Using TAPEINIT to scratch tapes

Products

• VM:Tape for z/VM

Issue/Introduction

Can I use VMTAPE TAPEINIT to scratch a batch of tapes?

Environment

Release: VMTAPE55400-2-VM:Tape
Component:

Resolution

Yes, to scratch a batch of tapes, you can issue VMTAPE TAPEINIT to change their expiration date and prepare them for use as shown here: 

VMTAPE TAPEINIT PRODUCT SERIES 620000 nn (CATONLY USER <userid> EXPDT ddd/yyyy

For ddd, specify the current day. 

After this is done run VMTAPE SCRATCH.

The SCRATCH command is used to scratch eligible tapes on CMS systems. 

Eligible tapes are tapes that have already expired or that expire today. The SCRATCH command sets the status of these tapes to SCRATCH in the TMC. 

After the scratch process run VMTAPE REFRESH. 

Additional Information

All tapes that are specified on the commands must already be defined in the TMC and must be marked as DELETED or SCRATCH in the TMC. If CA VM:Tape cannot initialize one of these tapes, it issues a message and it skips to the next tape. 

By default, CA VM:Tape mounts and labels the tape according to the default specified on the DEFLABEL configuration record. If you only want to update information in the TMC, specify the CATONLY option.