SUMMARY tz877 on Digital UNIX

From: Paul Bushen <pb_at_hawke.co.uk>
Date: Wed, 10 Jan 96 15:59:00 +0000

Thanks to all who responded. There is now a light at the end of the tunnel
:-)

     o The TZ877 can be treated as a sequential loader

         - Ultrix dump will unload and load cartridges (according to the
           TZ877 owners manual.) I guess DU dump and vdump will also do this
           (but I haven't tried)

         - If you want to use tar, tapes can be unloaded and the next one
           loaded (tar doesn't move to the next tape automatically) by using:-
           # mt offline, between tars

         - I'm told (and would expect) that once the seventh cartridge is
           unloaded the first is _not_ reloaded.

         - NSR also handles the sequential load and unload of the cartidges

     o The TZ877 can be used as a Juke box for random access of cartridges
         
         - CAM medium changer from subset clc300 of the layered products CD.
            which provides the mcutil command to manipulate the loader
           and MAKEDEV.MC to create the device file for the loader
           I haven't looked at this yet - it may need a license
           e.g. if NSR jukebox is licensed I can use mcutil.

         - Edward Bailey's TZ877 control utility from :-
           ftp://moocow.niehs.nih.gov/pub/loader-stuff
           which I'll have a look at when I get the time - it sounds ideal

         - NSR with the jukebox license option

         - DEC will soon ship Media Robot Utility which will allow user
           control of the loader with DLT and RDAT loaders.

     o I like the look of NSR, so I'm going to use the TZ877 as a sequential
        loader. Later I'll try Edward's utility. One day If I get the
        money I'll license NSR for jukeboxes

     o The device JKB1 was a red herring - its a KZPSA scsi card. The TZ877
        is controlled via the SCSI CAM - either with NSR, Edwards utility
        or the CAM medium changer
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
My original question:-

Does anyone have experience using a TZ877 on DU, maybe with Networker Save
and Restore (but this is secondary at present!)

Is the TZ877 treated as a massive tape or can I control which of the seven
cartridges is loaded from UNIX?

from the console I have

MKB500 = the TZ87
JKB1 = the tape changer hardware (I assume)

but from DU I only have the *mt0* files in /dev, no tape changer device.

If I can select a particular cartridge, how is it done? and what device file
is used?

We have no documentation for the tz877, a friend is faxing a copy of her
owners manual - but she says it's a bit vague - typical documentation :-}
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
thanks to :-

Harald Lundberg <hl_at_tekla.fi>
"Eric Wyn Jones (01248-382407)" <e.w.jones_at_bangor.ac.uk>
Benoit Maillard - Digital France- dtn: "858-1243 / ext: 33 1 69 87 12 43"
<maillard_at_atyisa.enet.dec.com>
"Edward C. Bailey" <ed_at_pigdog.niehs.nih.gov>
"Tim W. Janes" <janes_at_signal.dra.hmg.gb>
Dave Carter <carter_at_mailhost.lanl.gov>
alan_at_nabeth.cxo.dec.com (Alan Rollow)
Kurt Carlson <SXKAC_at_orca.alaska.edu>
clare_at_cs.auckland.ac.nz (Clare West)
anthony baxter <anthony.baxter_at_aaii.oz.au>
Chris Glenister <crg_at_cranfield.ac.uk>

        cheers
                Paul.

--
 Paul Bushen             pb_at_hawke.co.uk           http://www.hawke.co.uk/~pb/
 Technical Advisor,      Hawke Systems, UK.                  +44 1753 686 686
                               
              These are my opinions, not those of my employer.
Received on Wed Jan 10 1996 - 17:31:55 NZDT

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