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From: SYSRUTH@UTORPHYS.BITNET.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.os.vms
Subject: Re: tape handling problems
Message-ID: <8706200502.AA08888@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
Date: Fri, 19-Jun-87 14:54:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.8706200502.AA08888
Posted: Fri Jun 19 14:54:00 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 21-Jun-87 03:47:29 EDT
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There was a session at this spring's DECUS in Nashville on
tape handling (sponsored I believe by the large systems SIG
as the white paper Brent Sterner mentioned was read). There
was someone from DEC present, taking notes and discussing
problems and possible solutions. However, a friend at the
session informed me that the same DECy had been at a similar
session at a DECUS 2 years earlier, also taking notes and
discussing problems, and that nothing had ever come of it.
So I am not holding my breath waiting for tape enhancements.

One solution to Brent's problem of people leaving loaded
tapes on unallocated tape drives would be to not allow the
/nounload qualifier on dismount *unless* the tape drive had
actually been ALLOCated. That way still-loaded tapes would
only be found on allocated tape drives. Or perhaps OPER privilege
or something similar could be required. Real operators could
also be instructed not to mount a tape on an unallocated drive
(if you *have* real operators; here, everyone is their own). Is
it possible to remove the /nounload qualifier from the DCLTABLES
with SET COMMAND/DELETE, or does it have to be a full command?
If you have that VERB program that keeps getting mentioned, Brent,
you could extract DISMOUNT, modify it to remove /nounload, and then
reapply it. I personally find it a very useful command, though.
How about writing a small command file so that MOUNT actually does
ALLOCATE and then MOUNT? And one for DISMOUNT/UNLOAD to deallocate
it (so that /nounload leaves it allocated)? Would that help?

Anyway, those are some ideas I had. It's not something I've thought
a lot about. Since everyone here mounts their own tapes, it really
isn't a problem for me.

Ruth Milner
Systems Manager
University of Toronto Physics

SYSRUTH@UTORPHYS