Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!husc6!rice!sun-spots-request
From: slcpi!lakers!escott@uunet.uu.net (E. Scott Menter)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun
Subject: Tape Drives as a Network Resource
Keywords: Networks
Message-ID: <1938@brazos.Rice.edu>
Date: 3 Oct 89 22:56:15 GMT
Sender: root@rice.edu
Organization: Sun-Spots
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Approved: Sun-Spots@rice.edu
X-Sun-Spots-Digest: Volume 8, Issue 152, message 7 of 12

I have 3 GCR Cache tape drives sitting in a storage room, unused.  I also
have a host of servers (sounds nicer than a "bunch" of servers) in my
datacenter, tapeless (or at least, 1/2" tapeless).  "Gee," I say to
myself, "there ought to be some way of providing these GCRs as a network
resource."

Well, of course I could pop for a couple of Xylogics controllers and toss
them on the first available servers.  But, then I pay a price in cycles
and security (hosts.equiv access and all that).  I'd rather do something
more along the lines of a true network resource (like an Imagen laser
printer with an ethernet card).

Yes, I can work around this:  I have a couple of machines with small
busses (read: 4/110s) that I could probably sacrifice for this cause.  I'm
looking for a more interesting (and general) solution, though, if one
exists.

Thanks.  I'll summ.

Scott Menter, Manager, Workstation LAN Administration
Shearson Lehman Hutton
escott@shearson.com