1 this library is configured to hold 30,000 tape volumes with serial numbers (VOLSERs) in the range between A00000 – A29999 when only numbers are used in the last 4 characters of the volume serial number.

There are 2 ways to put more than 10,000 tape volumes into one of the 1.5 TB Filesystems. First, you can use non-numeric characters in the last 4 characters of the VOLSERs. For example, using VOLSERs beginning with ‘A0A’ will allow an

/tapelib /A0 -> Filesystem 1 /A1 -> Filesystem 2 /A2 -> Filesystem 3

Filesystem 1 – 1.5TB VOLSERs A00000 – A09999




additional 1,000 VOLSERs to be stored in Filesystem 1; with VOLSERs ranging from A0A000 – A0A999. And so on.

Alternatively, you can point more than one library sub-directory to any one of the filesystems. For example, a library with the following definition:

/tapelib /A0 -> Filesystem 1 /A1 -> Filesystem 2 /A2 -> Filesystem 3 /A3 -> Filesystem 3

will now hold 40,000 tape volumes with the VOLSER range of A00000 – A39999. In this configuration Filesystems 1 and 2 will both house 10,000 VOLSERs. But Filesystem 3 will house 20,000 VOLSERs in the range of A20000 – A30000.

You will need to determine how many tape volumes you can write to each 1.5 TB filesystem based on your installations average volume size.

Once you have decided how many sub-directories to create and what ranges of VOLSERs you intend to assign to the MDL-100S, you can define the library using the following two steps.

Creating a New Subdirectory

Creating a subdirectory for a filesystem is straight forward and simple. However, since the name of the subdirectory becomes the prefix of all tape volume serial numbers stored on the disk, you must coordinate the subdirectory name with your mainframe tape administrator. Specifically you need to make sure no existing tape serial numbers begin with the 2-character name assigned to the subdirectory.

Most commercial tape management systems (such as RMM) tend to use numeric VOLSERs (i.e. 000000 - 999999). Therefore it is best to assign a prefix beginning with a capital letter for Virtuent VOLSERs to avoid conflict with existing tape cartridges. For example a prefix of "A0" uses the range of all serial numbers beginning with the characters "A0”. Remember the prefix must only contain capital letters A - Z and numbers 0 - 9.

To define a new subdirectory to a library right click anywhere on the Virtuent desktop and select "Create Tape Library Mount Points" (see Figure 4-2).


Figure 4-2. Create Tape Library Mount Points

A window will open and you will be prompted for the root password. After specifying the password the tape management utility menu will display.

Figure 4-3. Tape Management Utility Menu

The default tape library (tapelib) will be shown as available. Select menu item 3 as shown in Figure 4-3 and press Enter in order to select the library you want to modify.

Figure 4-4. Select a Library to Modify


You will be prompted for a library name. Since the only library available is tapelib, type “tapelib” as shown in Figure 4-4 and press Enter.

The menu should now list the selected tape library and any existing subdirectories already defined in the library. For new libraries volume prefixes found will be displayed as (none). Type menu item “4” as shown in Figure 4-5 and press Enter.

Figure 4-5. Library Selected Menu

You will now be prompted for the sub-directory(ies) you wish to create. Enter one or more 2 character subdirectory names separated by a space. Figure 4-6 shows three sub-directories being defined; A0, A1, and A2.

Figure 4-6. Defining Subdirectories

After entering the sub-directory names press Enter to create the directories. The tape management utility menu will be updated showing the newly defined directories (Figure 4-7).


If you are satisfied with the sub-directories you have defined you may exit the tape management utility by typing ‘x’ and then pressing Enter.

Figure 4-7. New Sub-directories Defined

Connecting the Sub-Directory to the Filesystem

Once you have defined sub-directories to the system you can add them to the library configuration by right-clicking the MDL desktop and selecting “Add Disk” (Figure 4-8).

Figure 4-8. Add Disk

After satisfying the root password prompt a warning panel will display advising you not to proceed unless you are familiar with disk partitioning procedures (Figure 4-9). This warning is issued because a mistake while defining a disk could cause the system files to be destroyed. Click Yes to proceed.


Figure 4-9. Disk Partitioning Warning

The Expert Partitioner panel will display (Figure 4-10).

Figure 4-10. Expert Partitioner

This panel lists all the logical disks in the system and their partitions. Although the system has six (6) physical 1 Terabyte (TB) disks in it, the disks are configured using RAID 5 and then 4 logical units (LUNs) are defined; one for the system image and 3 for data storage. Each LUN (logical disk) shows in the Expert Partitioner as a single device. These are the devices without a number in their device names; specifically, /dev/sda, /dev/sdb, /dev/sdc, and /dev/sdd. Device /dev/sda is the logical disk (or LUN) used as the MDL-100S system disk. As shown in Figure 4-10 the system disk has 4 partitions which are named /dev/sda1, /dev/sda2, /dev/sda3, and /dev/sda4.


Do not attempt to re-define, format, or modify the system disk configuration that came with your MDL in any way as this could result in an unusable system.

You will also notice in Figure 4-10 that there are 3 larger, data disks named /dev/sdb, /dev/sdc, and /dev/sdd. These are the data disks that will be used by the tape library. You will notice that each of these disks has a single partition listed as 1.4TB in size. These partitions are named /dev/sdb1, /dev/sdc1, and /dev/sdd1. It is these partitions that need to be mapped to the sub-directories that you have defined in the previous step.

Begin by selecting one of the data partitions on the b, c, or d disk as shown in Figure 4-11.

Figure 4-11. Selecting a Data Partition

Click the Edit button at the bottom of the screen to edit the partition’s configuration. The existing partition panel will display (Figure 4-12). Do not change anything except the field labeled Mount Point. Type the full directory structure for the sub-directory you want to assign to the partition; for example “/tapelib/A0” if the sub-directory you want to use is “A0”.


Figure 4-12. Existing Partition Panel

Click Ok to return to the previous screen. Repeat the process for the other sub-directories you have defined. Once you have defined a mount point (sub-directory) for all 3 data disks click the Apply button on the Expert Partitioner (Figure 4-11). You will be prompted with a list of changes that will be applied (Figure 4-13).

Figure 4-13. Partition Change Confirmation

If you are satisfied with the changes then click the Apply or Finish button to make the changes.

At this point the disk(s) are defined to the system and mounted. A status window will show progress as the system prepares your disk(s).

You can confirm the library is correctly defined by right-clicking the desktop and selecting “Show Mounts” (Figure 4-14).


Figure 4-14. Show Mounts

A pop-up window will display showing all mounted devices in the system (Figure 4-15). You can confirm your new disk is mounted by looking for the mount point you used (for example: /tapelib/A0).

Figure 4-15. Mounted Devices

Close the Show Mounts panel by pressing Enter.

Once mounted, local disks need to have their ownership changed to work properly in the tape library. To change a disk’s ownership right-click the MDL desktop and select “Administrator Shell” (Figure 4-16).

Figure 4-16. Administrator Shell

After providing the root password an administrator shell will appear. Enter the command:

chown vtape:vtape mountpoint

where mountpoint is the full path of the mounted disk; for example /tapelib/B0. Figure 4-17 shows a properly executed change of ownership. Repeat the chmod


command for each of the mounpoints in your tape library. Close the shell by typing exit and pressing Enter.

Figure 4-17. Change Ownership

Chapter 5. Configuring Virtual Devices 37

Chapter 5. Configuring Virtual Devices MDL-100S is one of a family of controllers that are built on Bus-Tech’s tape-on-disk emulation software named Virtuent. On the MDL-100S the Virtuent software can emulate up to 32 mainframe tape drives. These drives may be configured to emulate 3480, 3490, or 3590 devices to the mainframe.

Virtuent provides a browser-based graphical interface for configuring the virtual tape drives. To invoke configuration click the “Configure Devices” icon on the Virtuent desktop.

A browser window will initiate and the configuration banner screen will display (Figure 5-1).

Figure 5-1. Configuration Start-Up Screen

Click “Configure Devices” and the main configuration screen will appear (Figure 5-2).

Figure 5-2. Configuration Selection Screen


Virtuent allows up to six (6) separate configurations to be kept. Only one configuration is used to activate the devices. The six configuration files are named btixmap0, btixmap1, btixmap2, btixmap3, btixmap4, and btixmap5. When the system is shipped these configuration files contain no device configurations.

To create a new or different configuration you modify one of the six configuration files, designate which configuration file to make active the next time the Virtuent devices start, and then stop and restart the devices. Begin by clicking the “View or Modify” link next to the configuration file you wish to modify. The configuration file will be presented for change and viewing (Figure 5-3).

Figure 5-3. Main Configuration Screen


General Configuration Parameters

At the top of the configuration view are general information fields that apply to the overall configuration. Clicking on any of the links for Name, Description, TraceLevel, Adapter Tracing, or Scratch Synonyms will invoke a change screen for all of these fields (Figure 5-4).

Figure 5-4. Common Field Change Screen

The fields may be set as follows:

Name – This field is an optional field you can use to assign a name to this configuration which is meaningful to you and your environment. The name may be 1 to 8 characters in length. This field is not otherwise used.

Description – This field is an optional 1 to 40 character field you may use to enter a meaningful description of this configuration file. This field is not otherwise used.

Trace Level– This pull down field allows you to select the level of tracing to be performed. Available trace levels are:

0 – No Tracing (default) 1 – Trace Errors Only 2 – Trace Errors and Status


3 – Trace Errors, Status, and Headers 4 – Trace Errors, Status, Headers, and Data 5 – Perform a full packet trace (for customer support use only)

Under normal operation trace level 1 should be set for best performance while still capturing error information to the trace file. You can trace individual devices on a channel by setting the trace option in device specific configuration (see page 27).

Adapter Tracing – This field allows you to specify which type of tracing should be performed, device or path.

Device level tracing means that each subchannel will have a trace buffer. All traces to this subchannel from any Host / LPAR will be stored in this trace buffer.

Path level tracing means that each Host / LPAR will have a trace buffer.

With device level tracing, you will get a much shorter trace buffer per device, but you get unique buffers, so you know you can get at least the last few events for the Host / LPAR no matter what else is going on. With device level tracing, you get a much longer trace buffer, but it's shared by all the Hosts/LPARs talking to the particular subchannel so any one Host / LPAR that keeps running to this subchannel will monopolize the shared trace buffer.

Recovery Percent (0-100) – Sets the percentage of disk space usage at which Virtuent starts to recover disk space by deleting the data from scratch volumes (see page 137, “Deleting ("Erasing") a Scratch Volume's Data”). Valid values are from 0 to 100. The default is 95%. If the recovery percentage is set to 100, Virtuent will never delete scratch volume data to recover disk space.

Recovery Amount (1-100) – When Virtuent starts to recover disk space it will continue deleting data from scratch volumes until this amount of free space has been recovered or until there are no more scratch volumes that can be deleted. Valid values are 1 to 100. The default is 1%. Setting recovery amount to 100 will cause Virtuent to delete the data from all scratch volumes on this filesystem.

Tape Export – This field indicates whether or not Virtuent will allow the Tape Export/Import utility to be run from the Virtuent operator console. The default is disabled, indicating tape export/import cannot be run. If you intend to attach a physical tape drive to the controller and allow the Virtuent operator to export or import tapes from the library by serial number then sent this field to “enabled”.

SNMP Agent – The SNMP agent requires configuration of two parameters; Trap Level and Manager IP. By default the Trap Level is set to “0 = None” indicating SNMP agent is disabled. If either Trap Level or Manager IP are not properly configured the SNMP agent will not work properly.

Trap Level - The trap level field is used to set the message level of the messages that the SNMP agent will send to the SNMP manager application. Virtuent supports three (3) levels of messages; informational, warning, and error. Setting any one of these


levels enables the SNMP agent. The default is no messages are sent. Bus-Tech recommends that you set this level to “Warning” so that all warning messages and errors are sent to the SNMP manager.

Manager IP – Set this field to the IP address of the SNMP manager that is to receive messages from the SNMP agent. If you set the Trap Level field (above) to anything other than “0 = None” you must set this field. Additionally the receiving SNMP manager must have the Bus-Tech Management Information Block (MIB) installed. The Bus-Tech MIB is distributed on the MDL Utilities CD under the directory \util\SNMP. Follow instructions from your SNMP manager documentation for installing third party MIBs.

Scratch Synonyms – Virtuent receives requests to mount new scratch tapes across the channel in a load display command issued by the mainframe. By default OS/390 and z/OS will normally request either a PRIVAT or a SCRTCH tape in these commands. However, installations have the ability to configure their own sub-pools of scratch tapes and request the mount of tapes using names meaningful to their installation. In other words, installations can configure what they want to call scratch tapes on their system. The Scratch Synonyms fields allow Virtuent to be configured to recognize whatever name(s) your installation uses to request scratch tape mounts. Regardless of the definition of other Scratch Synonyms, Virtuent will always mount a scratch tape whenever a load command is received requesting either ‘PRIVAT’ or ‘SCRTCH’.

Note: Scratch Synonyms are not case sensitive and may be entered in either upper or lower case. Scratch Synonyms may be 1 – 8 characters long.

Once you are satisfied with the content of the General Configuration Parameters you can save your changes and exit the Common Field Change screen by scrolling down the screen and clicking Submit Changes. To exit the screen without making any changes click Cancel Changes.


Adding Devices

Each configuration file on MDL-100S can have a maximum of 32 devices.

To add devices to the configuration scroll down the Main Configuration Screen (see Figure 5-3) and click on any undefined device index number. The Control Unit Configuration screen will display. Use your mouse to scroll down to the bottom of the screen (Figure 5-5).

Figure 5-5. Control Unit Configuration Screen

The fields on this screen are:

Minimum Device Address (in hex): - The device address of the first device to be defined. Devices are defined in groups of sixteen (16), dictating the valid addresses that can be assigned. Select an address from the pull down list.

Maximum Device Address (in hex): - The device address of the last device to be defined for this specific control unit. Select the device from the pull down list. Note that if you plan to configure your MDL devices on z/OS using Manual Tape Library (MTL) capabilities MTLs only allow a maximum of sixteen devices on any specific controller. To configure all 32 devices on the controller you will need to configure 2 separate control units with divverent Control Unit addresses.

Control Unit (in hex): - The hexadecimal control unit number you are configuring. For ESCON valid values are 00-0F. For FICON valid values are 00-FF.

Starting Device Name - A unique device name must be created for each Virtuent device. Bus-Tech recommends using the same device name as defined on the mainframe operating system. The name you enter should end in hexadecimal digits, and the configuration program will increment the name for the number of devices you are defining. For example, if you are defining 16 devices and you enter E980 in the


Device Name field, the configurator will name the 16 devices E980, E981, E982, ... E98F. The name you enter may be from 1 to 10 characters long.

Device Type – Select the device type to be emulated. For MDL-100S you may select 3480, 3490, or 3590. Note that all devices on the same Control Unit must be the same type.

IDRC – Yes/No/Force turns on or off write compression of the data that Virtuent writes to disk. The default value is IDRC=Yes.

When IDRC is on, Virtuent will compress the data it writes to a virtual tape disk file, but only if told to do so by the mainframe. Compression is controlled differently by various host operating systems, but is generally configurable in the JCL.

When IDRC is configured to No, Virtuent will not compress the data it writes to a virtual tape disk file, even if told to do so by the mainframe. Even if IDRC is set off, however, Virtuent will still report to the host that it supports compression; it just will not actually perform any compression as it writes data to disk. This is because some host operating systems or tape managers will not use a drive that does not support compression.

IDRC=No only affects writing of data. Even if IDRC is set off, Virtuent can read virtual tape volumes that it previously wrote with compression on.

IDRC=Force causes Virtuent compress all data even when the mainframe does not tell the device to do so.

Compression of data can result in a considerable savings in disk storage required to store virtual tape files, but comes at a price in performance.

Encryption key – Setting an encryption key tells Virtuent that all data written from this range of devices should encrypt data. The default is None, indicating these devices do not encrypt. To set an encryption key you must first define at least one encryption key on the controller (see page 119).

Tapelib Path – For MDL-100S this parameter should always be left to default to /tapelib.

Device specific - The Device Specific parameters field allows you to code a number of optional keyword parameters which will be assigned to the devices being created.

GROUP=nn

nn is any decimal number. GROUP should be coded whenever Virtuent is to be used with the VSE VIRMOUNT utility on multiple VSE systems running under VM or on multiple LPARs. All virtual tape drives attached to the same VSE guest machine should have the same GROUP. When VIRMOUNT requests a mount, only virtual drives in the same GROUP are considered for the mount. When not coded all drives default to GROUP=0.


OSADDR=xxxx

xxxx is a 3-digit or 4-digit hexadecimal number. OSADDR should be coded with the address by which the virtual drive is known to VSE whenever Virtuent is used with the VIRMOUNT utility. When VIRMOUNT requests a volume to be mounted on a specific drive, it passes the device address as it's known to VSE. Virtuent then searches for the virtual drive configured with that OSADDR. In addition, when Virtuent satisfies a VIRMOUNT mount request it returns the OSADDR of the drive selected to the VIRMOUNT application.

TRACE=n

Trace allows you to set the trace option for this specific device. Available trace levels are:

0 – No Tracing (default) 1 – Trace Errors Only 2 – Trace Errors and Status 3 – Trace Errors, Status, and Headers 4 – Trace Errors, Status, Headers, and Data 5 – Perform a full packet trace (for customer support use only)

When you are finished configuring a range of devices click on either of the “Submit” buttons to create the range of devices.

Modifying or Deleting Devices

To modify device definitions or to delete a range of devices start by selecting the configuration file on the Configuration File Selection screen (see Figure 5-2), From the Main Configuration screen (Figure 5-6) scroll down to the device you want to modify and click on the Index field. To modify / delete a range of device click on any Index field in the configuration.


Figure 5-6. Main Configuration with Devices Configured

The Modify Configuration Panel will display (Figure 5-7).

Figure 5-7. Modify Configuration Screen

As described at the top of the screen, this panel has three (3) sections; one for modifying individual parameters on a single device, one for modifying all devices on a control unit, and one for deleting a range of devices from the configuration. Scroll down to the section you need to use.

The individual device change section (Figure 5-8) allows you to change the device name and any device specific configuration parameters. For MDL-100S you should not modify the Tapelib Path. It also allows you to set the device entry active (Yes) or inactive (No). Setting a device inactive means Virtuent will not present the device address to the mainframe. If the mainframe tries to vary the device online, the vary will fail.


Figure 5-8. Device Specific parameters

The only configuration parameter you can change for an entire control unit is the device type (Figure 5-9). Changing the device type will affect all devices on the control unit.

Figure 5-9. Control Unit Specific Parameters

To delete a range of devices scroll all the way down to the bottom of the screen (Figure 5-10). Select the range (or ranges) of devices you wish to delete and then click the “Delete Selected Device Range(s)” button.

Figure 5-10. Delete a Range of Devices


Selecting an Active configuration

To activate a different configuration file the next time Virtuent starts devices click “Select Configuration for Next Startup” button on the Select Configuration File screen (Figure 5-2).

The Selection screen will display (Figure 5-11) listing the four possible configuration files.

Figure 5-11. Select Configuration for Next Start

If you click on any of the underlined configuration files it will immediately become the file set for activation and you will be returned to the previous screen. The next time the devices are started this configuration file will be used. If you decide you really do not want to make a change, click the “No Change” button.

When you have completed configuration of the devices the virtual tape application (vt) must be stopped and restarted in order to properly reconfigure the channel interface(s) (see page 90).


RAID Error Notification

MDL-100S provides its storage space using six (6) 1TB disks configured into a RAID 5 configuration. Data loss is prevented by RAID 5 if a single disk should fail. However, failure of a second disk in the RAID group will result in loss of the library. Therefore, it is extremely critical that immediate action be taken to repair the RAID group following failure of a single drive.

To help make sure you are immediately aware if a RAID error has occurred, MDL-100S provides a RAID monitoring capability that will detect RAID errors send an e-mail alert to a small number of e-mail addresses.

Bus-Tech recommends that MDL-100S be connected to your corporate network in order to allow for RAID error alert e-mails to be sent to your system support staff.

Once you have defined your virtual tape drives, saved the configuration, and set the active configuration file, the following procedure will add the necessary control statements to the active configuration to enable RAID error e-mail notification.

On the MDL-100S desktop click the “Alt-F2” keys together. A run command pop-up window will display (Figure 5-12). Enter “kdesu kwrite” as shown and then click Run.

Figure 5-12. Run Command Pop-Up

The kwrite editor will execute. Use the File Open function to locate the active configuration file. It is located in the directory ‘/etc/bti’ as shown in Figure 5-13.


