I/O Enhancements Abound in V4R3
Tape drives. Optical disk storage systems. DASD. ADSM. None of those things are nearly as dazzling as Java or Domino or e-business, but they’re just as important if not more so to many AS/400 users. And V4R3 brings enhancements to all of them.
Tape drive improvements include up to a 42 GB per hour save rate on the 3570-CXX models plus the new 3575 model which holds up to 4.8 TB. IBM has also announced plans to increase the AS/400’s entry internal tape drive capacity from 13 GB to 25 GB, though that improvement is not yet available.
"Customers can reduce their backup time, change tapes less frequently and reduce the number of backup tapes they have to maintain," explains Drew Flaada, IBM 1998 project manager for AS/400 brand.
Capacity has been doubled and access time reduced on the 3995 optical tape drives, which are used for storage of image files. DASD improvements include a 17.5 GB drive on the Model 170, doubling the storage capacity of that machine. Improvements have also been made in disk compression, allowing users to store more data on the same amount of disk. Flaada adds that access time is increased for compressed data, however companies that archive large amounts of data that they rarely access will benefit.
There’s a new external DASD subsystem featuring IBM’s Versatile Storage Server which provides users with increased choices of external drives to attach beyond 9337 drives. The Versatile Storage Server can be partitioned to allow for storage of data from different systems, such as a port for RS/6000 and a port for AS/400.
Adstar Distributed Storage Management (ADSM) has also been enhanced in V4R3. Performance for saving files from non-AS/400 systems has been maximized and AS/400 data can now be backed up to other non-AS/400 systems such as OS/2, Windows NT, AIX, HP-UX, Sun Solaris and MVS. Previously ADSM only allowed data from other systems and PC client data to be saved to the AS/400.
"The ADSM enhancements should be really beneficial to folks running their AS/400s in mixed networks with other systems and PC clients," Flaada says.