IBM AS400 questions

[devin davison]

 I picked up a IBM 7208 222 8mm drive today. I got a bunch of tapes with
it. Going to wire it up and power up the machine. Do I need to do any
special config or commandsto make the drive available, or will it just show
up as tap02?

I want to perform a complete system backup, is there any way to find how
big that will be so i can predict how many tapes I will need? How about
just listing files on the system and see how much space is taken up. I have
not been able to figure out how to list files yet...

Slow going, but progress. Thankful this drive and tapes were still there at
the scrapyard.

--Devin

On Tue, Apr 11, 2017 at 6:20 AM, Mazzini Alessandro <mazzinia at tin.it> wrote:

> 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
> >
>
>

On Tue, Apr 11, 2017 at 6:20 AM, Mazzini Alessandro <mazzinia at tin.it> wrote:

> 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
> >
>
>