Figure 5-13. Opening Configuration File

Once you have the active configuration file open in kwrite, add the following two control statements:

SMTPSERVER YOUR.SMTPSERVER.COM NOTIFYLIST [email protected] [email protected]

where YOUR.SMTPSERVER.COM is replaced with the address of your company’s outbound e-mail server (smtp server) and [email protected] and [email protected] are e-mail addresses where RAID e-mail alerts are to be sent. You may include as few or as many e-mail addresses as you can fit on a single line in the configuration file. But the list cannot be extended beyond a single configuration line. Figure 5-14 shows a sample of the configuration file btixmap0 where the SMTP configuration statements have been added to the end of the general parameters.

Figure 5-14. Updated Configuration File

Once you have added the control statements use the File Save function to store the configuration file.

Chapter 6. Using MDL-100S with z/OS, OS/390, or MVS 51

Chapter 6. Using MDL-100S with z/OS, OS/390, or MVS Bus-Tech provides several small utilities for the z/OS, OS/390 and MVS environments. The utilities provided include:

VTSCR – A scratch utility which sends volser scratch requests to Virtuent (the MDL)

VTCMD – A utility allowing Virtuent commands to be sent from the mainframe console

VTLIB – A utility allowing you to define scratch volumes to an MTL

To use any of these utilities you will need to upload a file from the MDL Utilities CD to your mainframe. The file you will need is called /UTIL/MVS/MDLZOS.XMI. This file should be FTP’d to the mainframe as follows:

ftp target_system_name

(satisfy login requirements of the mainframe)

quote site recfm=fb lrecl=80

bin

put mdlzos.xmi (the file will be placed on the host as ’uid.maszos.xmi’, where uid is the login user id used for the ftp. Alternatively, you may use put maszos.xmi ‘filename’ to force a specific filename of your choice.)

quit

Once the file is on the mainframe use ISPF function 6 (Command Shell), and issue the command :

receive indataset(‘uid.maszos.xmi’)

When prompted with ‘Enter restore parameters or delete or end’ enter:

da(‘BTI.MODULE’)

A ‘BTI.MODULE’ will be created with members:

CBDEC255 - The Unit Data Table for the UIM

CBDUC255 - The UIM for the Bus-Tech virtual devices

VTLIB - A utility to add volumes to an MTL

VTSCR - The Virtuent scratch utility

VTCMD - The Virtuent command Utility


Configuring the Devices

z/OS, OS/390, and MVS use the Hardware Configuration Definition (HCD) utility to define devices to the system. HCD provides an interactive interface that allows you to define the system’s hardware configuration to both the channel subsystem and the operating system.

There are three alternatives for configuring Mainframe Appliance for Storage devices to the mainframe. They are:

1. Configure the devices as real 3480, 3490. or 3590 tape drives.

2. Configure the devices as a Manual Tape Library (MTL).

3. Configure the devices with a unique device type using Bus-Tech’s Unit Information Module (UIM).

Each of these alternatives will be discussed.

If you are planning on using MDL with IBM’s Object Access Method (OAM) then you should configure the Virtuent devices using alternative 2, a Manual Tape Library. OAM requires tape drives to be SMS managed. Bus-Tech’s UIM cannot be used with OAM because OAM does not recoqnize UIM devices as a supported drive model. The IBM document SC35-0426, “DFSMS Object Access Method Planning, Installation, and Storage Administration Guide for Object Support”, describes how to use a library for OAM object use.

Bus-Tech’s support web site contains a number of sample I/O device gens (IOCDS) on how to configure Virtuent devices to your mainframe. The link is:

http://www.bustech.com/support/techtips/mdl/mdlcfg.asp

Real 3480/3490/3590

Virtuent can emulate 3480, 3490, or 3590 tape drives. If your mainframe installation does not have one of these device types installed you can elect to install the Virtuent devices using that type. The advantage of using 3480/3490/3590 device types is that some applications or access methods examine device type to make sure they are writing/reading to a known tape device and these applications won’t necessarily work with Bus-Tech’s Unit Information Module (UIM).

However if you have real 3480, 3490, or 3590 tape drives configured in your system do not attempt to define Virtuent devices in this manner. Configuring Virtuent devices as a device type that is already present will result in mis-allocation where OS/390 will request a real 3480/3490/3590 cartridge on a Virtuent device or request a Virtuent tape-on-disk volume on a real 3480/3490/3590 drive.

If you do plan to use one of these device types to define Virtuent devices make sure that the esoterics configured for tape in your installation do not include this device type. More specifically, if your JCL is using the esoteric TAPE (UNIT=TAPE) then


make sure that TAPE does not include the device type (3480, 3490, or 3590) you are using to define Virtuent devices.

Manual Tape Libraries

If you have 3480, 3490, 3590 tape drives installed in your installation then you cannot define Virtuent devices just as real 3590 tape drives. Doing so will result in allocation errors as described in the previous sub-section. To avoid mis-allocations define your Virtuent devices as 3490 or 3590 tape drives and then include them in a Manual Tape Library (MTL) so that they will be isolated from your other 3490s or 3590s.

IBM introduced the concept of a Manual Tape Library (MTL) with APAR OW45271. This APAR allows standalone tape drives and their associated volumes to be SMS managed by treating a group of such drives as a logical tape library. Allocations to such a logical library are managed by SMS just as any automated tape library dataserver (ATLDS) would be with the exception that mount messages will be routed to a tape operator console rather than the ATLDS robotics. IBM document SC35-0427, “PISA Guide for Tape Libraries”, describes the issues regarding MTL support.

Begin by configuring the Virtuent devices as 3490 / 3590 tape devices using HCD. The standard HCD 3490 / 3590 definitions should be used. On the Device/Parameter Feature definition screen for each drive, you must select MTL as YES and supply an artificial LIBRARY-ID and LIBPORT-ID. The control unit should also be defined as a 3490 / 3590 with 16 tape drives available.

All the devices in the same logical library should have the same LIBRARY-ID, with each group of 16 devices having a unique LIBPORT-ID. IBM’s requirement that there can be only 16 tape drives to a LIBPORT-ID will require you to configure multiple control units on the same channel using different logical control unit addresses when you want to configure more than 16 drives. Each control unit’s devices would have the same LIBRARY-ID, but have a unique LIBPORT-ID per control unit. For example:

Dev Add CU Log CU Library-ID Libport-ID E800 CU800 00 12345 01 E801 CU800 00 12345 01 E80F CU800 00 12345 01 E810 CU810 01 12345 02 E811 CU810 01 12345 02 E81F CU810 01 12345 02

Once the MTL has been defined to HCD it must be defined to SMS using the library management function. Then your ACS routines should be updated to allow jobs to select the new library with appropriate user defined ACS management, data, and storage classes and groups. For example, if you define a new esoteric called


“VTAPE”, your ACS routines could allocate the dataset to the SMS storage group using the MTL whenever UNIT=VTAPE is specified in JCL.

The characteristics of Virtuent virtual tape cartridges match the SMS Media Type; specifically, “MEDIA4” for 3590. Be sure to specify the MEDIA4 on the Library Definition screen. In addition, since SMS will request scratch tapes using the media type, you must add MEDIA4 to the list of Virtuent scratch name synonyms (see page 27).

Note that once the MTL is configured, it is treated much the same as a real library. That is, cartridges must be ‘entered’ into the library before they can be used. You will need to define any VOLSERs to be used in your MDL-100S to the mainframe library before they can be used. To simplify this, the VTLIB utility may be used to enter cartridges into the MTL.

VTLIB must be executed out of an authorized library. An example of the JCL required to link VTLIB follows:

//L EXEC PGM=HEWL,PARM=’MAP,LET,LIST,NCAL,AC=1’ //SYSLMOD DD DSN=USER.LIBRARY,DISP=SHR //SYSUT1 DD DSN=&&SYSUT1,SPACE=(1024,(120,120),,,ROUND), // UNIT=SYSALLDA,DCB=BUFNO=1 //SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=* //DDIN DD DSN=BTI.MODULE,DISP=SHR //SYSLIN DD * INCLUDE DDIN(VTLIB) NAME VTLIB® /*

The following is an example of JCL to run VTLIB:

//S2 EXEC PGM=VTLIB //SYSUDUMP DD SYSOUT=* //OUTDD DD DSN=VTLIB.LOG,DISP=SHR (recfm=fb,lrecl=80,blksize=4000) //INDD DD * * TO ENTER VOLUMES INTO THE MTL, THE SYNTAX IS AS FOLLOWS: * 1ST CHAR MUST BE AN 'M' * 4-9 IS THE STARTING VOLSER * 11-18 IS THE LIBRARY NAME ASSIGNED DURING SMS LIBRARY ADD * 20 IS THE MEDIA TYPE (DEFAULT=2). SPECIFY 4 FOR 3590 LIBRARY * 21-25 COUNT OF VOLSERS TO BE ADDED (DEFAULTS TO 1 IF BLANK * MAX COUNT=10000) * VOLSER LIB COUNT M BT0000 MTL1 5000 /*

The log file will list the result of each cartridge entry request, including any error codes. The VTLIB utility uses IBM's CBRXLCS macro, and the return codes and reason codes can be found in:

DFSMSdfp Diagnosis Reference (GY27-7618) section 11.4.1.


MTL-Related IBM maintenance

The PTFs for the following APARs should be applied when using Virtuent in an MTL environment:

APAR OA03749 MTL more than 1 device fails to vary on-line

APAR OA06698 Replacement tape drives get MSG IEA437I in an MTL environment

APAR OA07945 Mount hangs / timeouts using MTL with OEM Automated Library

APAR OA08963 Tape volume capacity incorrect for OAM object support users

APAR OA10482 MTL scratch volume mount error

Bus-Tech’s Unit Information Module

As an alternative to defining real 3480s, 3490s, or 3590s or using a MTL, Bus-Tech provides a user Unit Information Module (UIM) that allows Virtuent tape devices to be configured to HCD using a unique device type. Using the Bus-Tech UIM prevents the operating system from allocating Virtuent tape drives to jobs requesting a mount of a real tape cartridge. If you are not using OAM or an application that checks device types the Bus-Tech UIM is the easiest way to configure Virtuent devices so that there will not be any allocation errors with real tape drives. Information regarding user UIMs can be found in IBM’s MVS/ESA Device Validation Support (GC28-1447) manual.

Bus-Tech’s UIM and associated UDT (Unit Data Table) must be installed into SYS1.NUCLEUS, prior to configuring the Virtuent devices in HCD. Prior to installing the UIM, it is important to back up the SYSRES volume containing the SYS1.NUCLEUS dataset in order to provide a recovery mechanism should anything fail to operate properly.

Use ISPF function 3.3 (Utilities; Move/Copy) and copy CBDEC255 and CBDUC255 from ‘BTI.MODULE’ (see page 51) into ‘SYS1.NUCLEUS’.

If CBDEC255 or CBDUC255 already exist in SYS1.NUCLEUS, then some other vendor has already supplied a user UIM using the same user device number of 255. Contact Bus-Tech support and we will arrange for a different module name to be used.


Once the UIM is installed, you can now configure the Virtuent devices in HCD. The UIM provides for four (4) control unit types of V3480, V3481, V3482 and V3483; supporting device types of V3480, V3481, V3482, and V3483 respectively. The generic names for these devices are also V3480, V3481, V3482, and V3483. If you have already defined a generic name of V348x, please contact Bus-Tech for support. Multiple virtual device types are defined to support multiple Virtuent systems or a single Virtuent with multiple virtual tape libraries configured.

You need to define a V348x tape drive to the hardware configuration for each virtual tape device you have configured in the MDL.

Once the Virtuent device definitions are active, you must either specify UNIT=V348x or hard code the unit address to allocate to a Virtuent device. In this way, regular jobs that call for real tape drives or use tapes previously catalogued on real 3480s will not allocate to Virtuent devices. Once a tape is catalogued as having been created on a Virtuent V348x device, it will only allocate to that same device type when it is called for again. Conversely, a tape catalogued as created on a real tape drive will not be allocated to a Virtuent device.

Note: Bus-Tech’s UIM does not support auto-switching. If you need to auto-switch tape devices between LPARs in a sysplex, do not configure your devices with the UIM.

Virtuent Scratch Utility Program

Virtuent provides the VTSCR utility which can be used with any of the major tape management systems to keep your tape management system scratch status in sync with the Virtuent scratch status.

The VTSCR utility must be linked as an authorized program into an authorized library under the name VTSCR. It is highly recommended that RACF be used to restrict the use of VTSCR to authorized users only.

An example of the JCL required to link VTSCR follows:

//L EXEC PGM=HEWL,PARM='MAP,LET,LIST,NCAL,AC=1' //SYSLMOD DD DSN=USER.LIBRARY,DISP=SHR //SYSUT1 DD DSN=&&SYSUT1,SPACE=(1024,(120,120),,,ROUND), // UNIT=SYSALLDA,DCB=BUFNO=1 //SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=* //DDIN DD DSN=BTI.MODULE,DISP=SHR //SYSLIN DD * INCLUDE DDIN(VTSCR) NAME VTSCR(R) /*

VTSCR runs on the mainframe and sends volume scratch requests to Virtuent. Since the tape management system (TMS) may dynamically release tapes back to scratch status, VTSCR should be periodically run to maintain synchronization between the


TMS catalog and the MDL. To use VTSCR the user must run a TMS scratch report and then input that scratch report into VTSCR. VTSCR scans the scratch report for Virtuent owned volumes and sends the appropriate scratch requests to the MDL.

There are 2 methods of running VTSCR. Method 1 uses an offline tape device which points to the MDL-100S. This is the preferred approach and should be used whenever you are not using all 32 tape drives in your library.

For example, let’s assume you plan to use eight (8) drives on the MDL-100S. In the MDL-100S configuration, configure 9 active drives.

On your IBM mainframe define all 9 devices to z/OS. But configure the 9th drive to remain offline at startup. If you are defining the devices into an MTL, leave the offline drive out of the MTL. To prevent accidental allocation to this 9th device if were to be varied online you may wish to define it into its own MTL.

The following JCL will run VTSCR using the offline device:

<JCL to Generate Scratch Report Here> //LOG EXEC PGM=VTSCR,PARM='DEV=xxxx,parms' //VTSLOG DD DSN=VT.LOGFILE,DISP=OLD //VTSSCR DD DSN=SCRATCH.REPORT,DISP=OLD

where xxxx is the device address of the MDL-100S offline device and parms may include any of the parameters described below.

The second method for running VTSCR is to use a dedicated control tape. Use this approach when you need to have all 32 of the MDL-100S drives participating in the library. When using a control tape (VOLSER) rather than an offline device, VTSCR uses a control file called VTSCTRL. A DD statement for this file must be added to the JCL. The first time you run VTSCR use the following JCL:

<JCL to Generate Scratch Report Here> //LOG EXEC PGM=VTSCR,PARM='parms' //VTSLOG DD DSN=VT.LOGFILE,DISP=OLD //VTSSCR DD DSN=SCRATCH.REPORT,DISP=OLD //VTSCTRL DD DSN=VT.CTRL,UNIT=VTAPE,VOL=SER=SCRTCH, // DISP=(,CATLG)

Do not code the DEV=xxxx parm when using the VTSCTRL DD statement. Then, following the initial execution of VTSCR update the VTSCTRL DD statement to use the same control tape on subsequent executions of VTSCR:

<JCL to Generate Scratch Report Here> //LOG EXEC PGM=VTSCR,PARM='parms' //VTSLOG DD DSN=VT.LOGFILE,DISP=OLD //VTSSCR DD DSN=SCRATCH.REPORT,DISP=OLD //VTSCTRL DD DSN=VT.CTRL,DISP=(,KEEP)

Using VTSCR in this fashion creates a permanent control tape in the MDL library.


VTSCR Parameters

In addition to the DEV parmameter described above, any of the following parameters may be substituted as needed for parms in the sample JCL:

TYPE=x where x is used to select the tape management system. Valid types include RMM, TMS, TLMS, ZARA, CTLM, or CTLT. This is the only required parameter.

PREFIX=y where y is a string of prefix characters that will limit processing to volumes whose volume serial numbers (VOLSER) begin with the character(s) specified. Unless otherwise specified by the PREFIXLN parameter, the default prefix length is 2. ‘PREFIX=AAABAC’ would cause VTSCR to process only volumes whose serial numbers begin with AA, AB, or AC. Coding this parameter prevents VTSCR from trying to unnecessarily scratch volumes that are not stored on the MDL. If no PREFIX is specified VTSCR will process the entire scratch list.

PREFIXLN=n where n can be a single digit between 1 and 5. This value replaces the default prefix length of 2 for the ‘PREFIX=’ parameter. PARM=’PREFIX=ABCD,PREFIXLN=1’ will cause VTSCR to process only volumes whose serial numbers begin with A, B, C, or D.

NODSNCHK Virtuent will normally validate Data Set Names if found in the scratch report as part of the scratch process. A scratch will not successfully complete if the data set name in the scratch report does not match the data set name in the HDR1 label on the volume being scratched. NODSNCHK prevents the dataset name check from being performed and is not recommended for normal use.

FREESPACE The default of VTSCR is simply to reclassify volumes being scratched as eligible for scratch allocation requests, without freeing up the space occupied by that volume. The FREESPACE parameter may be used to request that the space be freed. Note that FREESPACE requires the volumes to already be in scratch status. Therefore to immediately free the space, VTSCR will need to be run twice. The first execution should be run without the FREESPACE parameter to scratch the volumes and the second execution should be run with the FREESPACE parameter to release the space.

Keep in mind that Virtuent will automatically free the space of scratchedvolumes when it needs space so it is generally not necessary to run VTSCR with the FREESPACE parameter.


FREEAFTERSCR While the FREESPACE option requires a volume already be in a scratched state, FREEAFTERSCR will immediately free space from a volume as soon as VTSCR scratches it. While FREEAFTERSCR allows you to scratch a volume and free the space associated in a single execution of VTSCR, it should be recognized that once the space has been freed the volume cannot be recovered if it was scratched by mistake.

NODATECHK Virtuent will normally check the creation date of a tape volume and will not allow any volume to be created and scratched in the same 24 hour period. Setting this parameter will allow volumes to be created and scratched on the same day. This parameter ignores the default date check in VTSCR.

IGNLCSERR This parameter will ignore any errors reported by Library Call Subsystem used by OAM with MTL volumes. Normally VTSCR will log any error returned by LCS and will stop processing scratch tapes when these errors occur. If this parameter is set, VTSCR scratch processing will continue even when LCS errors are encountered.

ALLVOLS This parameter will allow scratch of volumes with data set names of all zeros.

IGNLCSRC4 This will allow VTSCR processing to continue after a return code 4 from LCS processing, but terminate if the return code from LCS processing is greater than 4.

NOTCDB This will prevent VTSCR from attempting any TCDB updates. This should only be used if the TMS already performs this function.

NOTIFSCR This will prevent VTSCR from attempting to change the TCDB use attribute to scratch if Virtuent reports that the volser was already a scratch.

The output VTSLOG file will maintain a history of the results of each delete request. The file should have a logical record length (LRECL) of 133. If an error occurs during a scratch request (such as scratching a non-existent volume) the failure will be recorded in the log file, the program will continue with the next scratch request, and a non-zero return code from the program execution will result.

The output VTSCTRL file is used to allocate a Virtuent tape device for use as a control path to pass the scratch request(s). If there are multiple tape libraries being used to contain the virtual volumes, the user must select a tape device address associated with the library containing the volumes to be scratched.


The VTSSCR file must point to the scratch report that the user has created using the appropriate TMS utility. The scratch report must be generated with a logical record length (LRECL) of 133. To avoid any possibility of confusion, it is strongly recommended that a single job be used that generates a current scratch list file and then runs the VTSCR utility against that file. In this way there is no possibility of accidentally running the VTSCR program against an old scratch report and causing the TMS and the MDL to become out of sync. In addition, since there is a slight time interval between the creation of the extract file and the processing of the report, Virtuent will not scratch a volume that has been created today. Additionally, the utility will not execute against a scratch report that was not created the same day.

The Scratch utility will use the data set name (dsname) information from the scratch report to verify volumes being scratched. If the data set name written in the volume header does not match the data set name on the scratch report for that volume the scratch request will be rejected.

In must be emphasized that once the VTSCR utility has completed, tapes that were successfully scratched by the utility can be re-used or erased at anytime.

RMM Considerations

The following rules must be observed when using Virtuent with RMM:

1. Virtuent scratch volumes must be pre-defined to RMM. You will need to define the VOLSERs you configured as bar codes in the VTL to RMM. If Virtuent volume serial numbers have not been pre-defined as scratch to RMM then new volumes will be rejected by RMM. This will result in an unsatisfied mount request on the mainframe. To resolve the unsatisfied mount, Virtuent scratches would need to be defined to RMM, and a Virtuent LOAD command would have to be issued at the Virtuent console in order to satisfy a stalled request.

2. When defining new Virtuent scratch tapes to RMM, the ‘initialize’ option must be set to ‘no’. If ‘yes’ is accidentally used and RMM detects that the volume must be initialized (or EDGINERS is run), RMM will send a request for a ‘blank’ volume serial number to be mounted on Virtuent. Virtuent will not automatically come ready since it has no idea which volume to mount. Consequently, a manual mount requiring a Virtuent LOAD command at the Virtuent console would be needed for each volume being initialized.

