[Simh] Reading VMS Backup tapes on Linux

[Stephen Hoffman]

On 06 Apr 2012 10:16:42 -0400, Edward Berry posited:

> Thanks for that. Where did you get vmsbackup?  Is there a version on the trailing-edge website?

You can obtain a copy of the vmsbackup 4.4.3 tool at <http://labs.hoffmanlabs.com/node/817> 

I have not verified the command that Mr Elson has provided (vmsbackup -xe -b 8192 -f <filename>) with a tape system.  As part of his efforts, he was also verifying the operation of his newly-created virtual tape implementation, and had requested assistance with vmsbackup while performing that debugging.  If you're not intentionally working with a tape image copy (ANSI tape labels and all), or not debugging a virtual tape driver, or not working with physical tape device, then that vmsbackup command is not applicable.

Caveat: the direct-access tape support latent in vmsbackup has not been verified in some years. I don't have a tape device configured on a (test) Unix (OS X) server, and I do also expect that there to be some differences in the tape I/O path implementations found on various Unix servers. 

There's an update pending to the vmsbackup 4.4.3 code to fix a few minor bugs that were recently reported.  These bugs are unrelated to Mr Elson's virtual tape device debugging efforts. 

Stephen Hoffman
HoffmanLabs LLC