Tape hardware emulation

Emulation of one tape subsystem by another has become commonplace. Virtual tape, as well as new technologies, emulates prior technologies. Since the cartridges are not interchangeable, DFSMShsm has added support for several subcategories that indicate that they use 3490 cartridges. They include:

3590 Model E 256 track recording
3590 Model B 128 track recording
3590 Model H 384 track recording
Virtual Tape Server
and all others whose device type is 3490

Additionally, DFSMShsm supports the following subcategories of 3590 cartridges:

3590 Model E 256 track recording
3590 Model B 128 track recording
3590 Model H 384 track recording
and all others whose device type is 3590

This additional support enables multiple use of these technologies concurrently for the same function within the same HSMplex as long as their output use is on different DFSMShsm hosts. This support improves the install of new technologies to improve performance and capacity. When multiple technologies are used concurrently for output outside the DFSMS tape umbrella, an esoteric unit name is needed to enable DFSMShsm to distinguish them. An esoteric name is also needed to select existing (partially filled) tapes that are compatible with desired allocated drives.

Note:

The 3590 -E1x , -H1x, and the 3592-J1A are always in "emulation mode," either as a 3490-E1x or 3590-B1x. The 3592-E05 and newer tape units only emulate the 3590-B1x.
You can use the 3592-E05 and newer tape drives only in 3590 emulation mode; never 3490. The 3592 Model J1A can operate in 3490 emulation mode only when using MEDIA5 for output.
DFSMShsm allows you to specify 3590-1 as a unit name, provided that all devices that are associated with that name use the same recording technology. In environments where tape device allocations are controlled by other means (such as IBM® tape library) consistency checking of the 3590-1 generic unit name can be disabled if necessary. For the details of a patch that you can use, see Allowing DFSMShsm to use the 3590-1 generic unit when it contains mixed track technology drives.
To change the volume size used by the IBM TotalStorage Virtual Tape Server, you first need to mark full any partially full virtual migration and backup tapes. See IBM TotalStorage Virtual Tape Server Planning, Implementing, and Monitoring section Migration to Larger Logical Volume Sizesfor implementation details.