Thanks to:
nabeth.cxo.dec.com!alan
"William H. Magill" <isc.upenn.edu!magill>
jbsvax.eksystems.com!barnwell (Barnwell_at_eksystems.com voice 508-303-6905)
Harald Lundberg <tekla.fi!hl>
jason andrade <dstc.edu.au!jason>
---------------------
From: nabeth.cxo.dec.com!alan
2. I've used one (a little) on a DEC OSF/1 V1.3 system...
The TZ88 is supported on all the DEC 3000 family starting
with V3.2D. If you can upgrade (V3.2D-1 is a set of
collected patches), you won't have any trouble with
support. It is very likely that it will just work on
V3.2C and you won't need to worry about it.
3. You should check the product information for the TZ88
to verify that it supports writing CompacTape III at
the density used by the TZ85. It should be able to
read them, but may not be able to write them. I don't
recall.
---------------------
From: "William H. Magill" <isc.upenn.edu!magill>
Digital sold off their magnetics divison to Quantum over a year
ago....
So, Quantum is the only manufacturer of DLT drives today, as
Extabyte is the only manufacturer of 8mm drives. Everybody puts their
own skin on the devices.
We use MTI drives. Historically 8mm, but we are just puting an MTI
Infinity 1530 Tape library into service - 28 slots/Breece Hill
robotics/two 20-40 DLT tape drives.
These two drives are "vanilla" Quantums and are running hapilly on a
kzpaa under 3.2D. We are using the SCSI_CAM layered product (which is
probably necessary for the Jukebox, but not the drives, but I don't
know.)
We're driving the whole thing with NSR 4.2a.
[lead time on the 20/40 cartidges (Cartridge Tape IV) is now 8-12 weeks!!]
---------------------
From: jbsvax.eksystems.com!barnwell (Barnwell_at_eksystems.com voice 508-303-6905)
give quantum a call as I think the tz87-tz88 is built by them after
DEC sold its stoarge group (disks and tapes) to quantum.
JB
---------------------
From: Harald Lundberg <tekla.fi!hl>
On Tue, 10 Dec 1996, Karl Liliestedt wrote:
>
> 2) Has anybody had any experience using a TZ88 on a 3000 300LX? Is
> the tape drive really not certified for this system and, if it not,
> will it be in the near future?
I think the 88 would probably work, but I think a 300LX is a bit slow
for the TZ88. It has a speed of 2.5Mb/s, which I think you cannot
reach unless you have a dedicated scsibus for it. I've been able to
get about 3.5Mb/s max on my 300's. So to get 2.5 Mb/s you'd need to
get 5Mb/s trhough your scsi bus. If you don't get full speed the
drive won't stream.
>
>
--harald
---------------------
From: jason andrade <dstc.edu.au!jason>
In dstc.mail.alpha-osf-managers you write:
>I am currently running Digital UNIX 3.2C on 2 Alpha 3000 300LX systems
>with 16 GB of disk spread across the Alpha systems and a VAXstation.
>Our current backup scheme utilizes 8mm tape and I would like it replaced
>with a DLT drive.
>DEC Direct indicates that the TZ88 is not certified for this system. On
>a TZ87, they list an "invalid shipping lead time" which the sales
>person says this usually indicates that the part is being phased out.
>They are trying to determine if this is the case with the TZ87 drive.
>1) Does anybody know for sure that the TZ87 is being phased out?
>2) Has anybody had any experience using a TZ88 on a 3000 300LX? Is
> the tape drive really not certified for this system and, if it not,
> will it be in the near future?
one reason it might not be `certified' is that you *really* need to
put your DLT on a separate scsi bus. the 300 series only shipped
with the single scsi bus (unlike the 400/500/600/700/800/900 series
machines which had 2 separate ones). if you bought the PMAZ-C (i
think) dual scsi tc controller and threw the dlt on it, i can't see
why it wouldn't work.
i wouldn't get the 87 myself.. the 88 has been out for a while now
and dec are soon going to ship the TZ89 (otherwise known by quantum
as the DLT7000 - 35/70G)
-jason
---------------------
I finally heard back from DEC Direct. They did confirm that an "invalid
shipping lead time" on the TZ87 meant that they were discontinuing
selling the unit. Before I received their call, I had come to the
conclusion from reading the replys from everybody that I would be
better off with the TZ88. The discounted price I got from DEC for a
new TZ88 vs the price of a Quantum TZ87 equivalent also helped me make
up my mind.
I am not worried about the speed of it right now because it will mainly
be used for nightly backups of my systems. We will be phasing out the
VAXstation soon and possibly replacing it with a more powerful Alpha.
If the new system doesn't automatically come configured with a TZ88 (or
better), then I will move the one I bought from the 3000 300LX to that
system.
A sales person at Gemini Digital Products Corp. (www.geminidigital.com)
indicated that she can get the CompacTape IV (20/40GB) tapes in a
matter of 1-2 weeks instead of 2-3 months.
---------------------
The original question was:
>
> Date: Tue, 10 Dec 96 15:41 EST
> Subject: DLT for an Alpha 3000 300LX
>
> I am currently running Digital UNIX 3.2C on 2 Alpha 3000 300LX systems
> with 16 GB of disk spread across the Alpha systems and a VAXstation.
> Our current backup scheme utilizes 8mm tape and I would like it replaced
> with a DLT drive.
>
> DEC Direct indicates that the TZ88 is not certified for this system. On
> a TZ87, they list an "invalid shipping lead time" which the sales
> person says this usually indicates that the part is being phased out.
> They are trying to determine if this is the case with the TZ87 drive.
>
> 1) Does anybody know for sure that the TZ87 is being phased out?
>
> 2) Has anybody had any experience using a TZ88 on a 3000 300LX? Is
> the tape drive really not certified for this system and, if it not,
> will it be in the near future?
>
> 3) Is there some other tape drive alternative I should be looking
> at compatible with a TZ85? (A client has a TZ85 so it would be
> convenient if I could exchange data in this format).
>
Thanks for the help.
Karl E. Liliestedt karl_at_msdc.com
Medical Systems Development Corporation
Atlanta, GA
Received on Thu Dec 12 1996 - 17:33:53 NZDT