3. VTSCR will process two types of RMM scratch reports; the scratch report created by EGDRPTD, or that created by EDGJRPT using the EDGRRPTE exec (EDGRPT01). Use the parameter DATEFORM(I) when running EDGRPTD to create scratch reports in order to ensure the expected date format. When the REXX exec form is used, VTSCR may not accept user tailored version of EDGRRPTE.


TMS Considerations

Although there are various reports supported by TMS, VTSCR expects Report-05 or Report-06 to be used.

TLMS Considerations

VTSCR expects either the TLMS003 or the TLMS043 report to be used as input.

TSM Considerations

VTSCR expects a Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) Volume History Report to be used as input to the VTSCR DD.

VTCMD Utility Program

The VTCMD utility is provided to allow the user to issue Virtuent commands from the mainframe. This utility must be linked as an authorized program into an authorized library under the name VTCMD. It is highly recommended that RACF be used to restrict the use of VTCMD to authorized users only.

An example of the JCL to link VTCMD follows:

//L EXEC PGM=HEWL,PARM='MAP,LET,LIST,NCAL,AC=1' //SYSLMOD DD DSN=USER.LIBRARY,DISP=SHR //SYSUT1 DD DSN=&&SYSUT1,SPACE=(1024,(120,120),,,ROUND), // UNIT=SYSALLDA,DCB=BUFNO=1 //SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=* //DDIN DD DSN=BTI.MODULE,DISP=SHR //SYSLIN DD * INCLUDE DDIN(VTCMD) NAME VTCMD(R) /*

Like VTSCR (see page 55), VTCMD can be run using a dedicated control device or a dedicated control tape (VOLSER).

To run VTCMD using a control device use the following JCL:

//LOG EXEC PGM=VTCMD,PARM=DEV=xxxx //VTCLOG DD DSN=VT.LOGFILE,DISP=OLD //VTCCMD DD DSN=COMMANDS,DISP=OLD

Where xxxx is the device address of the control device. Typically this device would be offline as described in the previous section on VTSCR.


Alternatively, to run VTCMD using a control tape, use the following JCL:

//LOG EXEC PGM=VTCMD //VTCLOG DD DSN=VT.LOGFILE,DISP=OLD //VTCCTRL DD DSN=VT.CTRL,UNIT=VTAPE,VOL=SER=, DISP=(,CATLG) //VTCCMD DD DSN=COMMANDS,DISP=OLD

You may use the same control tape as you use with VTSCR.

The VTCMD program will read one or more Virtuent commands from the VTCCMD input file, and send each command to Virtuent for execution. A success or failure indication will be logged to the file pointed to by the VTCLOG DD statement. Note that any messages and other textual results of the command that display on the Virtuent console are not returned to the host.

The VTCCTRL file is used to allocate a Virtuent device for use as a control path to pass the Virtuent command(s). Any available virtual tape device can be used for the VTCCTRL device.

The VTCCMD DD statement should point to a list of Virtuent commands to be sent. The LRECL of VTCCMD cannot exceed 256. When possible, it should be created using the NONUM ISPF edit option to avoid sequence numbers at the end of the command line. This can optionally be an in-stream input file (VTCCMD DD *) of commands.

The VTCLOG DD statement points to a sequential file for logging the VTCMD results. This file should have a logical record length (LRECL) of 133. If an error occurs during command processing, the failure will be recorded in the log file, and a non-zero return code from VTCMD will result. The possible error codes are as follows:

0x01 Invalid data length (must be between 1 and 256 bytes)

0x02 Virtuent is configured to not accept Host-initiated console commands

0xFF(-1) A general syntax error occurred. (The Virtuent console error message “VIR891E: Invalid command syntax” was displayed.)

0xFC (-4) An “E” level error other than general syntax error occurred. (A Virtuent console error message other than VIR891E was displayed.)

A sample VTLOG output might be as follows:

VTCMD VER 1.0 VTCTRL = EA82 2004/09/10 12:47:49 CMD ERR=FF: this is an invalid command 2004/09/10 12:47:49 CMD ISSUED: q all 2004/09/10 12:47:49 CMD ERR=FC: q xxxxxxxx 2004/09/10 12:47:49 CMD ISSUED: set size=2g dev=EA80


There are two optional methods of passing the commands to VTCMD. They are:

1. Use of PARM=’WTOR’. This will result in message VIR070I ENTER Virtuent COMMAND being issued to the operator, who can then reply with the Virtuent command. The message will be re-issued after each Virtuent command is accepted until END is entered as the reply. The VTCMD input file is not used if this method is employed. e.g.:

//LOG EXEC PGM=VTCMD,PARM=’WTOR’ //VTCLOG DD DSN=VT.LOGFILE,DISP=OLD //VTCCTRL DD DSN=VT.CTRL,UNIT=VTAPE,VOL=SER=, DISP=(,KEEP)

2. Use of PARM=’CMD=’. This allows the user to pass a single Virtuent command on the EXEC card rather than using the VTCMD input file. This also allows a user to call VTCMD from another program, and pass the command as an entry parameter. e.g.:

//LOG EXEC PGM=VTCMD,PARM=’CMD=Q SPACE’ //VTCLOG DD DSN=VT.LOGFILE,DISP=OLD //VTCCTRL DD DSN=VT.CTRL,UNIT=VTAPE,VOL=SER=, DISP=(,KEEP)

DFSMShsm Considerations

To identify esoteric tape unit names to DFSMShsm, you must first define these esoteric tape unit names to MVS during system I/O generation (HCD). Then, you must include the esoteric tape unit names in a DFSMShsm SETSYS USERUNITTABLE command. Only after they have been successfully specified with the SETSYS USERUNITTABLE command can they be recognized and used as valid unit names with subsequent DFSMShsm commands.

Specifying Tape Compaction

Compaction of the virtual tape data under Z/OS or OS/390 is initiated the same way as for a real compression-capable (IDRC) 3590. That is, the user may specify the use of compaction in the JCL by using the DCB=TRTCH=COMP parameter on the appropriate DD cards for output tapes. No JCL parameter is required for input compressed tapes.

Alternatively, the system programmer may specify the COMPACT=YES parameter in the DEVSUPxx PARMLIB member. This would result in compaction being the default option for all of the virtual drives.


Missing Interrupt Timer

The MVS, OS/390, or z/OS Missing Interrupt Handler (MIH) timer value is often set at a value that is too low for the sometimes lengthy operations that can occur on a large tape cartridge. If an operation takes longer than the MIH value, the operating system will report I/O errors and possibly "box" the device, taking it out of service. For this reason, IBM recommends a MIH timer value of 20 minutes or more for tape drives, including virtual tape drives such as those on Virtuent.

Starting in release 3.10, Virtuent reports a preferred MIH timer value of 3000 seconds (50:00 minutes) to the Host when it is varied online, and the Host should take this value as the Virtuent devices' MIH time.

Prior Virtuent releases did not report a preferred time to the Host, which usually results in too low of a default MIH time. In this case, MIH values for Virtuent tape drives should be added to the IECIOSxx member in SYS1.PARMLIB; if omitted, the default is 3:00 minutes, which may be too low for all circumstances.

To determine the current MIH timer value, you can use the following MVS operator command:

D IOS,MIH,DEV=xxxx

where xxxx is any Virtuent tape drive address.

You can temporarily change the MIH value for Virtuent devices by entering the following MVS operator command:

SETIOS MIH,DEV=(xxxx-xxxx),TIME=mm:ss

where (xxxx-xxxx) is the range of Virtuent tape drive addresses.

For more information about the MIH timer and tape drives, refer to the IBM manual 3490 Magnetic Tape Subsystem Introduction and Planning Guide, number GA32-0297.

Dynamic Device Reconfiguration (DDR) Considerations

Since Virtuent is a virtual tape control unit, it cannot benefit from an operator or system-initiated 'swap' function. Accordingly, following any message 'IGF500I SWAP xxxx TO xxxx - I/O ERROR' for any Virtuent device, the operator must reply NO to the subsequent “## IGF500D REPLY 'YES', DEVICE, OR 'NO' ".

Chapter 7. Using MDL-100S with VSE/ESA 65

Chapter 7. Using MDL-100S with VSE

Overview

In z/OS and OS/390 environments, the Virtuent receives Load Display commands from the operating system. Originally, these commands informed an operator of a mount request for a volume on a specific tape drive by lighting the LCD on the top of the drive. Virtuent uses the Load Display commands to mount scratch tapes or input volumes. However, VSE does not send Load Display commands the way z/OS does. Instead, VSE shows either the job name or the mounted volume serial number in the Load Display command, so mount requests cannot be fulfilled automatically by Virtuent using just the operating system functions. Instead, a utility program must be used to send a Load Display command to Virtuent. The program used depends upon whether you are using Epic, Dynam/T or no TMS.

Configuration Parameters Unique to VSE

When configuring virtual devices for VSE use, there are two device specific parameters used to help direct mount requests and send replies to the VSE console.

OSADDR – This parameter is required to specify a 4 digit address (0180) for each drive to use when replying to a mount request from a TMS or VIRMOUNT. Note: There may be a difference between the real channel address and the VSE address when running VSE under VM.

GROUP – Used to define several devices for use by one VSE system. When more than one VSE LPAR, CPU, or guest share a Virtuent controller, you must set up a separate group for each VSE. This the screen scraper or the VIRMOUNT program to ensure that when a mount request is received, the volume is mounted on a virtual address belonging to that VSE.

See the section ‘Adding Devices’ in the chapter Configuring Virtual Devices for more detailed information.


VSE Programs

The following VSE programs are supplied with all Virtuent-based controllers:

VIRMOUNT– Utility for mounting volumes in a non tape manager environment or for some specialized situations such as mounting an unlabeled tape.

VIRSSE and VIRSSD – REXX scripts for the EPIC or Dynam/T environments that are run continuously, usually in a dynamic partition.

VIRLDSPL – An assembler subprogram that is invoked by the REXX scripts.

VIREPSCR and VIRDTSCR – Programs are used to scratch volumes used by Epic and Dynam/T respectively. Uses a module supplied by the TMS vender to access the catalog and search for volumes in scratch status. The volume is placed in scratch status and will eventually be overwritten as space is used up, but it is not erased during this execution.

VIREPERA and VIRDTERA - Programs are used to erase the contents of volumes used by Epic and Dynam/T respectively. Uses a module supplied by the TMS vender to access the catalog and search for volumes in scratch status. If the volume has already been scratched by the VIRxxSCR program, then it will be erased to free up space. Use of these programs is optional.

VIRMAINT – Program reads commands on SYSIPT and can be used in a non tape manager environment to scratch, erase, or unscratch volumes. It can also be used in TMS environments. Note: Use of the erase function can result in lost data if used improperly. Make sure of your SYSIPT data when running this program.

VIRCMD – Program reads SYSIPT and sends console commands or script execution commands to the unit.

VIRDTEXT – Dynam/T message exit program that may be used instead of VIRSSD screen scraper. Invoked by DTOPTIONS MSGHOOK(VIRDTEXT)


VSE Sample Jobs

Please note: These are samples of JCL and may need to be modified to fit you environment and library requirements.

JMOUNT – Execute the VIRMOUNT program

JVIRSSE and JVIRSSD – Executes the Epic or Dynam/T screen scraper REXX script (VIRSSE or VIRSSD).

JEPSCR and JDTSCR – Executes the Epic or Dynam/T scratch utility (VIREPSCR or VIRDTSCR).

JEPERA and JDTERA – Executes the Epic or Dynam/T erase utility (VIREPERA or VIRDTERA).

JVIRMNT – Executes the VIRMAINT utility.

JVIRCMD – Executes the VIRCMD utility.

Tape Drives

A tape drive address must be configured in VSE for each active virtual tape drive defined to Virtuent. In addition, when a tape management system like Dynam/T, CA-EPIC, or BIM-EPIC is in use one tape drive address will be reserved for use as a control device and will not be available for use by VSE applications. It is not recommended that you mix device types on one unit, but if you do so, make sure you allocate device types on a control unit boundary (usually 16 devices per CU).

VSE

You may use the following device types:

3590B (TPA) Mode EML

EPIC ERD

3590B - ADD UCB=CUU,DEV=TPA,FEAT=TI


VIRMOUNT Utility

If your VSE system uses Dynam/T, CA-EPIC, or BIM-EPIC tape management skip this section and follow the instructions in the next section for setting up the VIRSSD or VIRSSE procedure to capture tape mount requests.

The VIRMOUNT utility is provided for VSE systems not running tape management software. VIRMOUNT is a batch program that issues a request to Virtuent to mount a volume on a virtual tape address. Job control for VIRMOUNT can be added to any batch job needing to mount a virtual tape volume.

VIRMOUNT is provided on the MDL Utilities CD in the file /UTIL/VSE/VIRMOUNT.

To run VIRMOUNT, you must assign SYS004 to a virtual address as a control device.

Then set the following parms separated by commas:

1. A 6 digit volser (or SCRTCH or a synonym, if used)

2. S N or A for standard labeled, nonlabeled, or ASCII labeled

3. CUU device address to be used. May be ANY to mount a volume on any free virtual address Or *** to cause the volume to be mounted on the control device NOTE - *** FUNCTIONS LIKE AN MVS MOUNT AND NO ERROR INFO IS RETURNED IF THE MOUNT FAILS FOR ANY REASON. MOUNT REQUESTS FOR OTHER ADDRESSES WILL RETURN ERRORS IF THE MOUNT FAILS.

Examples:

// ASSGN SYS004,280 // EXEC VIRMOUNT,SIZE=AUTO,PARM='FTAPES,S,***’ This will mount a standard labeled scratch tape using the synonym FTAPES on the control drive address (0280). // ASSGN SYS004,280 // EXEC VIRMOUNT,SIZE=AUTO,PARM='V00030,S,281’ This will mount standard labeled volume V00030 on address 281. // ASSGN SYS004,280 // EXEC VIRMOUNT,SIZE=AUTO,PARM='SCRTCH,S,ANY’ This will mount a standard labeled scratch tape using no synonym on any available address in same GROUP as 280.

It is important to unload the virtual volume when it is no longer needed, either in your program or via JCL (MTC, etc.) Otherwise the volume will remain mounted and the address will not be free for mounts.


VIRMAINT Utility

Primarily intended for non-tape manager environments, but can be used in special cases with Dynam/T and EPIC as well. This program can perform three separate functions on individual volumes.

1. The S option is used to scratch volumes and make them available for reuse, but the volume contents still exist.

2. The U option is used to unscratch a volume already in scratch status. 3. The E option is used to erase the contents of an already scratched volume.

Assign SYS005 to an available virtual tape address. The program accepts input from SYSIPT and each input line can contain a single command. Terminate the input with a /*.

You would rarely have a use for the unscratch U option. The scratch S function would be the most commonly used of the three. Normally the automatic reclamation of space would be sufficient, but you might find it useful to free up space manually on occasion with the E option.

Examples:

// JOB VIRMAINT PERFORM MAINTENANCE ON VTAPE // ASSGN SYS005,181 ASSIGN TO AN AVAILABLE VTAPE ADDRESS // EXEC VIRMAINT,SIZE=AUTO S B00000 (Scratch) U B00000 (Unscratch) S D00000 (Scratch) E D00000 (Erase the previously scratched volume)) /* /&


Dynam/T Support

You may choose to use either the VIRSSD screen scraper or the Dynam/T message exit, but not both. The advantage of the message exit is that you do not have the overhead of a REXX script (fairly low) and continuous use of a dynamic partition. If you already are using a message exit, you may choose to use the screen scraper instead. No support is provided for integrating message exits. For more information about the message exit, see the Dynam/T documentation.

You should set your DTOPTIONS to include the following:

ACCEPT(YES)

PROTECT(YES)

CATCHK(NO)

OWNCHK(YES)

STOP(NO) (recommended for performance)

VIRSSD Utility for Dynam/T Operation

Installation of VIRSSD is only required if your system is running Dynam/T and not using the message exit . Note: Virtuent volume serial numbers must begin with a user selectable one character prefix when Dynam/T is used.

The REXX procedure VIRSSD captures mount requests issued by Dynam/T and sends them to Virtuent. VIRSSD runs continuously under VSE. VIRSSD uses an assembler program named VIRLDSPL to send load display messages to Virtuent.

Three installation steps must be completed to successfully install VIRSSD:

1. You must catalog the VIRLDSPL phase into a VSE Library.

2. You must catalog the VIRSSD procedure into a VSE library.

3. You must tailor the JCL and set the correct parms for the REXX script

VIRLDSPL is provided on the Virtuent Utilities CD in /UTIL/VSE. The file includes the assembler source code along with sample JCL statements for cataloging VIRLDSPL.

VIRSSD is provided on the Virtuent Utilities CD in /UTIL/VSE.

Once VIRLDSPL and VIRSSD are cataloged you can tailor the JCL to send mount requests to Virtuent.

The parameters separated by spaces are as follows:

Single digit indicating the number of units or nodes supported (1 – 6)

One character OWNER ID used for the first volume prefix and library


Synonym used for scratch requests for the first library. If no synonym is specified on the unit, use SCRTCH.

Optional parms if more than one prefix/library is used:

One character OWNER ID used for the second volume prefix and library

Synonym used for scratch requests for the second library. If no synonym is specified on the unit, use SCRTCH.

One character OWNER ID used for the third volume prefix and library

Synonym used for scratch requests for the third library. If no synonym is specified on the unit, use SCRTCH.

Sample execute statement for Dynam/T environment: // EXEC REXX=VIRSSD,PARM='3 A SCRTCH B BTAPES D DTAPES'

This sample statement specifies 3 nodes are used. Scratch mount requests for volumes with OWNER=A or input volumes with A as the first character will be processed and the scratch volume mount requests will use no synonym. Scratch mount requests for volumes with OWNER=B or input volumes with a B prefix will be processed and the scratch volume mount requests will use synonym BTAPES. Scratch mount requests for volumes with OWNER=D or input volumes with a D prefix will be processed and the scratch volume mount requests will use synonym DTAPES.

Once VIRSSD is executing you may terminate it by typing:

MSG xx, DATA=HI

Where xx is the partition ID of the partition where VIRSSD is executing.

You may also manually mount volumes using VIRSSD. This is be useful when you want to mount a non-labeled volume or mount a volume for VM to use. The command format to manually mount a volume is:

MSG xx,DATA=vvvvvv dev l

vvvvvv = volume serial number (VOLSER) of the tape to be mounted or SCRTCH (or an alias for SCRTCH)

dev is either the device name on the VIR controller to be used or ‘ANY’ to allow any device to be used. Note: the device name is not necessarily the same as the VSE CUU, particularly in a VM environment.

l is the label type. S=STANDARD, A=ASCII, or N=UNLABELED.


Dynam/T Message Exit

The supplied exit program , VIRDTEXT, requires that user parameters be specified just as the REXX script does and should produce the same results. Look for the user parms section near the start of the assembler source code:

* ******************************************************************** * START OF USER PARAMETERS * * ******************************************************************** VTPPARMS , NODES=1, NODE1=0000, NODE2=0000, NODE3=0000, NODE4=0000, NODE5=0000, NODE6=0000, OWNID1=*, SYN1=SCRTCH, OWNID2=*, SYN2=SCRTCH, OWNID3=*, SYN3=SCRTCH * ******************************************************************** * END of USER PARAMETERS * * ********************************************************************

Change only the parms that apply to your environment. You must have at least one node, a node1 address, and an ownid1 specified. Be careful of continuation columns, etc. The node addresses refer to the control drive address on each node for this VSE. If you have, for instance two nodes with one prefix (A) and volume range (A00000-A99999), it might look like this:

Nodes=2 Node1=0180 Node2=0390 Ownid1=A

To invoke the exit program after it is catalogued, set

DTOPTIONS MSGHOOK(VIRDTEXT)

And restart Dynam/T


Using Dynam/T

The VIRSSD REXX script or Dynam/T message exit look for CADT008D and CADT004D mount messages issued by Dynam/T. CADT008D messages (mount a scratch volume) are checked for the required owner id and are ignored if it does not match. The CADT004D messages (mount an input volume) are checked for a volume label starting with the same character(s) as the owner ID and are ignored if the there is not a match.

When the Dynam/T mount message indicates that the input or scratch volume belongs to Virtuent, the volume will be mounted on an available virtual tape address, and the CADTxxxx message will receive a reply with the drive address.

Create New Tape Data Sets

JCL statements that define new tape data sets to the Dynam/T catalog which will reside on a Virtuent volume must include the OWNER=c, and CLOSE=UNL parameters. The CLOSE=UNL parameter is important to ensure that the virtual volume is not left mounted after the job completes.

