GENIOS PROVIDES VIRTUAL TAPE CAPABILITY FOR VSE USERS

The GENIOS Virtual Tape support provides VSE users the ability to automatically redirect tape files to Network DASD, which offers significant tape resource savings and improved operational flexibility for the VSE data center. The simulated tape files can be retrieved by both mainframe programs and standard PC applications. And with GENIOS, the operation is performed transparently - without recompiling or relinking existing user programs.

The Virtual Tape facility offers numerous benefits, including:

• Improved job turnaround time and operations scheduling flexibility by removing dependence on tape drive availability
• Elimination of operator intervention for tape handling
• Improved programmer testing by eliminating contention for tape drives
• Reduced tape drive and tape media costs as well as valuable floor space
• Elimination of conflicting tape I/O assignments
• No transporting tapes between the mainframe and PC
• Backup/Restore mainframe files to/from Network DASD

Benefits not available with other (much more expensive) Virtual Tape solutions include:

• Files are equally accessible between VSE and the network (significantly reduces file transfer traffic on the network)
• Does not require interfacing with a VSE tape manager to simulate virtual tape mounts
• In addition to tape files, GENIOS can also transparently redirect disk and print files anywhere on the network
• Interfaces with any Hierarchical Storage Manager and Automated Tape Library System
• Provides logging and accounting functions

HOW GENIOS WORKS

GENIOS installs in minutes and operates totally transparent to your system; it can be used immediately on the jobs that you specifically select.

Just make a simple JCL change and GENIOS will enable your programs to read and write tape files anywhere in your network over TCP/IP (Connectivity Systems). And, GENIOS supports non-TCP, high speed file transfers to a Windows NT Server attached via a Channel-to-Channel Adapter interface (CTCA).

GENIOS intercepts VSE file opens and, based on the inclusion of a special GENIOS-formatted DLBL statement for a file, creates linkage to the GENIOS LIOCS component in the SVA. As the program issues standard I/O requests (GET, PUT, etc.), GENIOS directly and immediately transmits the data to or from the PC specified in the GENIOS DLBL statement for the file.

Look at the following example and see how easy GENIOS is to use.

Writing a Tape file on the Network

// JOB EXAMPLE - CREATE INVENTORY TAPE FILE
// ASSGN SYS010,580 Tape file assignment (may omit)
(// TLBL FILEOUT,'INVENTORY FILE')
replaced by following GENIOS DLBL
// DLBL FILEOUT,'IP=5001(9.12.2.7),C:INVENTORYFILE;nnn'
// EXEC USERPROG
/&

In the example, the tape file, FILEOUT, will be written to the network server identified as "9.12.2.7" and stored on the C disk as 'INVENTORYFILE.nnn', where nnn signifies the next generation of 'INVENTORYFILE' to be created. For instance, if the existing file is 'INVENTORYFILE.001', the new file will be stored as 'INVENTORYFILE.002'.