PSF/AIX: Tape support (Want to read multi-volume MVS tapes into AIX)
ITEM: RTA000090151
Q:
ABSTRACT: PSF/6000: Tape support
SEARCH ARG: psf6000
TOPIC THREAD: PRINT
AFP
PSF6000
..
My AIX customer wants to understand more about the tape support that
was recently announced in PSF for AIX V2 (5765-505). The customer
would like to use 1/2-inch cartridge tape device, IBM 3490E SCSI
attached, on his RS/6000 to read data that was written to the tape
from an MVS system. The tape uses standard labels (SL) and is multi-
volume. Thus we can't use the AIX dd command.
They simply would like to copy the file from the tapes to the disk.
Then they would like to print at a later time (using psfin or enq).
Any information would be appreciated.
A:
The PSF for AIX Version 2 announcement included support for processing
tapes (including tape to COM, and tape to print). The capabilities
I'm about to describe are *not* available in PSF/6000 V1. They *are*
available in Infoprint Manager V3.1 or later.
From the announcement letter (295-287):
"A deblocking program included with IBM Print Services Facility for
AIX Version 2.1 can read any datastream supported by PSF for AIX V2.1
(except Proprinter ASCII) from tape and place it on the AIX spool for
processing by PSF for AIX. This provides offline tape-to-COM and
tape-to-print solutions for service bureaus or other customers with
a need for stand-alone processing. Tape formats supported include
IBM Fixed Block, IBM Variable Block, and JES2 Spool Offload. Tape media
supported include IBM 3480, IBM 3490, IBM 3490E, IBM 3420, AND 8mm."
If another tape format is required, PSF for AIX provides a user exit
that you can use to write your own program to take the data off the tape
and pass it to psfin for further processing. (More information in Print
Administration, S544-3817-02.)
The function is richest for IBM Standard Labeled tapes. Some of the
additional functions you can utilize are volume sequencing, serial
number verification for a resume, block count verification, and the
ability to specify file names instead of numbers.
Tape processing is invoked through smit or through the psfin command.
With psfin, you can:
1) Read in a tape (including multi-volume tapes), deblock and invoke
one of PSF for AIX's transforms (ps2afp, pcl2afp, line2afp/acif,
d2afp, db2afp), and then print; larger than 2GB files are supported
using the segmenting function of the Input Manager;
2) Read in a tape (including multi-volume tapes) and deblock; or
3) Read in a tape (including multi-volume tapes) without deblocking
If you want to read in a tape, deblock, transform and print, you would
use psfin from the command line or smit psf to submit a job using a job
script.
If you want to read in the tape(s) and deblock (#2), you would use psfin
without specifying the -s flag (page 116 of Print Submission).
If you want to read in the tape(s) without deblocking (#3), you would
use psfin without the -s flag and use a job script that specifies the
passthrough format (i_Format=p). (This approach would generally only
be used if you are trying to read in a tape format that is not natively
supported by PSF for AIX's Input Manager.)
Passthrough format means that the data will be copied to AIX just as it
appears on the tape. For example, if you were to copy a variable-block
file with i_Format=p from tape to disk using psfin, the data would still
be in variable-block format with extra non-data bytes. If you then
wanted to turn around and print this variable-block file, you would have
extraneous bytes that will cause problems for the PSF for AIX transforms
or the Input Manager's job segmenter. To get around this, you would
have to write an input exit to deblock the variable-block data. The easy
way to accomplish the same thing is to use the deblocker in psfin by
specifying i_Format=v when transferring the file from tape to disk.
If what you are trying to accomplish is to get the data into a file
on the RS/6000 without printing, please see example #4 in the Print
Submission book for Version 2 (page 117 in my copy of S544-3878-02).
Also included with PSF for AIX are three programs to assist you in
working with tapes. They can be used from the command line or from
smit (PSF/6000 Printing and Configuration, Work with Tapes).
- "t2file" can be used to unload MVS AFP resource libraries (PDSes that
have been dumped to tape using IEBCOPY) into PSF for AIX for use
there.
- "tdump" can be used to output the contents of a tape in human-readable
format; you can format the output to display in hexadecimal or octal
(with a readable character above each byte), dump by file or block,
determine the size of a file on tape, or determine the largest block
in a file. It's most often used to assist you in writing the required
job scripts.
- "tlist" is used to list files on a tape. If the tape is IBM Standard
Label, a list of filenames will be returned. For non-standard or
unlabeled tapes, this program displays the number of files on a tape.
That's a quick overview of some of the capabilities of tape support
with PSF for AIX. Note that in addition to tape-to-print, we can also
support tape-to-com, to the Anacomp XFP2000 microfilm/microfiche
device.
If you have additional questions, please reopen. Closing.
S e a r c h - k e y w o r d s:
AIX PSF/6000 PSF FOR AIX PSF/AIX TAPE MICROFICHE PRINT infoprint
WWQA: ITEM: RTA000090151 ITEM: RTA000090151
Dated: 07/1999 Category: XPSF6000
This HTML file was generated 2000/11/30~13:34:04
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