Example – Define a Dataset for the VTC

// JOB DEFINE // EXEC DYNCAT DEFINE 'VIR.TEST.1' TAPE OWNER=B CLOSE=UNL /* /&

Prepare a Scratch Pool

Virtuent has a console command (INIT) used to initialize scratch tape volumes in groups by specifying a starting volume number and the number of volumes to create. You should use the following example to create a scratch pool in the DYNAM catalog and specify the same volume numbers as you created on the Virtuent controller. Note that the first character of the volume numbers must match the Owner ID used for VIRSSD or VIRSSE and the dataset definitions.

NOTE: You must specify PROTECT=YES in your Dynam/T option macro to allow volumes defined with SCRPOOL to be opened by Virtuent without physically initializing them.

It is extremely important that Virtuent volumes have been predefined with SCRPOOL.


If Virtuent mounts a scratch volume which has not been defined with SCRPOOL, Dynam/T will reissue the mount message. Conversely, if you have plenty of volumes defined in the scratch pool, but you have not created them on the virtual library with using the Virtuent INIT function, the mounts will not be satisfied and you will get messages on the Virtuent console that there are no volumes available.

EXAMPLE – Prepare a Scratch Pool for the VTC

// JOB DYNAM SCRPOOL // EXEC DYNCAT SCRPOOL FIRSTVOL=A00000 LASTVOL=A99999 DEN=NO OWNER=A /* /&

Volume Scratching and Erasing with Dynam/T

When tapes are changed to scratch status in the Dynam/T catalog, it is necessary to inform Virtuent to scratch the virtual tape files associated with those volumes; making the volumes available again as scratch tapes. The VIRDTSCR program is provided for that purpose.

VIRDTSCR is provided on the Virtuent Utilities CD in the file /UTIL/VSE/VIRDTSCR. The file includes the assembler source code along with sample JCL statements for cataloging VIRDTSCR. Access to the vendor supplied DYNACC object module is required. Modify the JCL to meet your installation’s needs and catalog the VIRDTSCR phase into a VSE library.

The sample JCL below runs the VIRDTSCR utility to scratch volumes on the tape library. You must specify a parm with the owner ID. If you have more than one library prefix, you need to execute the program again with that owner ID.

// JOB JSCRTCH SCRATCH VIRTUAL TAPE VOLUMES // ASSGN SYS005,421 ASSIGN TO AN AVAILABLE DEVICE ADDRESS // EXEC VIRDTSCR,SIZE=AUTO,PARM=’B’ // EXEC VIRDTSCR,SIZE=AUTO,PARM=’C’ /&

Once volumes are scratched on the tape library, they are eligible to be overwritten in the future should the storage capacity reach a predefined threshold. If you wish to free up space before that, VIRDTERA can be used. This will look in the Dynam/T catalog for scratch volumes that match the volume prefix in the user supplied parm and, if the volume is scratched on the virtual tape library, it will be erased down to the VOL1 and HDR1 labels.

VIRDTERA is provided on the Virtuent Utilities CD in the file /UTIL/VSE/VIRDTERA. The file includes the assembler source code along with sample JCL statements for cataloging VIRDTERA. Access to the vendor supplied DYNACC object module is required. Modify the JCL to meet your installation’s needs and catalog the VIRDTERA phase into a VSE library.


The sample JCL below runs the VIRDTERA utility to erase scratch volumes on the library. You must specify a parm with the owner ID. If you have more than one library prefix, you need to execute the program again with that owner ID.

// JOB JERASE ERASE VIRTUAL TAPE VOLUMES // ASSGN SYS005,421 ASSIGN TO AN AVAILABLE DEVICE ADDRESS // EXEC VIRDTERA,SIZE=AUTO,PARM=’B‘ // EXEC VIRDTERA,SIZE=AUTO,PARM=’C‘ /&

BIM-EPIC ACL Support

The support described in this section is provided by BIM-EPIC Release 6.4B and above. BIM-EPIC users with a single Virtuent controller or multiple Virtuent controllers that do not share volumes, are encouraged to use this option. Synchronization between the BIM-EPIC catalog and the Virtuent controller is done automatically.

BIM-EPIC supports the Virtuent controller as an Automatic Cartridge Loader (ACL) device in the same manner it supports ACL’s from other vendors.

BIM-EPIC uses an application program interface (API) to communicate directly with Virtuent in order to mount, scratch, or unscratch Virtuent-resident tape volumes. None of the Virtuent supplied VSE utilities described elsewhere in this manual are used in these activities.

The “BIM-EPIC Installation and System Guide” describes how Virtuent is defined to BIM-EPIC.

BIM-EPIC tape pools must be used for Virtuent-resident tape volumes. Their definition must correspond to the Virtuent volser prefix used. The “ MAS Support” section of the “BIM-EPIC Installation and System Guide” describes how this is done. (Note: Mainframe Appliance for Storage or MAS was the original product name for Virtuent-based controllers). All references to tape volume serial numbers required are now user definable as a one character prefix. IE: B or A, etc. followed by 5 digits. Make sure the tape pool consists of the same volume serial numbers as you define with the Virtuent INIT function.

For each VSE BIM-EPIC system (VM Guest, LPAR, or physical CPU) that will use the same Virtuent controller, a "control drive" must be reserved to communicate with Virtuent. This drive is not usable for tape I/O purposes, but is required for BIM-EPIC's internal use.


VIRSSE Utility for EPIC Operation

Installation of VIRSSE is only required if your system is running EPIC and you are not using the BIM ACL support.

The REXX procedure VIRSSE captures mount requests issued by EPIC and sends them to Virtuent. VIRSSE runs continuously under VSE. VIRSSE uses an assembler program named VIRLDSPL to send load display messages to Virtuent.

Three installation steps must be completed to successfully install VIRSSE:

1. You must catalog the VIRLDSPL phase into a VSE Library.

2. You must catalog the VIRSSE procedure into a VSE library.

3. You must tailor the JCL and set the correct parms for the REXX script.

VIRLDSPL is provided on the Virtuent Utilities CD in /UTIL/VSE. The file includes the assembler source code along with sample JCL statements for cataloging VIRLDSPL.

VIRSSE is provided on the Virtuent Utilities CD in /UTIL/VSE.

Once VIRLDSPL and VIRSSE are cataloged you can tailor the JCL to send mount requests to Virtuent.

The parameters separated by spaces are as follows:

Single digit indicating the number of units or nodes supported (1 – 6).

One character Pool ID used for the first volume pool and library.

Synonym used for scratch requests for the first library. If no synonym is specified on the unit, use SCRTCH.

Optional parms if more than one prefix/library is used:

One character Pool ID used for the second volume pool and library.

Synonym used for scratch requests for the second library. If no synonym is specified on the unit, use SCRTCH.

One character Pool ID used for the third volume pool and library.

Synonym used for scratch requests for the third library. If no synonym is specified on the unit, use SCRTCH.

Sample execute statement for EPIC environment:

// EXEC REXX=VIRSSE,PARM='3 A SCRTCH B BTAPES DTAPES'

This sample specifies 3 nodes are being used. Scratch mount requests for volumes with POOL=A or input volumes with A as the first character will be processed and the scratch volume mount requests will use no synonym. Scratch mount requests for volumes with POOL=B or input volumes with a B prefix will be processed and the


scratch volume mount requests will use synonym BTAPES. Scratch mount requests for volumes with OWNER=D or input volumes with a D prefix will be processed and the scratch volume mount requests will use synonym DTAPES.

Once VIRSSE is executing you may terminate it by typing:

MSG xx, DATA=HI

Where xx is the partition ID of the partition where VIRSSE is executing.

You may also manually mount volumes using VIRSSE. This is be useful when you want to mount a non-labeled volume or mount a volume for VM to use. The command format to manually mount a volume is:

MSG xx,DATA=vvvvvv dev l

vvvvvv = volume serial number (VOLSER) of the tape to be mounted or SCRTCH (or an alias for SCRTCH)

dev is either the device name on the VIR controller to be used or ‘ANY’ to allow any device to be used. Note: the device name is not necessarily the same as the VSE CUU, particularly in a VM environment.

l is the label type. S=STANDARD, A=ASCII, or N=UNLABELED.

Using CA-EPIC or BIM-EPIC

The VIRSSE REXX script looks for mount messages issued by EPIC. VIRSSE will only process EP001 and EP002 messages for normal operation. The EP002 messages (mount a scratch volume) are checked for the Pool ID field and ignored if it is not in the message. For VIRSSE to work properly you must specify TPL=c when defining data sets to the EPIC catalog. The EP001 messages (mount an input volume) are checked for a volume label starting with the Pool ID character and are ignored if the volume label is anything else. Note that EP164 mount messages are also processed for the sequential initialization function only.

When the message indicates that the input or scratch volume belongs to a Virtuent controller, a volume will be mounted on an available virtual tape address, and the EP001 or EP002 message will receive a reply with the drive address.

The following options should be used EPIC. EPS102=YES EPS028=YES EPS033=YES UNLOAD=YES EPS095=YES AUTOSTP=NO (recommended for performance)

Virtuent has a console command (INIT) used to initialize scratch tape volumes in groups by specifying a starting volume number and the number of volumes to create.


You should use the following example to create a scratch pool in the EPIC catalog and specify the same volume numbers as you created on the Virtuent library. When the dummy dataset is deleted in the last statement, all of the added volumes will be put in scratch status. The INIT command should specify EPIC=YES or the volumes will not be recognized as owned by EPIC.

NOTE: You must also set the special option EPS033=YES at EPIC startup in order to use the tape defined in the scratch pool without physically initializing them.

It is extremely important that Virtuent volumes have been predefined to EPIC in this way. If Virtuent mounts a scratch volume which has not been defined, EPIC will reissue the mount message. Conversely, if you have plenty of volumes defined in the scratch pool, but you have not created them on the Virtuent library using the Virtuent INIT function, the mounts will not be satisfied and you will get messages on the Virtuent console that there are no volumes available.

EXAMPLE - Prepare scratch pools

// JOB DEFINE A DUMMY DN AND ADD VERSIONS // EXEC TSIDMNT // JOB TSIDPOL // LIBDEF PHASE,CATALOG=EPICLIB.EPIC BIM-EPIC INSTALL LIBRARY // LIBDEF *,SEARCH=EPICLIB.EPIC BIM-EPIC INSTALL LIBRARY // OPTION CATAL // EXEC ASSEMBLY POOL01 TSIDPOL (E,E00000,E00100),(F,F00000,F00100), X (G,G00000,G00100),TAPE=YES TSIDMAP END=YES END /* // EXEC LNKEDT /* SET SDL TSIDPOL,SVA /* /& /* /&

Creating New Tape Data Sets

When you define tape data sets to the CA-EPIC catalog that are to reside on the Virtuent library, include either the OWN=cc parameter (one or two characters) or the TPL=c parameter. Do not mix them. All Virtuent owned datasets used for a single EPIC catalog must use the same one or two character ID.

EXAMPLE – Define a Tape Dataset for Virtuent Using a Pool ID

// JOB DEFINE A DATASET // EXEC TSIDMNT CAT 'VIR.TEST.1' MOD=00 CYC=2 TPL=B /&


Volume Scratching and Erasing with EPIC

When tapes are changed to scratch status in the EPIC catalog, it is necessary to inform Virtuent to scratch the virtual tape files associated with those volumes in order to make the volumes available again as scratch tapes. The VIREPSCR program is provided for that purpose.

VIREPSCR is provided on the Virtuent Utilities CD in the file /UTIL/VSE/VIREPSCR. The file includes the assembler source code along with sample JCL statements for cataloging VIREPSCR. Access to the vendor supplied TSIDAC2 object module is required. Modify the JCL to meet your installation’s needs and catalog the VIREPSCR phase into a VSE library.

The sample JCL below runs the VIREPSCR utility to remove scratch volumes from the Virtuent library. You must specify a parm with the Pool ID. If you have more than one Pool prefix, you need to execute the program again with that Pool ID.

// JOB JSCRTCH SCRATCH VIRTUAL TAPE VOLUMES // ASSGN SYS005,421 ASSIGN TO AN AVAILABLE DEVICE ADDRESS // EXEC VIREPSCR,SIZE=AUTO,PARM=’B’ // EXEC VIREPSCR,SIZE=AUTO,PARM=’C’ /&

Once volumes are scratched on the Virtuent library, they are eligible to be overwritten in the future should the storage capacity reach a predefined threshold. If you wish to free up space before that, VIREPERA can be used. This will look in the EPIC catalog for scratched volumes matched the Pool ID in the user supplied parm and, if the volume is scratched on Virtuent, it will be erased down to the VOL1 and HDR1 labels.

VIREPERA is provided on the Virtuent Utilities CD in the file /UTIL/VSE/VIREPERA. The file includes the assembler source code along with sample JCL statements for cataloging VIREPERA. Access to the vendor supplied DYNACC object module is required. Modify the JCL to meet your installation’s needs and catalog the VIREPERA phase into a VSE library.

The sample JCL below runs the VIREPERA utility to erase scratch volumes on the Virtuent library. You must specify a parm with the Pool ID. If you have more than one Pool ID, you need to execute the program again with that Pool ID.

// JOB JERASE ERASE VIRTUAL TAPE VOLUMES // ASSGN SYS005,421 ASSIGN TO AN AVAILABLE DEVICE ADDRESS // EXEC VIREPERA,SIZE=AUTO,PARM=’B‘ // EXEC VIREPERA,SIZE=AUTO,PARM=’C‘ /&


All Environments

Multiple VSE Images

If you are using Dynam/T, CA-EPIC, or BIM-EPIC and you are running multiple VSE guest machines under VM or multiple VSE LPARs you need to group virtual tape drives together by VSE system on the Virtuent controller. To do this code the GROUP parameter when configuring virtual tape drives All tape drives attached to the same VSE guest, including the control drive used by VIRSSD and VIRSSE , must be assigned the same group number. Virtuent uses the group number assigned to the VIRSSD and VIRSSE control drive to determine which other drives are available for responding to a mount request received from a specific VSE machine (guest).

Specifying Tape Compaction

Virtuent supports write compression. In VSE, write compression is activated by specifying a mode for the tape drive. The default value can be set on the ADD statement(s) at IPL time.

Alternatively, the compression option can be changed on individual assign statements or by TMS data set definitions.

No mode set parameter is required to read compressed data.

It should be noted that while the compaction option should significantly reduce the amount of storage required on the virtual tape library, there will be some impact on the data transfer performance compared to uncompressed data. The efficiency of the compaction as well as the performance impact will vary depending upon the data.

The file-size values reported by Virtuent “QUERY” command as well as the awsdir and awsprint utilities reflect the compressed data size, not the original uncompressed size.

Sending Console Commands and Running Scripts from VSE

The VIRCMD program may be used to send one or more commands or run script requests to a Virtuent controller. This command requires special settings in the Virtuent configuration in order to function. The command is read from SYSIPT, one command per line. For valid commands, see the section Virtual Tape Operator Commands. Scripts are invoked by the RUN command as follows:

RUN[WAIT[(seconds)]] nnn [optional parameters ...] The RUN command is only honored when sent from the Host (e.g. with the VSE VIRCMD program); it cannot be entered directly at the Virtuent console, or from the vtcmd program.

seconds is an optional number of seconds to wait for the command completion if the WAIT option is specified. This value must be specified within parenthesis. (See RUNWAIT below for more information.)


nnn is a number that identifies the script to be run. The full script name that will be invoked is /etc/bti/userscripts/scriptnnn. Leading zeros are stripped from the nnn, value specified, so specifying either 007 or 7 would invoke script7.

The optional parameters will be passed as command line arguments to scriptnnn.

Scripts invoked by the RUN command will run under the Virtuent application's user ID, vtape. If a script or the program(s) invoked by it need to run under any other user ID, it is the user’s responsibility to put the necessary command(s) inside the script to make it do so.

Scripts invoked by the RUN command will not be able to read from standard input (the keyboard). stdin will be closed before starting the script process, so any program attempting to read from stdin will get an error (end of file). This doesn't prevent redirection of input to programs from within the scripts.

All output from the scripts will by default be discarded. If a script's output needs to be retained (in a file, for example), it is the user’s responsibility to put the necessary redirection command(s) inside the script to make it do so. The feedback returned to the Host from Virtuent says whether or not the Virtuent command itself (in this case, RUN) was successfully executed. This says nothing about whether the invoked script itself, or anything run in the script, successfully accomplished anything.

If the RUN command without the WAIT option is used, Virtuent will return status to the Host as soon as the RUN command is executed; the invoked script will continue to run asynchronously for however long it takes. There will be no notification to the Host when (or if) the script ends. Additional commands could be sent to Virtuent while the script is executing in the background.

If the RUNWAIT variation is used and the RUNWAIT command execution is successful, Virtuent will wait for some time for the script to complete before returning status to the Host. You can specify the optional maximum wait period in seconds. Syntax requires the wait period to be specified in parenthesis to distinguish it from the script number. If omitted, the default is 110 seconds. If the script completes within the time limit specified, Virteunt will return a successful status code to the Host. If the script does not complete within the time limit specified, Virtuent will cancel the script at the expiration of the time limit and return a failure status code to the Host.

With the WAIT option, the drive will be "busy" executing a Load Display (x'0F') CCW throughout the wait period. If the wait for completion exceeds the Host's missing interrupt time limit, the Host application will abend because of a missing interrupt.


Example:

// JOB JCMD SEND COMMANDS TO VIRTUENT // ASSGN SYS005,421 ASSIGN TO AN AVAILABLE DEVICE ADDRESS // EXEC VIRCMD,SIZE=AUTO Q SPACE (display storage usage) UNREADY 425 (make a virtual drive not ready) UNLOAD 425 (unload a virtual drive) RUN 2 (run script #2) RUN 21 (run script 21) RUNWAIT (300) 32 p1 s2 (run script 32 with a time limit of 300 seconds and pass 2 arguments, p1 and s2) /* /&

Chapter 8. Using MDL-100S with VM 83

Chapter 8. Using MDL-100S with VM MDL-100S tape devices can be used by VM just as any other 3480, 3490, or 3590 tape drive would be used. Bus-Tech provides two small utilities for VM / CMS. VTSCR is a scratch utility that can be used to scratch VOLSERs on the MDL that are no longer needed. VTCMD is a command utility that will send MDL commands to a tape device on the MDL-100S.

Like VSE, VM does not send any Load Display CCWs over the channel when a tape volume needs to be mounted. There are 3 methods that can be used to send mount requests (Load Display CCWs) to MDL:

1. Use DMSG utility for CMS. This utility, available as part of a VM download package from IBM, is specifically intended to send a LOAD DISPLAY CCW to a tape device. The CMS user simply issues the DMSG command with a tape device address and VOLSER. MDL recognizes the Load Display CCW and mounts the VOLSER on the drive.

2. Use VTCMD and send an MDL Mount command to the MDL. This is equivalent to using DMSG except that the MDL MOUNT command allows you to mount the VOLSER on a different device than the device the VTCMD uses for sending the command.

3. You can create (or modify) your own program to send a standard Load Display CCW to the MDL.

Installing VTSCR and VTCMD

To install VTSCR and VTCMD in VM you will need to upload files from the MDL Utilities CD to your mainframe. The files you will need are located in the direct /UTIL/VM and are named VTSCR.MODULE and VTCMD.MODULE. You will need to FTP them to the system in binary, and set FIX 1024 before the put of VTSCR MODULE and VTCMD MODULE as in:

ftp> bin ftp> quote site fix 1024 ftp> put vtscr.module ftp> put vtcmd.module

Once they are transferred, they must then be unpacked:

copyfile vtscr module a (unpack copyfile vtcmd module a (unpack

The modules are now ready to be executed.


VTSCR

The VM version of the VTSCR utility can be used to keep your tape management system scratch status in sync with the MDL scratch status.

VTSCR runs under CMS on the mainframe and sends volume scratch requests to the MDL. Since a tape management system (TMS) may dynamically release tapes back to scratch status, VTSCR should be periodically run to maintain synchronization between the TMS catalog and the MDL. To use VTSCR the user must create a TMS scratch report and then input that scratch report into VTSCR.

VTSCR scans the scratch report for MDL owned volumes and sends the appropriate scratch requests to the MDL.

VTSCR can be executed using the following syntax:

VTSCR device report_type parameters

where:

device is the attached unit address of an MDL tape drive to be used as the control device. If there are multiple tape libraries being used to contain the MDL virtual volumes, the user must select a tape device address associated with the library containing the volumes to be scratched.

report_type is:

VMTAPE – indicating VTSCR will process a VM:Tape Summary report from TMCRPT1

If you are not using VMTAPE please contact Bus-Tech Support.

parameters can include the following options:

ALLVOLS - indicating that MDL will allow scratch of volumes with data set names of all blanks. Normally, a volser with a blank DSN is considered to have never been used, and therefore does not need to be scratched.

