Is there a way of telling that a dat tape is inserted in the drive

[Frank Nikoletti_1]

I want to be able to check pror to initiating the backup that a tape has been inserted in the tape drive ... and abort the backup if it hasn't.

I can use DEVCTRL.MPEXL.TELESUP to put the tape on-line - but it doesn't tell me enquire as to whether the tape is inserted in the drive

[Kwan Fong, Emile]

Hello Frank,

To check if there is a tape loaded into the tape drive, use the :showdev command, "(Nolabel)" is listed, this usually indicates a tape is loaded. If you have qedit (3rd party text editor from Robelle) on your system, you can use the following script to test if a tape is inserted:

!continue
!devctrl.mpexl.telesup 7 load=online
!continue
!pause 60
!continue
!showdev 7 > tmp7
!run qedit.pub.robelle;parm=128;info="list tmp7 '(Nolabel)'"
!if qeditcount = 0 then
! tellop
! tellop No tape loaded in ldev#7
! tellop no backup will be done
! tellop
!else
! file t;dev=7
! store @.@.@;*t;show;directory;progress=5
!endif

[Chuck Ciesinski]

Frank,

I believe that there are only three ways to verify if a tape is loaded.

1. Watch the two blinking lights.
2. Watch for the tape mounted message on the console.
3. Do a :SHOWDEV TAPE in session.

Emile has already provided a good script for testing. I'd only modify it do do a $NULL store rather than @.@.@.

My $.04 for infaltion,

Chuck Ciesinski