Computer Associates International, Inc. is pleased to announce

BrightStor VM:Tape r1.8
General Availability

We at Computer Associates International, Inc. (CA) are proud of our ongoing product development, customer support and maintenance programs. As part of these programs, we regularly release updated versions and maintenance for our products.

We are pleased to announce the General Availability (GA) of BrightStor VM:Tape r1.8. This new release delivers the following enhancements and new features:

• BrightStor CA-1 TMC Compatibility Updates
  BrightStor VM:Tape now correctly sets the BrightStor CA-1 MTF flag (FLAG3 of the volume Record set to X'02') for multivolume tape sets that contain more than one dataset. SMFID is a new record on the CONFIG FILE that is required if you run with a shared BrightStor CA-1 TMC. This provides more accurate auditing of TMC updates.



• Support for BrightStor CA-1 TMSXTEND Utility
  This utility performs a dynamic move and update of the TMC. Because BrightStor VM:Tape can directly use and share the BrightStor CA-1 TMC and Audit files, it is enhanced to recognize and participate in TMSXTEND processing when it runs on z/OS. BrightStor CA-1 and BrightStor VM:Tape can both remain active while TMSXTEND runs, then dynamically switch to the updated version of the TMC when TMSXTEND processing signals all participants to do so.



• Tape Device and Media Support
  BrightStor VM:Tape is updated to support the following devices and their associated media: IBM 3590H, IBM 3592, STK 9840C and STK 9940B. It now supports two startup options; NOEDRSUP (the default) and EDRSUP. The BrightStor VM:Tape startup option used determines the way BrightStor VM:Tape recognizes tape drives for ALLOCATE and MOUNT requests.



• Synchronization Performance
  BrightStor VM:Tape supports the concept of location for tape drives and volumes. A user-customizable method is provided to specify tape ranges that BrightStor VM:Tape should consider as residing in specific locations. The ranges are specified in the VMTAPE CONFIG file. The range record represents the type of robotic drive in use.



• Ability to Mount Twins
  BrightStor VM:Tape is enhanced to determine when both primary and twin(s) copies of BrightStor VM:Backup or BrightStor VM:Archiver are available and resident in a robotic system for restores and recalls. This will help to prevent restores queuing up, waiting for the primary tape. This can also help during disaster recovery tests when the twin copies of backups have been loaded into the robotic system at the disaster recovery site.



• Uniform Tape Usage within Location
  Previously, BrightStor VM:Tape maintained a single pointer to facilitate uniform drive usage. This implementation works properly when a site uses only a single location for tape processing. However, with multiple locations defined to BrightStor VM:Tape, the single pointer is reset to the beginning of the device list each time the location switches to satisfy a tape request, defeating the attempt at uniform drive usage. Now, BrightStor VM:Tape is enhanced to maintain a "next drive to use" pointer for each location.



• New and Changed Message Numbers
  
  

  Changed:	001I	New:	117I
  	116I		259E
  	427I		260I
  	499A		261I
  	552I		262I
  			263E
  			264E
  			265E
  			266I
  			267I
  			268I
  			729E
  			945I