DEBUG - will cause additional information to be logged into the VTLOG LISTING file. This option should be used when VTSCR is not working properly and the log file should be provided to Bus-Tech support along with the problem description

FREESPACE - may be used to request that the space be occupied by the VOLSERs being scratched be returned to the library as free space. The default of VTSCR is simply to reclassify volumes being scratched as eligible for scratch allocation requests, without freeing up the space occupied by that volume. FREESPACE requires the volumes to already be in scratch status. To immediately free the space VTSCR will need to be run twice. The first execution should be run without the FREESPACE parameter to scratch the


volumes and the second execution should be run with the FREESPACE parameter to release the space.

Keep in mind that MDL will automatically free the space of scratched volumes when it needs space so it is generally not necessary to run VTSCR with the FREESPACE parameter.

NODATECHK - allows volumes to be created and scratched on the same day. MDL will normally check the creation date of a tape volume and will not allow any volume to be created and scratched in the same 24 hour period.

NODSNCHK - MDL will normally validates Data Set Names if found in the scratch report as part of the scratch process. A scratch will not successfully complete if the data set name in the scratch report does not match the data set name in the HDR1 label on the volume being scratched. NODSNCHK prevents the dataset name check from being performed and is not recommended for normal use.

PREFIX - specifies a string of prefix characters that will limit processing to volumes whose volume serial numbers (VOLSER) begin with the character(s) specified. Unless otherwise specified by the PREFLEN parameter, the default prefix length is 2. ‘PREFIX AAABAC’ would cause VTSCR to process only volumes whose serial numbers begin with AA, AB, or AC. Coding this parameter prevents VTSCR from trying to unnecessarily scratch volumes that are not stored on the MDL. If no PREFIX is specified VTSCR will process the entire scratch list.

If the string of prefixes exceeds 8 characters, use parentheses to delineate the entire string of prefixes. Separate each group by 1 blank, with at most 8 characters in each group. For example, PREFIX (00010203 04050607 08)

PREFLEN - specifies a single digit between 1 and 5. This value replaces the default prefix length of 2 for the ‘PREFIX’ parameter. ’PREFIX ABCD PREFLEN 1’ will cause VTSCR to process only volumes whose serial numbers begin with A, B, C, or D.


For example:

VTSCR 180 VMTAPE NODSNCHK PREFIX 010203 DEBUG

VTSCR will log its activities in VTLOG LISTING A, and will expect its input scratch report in VTSCR INPUT A.

The output VTLOG LISTING A file will maintain a history of the results of each delete request. The file should be a fixed lrecl 133 file. If an error occurs during a scratch request (such as scratching a non-existent volume) the failure will be recorded in the log file, the program will continue with the next scratch request, and a non-zero return code from the program execution will result.

The VTSCR INPUT A file must point to the scratch report that the user has created using the appropriate TMS utility. The scratch report must be generated with a logical record length (LRECL) of 133.

To avoid any possibility of confusion, it is strongly recommended that a single sequence be used that generates a current scratch list file and then runs the VTSCR utility against that file. In this way there is no possibility of accidentally running the VTSCR program against an old scratch report and causing the TMS and the MDL to become out of sync.

In addition, since there is a slight time interval between the creation of the extract file and the processing of the report, the MDL will not scratch a volume that has been created today. Additionally, the utility

will not execute against a scratch report that was not created the same day.

The Scratch utility will use the data set name (dsname) information from the scratch report to verify volumes being scratched. If the data set name written in the volume header does not match the data set name on the scratch report for that volume then the scratch request will be rejected.

In must be emphasized that once the VTSCR utility has completed, tapes that were successfully scratched by the utility can be re-used or erased at anytime.


VTCMD

The VTCMD program will read one or more MDL commands from the VTCMD INPUT A file and send each command to the MDL for execution.

The VTCMD INPUT A file should be a fixed lrecl 133 file, and contain a list of MDL commands to be sent.

Optionally, the user can enter commands manually rather than input them from a file. A success or failure indication will be logged to the VTLOG LISTING file. Hoever, note that any messages and other textual results of the command that normally display on the MDL console are not returned to the host.

VTCMD can be executed using the following syntax:

VTCMD device OPER

where:

device defines the attached unit address of an MDL tape drive to be used as the control device. If there are multiple tape libraries being used, the user must select a tape device address associated with the library where the commands are to be executed.

OPER is an optional parameter that when specified will cause VTCMD to prompt the user to enter commands from the terminal rather than use the VTCMD INPUT file. When prompted, the user can enter CMD=command_string. When all commands have been processed, enter END to terminate the program.

For example, entering:

VTCMD 180

will cause VTCMD to read commands from the VTCMD INPUT A file and sen them to the tape drive attached to address 180. The results will be logged VTLOG LISTING A.

Alternatively,

VTCMD 180 OPER

Will result in a command prompt allowing the user to enter MDL commands. VTCMD will continue to prompt until the user types END.

The output VTLOG LISTING A file will maintain a history of the results of each command. The file should be a fixed lrecl 133 file. If an error occurs during a command request (such as invalid syntax) the failure will be recorded in the log file, the program will continue with the next command, and a non-zero return code from the program execution will result. The possible error codes are as


follows:

0x01 Invalid data length (must be between 1 and 256 bytes)

0x02 The MDL is configured to not accept Host-initiated console commands

0xFF(-1) A general syntax error occurred. (The MDL console error message “MDL891E: Invalid command syntax” was displayed.)

0xFC (-4) An “E” level error other than general syntax error occurred. (A MDL console error message other than MDL891E was displayed.)

A sample VTLOG output might be as follows:

VTCMD VER 1.0 VTCCTRL = EA82

2004/09/10 12:47:49 CMD ERR=FF: this is an invalid command

2004/09/10 12:47:49 CMD ISSUED: q all

2004/09/10 12:47:49 CMD ERR=FC: q xxxxxxxx

2004/09/10 12:47:49 CMD ISSUED: set size=2g dev=EA80

Using VTCMD to Mount a VOLSER

VTCMD can be used to mount a specific tape volume (VOLSER) on an MDL tape drive using the MDL LOAD Command.

For example, if the contents of VTCMD INPUT A contains:

LOAD VOL=000101 DEV=cntrl0001 SL

Issuing the CMS command:

VTCMD 180

Results is the VOLSER ‘000101’ being mounted on the MDL drive named ‘cntrl0001’

To mount a new scratch volume substitute “SCRTCH” or “PRIVAT” for the VOLSER.

Alternatively, the following command sequence entered from CMS will have the same results:

VTCMD 180 OPER

CMD=LOAD VOL=000101 DEV=cntrl0002 SL

END

Chapter 9. System Operation 89

Chapter 9. System Operation Reminder! Like all MDL products, MDL-100S is built on Bus-Tech’s Virtuent tape-on-disk software. Whenever the term Virtuent appears in the text it is referring to the tape-on-disk software running within the MDL-100S.

Once the storage is attached and configured, the virtual tape devices are defined, and the mainframe has been configured (and re-initialized if necessary), you are ready to start operating the Virtuent (MDL-100S) controller.

VT Console

The virtual tape application runs as a started task (daemon) on the MDL controller and is known as “vt”. vt will attempt to autostart whenever the MDL controller (node) is powered on and brought up.

A separate program named VT Console can be started at anytime from the Virtuent controller’s desktop. As shown in Figure 9-1 there are two icons on the desktop; one for running configuration (Configure Devices) and one for starting the console program (VT Console).

Figure 9-1. Virtuent Desktop


Whenever you double click the VT Console icon a console will open on the desktop and begin displaying messages from the virtual tape (VT) application. Figure 9-2 shows a sample of an active VT console window.

Operation of the vt application is independent of the VT Console. The vt application will often be running even when the VT Console program is not started. Likewise, the VT Console program can be running without the vt application being active. Once the Virtuent controller is running you can check the status of the virtual tape (vt) application at anytime by double clicking the VT Console icon on the Virtuent desktop (Figure 9-1). A VT Console window will display (Figure 9-2) indicating the VT Console is active.

Figure 9-2. Active VT Console

The bottom of the VT Console window contains a blue bar across it which always shows the current status of the virtual tape (vt) application on this controller. As shown in Figure 9-2, the vt application is inactive.

To close the VT Console window enter the command “quit”. The console window will immediately close. Closing the console does not effect the operation of the virtual tape (vt) application in any way.

Starting / Stopping Tape Devices

To start or stop the virtual tape devices you must start or stop the virtual tape (vt) application. Control of the vt application is controlled with the “vtd” (virtual tape daemon) command. The vtd command has the following options:

start to start the vt application and activate devices in the active configuration file


stop to stop the vt application. Once the application stops, the channel links are disabled and all virtual drives will cease responding to the host until the application restarts. Any I/O from the host while the application is terminated will receive an I/O error (device not operational). For this reason, you should wait for all host applications using devices to finish, and the virtual tape drives should be varied offline from the host operating system before stopping the vt application.

The stop option will not terminate the application if any virtual drives currently have volumes loaded.

force If the application must be terminated while volumes are loaded, use the force option. Any virtual tapes currently loaded will be immediately unloaded without any further processing.

Note that this may result in an incomplete output tape volume if the host has not yet completed writing and properly closed the tape. For this reason, the force command should only be used in an emergency situation where Virtuent must be brought down immediately. Any virtual tape volumes currently being written should be considered invalid.

status displays the status of the vt application.

restart issues a stop command to the vt application followed by a start command. Restart can only be used when no volumes are currently loaded.

To issue a vtd command open a shell on the desktop by clicking the shell icon in the bottom right hand corner of the Virtuent desktop (see Figure 7-3).


Figure 9-3. Shell Icon on Desktop

When the shell window opens type in the appropriate ‘vtd’ command. For example, as shown in Figure 7-4, to start the vt application type in ‘vtd start’.

Figure 9-4. Issuing vtd in a Command Shell

Shell Icon


Press ENTER to execute the command. As vtd executes progress messages will be displayed (see Figure 7-5).

Figure 9-5. vtd Progress Messages

To close the shell window, type “exit” and press ENTER.

If you have a VT Console window open on the desktop at the time you issue a vtd command, status will also display on the VT Console.

Finally, when the vt application is active, the VT Console window will show the VT status as “Running” and informational, warning, and error messages from the vt application will scroll on the console (See Figure 7-6).

Figure 9-6. VT Console when vt is Active


Initializing Scratch Volumes

Before Virtuent can mount a tape volume in the tape library you must initialize the tape volumes that you want Virtuent to use within that library. Therefore the very first time you start any tape drives on Virtuent you must issue at least one Initialize command in the vtcon window (Figure 9-2) or there will be no scratch tapes within the tape library for Virtuent to use.

As explained in Chapter 4, each filesystem defined in the tape library is mounted using a subdirectory named with a 2-character Tape Volume Serial number prefix. So, for example if you have defined and mounted a disk subdirectory “BA” then that filesystem will house tape volume serial numbers in the range BA0000 – BA9999.

You do not have to initialize all 10,000 serial numbers associated with a disk (subdirectory) at once. You may initialize only the number of serial numbers you expect to need. Suppose, for example you know that you plan to have a maximum of 12,000 tape volumes in your MDL-100S in total. You have defined your library with three sub-directories (one for each of the three filesystems) naming them “BA”, “BB”, and “BC”. There is no need to initialize 30,000 VOLSERs into the library (BA0000 – BA9999, BB0000 – BB9999, and BC0000 – BC9999). By choice you can elect to only initialize 4,000 tapes into each sub-directory: BA0000 – BA3999, BB0000 – BB3999, and BC0000 – BC3999. This will provide Virtuent with the 12,000 volumes you require and will not waste time and/or space initializing more volumes than you need. Additional tape volumes can be initialized at any time.

The command to initialize tapes is:

INITIALIZE VOL=volser DEV=devname COUNT=count LABEL=S/A

Where volser is the starting serial number to initialize, devname is the device name (address) of any tape drive pointing to the tape library, count is the number of serial numbers to initialize, S/A indicates standard (S) or ASCII (A) labels should be used. Assuming device E980 is one of the devices on the MDL-100S then the commands to initialize the 12,000 serial numbers would be:

INITIALIZE VOL=BA0000 DEV=E980 COUNT=4000 LABEL=A

INITIALIZE VOL=BB0000 DEV=E980 COUNT=4000 LABEL=A

INITIALIZE VOL=BC0000 DEV=E980 COUNT=4000 LABEL=A

Be aware that you must initialize tapes into each of the three filesystems present in the MDL-100S. Otherwise you will not be able to access all of the storage your controller is providing. If you only initialize VOLSERs into two filesystems then only those two filesystems will ever be used to allocate new VOLSERs when the mainframe requests a scratch tape be mounted.

Be aware that on IBM mainframes if your tape devices are defined in an MTL you will also need to define them to the mainframe’s tape configuration database (TCDB). This is accomplished by running the VTLIB utility. See page 54 for instructions on running VTLIB.


Virtual Tape Operator Commands

When the virtual tape (vt) application is active and the VT Console window is open (See Figure 9-2), there are several virtual tape commands that can be used to control the virtual tape drives on your system. Be aware that these commands will not work and will not be responded to if the vt application is not running. The VT Console only responds to the “quit” command, which closes the console program.

Command Syntax

Virtual tape operator commands use the following syntax rules:

• UPPER CASE words are keywords and must be spelled as shown. You can enter the keywords in either upper or lower case.

• Lower case words in italics are values that you supply. These values can generally be entered in either upper or lower case. The exceptions are noted in the command description.

• Values in [square brackets] are optional.

• When multiple values are separated by an or-bar ( | ), enter only one of the choices.

• Many commands and keywords can be abbreviated. For those commands and keywords that can be abbreviated, the minimum abbreviation is underlined.

EXPORT Command

EXPORT from to [norun compress encryptkey=n|KEYn|NONE]

See page 132.

HELP Command

HELP [ command | message number | ABOUT ]

The HELP command displays helpful information about the virtual tape operator commands and messages.

If the command HELP is entered by itself, a summary of all commands is displayed

If a command is specified, a more detailed description of that command is displayed.

If a message number is specified, an explanation of the message is displayed. For example, “HELP 489” would display information about message VIR489E. (Entering the message number as VIR489E, VIR489, or 489 all give the same result.)

A synonym for the word “HELP” is “?”, i.e. “? 489”.

HELP ABOUT displays information about the virtual tape application.


IMPORT Command

IMPORT from to [ norun compress encryptkey=n|KEYn|NONE]

See Page 133.

INITIALIZE Command INITIALIZE VOL=volser DEV=devname [COUNT=count] [LABEL=S/A/N] [SCRATCH=Y/N] [EPIC=N/Y]

The INITIALIZE command can be used to pre-initialize any number of scratch volumes in any Virtuent tape library.

If you specify a volser without a count only the one volume specified will be created.

If count is specified, volser becomes a template for creating a number of sequential volume serial numbers. volser must end with numeric digits that start with a value that is low enough and has enough digits to contain the number of volumes specified in count. For example, VOL=BT0000 COUNT=1000 would create volumes BT0000 through BT0999. Similarly, VOL=XXX100 COUNT=500 would create volumes XXX100 through XXX599. However, VOL=BTA100 COUNT=1000 would be illegal, as would VOL=ABCDE0 COUNT=11 or VOL=ABCDEF COUNT=2.

Any volume that already exists in the range will be skipped over; it will not be altered in any way.

DEV=devname tells the INITIALIZE function to use the directory pointed to by devname and the prefix from volser to determine where to create the new scratch tapes. For example if device E980 points to directory /tapelib then the following command will cause 100 scratch tapes to be created in the directory /tapelib/B0:

INIT VOL=B00000 DEV=E980 COUNT=100

As shown, the subdirectory B0 is determined from the first two characters of the volser.

The LABEL parameter specifies whether the new volumes are to be created with Standard IBM (EBCDIC) labels (‘S’), ANSI (ASCII) labels (‘A’), or no labels (N). The default is Standard IBM labels. Unisys mainframes require LABEL=A.

Volumes are initialized as scratch volumes by default and are immediately available for allocation in response to a mount scratch tape request. If you want to initialize a volume and not have it default to scratch status, specify SCRATCH=NO.

EPIC=YES places an identifier on the HDR1 label that signifies that the volume is owned by BIM-EPIC tape manager; causing BIM-EPIC to accept the new volume without requiring any host operator intervention. The default is EPIC=NO.


LOAD Command LOAD [VOL=]volser [ON] [DEVICE=]devicename|* [UNLABELED | LABELED | NL | SL | AL] [PROTECTED]

The LOAD command is used to perform a manual load of a virtual tape volume.

A manual LOAD could be used, for instance, to load a volume for a host system that does not send Load Display mount messages, or in a situation where you want to mount a tape other than the one being requested by the Host.

If the devicename is specified as *, the volume will be loaded on the first available (empty) drive.

The label options apply to non-existing volumes only, in order to specify how the new volume is to be initialized by Virtuent. For existing volumes, any label specification is ignored.

• LABELED and SL are synonymous and specify that the volume should be initialized with standard IBM (EBCDIC) labels.

• UNLABELED and NL are synonymous and specify that the volume should be initialized as an unlabeled tape.

• AL specifies that the volume should be initialized with standard ANSI (ASCII) labels.

If no label option is specified, the volume is initialized according to the device’s LABEL= configuration parameter. The default is standard IBM (EBCDIC) labels.

The PROTECTED option loads the tape as read-only. Otherwise, the volume is loaded in normal read-write mode.

QUERY Command

QUERY [[DEVICE=]devicename[+] | ALL | COMPRESSION | CONFIG | ENCRYPTION | LABELS | MOUNTED |PATHS [ASSIGNED] | SPACE | SCRATCHNAMES | VERSION]

The QUERY command is used to display system information.

QUERY with no operands will display the current status of all the virtual tape drives, while DEV=devicename can be used to display a single drive or range of drives. Use a ‘*’ as a wildcard character to display a range of drives. For example, Q E98* will display all the devices E980-E98F.

QUERY ALL displays information about the virtual tape application, the channel interface card(s), and all of virtual tape devices.


QUERY COMPRESSION shows whether or not the optional hardware data compression board is installed. Sample output from this query appears as:

VIR083I: Compression level set to 1 (0=none,1=faster,9=smaller) VIR010I: Compression hardware available VIR011I: Compression driver version: 1.0.8 VIR012I: Compression card #0: id=9 version=200 state=00000000 VIR013I: Hardware compression set ON VIR013I: Hardware decompression set ON

QUERY CONFIG shows detailed configuration information for all devices.

QUERY ENCRYPTION shows the status of the Virtuent encryption keys.

QUERY LABELS shows the header labels, if any, for all mounted tapes.

QUERY MOUNTED displays information only about the drives that currently have virtual tape volumes mounted.

QUERY PATHS shows all of the channel paths established for the Virtuent devices. if ASSIGNED is specifiec, only channel paths with current host assignment (typically those varied online) are displayed.

QUERY SPACE shows a summary of the disk space used and available in all the tape libraries.

QUERY SCRATCHNAMES displays all of the scratch volume serial number synonyms currently in effect.

QUERY VERSION displays the Virtuent release number.

File-size values reported by the QUERY command reflect the compressed data size, not the original uncompressed size.

QUIESCE Command

QUIESCE [ [DEVICE=]devicename | ALL | * ]

The QUIESCE command sets one or all of the virtual drives into the ‘quiesced’ state. Quiesced drives will not accept any further mount requests until they are unquiesced. Any mount requests issued to a quiesced drive will stay pending until the device is unquiesced.

Other than not accepting any new mount requests, quiesced drives continue to function normally; any volume already loaded on the drive can continue to be accessed normally until it is unloaded.

Quiescing a drive does not send any signal to the Host.

ALL and * are synonymous and mean quiesce all drives at once.


READY Command

READY [DEVICE=]devicename

The READY command can be used to change a virtual drive from the Not Ready to the Ready state.

Entering the READY command for a virtual tape drive is equivalent to pressing the Ready button on a physical tape drive.

A virtual drive must already have a volume mounted and must be in the Not Ready (Intervention Required) state in order to make it Ready. If the specified drive does not have a volume mounted, or is already in the Ready state, the READY command is ignored.

The READY command is not needed during normal processing to make a drive Ready. Normally, a drive automatically becomes Ready whenever a volume is mounted and stays Ready until the volume is unloaded. The Not Ready condition, while a volume is mounted, is an exceptional condition that will only occur when 1) Virtuent runs out of disk space in the tape library while writing to a virtual volume; or 2) the UNREADY command was entered.

RESET CHANNEL ADAPTER Command

RESET CHANNEL ADAPTER n

The RESET command restarts the firmware in the specified ESCON or FICON channel adapter number ‘n’.

This command will be rejected if there are any active paths established on this adapter. Vary offline from the host all the devices / paths / channels attached to this adapter before invoking this command.

REWIND Command

REWIND [DEVICE=]devicename

The REWIND command can be used to perform a manual rewind of the specified virtual tape drive.

Entering the REWIND command for a virtual tape drive is equivalent to pressing the Rewind button on a physical tape drive. Like a physical tape drive, the specified virtual tape drive must be in the Not-Ready state in order for the REWIND command to be accepted (see the UNREADY command).

