TLZ7L useless after 4.0F->5.0 Upgrade?

From: Paul A Sand <pas_at_unh.edu>
Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 08:17:11 -0500

Hi --

We recently upgraded our AlphaServer 2100 4/200 from 4.0F to 5.0.

We have a TLZ7L DAT tape changer in a StorageWorks shelf. Pre-upgrade,
we controlled it satisfactorily with `mcutil', part of the CLCMCxxx
subset.

The upgrade process de-installs the existing CLCMC subset, and tells
you to reinstall when the upgrade finishes. The CLCMC500 subset is
available on the 5.0 Associated Products CD, volume 1; it installs
fine. The changer is recognized; I get a device: /dev/changer/mc0.
I can see both the changer and tape with scu. There's a cam_changer:
stanza in /etc/sysconfigtab, and the proper module seems to have been
compiled into the kernel. I'm pretty sure my /etc/mcicap entry is right.

Unfortunately, mcutil doesn't work. Compaq Support (after thinking
about it for a few days) says ``mcutil hasn't been supported for a
while.'' Apparently they are going to MRU (Media Robot Utility). But
that's not available for 5.0 either, it will allegedly be part of
5.0a.

(I'm not sure if that's where Compaq plans to leave it, but that's
their latest word.)

So our system now has an expensive-but-useless tape changer, which we
previously did backups on. Kind of a kick in the teeth. We're at 5.0
on our other Alphas, and I would hate to back off to 4.0F on this one
system just so we could do backups again...

SO THE QUESTION IS: does anyone out there know of a workaround that
would allow (even basic) usage of the TLZ7L on 5.0, or any kind of hack
that would make mcutil work again?

-- 
-- Paul A. Sand                 | Live free or WISH you had.
-- University of New Hampshire  |     (Gail L. Grant, comp.sys.ultrix)
-- pas_at_unh.edu                  | 
-- http://pubpages.unh.edu/~pas | 
Received on Tue Mar 21 2000 - 13:20:28 NZST

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