R: IBM AS400 questions

[Mazzini Alessandro]

>From an experience with an older model ( so it may not be significant , I've just a 9401-p03 ), the only way to know if it likes another scsi tape unit is to try it... one may be liked and another no, depending on the tape firmware. Same consideration goes for booting from such tape drive.

-----Messaggio originale-----
Da: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] Per conto di devin davison via cctalk
Inviato: martedì 11 aprile 2017 05:13
A: Pontus Pihlgren
Cc: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts; General Discussion: On-Topic Posts
Oggetto: Re: IBM AS400 questions

Made some progress with the AS400. Looks like one of the hard drives has failed, it stated that if another disk fails then there could be a loss of data.

Plan was to back up the system to a couple of 8GB QIC tapes, however looking at my tapes they turned out to be only QIC525 MB tapes, and are not enough to back up the entire machine.  Shopping around, i am not seeing 8GB tapes for less than $40, which is kinda costly. I do not know how to determine the total size of files on the system, or how many tapes the completed backup will be. There is a scsi port on the back of the machine.
If i pick up an ibm branded drive, can i connect just any ibm branded tape drive, or do i need a specific model? I recall seeing a 8MM drive at the place where i got it , and possibly an external dat drive as well. I have plenty of dat tapes, I am trying to get a drive where the media has a higher capacity / lower cost.

I read that there is a printer port on the back of my Infowindow II terminal, do i need a special ibm printer? if not, i have a good dot matrix printer here with a box of paper that should do the job.

Leaving it powered down after tonight until i can make a complete save.
Thanks to all for the advice so far. Really steep learning curve but quite an interesting machine.

--Devin



On Mon, Apr 10, 2017 at 2:33 AM, Pontus Pihlgren <pontus at update.uu.se>
wrote:

> Hi Devin
>
> Have you subscribed to MIDRANGE-L ? http://lists.midrange.com/
>
> They might help you out. Also, if you would document your findings I 
> would be very greatful. I have a model 170 on my todo-list.
>
> /P
>
> On Sun, Apr 09, 2017 at 12:21:17PM -0400, devin davison via cctalk wrote:
> > Alright, it was quite a while back that I picked up my ibm AS400 
> > model
> 170.
> > I had asked some questions on the list, it was locked with a 
> > password
> and i
> > could not get into the machine. I finally got around to getting into 
> > the machine and am at the main menu. Before i do anything, I want to 
> > back up the machine. I have a couple of tapes.
> >
> > I am not familiar with os/400 at all, the intention is to backup the 
> > machine so in the event of a hardware failure I will be able to 
> > reinstall and still have a licenced install.
> >
> > I come from the sgi land, usually from the prom there is the HINV 
> > command to give a nice hardware inventory of the machine, is there a 
> > similar command in the ibm world? I want to find what options are 
> > installed, cpu and memory details, etc.
> >
> > Any advice on what to do from here is much appreciated. I just want 
> > to
> get
> > the thing backed up and rest assured that if the drives fail i can 
> > reinstall the os and it have its license.
> >
> > --Devin
>