The REWIND command is executed immediately regardless of whether the tape might currently be in use by the host.

Note that the manual repositioning of the tape could result in data being read from or written to the wrong location of the virtual tape volume by the host, if


the host is still processing the volume and has not yet properly closed the tape. For this reason, the REWIND command should only be used in an emergency situation when a tape volume is known to not be in use by a host application but needs to be rewound to loadpoint immediately.

SAVE TRACE Command

SAVE [TRACE]

The SAVE TRACE command is used to write all Virtuent trace buffers to disk immediately. Normally, Virtuent traces are buffered in memory and only written to disk periodically, for performance reasons. Before examining or copying the trace files, you should perform the SAVE TRACE command to make sure that all currently buffered trace data has been written to disk.

SAVE TRACE also saves channel adapter firmware trace files to disk.

SET Command

SET [ENCRYPTKEY=KEYn|n|NONE] [HWCOMP=ON/OFF] [HWDECOMP=ON/OFF] [IDRC=ON/OFF/FORCE] [PATH=pathname [NOCHECK]] [RECOVER=nn] [RECOVERAMT=nn] [SIZE=xxx] [TIMESTAMPS=NO/YES] [TRACE=n] [WARNING=nn] [DEVICE=devicename|ALL|SYSTEM]

The SET command is used to set various options for the virtual tape devices. Any option set by the SET command is a temporary change, and the setting will revert to the configuration file or default value the next time the virtual tape application is started. To make permanent changes, make the changes in the Virtuent configuration file.

ENCRYPTKEY= KEYn|n|NONE sets the encryption key for the specified device to the key number (1-9) or to no key (and thus no encryption). The ENCRYPTKEY parameter requires a specific DEVICE parameter, and the specified device must not have a tape mounted for the command to be accepted. ‘n’ and ‘KEYn’ are equivalent.

HWCOMP=ON/OFF indicates whether or not Virtuent should perform hardware data compression on a given drive. By default Virtuent will use hardware data compression (HWCOMP=ON) if the compression hardware is present and the mainframe has requested IDRC. If you set HWCOMP=OFF then Virtuent will not use the compression hardware to do data compression; it will perform software compression when IDRC is requested by the mainframe.

HWDECOMP=ON/OFF indicates whether or not Virtuent should perform hardware decompression on a given device. By default Virtuent will use hardware decompression (HWDECOMP=ON) whenever the compression hardware is present and decompression is required. If HWDECOMP=OFF then Virtuent will use software decompression when decompression is required.


IDRC=ON/OFF/FORCE turns on or off write compression on a given drive. FORCE causes Virtuent to compress all data even if the Host does not specify compression on the write. Even if IDRC is set OFF, however, Virtuent will still report to the Host that it supports compression; it just will not actually perform any compression when it writes data to disk. This is because some Host operating systems or tape managers will not use a drive that does not support compression. IDRC=OFF only affects writing of data; even if IDRC is set OFF, Virtuent can read virtual tape volumes that it previously wrote with compression ON.

PATH=pathname sets the path for the virtual tape library for a specific device. This option requires a specific DEVICE specification. If a tape volume is not currently loaded on the drive, the new pathname specification takes effect immediately. Otherwise the change takes effect immediately after the current volume is unloaded. The pathname is case-sensitive and must exactly match the disk directory name. Always specify the tape library base directory, i.e. "/tapelib", not a subdirectory of the tape library (i.e. "/tapelib/BA"). The specified tape library and any subdirectories are checked for logical errors, such as a tape volser being in the wrong subdirectory, and if any error is found the path will not be changed. If you absolutely must set the path to a directory which won’t pass validation, you can specify the NOCHECK parameter to accept the path even if it fails validation.

SET PATH can be used to assign a virtual device to a SCSI tape drive in order to use the Direct Tape feature (See page 127). To use SET PATH in this manner specify the SCSI tape driver name. For example: “SET PATH=/dev/nst0”.

RECOVER=nnn sets the percentage of disk space usage at which Virtuent starts to recover disk space by deleting the data from scratch volumes (see page 137, “Deleting ("Erasing") a Scratch Volume's Data”). Valid values are from 0 to 100. The default is 95%. If the recovery percentage is set to 100, Virtuent will never delete scratch volume data to recover disk space.

RECOVERAMT=nn sets the maximum amount of space (in percentage of disk space) that Virtuent will attempt to recover once the recovery threshold is reached. The default is 1%.

SIZE=xxx sets the maximum volume size for virtual tape volumes. The valid range is 2M to 32T. A specific DEVICE can be specified, or ALL devices at the same time (the default). The size can be specified as bytes, kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes, or terabytes (e.g. "SIZE=1500000", "SIZE=500000K", "SIZE=500M", "SIZE=1.5G", “SIZE=1T”). The new size specification takes effect immediately. If a tape is being written at the time the SIZE is changed and the position on the tape is already past the new SIZE value, logical end of volume warnings will be sent on all subsequent write/write tapemark commands, and physical end of volume will be signaled approximately 1 MB past the current position.

TIMESTAMPS=NO/YES indicates whether or not date and time should be included in each message sent to the console display. The default is NO; reducing the amount of data appearing on the console. Messages written to the log files are always timestamped. This parameter only affects messages to the console.


TRACE=n sets the trace level for a specific device if a DEVICE=devicename is specified. If SYSTEM is specified, the trace level is set for the general, non-device specific system trace. If ALL is specified, the trace level is set for all devices plus the general system trace at the same time. The default is ALL if no DEVICE is specified. Valid trace levels are 0 (no tracing) to 4 (trace a lot); the default is 1 (trace errors only). This option only affects the virtual tape application traces; to enable the hardware trace in the channel interface adapter(s), see the ENABLE FIRMWARE TRACE command.

WARNING=nnn sets the percentage of disk space usage at which Virtuent will begin to warn about usage. The valid range is 0 to 100. The default is 75%.

SHOW Command

SHOW CHANNEL ADAPTERS

SHOW REJECTED PATHS

The SHOW command can be used to assist in debugging problems with the configuration of Virtuent or Host devices.

SHOW CHANNEL ADAPTERS displays information about all channel adapters in the Virtuent controller.

SHOW REJECTED PATHS displays connections that the Host has attempted to establish with Virtuent, but which are not configured within Virtuent.

SNMP Command

SNMP [SET MESSAGE LEVEL [D | E | W | I]] | SHOW STATUS

SET MESSAGE LEVEL [D | E | W | I] allows the operator to set (or modify) the SNMP message filter level to one of the following:

D = Disable SNMP

E = Send Error messages only

W = Send Error and Warning messages (default)

I = Send Errors, Warning, and Informational messages

SNMP must be configured in the General Configuration Parameters (see Page 39) to be active. Otherwise SNMP is disabled and the SNMP SET MESSAGE LEVEL command will have no impact.

SNMP SHOW STATUS shows the current SNMP settings

STOP CHANNEL ADAPTER Command

STOP CHANNEL ADAPTER n

This command stops and takes out of service the specified ESCON or FICON channel adapter number ‘n’.


This command will be rejected if there are any active paths established on this adapter. Vary offline from the host all devices / paths / channels attached to this adapter before invoking this command.

To bring the channel adapter back into service, use the RESET CHANNEL ADAPTER command.

UNLOAD Command

UNLOAD [DEVICE=]devicename

The UNLOAD command can be used to perform a manual unload of the specified virtual tape drive.

Entering the UNLOAD command for a virtual tape drive is equivalent to pressing the Unload button on a physical tape drive. Like a physical tape drive, the specified virtual tape drive must be in the Not-Ready state in order for the UNLOAD command to be accepted (see the UNREADY command).

The UNLOAD command is executed immediately regardless of whether the tape might currently be in use by the host.

Note that the unloading of the tape will result in an I/O error (Intervention Required) if the host tries to read from or write to the drive after it is unloaded. For this reason, the UNLOAD command should only be used in an emergency situation when a tape volume is known to not be in use by a host application but needs to be unloaded immediately.

UNQUIESCE Command

UNQUIESCE [ [DEVICE=]devicename | ALL | * ]

The UNQUIESCE command takes one or all of the virtual drives out of the ‘quiesced’ state. After being unquiesced, drives will once again accept mount requests. Any pending mount request will be honored once the device is unquiesced.

Unquiescing a drive does not send any signal to the Host.

ALL and * are synonymous and mean unquiesce all drives at once.

UNREADY Command

UNREADY [DEVICE=]devicename

The UNREADY command can be used to change a virtual drive from the Ready to the Not-Ready (Intervention Required) state.

Entering the UNREADY command for a virtual tape drive is equivalent to pressing the Not Ready button on a physical tape drive.

The UNREADY command is executed immediately regardless of whether the tape might currently be in use by the host.


Note that making the drive Not-Ready will result in an I/O error (Intervention Required) if the host tries to read from or write to the drive while it is not ready. For this reason, the UNREADY command should only be used in an emergency situation when a tape volume is known to not be in use by a host application.

Library Utilities

There are two virtual tape library utilities supplied with the Mainframe Data Library; awsprint and awsdir. These utilities can be run from the Virtuent controller’s desktop to review the contents of the virtual tape library.

The awsprint utility allows the user to produce lists of the tapes in the virtual tape library. awsprint output can be displayed directly on the Virtuent console or can be written to a file and then reviewed using any text editor.

awsdir is an interactive utility allowing the Virtuent operator the ability to review the contents of the library volumes.

To run either awsprint or awsdir, open a console window by clicking the shell icon in the bottom right corner of the Virtuent desktop (Figure 9-1). When the console window opens type in the command for the utility you wish to run.

awsprint The awsprint program can be run as follows:

awsprint –p/tapelib –sBT00* -N –d

where:

-p a required parameter providing the path to the virtual tape library; normally “/tapelib”

-s provides an optional selection criteria that can be used to select a specific volume or range of volumes. BT0010, for example, produces a listing only for volume BT0010. BT00*, on the other hand, produces a list of all volumes from BT0000 to BT0099. If the -s option is omitted, all volumes in the tape library are listed.

-N The sort criteria. Only one sort criteria can be entered on the input line. There are four possibilities:

-N Sort by the file name the volume is stored under (default) -V Sort by the volume serial number -D Sort by volume last modification date -H Sort by tape HDR1 records or data in the TAPE INFO field for

unlabeled tapes. -I Sort by file name with scratch and unscratched tapes

interspersed. -S Sort by size. Note: If all volumes in the library are labeled tapes, file name and

volume serial number will normally be equal to each other.


-d An optional flag requesting details on the contents of the tape(s).

Figure 9-7 shows a sample awsprint command displaying the details of volume BT0101.

Figure 9-7. Details of a Single Tape Volume

Using output redirection, awsprint can be used to produce an output file instead of displaying output on the console. You can then browse the file using the system’s view log utility. Redirection is useful as the number of volumes grows in the library.

The following command will create a file named “tapelist” containing a complete list of tapes in the library sorted by file name:

awsprint –p/tapelib –N >tapelist

The file will be stored in the masadmin home directory (/home/masadmin/tapelist).

awsdir

awsdir allows you to interactively review a directory of tape volumes stored in the virtual tape library. awsdir will allow you to:

1. Select a group (or all) of tapes for display.

2. Sort the list of tapes by Name, Date, VOLSER, Header1 (HDR1) record, or size.

3. Display detailed information about a particular tape.

4. Refresh the screen so that newly created tapes will be displayed.

5. Re-sort and reselect tapes without restarting the program.


To execute awsdir click the Shell icon in the bottom right corner of the Virtuent administrator desktop. When the shell window opens type:

awsdir /tapelib

When the program begins to execute it prompts for a sort option as shown in Figure 9-8.

Note: File name is the file name used to store the volume in the library. For labeled tape volumes it is normally the same as the Tape Volser.

Figure 9-8. Sort Type Prompt

Once a sort option has been selected, you will be asked for a tape name selection criteria (see Figure 9-9).

Figure 9-9. Prompt for Name Selection Criteria


Enter a selection criteria if you want to display a specific group of tapes in the library. For example, tapes BT0100 to BT0199 could be displayed by specifying “BT01*”. To include all tapes in the library in the awsdir display just press Enter in response to the selection criteria prompt.

Normally, when all tapes are being allocated to sub-directory you would simply press Enter. awsdir then returns the list of directories in /tapelib as shown in Figure 9-10.

Figure 9-10. /tapelib Directory List

Highlight one of the directories and use the “s” key to select it. A list of tape volumes in the directory will display (Figure 9-11).

Figure 9-11. Volumes in a Directory

Notice that the left most column on each line is a modifiable input field and that the cursor has been placed in the first line of the tape list. You can use the Up Arrow and Down Arrow keys to move the cursor up and down the list. The Page Up and Page Down keys page through the list one screen at a time. The Home key will return the cursor to the top of the list (the first page). The End key will advance to the end of the list (the last page).

The “r” key will refresh the list of tapes and can be used to pick up any new tapes that may have been written since awsdir began executing.


The “i” key will immediately display details of the tape where the cursor is positioned.

The “q” key is used both to re-sort the listing on another field and to exit the program. The first time “q” is pressed it will return to the sort prompt (Figure 9-8); allowing the display to be re-entered using different sort and selection criteria. Pressing “q” on the sort prompt will exit awsdir.

System Poweroff / Reboot

You should always use the ‘poweroff’ or ‘reboot’ command to shut down the Virtuent controller in an orderly manner. If you simply power off the controller by pressing the power or reset buttons, unpredictable errors will occur on the host for any active connections, possibly resulting in data loss. Prior to using either of these commands, all host programs using virtual devices should be stopped, the Virtuent devices should be varied offline and the Virtuent application should be stopped by using the EXIT command.

To poweroff the system right click the Virtuent desktop and select “Administrator Shell” (Figure 9-12).

Figure 9-12. Administrater Shell

After responding to the root password prompt a shell window will open. The command for powering off the Virtuent controller is poweroff (Figure 9-13).

Figure 9-13. Powering Off the System


The command for restarting the Virtuent controller from scratch is simply reboot. As soon as you press enter the system will automatically enter shutdown state and then reboot.

If you enter either of these commands while the virtual tape application is running the control window will automatically be restarted the next time the system is restarted.

If you first use the EXIT command to stop and close the virtual tape application, the control window will not be started with the system. You will manually have to restart the virtual tape application by double-clicking on the Start Devices icon.

Unlocking the Console

When the keyboard and mouse are inactive for a period of time, the controller will automatically invoke a screen saver and lock the Administrator’s console.

Press any key or move the mouse to terminate the screen saver. To re-enter the Administrator’s console you are required to specify the masadmin password. Be aware passwords are case sensitive.

Changing Passwords

There are three passwords on the Virtuent controller that you can change at any time; the root password, virtual tape administrator password (masdmin), and VNC (remote access) password.

The root password is the primary administrator password required for many system tasks. The administrator (masadmin) password is the password required to unlock the Virtuent console when the screen saver is displayed. It is also set by a password prompt when the system is first powered on (see page 10).

The VNC password is the password specified when you access the desktop from a remote system using a web browser or the vncviewer application.

All three passwords are set to ‘bustech’ by default and are normally changed during the power up sequence the first time the system is powered on (see page 9).

CAUTION: Whenever you change a password, be sure to save the new password in a safe place. If you forget the password you may not be able to recover it without performing a complete system installation.


masadmin Password

To change the masadmin password, press the Alt-F2 keys together to open a Run Command window. Type ‘kdepasswd’ and press the ENTER key (Figure 9-14).

Figure 9-14. Start masadmin Password Change

You will first be prompted for the current masadmin password then the new password change screen will display (Figure 9-15). .

Figure 9-15. Change masadmin Password

Enter your new password in both the Password and Verify fields and click OK. Click OK when the password confirmation appears.


root Password

To change the root password, press the Alt-F2 keys together to open a Run Command window. Type 'kdesu kdepasswd root' and press the ENTER key (Figure 9-16).

Figure 9-16. Start a root Password Change

You will be prompted for the existing root password and then the change password screen will display (Figure 9-17). Enter your new password in both the Password and the Verify fields and click OK.

Figure 9-17. Change root Password

Click OK a second time when the password change confirmation appears.


VNC Password

To change the VNC (remote access) password click the shell icon in the bottom right hand corner of the desktop. When the shell window opens type the command ‘vncpasswd’. You will be prompted for a new password and then to verify the new password. You will be prompted if you want to enter a read-only password. If you want people to be able to monitor the VIRTUENT console without being able to enter any commands respond with ‘y’ and then answer the prompts for the password. Otherwise respond ‘n’. Figure 9-18 shows a sample session changing the desktop password.

Figure 9-18. Changing the Desktop Password

Exit the window by typing “exit” and then press the Enter key.

Note: You must be the masadmin user to change the VNC password. To be sure of this make sure you use the shell icon on the Virtuent desktop and not the Administrator Shell when running the vncpasswd command. If you run the vncpasswd program in the Administrator Shell your change will not take effect.

Set Date and Time

The Virtuent system date and time is displayed in the bottom right hand corner of the console. System date and time are used to stamp tape volumes being created on disk. If you need to adjust the system date or time you may do so by right clicking the Virtuent desktop and selecting “Date and Time” (Figure 9-19).

Figure 9-19. Changing Date and Time

After responding to root password prompt the adjust time zone screen will appear (Figure 9-20).


Figure 9-20. Adjust Time Zone

You may modify the time zone if you need to. To adjust the date or time click “Change Time or Date”. The change date and time screen will appear (

Figure 9-21).

Figure 9-21. Set Date and Time

Click Apply to set the date and time and then Accept to exit the time zone screen.

Using an NTP Server

If your Virtuent controller is connected to your corporate network and a Network Time Protocol (NTP) server is accessible, you can easily configure the controller to get date and time from the server.

From the Virtuent desktop press the Alt-F2 keys together. The run command panel will appear. Type the following command:


kdesu yast2 ntp-client

as shown in Figure 9-22 and then click Run.

Figure 9-22. Open NTP-Client Configuration

You will be prompted for the administrator password. Once you have entered the password the ntp client configuration panel will appear (Figure 9-23).

Figure 9-23. NTP Client Configuration

Click the During Boot radio button (as shown) to enable the NTP Server Configuration fields.

Enter the IP Address of your NTP server into the Address field and the click Finish to save your changes.


The Virtuent controller will now get its time from the NTP server at the address you have entered.

Restore Factory Default Configuration Files

The factory default configuration files are in the subdirectory ‘/opt/bti/mas/misc’. To restore these configuration files, right-click the Virtuent desktop and select “Administrator Shell”. Respond to the password prompt with the root password. When the administrator shell appears type in the following command:

cp /opt/bti/mas/misc/btixmap* /etc/bti

Close the administrator shell by typing ‘exit’ and pressing the Enter key.

Manage Log Files

Virtuent maintains a log of all messages issued to the virtual tape application’s operators console (see page 89). The active log file is named ‘btilog’ in the directory '/var/bti/log'. Viirtuent automatically rotates the log file every day at midnight; saving the log and opening a new, empty log file. Saved log files are named ‘btilog_xx’ where xx is an incremental number starting with 01. The most recent saved log file would be ‘btilog_01’, the next oldest would be ‘btilog_02’, then ‘btilog_03’, and so on. The oldest log file has the highest number.

Chapter 11. Using Data Encryption 117

Chapter 10. Using Data Encryption Virtuent includes a data encryption module allowing you to encrypt data using AES-256 encryption as it is being written. Both the tape header labels and the data files are encrypted.

Data encryption is configured on a drive by drive basis. That is, you can configure one or more drives to perform data encryption. Each time a tape volume is written to one of those drives, the data will be automatically encrypted before it is written to the backend storage.

If you want some tape volumes to be encrypted and other tape volumes to be left unencrypted, you will need to configure your Virtuent controller to appear as two separate libraries to the mainframe. Figure 10-1 shows an example of this using Bus-Tech’s UIM.

Figure 10-1. Configuring for Encryption

As shown, the controller is configured with a single library as a backend. In other words all tape drives in the configuration are configured using the Tapelib Path of ‘/tapelib’. This implies that all tape volumes are written to the same physical whether or not they are encrypted. But the drives with device addresses 00 – 0F are configured without encryption and the drives with device addresses 10 – 1F are configured with encryption. Figure 10-2 shows sample device add configuration panels that could be used to configure these devices.

On the mainframe Bus-Tech’s UIM has been installed. Bus-Tech’s UIM provides multiple virtual device types to z/OS. In this example the devices 00 – 0F are assigned a device type of V3480. The devices 10 – 1F are assigned a device type of V3481.

Drives 00 – 0F V3480

Drives 10 – 1F

V3481

B00000 – encrypted

B00003

B00002 – encrypted

B00001

Devices 10 – 1F Encryption = Yes

Devices 00 – 0F Encryption = No


Figure 10-2. Add Devices Example

Configured in this manner, individual jobs can easily direct whether or not an output tape should be encrypted. Any DD statement coded with UNIT=V3480 will be allocated to one of the sixteen drives (devices 00 – 0F) that is not doing encryption. Any DD statement coded with UNIT=V3481 will be allocated to one of the sixteen drives (devices 10 – 1F) encrypting data before writing it.

The above example uses Bus-Tech’s UIM. The same can be accomplished using IBM’s manual tape library (MTL) support under system managed storage (SMS). Simply define two separate MTLs, one with the encrypted devices and one with the non-encrypted devices.

There are two steps required to properly configure Virtuent devices to perform encryption. They are:

1. Define the encryption key (or keys) to be used.

2. Configure the devices for encryption.

These steps must be completed in order. Configuring devices for encryption is simply a matter of setting an encryption key on the Control Unit Configuration (Figure 5-5 or Figure 10-2) or Device Change (Figure 5-8) panels.


Defining Encryption Keys

Virtuent uses static keys while performing data encryption. In order for you to configure a group of tape drives for encryption you must first define at least one encryption key on the system. All tape drives defined in the same library (i.e. using the same UIM or defined in the same MTL) should be configured to use the same encryption key.

To begin defining an encryption key or keys, right click the Virtuent desktop and select “Configure Encryption Keys” from the menu (Figure 10-3).

Figure 10-3. Configure Encryption Keys

You will be prompted for the system administrator password (root password). The Manage Keys panel will display (Figure 10-4). There should be no keys defined.

Figure 10-4. Manage Keys


By default KEY1 will be selected. To create a new KEY1 click the Change Key button. To create a different key click the desired key button and followed by the Change Key. A small Change Key window will appear (Figure 10-5).

Figure 10-5. Change Key

You may type in a key, generate a key, or load an existing key from a USB device. If this is the first time you are setting up Virtuent for encryption you would normally want to generate a key. Highlight “Generate a new key” and click Ok.

You will be prompted for a description to be assigned to the key (Figure 10-6). You may enter any description you wish. Press Next to continue.

Figure 10-6. Key Description Prompt

A key will be generated and displayed (Figure 10-7). You must copy the key down before you click Next to continue.


Figure 10-7. Generated Key

You will be prompted to re-enter the key for verification (Figure 10-8).

Figure 10-8. Key Verification

You must manually type in the entire key to continue. If you mistype any portion of the key and click Next the system will respond by indicating which portion of the key is incorrect as shown in Figure 10-3.


Figure 10-9. Mistyped Encryption Key

Once you have correctly re-entered the encryption key the system will acknowledge indicating that key generation is complete (Figure 10-10).

Figure 10-10. Key Generation complete

Click Finish to return to the Manage Key panel which should now show the key description of the key you have just created (Figure 10-11).


Figure 10-11. Manage Key Panel with KEY1 Generated

You may generate additional keys if you wish. Be aware that at this point the keys are still not useable. Once you have generated all the keys you wish you must install them before they can be used. To install your keys click the Install keys button. You will be prompted to confirm that you want the keys installed (Figure 10-12).

Figure 10-12. Install Keys Confirmation

If you click Yes any previously installed keys will be replaced with the current keys displayed on the Manage Key panel. The system will confirm key installation (Figure 10-13).


Figure 10-13. Keys Installed

Keep in mind that being able to de-encrypt a tape volume is dependent on the availability of the encryption key used when the tape was written. It is extremely important that you store a copy of your generated keys in a secure place so that in the unlikely event that they need to be restored you know exactly what they were.

The Manage Key program on Virtuent has the ability to write the current keys to a USB storage device. When you click the Exit program button (See Figure 10-11) after modifying any of the keys, the Manage Key program will prompt you to save the keys to a USB storage device. Bus-Tech strongly recommends that you create a copy of the keys on USB storage and then store that storage device in a secure location.

The save process will start by displaying the Save new keys pop-up (Figure 10-14).

Figure 10-14. Save New Keys

Respond by clicking Ok. You will be instructed to insert a USB storage device into a USB slot (Figure 10-15). All Virtuent controllers have a single USB slot on the front of the unit.


Figure 10-15. Export to USB Device

Click Next to write the keys to USB storage. Click Cancel to exit the program without saving the keys. When the keys have been successfully written to the USB storage the program will tell you to remove the USB device (Figure 10-16).

Figure 10-16. Remove USB Device

Click Finish to close the window and exit the Manage Keys Utility.

All tape drives defined in the same virtual library on the mainframe should always be configured with the same key. If, for high availability or performance reasons, you have drives from multiple Virtuent controllers configured in the same virtual library you will need to install the same encryption key on all controllers in the library. Use of a USB storage device is the easiest way to move the keys from one system to another. Save (Export) all the keys to USB storage on the machine where they were created and then import and install the keys on the second or subsequent Virtuent controllers.


Finally, if you are encrypting volumes so that you can send them over the Internet to a disaster recovery site, be sure to install the key(s) used to encrypt on the DR site’s Virtuent controller(s). Otherwise the DR site will not be able to read the volumes.

When reading an encrypted tape, Virtuent will first attempt to use the encryption key assigned to the drive the tape is mounted on. But if the the key assigned to the drive is not valid for the encrypted file, Virtuent will then attempt to use each key configured in order to successfully read the tape. This provides some flexibility for assigning keys to different sites. A backup site does not have to use the same encryption key as the primary site when writing tapes. As long as the backup site has the primary site’s key in its configuration, it will be able to read tapes sent from the primary site to the backup site.


Chapter 11. Back-End Tape Support MDL-100S allows fibre channel attachment of an IBM 3592, TS1120, or compatible tape drive. Attachment requires the optional Virtuent Mainframe Tape Drive Support kit be installed on the controller. The kit provides a single fibre channel port on the rear of the controller and software license for Virtuent physical tape functions. You must provide the IBM 3592 / TS1120 drive and a fibre channel cable to connect the drive to the port on the controller.

Note: Bus-Tech only supports point-to-point attachment of a single 3592 / TS1120 tape drive to the controller. Connection via a fibre channel switch is not supported.

Once the drive is physically attached to controller there are 2 possible uses:

1. You can map a single Mainframe tape drive (device address) through to the physical tape drive for the purpose of writing real tape cartridges from the mainframe. This capability is referred to as “Direct Tape”.

2. You can use the Virtuent-based Export / Import utilities to copy individual volumes (VOLSERs) from / to tape.

Each of these options will be discussed in this chapter.

Direct Tape

Although Virtuent controllers are primarily intended for use as tape-on-disk controllers, emulating tape drives to the mainframe and storing tape volumes on a back-end disk sub-system, will allow a tape drive to tape drive mapping of an emulated 3590 tape drive to a physical IBM tape drive attached to the Virtuent controller.

Fibre channel tape drives attached to a Virtuent controller are supported using the ‘nst’ scsi tape driver. When a 3592 drive is attached via the tape drive attach kit, the specific device driver that communicates with that drive is named ‘/dev/nst0’.

To map a mainframe device address through to an attached IBM tape drive you would simply modify the Virtuent device definition to point device ‘/dev/nst0’ instead of a virtual tape library on disk. Figure 11-1 shows an example of how to do this.


Figure 11-1. Mapping a Device to a fibre channel attached IBM 3592 Tape Drive

The emulated tape drive must be configured to match the characteristics of the physical tape drive. As shown in Figure 11-1, the device being configured must be defined as Device Type 3590.

Also, once you have mapped a device in this fashion, you must isolate the mainframe device from other virtual devices in the mainframe configuration in order to control when a real tape is written versus a virtual tape written to disk. Specifically, you will need to create a separate MTL for this device.

When a mainframe device is mapped to a physical tape drive in this manner mount requests will work just as they would if the drive were directly attached to a mainframe channel. Allocation of the drive will result in a mount request being posted to the mainframe operator console. The request will remain outstanding until the physical drive becomes ready. Normally this will require an operator to mount a tape and ready the drive.

The tape cartridge written will be compatible with 3590 cartridges written from any mainframe attached 3590 tape drive. Virtuent created cartridges can be sent to mainframe locations that do not have Virtuent installed as long as those locations have real or compatible tape drives capable of reading the 3590 cartridge.


Data Compression

Virtuent supports IDRC initiated data compression. If a mainframe tape device mapped to a physical fibre channel attached drive requests IDRC compression Virtuent will instruct the drive to compress the data before writing it to tape. The tape drive, rather than Virtuent, will perform the data compression in order to ensure compatibility with other IBM drives that may later attempt to read the data.

Data Encryption

If the mainframe device configuration panel mapping a device to a fibre channel attached tape drive specifies a data encryption key (see Figure 11-2) then Virtuent will perform data compression and encryption on the data before writing to the drive.

Figure 11-2. Direct Tape with Encryption

Encrypted cartridges WILL NOT BE COMPATIBLE with tape drives not attached to a Virtuent controller. Only a Virtuent attached tape drive will be able to re-read the tape cartridge. The Virtuent controller reading these cartridges must be configured with the same encryption key. This configuration would be suitable for sending DR tapes to offsite storage as long as the DR configuration includes a Virtuent controller with an attached tape drive to read the tapes in the event of a disaster.


Tape Export / Import Utilities

As an alternative to Tape Direct where a mainframe tape drive is mapped directly through to a physical IBM drive, Virtuent also includes two utilities for exporting or importing tape volumes between the Virtuent disk library and a Virtuent attached tape drive.

These commands are executed from within the Virtuent application and have no user interaction. If a command is entered incorrectly an error message will be issued. The operator can then retype the command correctly.

Because these commands copy tape volumes based only on VOLSER without knowledge or regard to what data may actually be contained on the volume and because Virtuent often does not have a tape drive physically attached to it, these utilities are disabled in the default Virtuent configuration. If you have attached a physical tape drive to a Virtuent controller, not being used by Tape Direct, and you wish to use the tape export / import utilities you will need to modify the Virtuent configuration to enable them.

To enable the Virtuent Export / Import utilities open the active Virtuent configuration file and click on any of the general configuration parameters at the top of the configuration (Figure 11-3).

Figure 11-3. General Configuration Parameters


Then on the General Global Parameters Update panel (Figure 11-3) modify the Tape Export field to indicate Enabled.

Figure 11-4. Global Parameters Update – Tape Export Enabled

The next time the Virtuent application is restarted the export / import utilities will be available.


Export

The format of the tape export command is:

EXPORT from to [norun compress encryptkey=n|KEYn|NONE]

where from is the full library name of the tape volume (VOLSER) to be copied and to is the name of the device driver for the tape drive the volume is to be written to.

For example:

EXPORT /tapelib/B0/B00104 /dev/nst0

will copy tape volume (VOLSER) B00104 from the backend tape library to the tape drive associated with the device /dev/nst0.

The options for the command are:

norun – telling Virtuent not to unload the tape when the import is complete.

compress – this option indicates whether or not the tape volume should be compressed when being written to the drive. The default is to write the data without compression. If this option is included on the command, Virtuent will instruct the tape drive to compress the data before writing it to media.

If the volume is already compressed and unencrypted on the tape library, Virtuent will decompress the data before writing it to physical tape. Then, if the compress option is specified, Virtuent will tell the drive to compress the data.

If the volume is already encrypted on the tape library then the compress option has no effect on the data. Virtuent copies the encrypted volume as is to the physical tape.

encryptkey=n|KEYn|NONE – this option tells Virtuent whether or not the data should be encrypted before it is written to tape. An encryption key must have been previously defined in order to use this option (see “Defining Encryption Keys” on page 119). n specifies the encryption key number to be used and may be specified as ‘n’ or ‘KEYn’. The default is encryptkey=NONE.

When the encryptkey option specifies a valid encryption key Virtuent will encrypt the data before sending it to the tape drive using the encryption key specified. If the compress option is also specified, Virtuent will compress the data before encrypting it and the drive will not be asked to do compression.

If the data in the disk file is already encrypted, Virtuent will copy the existing encrypted data from the disk to the tape as is. The export utility will not de-encrypt data which is already encrypted on the tape library.

Tape volumes written by Virtuent using the EXPORT command which are encrypted (either during the EXPORT or were already encrypted on disk) can only be processed by the Virtuent IMPORT command or Direct Tape. They cannot be processed without using a Virtuent controller.

Tape volumes written to an IBM 3592 drive by EXPORT which are not encrypted are compatible with other 3492 drives and can be processed by systems other than


Virtuent. For example, a compressed volume written by EXPORT to an IBM 3490E drive could be mounted on a mainframe channel attached 3490E drive and read directly by a mainframe application.

Note: It is the user’s responsibility to make sure the volume does not exceed the physical capacity of the cartridge being written to. If you attempt to write a volume to tape that cannot fit on the cartridge the export will fail and invalidate the data on the tape by rewinding and writing a tapemark at the front of the tape.

Import

The format of the tape import command is:

IMPORT from to [norun compress encryptkey=n|KEYn|NONE

where from is the device name of the tape drive to be read and to is the complete library name of the tape volume (VOLSER) being imported.

For example:

IMPORT /dev/nst0 /tapelib/B0/B00102

will import the tape on drive /dev/nst0 and write it to the library ‘/tapelib’ on the filesystem ‘B0’ storing it under the VOLSER ‘B00102’. Note Virtuent always uses the first 2 characters of the VOLSER to identify the filesystem where the volume is stored. Therefore you must always specify a filesystem equal to the first two characters of the serial number. If you do not do this, Virtuent will not be able to locate the tape when the mainframe requests it be mounted.

Note: Virtuent IMPORT does not check to see if the tape being imported is actually the same VOLSER as the name entered on the command line. If you are importing a standard labeled tape you must make sure you use the correct VOLSER on the IMPORT command line. If you are importing VOLSER B00001 and you incorrectly store it as /tapelib/B0/B00002 the tape will be successfully imported but a mount error will occur on the mainframe when the mainframe asks for ‘B00002’.

The options on the command are:

norun – telling Virtuent not to unload the tape when the import is complete.

compress – telling Virtuent to compress the volume as it is being written to the library. Virtuent assumes that if the tape is compressed on the cartridge the drive will automatically de-compress it as it is being read from tape. If the compress option is included on the command line Virtuent will compress the data before writing it to the tape library. If this option is not specified the volume will be stored in the library uncompressed

encryptkey=n|KEYn|NONE - tells Virtuent whether or not to encrypt the data as it is writing it to the library. A valid encryption key must have previously been


defined to Virtuent. n is the number of the encryption key to be used for this import and may be specified as either ‘n’ or ‘KEYn’. The default is encryptkey=NONE indicating Virtuent will not do encryption as it is writing the data to the library.

If the volume was previously encrypted by Virtuent then the volume is imported as is onto the tape library. The Virtuent IMPORT command does not de-encrypt data. Virtuent encrypted tape volumes can only be de-encrypted by being mounted and read from the mainframe.

Appendix A. Volume Handling 135

Appendix A. Volume Handling

Volume Serial Numbers

Virtuent supports only volume serial numbers (VOLSERs) that conform to the IBM standard VOLSER naming convention. IBM standard VOLSERs contain 1 to 6 alphanumeric EBCDIC characters; uppercase A through Z, 0 through 9, and the hyphen. Volume serial numbers are left justified and padded with spaces on the right.

The disk filename of a virtual tape volume is initially derived from the VOLSER requested by the Host in the Load Display Mount message. A simple one to six-character disk filename that matches the requested VOLSER, converted from EBCDIC to ASCII, will be used to hold the virtual tape volume.

Following the analogy of physical tape volumes, the virtual volume's disk filename is equivalent to a physical tape's external label. Just as it is important for a physical tape's external label to always match the VOLSER recorded on the tape so that the tape can be identified, stored, and retrieved, it is vital that a virtual volume's disk filename match the VOLSER recorded in the volume for the same reasons.

As long as the host does not write a different VOLSER to the virtual volume, the disk filename and the VOLSER recorded in the volume will remain the same. Under some circumstances, the host may write a new VOL1 label containing a VOLSER different from the one originally associated with the mounted volume. This usually happens only when the host uses a program such as Ditto to perform a physical tape copy that copies the original volume's labels as well as its data to the new tape. In order to maintain the association between a virtual volume's disk filename and the actual VOLSER recorded in the volume, whenever the host writes a VOL1 label Virtuent checks the VOLSER being written to see if it differs from the original VOLSER under which the volume was mounted. If the new VOLSER is different, Virtuent attempts to rename the volume's disk filename to match the new VOLSER in the VOL1 label being written. If the new disk filename, i.e. new VOLSER, already exists, Virtuent will not rename the mounted volume and it will not allow the new VOL1 label to be written; it will return an error (Unit Check status with Command Reject sense) to the host's write command. In addition, if the new VOLSER begins with a different VOLSER prefix (first two characters) than the mounted volume, the new VOL1 label write will be rejected. This is to prevent a volume from residing in a tape library subdirectory that does not match the VOLSER prefix.

If the host changes a labeled volume to an unlabeled volume by writing over the standard labels with data, Virtuent accepts the change but does not change the volume's filename.


Scratching Volumes

Virtual volumes in a tape library exist in one of three states:

• Active – An “active” volume is any volume that is not currently a scratch tape. A scratch volume becomes active whenever it is mounted in response to a request from the Host (or by a manual mount), whether by explicit VOLSER or to fulfill a SCRTCH tape request. Once a volume is active it is no longer a scratch tape, so it can be mounted again only by explicitly requesting it by specific volume serial number, not by a SCRTCH request. An active volume can be recognized by the fact that its file name is exactly the same as its VOLSER. Once a volume is active, it will remain active in the virtual tape library until it is explicitly scratched.

• Scratched – Volumes created by Virtuent INITIALIZE command are initially in the “scratched” state, available to be mounted in response to a SCRTCH tape request. A scratch volume can be recognized by the fact that its file name is preceded by a “~”, for example ~BT0040. When the host requests a scratch volume, Virtuent will select the oldest scratch volume from the tape library directory that has the most free space, but only after any "erased" scratch volumes (see below) have been used. A scratch volume can also be mounted by explicitly requesting it by volume serial number. In either case, whenever a scratch volume is mounted, it is moved back to active status by renaming the file from ~VOLSER back to VOLSER (without the ~) and is no longer a scratch tape. However, if the scratch volume is never accessed by the host before it is unmounted, it is changed back to scratch status when unmounted Volumes can be moved from the “active” to the "scratched" state by a scratch utility running on the host. The Virtuent Utility CD includes scratch utilities for both z/OS-OS/390 (see page 27) and VSE (see Chapter 7). These utilities process a host-generated scratch report and send scratch volume requests over the channel to Virtuent. When Virtuent receives a request to scratch an active volume, the disk file for that volume is renamed from VOLSER to ~VOLSER, where VOLSER is the volume serial number. For example, scratching B00004 would rename the file to ~B00004. All of the data in the scratched volume is retained at this time, although it may be deleted later if Virtuent needs the disk space.

• Erased - An "erased" volume is a scratch volume which has had its data deleted to recover disk space. Scratched tapes retain their data for as long as possible until Virtuent needs to reclaim disk space to write new data. When Virtuent starts running out of disk space, it will select the oldest scratched volume from the tape library and delete its data. When a scratch tape is "erased", all of the data in the volume past the standard header labels is deleted. Only the VOL1 and HDR labels are retained (these are retained because some host tape management systems


verify the labels and previous data set name (DSN) on a tape before allowing a previously scratched tape to be re-used). The disk file remains named ~VOLSER. Note that once a Virtuent scratch volume has been erased, the data cannot be recovered unless a backup copy of the volume had been made previously. Virtuent will select an “erased” scratch tape in response to a scratch tape request from the host, before selecting an unerased scratch tape. As with any scratch tape, whenever an erased scratch volume is mounted, it is moved back to active status by renaming the file from ~VOLSER back to VOLSER (without the ~).

Deleting ("Erasing") a Scratch Volume's Data

When a virtual volume is scratched, the data in the volume remains intact for some period of time. This is to give you a chance to "unscratch" a tape that was accidentally scratched. Eventually, as the Virtuent disk fills up, space must be recovered from scratched tapes in order to write new data. When the usage in any tape library directory reaches 95%, Virtuent will begin to recover disk space from scratch volumes in that library. The oldest scratch volumes will be moved to "erased" status, which will delete their data. Virtuent will continue to erase scratched volumes until the disk usage drops below 95%.

If the RECOVERY percentage is set to 100% (see SET command, page 100), Virtuent will never automatically erase data from scratch volumes to recover disk space.

Virtuent will never move an active volume to scratch status automatically, nor will it ever erase data from an active volume.

Mounting Volumes

Mounting A Specific Volume by VOLSER

Requested VOLSER Exists

When the host requests a specific VOLSER, Virtuent first checks to see if the requested VOLSER exists as an active volume in the tape library. If the specified VOLSER is found, the file is opened and positioned to the beginning of the volume (load point). The virtual tape drive presents a Not-Ready-to-Ready interrupt to the host and enters the "Ready" state, ready for I/O from the host.

If the volume is a scratch volume it is changed back to active status by renaming the file VOLSER (without the ~).

If the volume is a scratch volume that has already had its data deleted (it is in the "erased" state), the volume is still mounted as requested. However, if the host attempts to read past the standard labels into the non-existent data, it will receive an I/O error (Unit Check status, Tape Void sense).


Requested VOLSER Does Not Already Exist

If the host requests a VOLSER that does not already exist as either an active or scratched volume in the tape library assigned to this device, the mount request is simply ignored, and the virtual tape drive remains in the "Not Ready" state. Just like with a physical tape library, you should pre-initialize all the volumes that might ever be requested by the host (see INITIALIZE command, page 96).

However, for backwards compatibility with previous releases, Virtuent can be configured to automatically create a tape volume when the Host requests a non-existent VOLSER. If the VOL=prefix parameter is configured, and the requested VOLSER matches this prefix, a new tape volume will be automatically created in the tape library. If the library contains a directory matching the volume serial number’s prefix, it is created in that directory. For example, the volume BA1001 would be placed in the disk mounted at /tapelib/BA. If a /tapelib/BA directory does not exist, the file would be created in /tapelib. Before coming ready to the host, the new virtual tape volume will be initialized in one of two ways depending on whether the mount calls for an unlabeled tape ('N' in the 8th position of the mount message, or explicitly UNLABELED in a manual LOAD command) or a labeled tape (any other character in the 8th position, but usually an explicit 'S' for standard EBCDIC or ‘A’ for ANSI labels):

• For an unlabeled tape, the virtual tape volume is initialized with 16 tapemarks.

• For a labeled tape, the virtual tape volume is initialized with a dummy VOL1 label containing the specified VOLSER, a dummy (empty) HDR1 label, and two tapemarks. These labels conform to those produced by the MVS IEHINITT tape initialization utility.

After this initialization, the new virtual tape volume is positioned to load point and a "Ready" interrupt is presented to the host.

Write-Protected Volumes

If a tape volume’s disk file can only be opened in Read-Only mode (for example, it resides on a read-only medium, in a directory with read-only access, or the file itself is read-only), the Write Protect bit will be set on the virtual tape drive while this volume is mounted. The volume can then only be read, not written, in this situation. Any attempt to write (Write, Write Tapemark, or Erase) to the volume, will result in a Unit Check error being presented to the host.


Mounting a "SCRTCH" or "PRIVAT" Volume

Unlabeled Scratch Request

If the host requests an unlabeled "SCRTCH" or "PRIVAT" volume (determined by an 'N' in the 8th position of the mount message), Virtuent will display an appropriate error message, the mount request is ignored, and the virtual tape drive remains in the "Not Ready" state. This is because an unlabeled scratch tape cannot be subsequently tracked or retrieved since there is no permanent VOLSER associated with the volume.

Labeled Scratch Request

If the host requests a "SCRTCH" or "PRIVAT" volume with standard labels (anything other than 'N' in the 8th position of the Load Display Mount message), Virtuent will check any tape synonym definitions that may exist in order to identify which filesystem in the tape library are eligible to receive the new tape. Virtuent then checks those filesystems to determine which has the most free space. Once the filesystem is identified Virtuent will search that filesystem for a scratched, erased volume. If it finds a scratched, erased volume the volume is changed back to active status by renaming the file from ~VOLSER to VOLSER (without the ~). Note that since there is no data following the standard labels, any attempt by the host to read past the labels will result in an I/O error (Unit Check status with Data Check and Tape Void sense).

If no scratched, erased volume is found, Virtuent will then search the filesystem for the oldest scratch volume. If it finds a scratch volume, the volume is changed back to active status by renaming the file from ~VOLSER to VOLSER (without the ~). The existing data in the scratch volume is not erased prior to mounting the tape.

If no scratch volume is found on the tape library filesystem with the most free space, Virtuent will then search the filesystem with the next most free space, and so on until it finds a scratch tape or until all tape library filesystems have been searched.

If no scratch volume is found to fulfill the mount request, an appropriate message is displayed on the Virtuent console, the mount request is ignored, and the virtual tape drive remains in the "Not Ready" state. Just like with a physical tape library, you should pre-initialize enough scratch volumes to fulfill scratch tape requests from the host (see INITIALIZE command, page 96), and move “active” volumes back to scratch status in sync with the Host (see z/OS-OS/390 scratch utilities, page 27, and VSE scratch utilities in Chapter 7).

However, for backwards compatibility with previous releases, Virtuent can be configured to automatically create a tape volume when the Host requests a scratch volume and none is available. If the VOL=prefix parameter is configured, a new scratch tape volume will be automatically created in the tape library. Virtuent will pick the first available (non-existing) VOLSER that starts with the prefix configured for this device. As an example, if the drive is configured with a volume serial number prefix of VOL=BT, Virtuent will attempt to allocate a new volume starting at


BT0000, then BT0001, BT0002, etc., until it finds an unused volume serial number. If the library contains a directory matching the prefix, the new tape is created in that directory. For example, the volume BA1001 would be placed in the disk mounted at /tapelib/BA. If a /tapelib/BA directory does not exist, the file would be created in /tapelib. Before coming ready to the host, the new virtual tape volume will be initialized as a standard labeled tape, with a dummy VOL1 label containing the new VOLSER, a dummy (empty) HDR1 label, and two tapemarks. These labels conform to those produced by the MVS IEHINITT tape initialization utility. Note that since there is no data following the standard labels, any attempt to read past the labels will result in an I/O error (Unit Check status with Data Check and Tape Void sense).

Once a volume has been allocated for the mount request, the file is opened and positioned to the beginning of the volume (load point). The virtual tape drive presents a Not-Ready-to-Ready interrupt to the host and enters the "Ready" state, ready for I/O from the host.

When a host-initiated mount request fails for any of the following reasons, the mount request will be retried until it succeeds or until the host sends a new Load Display message that cancels the request:

Volume not found Volume in use elsewhere No scratch available Drive is quiesced

End of Volume Conditions

Logical End of Volume

Virtuent will signal to the host that a virtual tape has reached logical end of volume when:

• The disk file corresponding to the virtual tape volume approaches the maximum volume size specified by the user for this virtual tape device. This maximum volume size is configurable by the user (see SIZE parameter on page 27) from 2-megabytes to 2-terabytes, and defaults to 2-gigabytes if not specified. The configured maximum volume size can also be temporarily overridden with the operator’s SET SIZE command.

• The number of blocks written to a volume approaches the number supported by a 3480/3490 tape drive, which is approximately 4 million blocks.

In order to leave room for any remaining data, tapemarks, and labels that the host may need to write at end of volume, logical end of volume is actually signaled approximately 1-megabyte prior to the absolute volume limit.

Virtuent signals the logical end of volume in the same way as a physical tape drive. When the logical end of volume point has been reached, Virtuent returns unit


exception status to all write, write tapemark, and erase gap commands. The host is expected to close this volume and open a new volume.

Physical End of Volume

If the host attempts to read or write past the absolute capacity of a virtual tape volume (as defined above), the operation will fail with a unit check. Sense will return Equipment Check and an Error Recovery Procedure Action (ERPA) code of 38 - Physical End of Tape.

End of Data

If the host attempts to read or forward space past the end of the last data written to the virtual tape volume, the operation will fail with a unit check. Sense will return Data Check and an Error Recovery Procedure Action (ERPA) code of 31 - Tape Void.

Error Conditions

Mount Loops

A mount loop occurs when the host requests that a volume be mounted, Virtuent mounts the volume, and then the host immediately unloads the volume and requests the same volume again. This usually happens because the host is dissatisfied with the contents of the volume, especially if the labels on the volume are not what it expects to find. If unchecked, this mount/unmount cycle could continue indefinitely.

Virtuent will detect that a mount loop is occurring when:

• The host requests a volume to be mounted;

• After the volume is mounted, the host reads no more than the first three records from the volume and never writes to the volume;

• The host unloads the volume and requests the same volume again.

If this cycle repeats four times within 30 seconds Virtuent will not honor the next mount request for the same volume, and the virtual drive will remain in the Not Ready state. This gives the host operator the opportunity to correct the problem that is causing the mount loop.

Out of Disk

If a filesystem becomes full while Virtuent is writing a tape volume to it, Virtuent will put the affected virtual tape drive into the Not Ready (Intervention Required) state. Though Not Ready, the virtual tape volume will remain mounted at the current position, and the transfer can continue as soon as there is space available on the disk.

When you have cleared the out of disk condition by deleting unneeded volumes from the tape library, you can continue the interrupted transfer by entering the Virtuent "Ready" command (see page 40). The virtual drive will become Ready and the transfer will resume.

Appendix B. LOAD Display Command 143

Appendix B. Load Display Command – CCW Opcode x’9F’ IBM-compatible 3480/3490 tape drives support a "Load Display" command that is used to display messages on the tape drive's LED display. These messages are typically sent by the mainframe operating system or tape management system to request that a specific volume be mounted by the operator.

Virtuent relies on these Load Display messages to determine when virtual tape volumes should be mounted on its virtual tape drives. When it sees a Load Display message that it interprets as a mount request of a specific volume serial number (VOLSER), the volume's disk file is opened and the drive “comes ready” to the host – that is, it acts like a tape has been mounted. If Virtuent determines the Load Display is requesting a scratch volume then Virtuent will identify a suitable VOLSER, opens the volume’s disk file and the drive “comes ready” to the host. For a complete description of how Virtuent determines a scratch is being requested please refer to the paragraph titled “Scratch Synonyms” on page 27. Virtuent ignores any Load Display messages not determined to be a mount message.

Since the Load Display messages are intended to be "human readable", they can conceivably vary from mainframe system to system. Virtuent requires a specific Load Display message format in order to determine that the host is requesting a volume mount. Specifically, Virtuent has been designed to recognize the Load Display mount messages issued by z/OS-OS/390.

The format of the mount messages recognized by Virtuent follows. Refer to the tables below for more detailed information about the Load Display messages format.

Format Control Byte (FCB):

Virtuent recognizes Function Select (bits 0-2) values of 000, 010, and 111 as potential mount messages.

Messages 0 and 1:

If the FCB Alternating Message bit (bit 3) is on, first message 0 is checked for a mount message, then message 1.

If the FCB Alternating Message bit (bit 3) is off, the FCB Display Low/High Message bit (bit 5) is checked to determine whether message 0 or 1 is to be checked for a mount message. If bit 5 is on, only message 0 is checked for a mount message. If bit 5 is off, only message 1 is checked for a mount message.

Virtuent recognizes a mount request by the EBCDIC character 'M' in the first position (byte 0) of the message. The EBCDIC volume serial number is located in bytes 1-6 of the message. The last character (byte 7) of the message is a label indicator. If byte 7 is EBCDIC ‘A’ an ANSI (ASCII) labeled volume is being requested. If byte 7 is EBCDIC 'N', an unlabeled volume is being requested; otherwise a standard labeled tape is presumed.


If the Load Display message does not pass all the tests to determine a mount request, the message is simply ignored.

Load Display Data

0 Format Control Byte

1-8 Message 0

9-16 Message 1

Format Control Byte (FCB)

Bits Value Description

0-2 Function Select

000 The message specified in bytes 1-8 and 9-16 is maintained until the tape drive next starts tape motion, or until the message is updated.

001 The message specified in bytes 1-8 is maintained until the tape cartridge is physically removed from the tape drive, or until the next unload/load cycle.

010 The message specified in bytes 1-8 is maintained until the drive is next loaded.

011 This value is used to physically access a drive without changing the message display. This option can be used to test whether a control unit can physically communicate with a drive.

100 to 110

Reserved.

111 The message specified in bytes 1-8 and 9-16 is displayed. The message in bytes 1-8 is displayed until a tape cartridge is physically removed from the tape drive, or until the drive is next loaded. The message in bytes 9-16 is displayed until the drive is next loaded (not including the loading of the cleaning cartridge). If no cartridge is present in the drive, the first message is ignored and only the second message is displayed until the drive is next loaded (not including the loading of the cleaning cartridge).

Appendix B. LOAD Display Command 145

3 Alternate Messages

0 The tape drive displays only the message that is specified in bit 5.

1 The tape drive displays both messages specified in bytes 1-8 and 9-16, respectively, alternating them on the message display. The sequence repeats until the message is replaced on the display. When bit 3 is set to 1, bits 4 and 5 are ignored.

4 Blink Message

0 The message specified by setting bit 5 does not blink.

1 The message specified by setting bit 5 blinks repeatedly. When bit 3 is set to 1, bit 4 is ignored.

5 Display Low/High Message

0 The message specified in bytes 1-8 is displayed. This bit is ignored if bit 3 is set to 1.

1 The message specified in bytes 9-16 is displayed. This bit is ignored if bit 3 is set to 1.

6 0 Reserved

7 0 Index Automatic Load (Reserved)


The following are some sample Load Display messages. The hex values are in EBCDIC:

48D4C2E3 F0F0F0F1 E2000000 00000000 00

Interpretation:

Display message 0 (bytes 1-8) “MBT0001S”, blink, and retain until loaded. In other words, “Mount volume BT0001”. Volume BT0001 is expected to be a standard labeled volume.

Virtuent would interpret this as a valid mount request for standard labeled volume BT0001.

28D9C2E3 F4F44040 40000000 00000000 00

Interpretation:

Display message 0 (bytes 1-8) “RBT44 ”, blink it, and retain until the tape is removed from the drive. In other words, “Remove volume BT44.

Virtuent would ignore this message since it is not a mount request.

F0D9C2E3 F0F0F2F2 40D4C2E3 F2F7F2F7 E2

Interpretation:

Display in an alternating fashion message 0 (bytes 1-8) "RBT0022 " and message 1 (bytes 9-16) "MBT2727S". Stop displaying (or never display) message 0 when the tape is removed from the drive. Stop displaying (or never display) message 1 when the tape drive is next loaded. In other words, “Remove volume BT0022, then Mount volume BT2727.

Virtuent would interpret this as a valid mount request for standard labeled volume BT2727.

Help and Service Information 147

Help and Service Information If you have questions about your new Bus-Tech product, or require technical assistance, visit the Bus-Tech Web site at http:\\www.bustech.com. You can also get help and information through the Bus-Tech’s Technical Support line, Monday through Friday, 8:30 am – 5:00pm Eastern time. Response time may vary depending on the number and nature of the calls received.

Step 1: Problem Solving

You may be able to solve the problem yourself. Before calling Technical Support, please prepare for the call by following these steps:

1. If you are having installation or configuration problems, refer to the detailed installation and configuration sections found in this manual and review any README.TXT files found on the installation disk(s).

2. Visit the Technical Support section of the Bus-Tech Web site specific to the product you have purchased. Updated installation instructions, hints, and tips, software, or updated system-specific notes are often published in this section.

Step 2: Preparing for the Call

To assist the technical support representative, have available as much of the following information as possible:

1. Product Name.

2. Product Release number.

3. Product Serial Number.

4. Exact wording of the error message (if any).

5. Description of the problem.

6. Hardware and software configuration information for your system.

If possible, be at your computer. Your technical support representative might want to walk you through the problem during the call.


Step 3: Placing the Call

If you call after your warranty or maintenance contract has expired, you might be charged a fee.

Support 8:30am – 5:00pm, Monday-Friday

U.S.A. / Puerto Rico 1-800-284-3172

From Outside the U.S.A. 1-781-272-8200

Additional Technical Support Resources

Online technical support is available through the Internet during the life of your product.

Online Technical Support

Bus-Tech Web Site www.bustech.com

Index 149

Index 3480/3490/3590, 52, 140, 143 3590, 63 3590 MTL, 53 3590/3490E

SCSI, 127 Active configuration, 47 awsdir, 105 awsprint, 104 BIM-EPIC, 67, 68, 75, 77, 78, 80, 96 BTIMOUNT, 68 BTITAPE, 70, 76 CA-EPIC, 77 CCWs, 143 Channel Bonding, 17 commands, 95

EXIT, 109 EXPORT, 95 HELP, 95 IMPORT, 96 INITIALIZE, 96 LOAD, 97 MOUNT, 97 NOCHECK, 101 QUERY, 97 QUIESCE, 98 READY, 99 REWIND, 99 SAVE TRACE, 100 SET, 100 SET IDRC, 101 SET PATH, 101 SET RECOVER, 101 SET SIZE, 101 SET TRACE, 102 SET WARNING, 102 SHOW, 102 UNLOAD, 103 UNQUIESCE, 103 UNREADY, 103

configuration adapter tracing, 40 adding devices, 42 control unit, 42 Description, 39

displaying, 98 general parameters, 39 IDRC, 43 maximum device address, 42 minimum device address, 42 Name, 39 network, 13 steps, 2 tapelib path, 43 Trace Level, 39

Configuration Files, 38 Configure MAS Devices, 37 Controls, 6 Data Compression, 63, 80, 101 Date, 112

NTP Server, 113 device

trace, 44 DFSMShsm, 63 Direct Tape, 127

Compression, 129 Encryption, 129

Dynam/T, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 80

Encryption, 117 key, 43 Key, 118, 119

Encryptkey, 100 end of volume

logical, 101 physical, 101

Error Notification RAID, 48

ESCON, 5 Status, 5

eth0, 6 Ethernet

Channel Bonding, 17 Jumbo Frames, 22 unbond, 21

Export, 127, 132 Encryption, 132

FCB, 144 FICON, 4


Status, 4 filesystem, 27 Filesystem, 31 GROUP, 43, 65, 68, 80 help command, 95 IBM 3592, 5 IDRC, 101 Import, 127, 133 initializing scratch tapes, 94, 96 Installation, 2, 3 Jumbo Frames, 22 LAN, 6 Library Utilities, 104 Log Files, 115 logical end of volume, 101 Manual Tape Library, 53 MASLOG, 59 missing interrupt handler (MIH), 64 mount loop, 141 MVS, 51 network configuration, 13 NOTIFYLIST, 49 OS/390, 51 OSADDR, 44, 65 Passwords, 9, 109 physical end of volume, 101 Powering Up the MAS, 8 Poweroff, 108 PRIVAT, 139 quiesce, 98 RAID, 48 ready state, 99, 103 recover amount, 40 recover percent, 40, 101 rejected paths, 102 RESET CHANNEL ADAPTER, 99 Restore Factory Default, 115 RMM, 60 Root Password, 10 Scratch Pool, 73 scratch synonyms, 41, 98 scratch tape, 96

initializing, 96 scratch volumes, 56 Scratch Volumes, 94 SCRTCH, 139 SMTPSERVER, 49 SNMP, 40

Command, 102 SNMP Manager IP, 41 STOP CHANNEL ADAPTER, 102 sub-directory, 27 System Connections, 3 System Operation, 89 tape import/export, 40 tape labels

ANSI, 96, 97 IBM, 96, 97 unlabeled, 97

Tape Library Adding a Fibre Channel Disk, 31 Initializing Scratch Tapes, 94 Query Space, 98

tape size, 101 Time, 112

NTP Server, 113 TLMS, 61 TMS, 61 traces, 100, 102 TS1120, 5 UIM, 52, 55 unlabeled tapes, 97 unloading a tape, 103 unlocking the console, 109 unquiesce, 103 USB, 7, 124 Utilities, 51

Export, 130, 132 Import, 130, 133 VTCMD, 61 VTLIB, 54 VTSCR, 56

VIRCMD, 66, 67, 80, 82 VIRDTERA, 66, 67, 74, 75 VIRDTEXT, 66, 72 VIRDTSCR, 66, 67, 74 VIREPERA, 66, 67, 79 VIREPSCR, 66, 67, 79 VIRLDSPL, 66, 70, 76 VIRMAINT, 66, 67, 69 VIRMOUNT, 43, 44, 65, 66, 67, 68 VIRSSD, 66, 67, 68, 70, 71, 73, 80 VIRSSE, 66, 67, 68, 73, 76, 77, 80 Virtual Devices, 37 Virtuent, v VM

Index 151

DMSG, 83 Mount Tape, 83

VM Support, 83 volser, 135, 139 volume size, 101 VSE, 65

Configuration Parameters, 65 VTCMD, 61, 87

VTLIB, 54 VTSCR, 56, 84

Parameters, 84 Report Type, 84 VMTAPE, 84

warning percent, 102 write protect, 97 z/OS, 51

Customer Response If you have comments or suggestions regarding our products and documentation, please send them to:

BUS-TECH, INC. 26 CROSBY DRIVE, SUITE 100

BEDFORD, MA. 01730 ATTENTION: CUSTOMER SUPPORT

Or, call us at: (781) 272-8200 FAX: (781) 272-0342. Or, visit our Web Site at: www.bustech.com

MDL-100S Installation Guide Part Number 40-03335-A0-001 July 2009

Date post:	18-Jul-2020
Category:	Documents
Upload:	others
View:	5 times
Download:	0 times

Mainframe Data Library 100S · Mainframe Data Library 100S Installation Guide Part Number...

Documents