Tape Services Request Form Instructions

This document describes how to fill out a Tape Service Request form.

• Overview
• Contact Information
• Tape Information
  Data Format
  • Should I Convert Data?
  • Number of Volumes
  • Volume Sequence
• Data Information
  • Source File Name(s)
  • DCB Information(s)
    • Record Formats(s)
    • Blocksize(s)
    • Logical Record Length(s) (LRECL(s))
  • Target Directory Information

Overview

The Tape Service Request form is broken down into three sections: Contact information, tape format information and data format information. Each section should be filled out accurately and in it's entirety to avoid delays in processing the request.

If your data supplier has given specific instructions for reading your data, please make copy of these instructions and attach them to the Tape Service Request form when submitting your tapes.

To make filling out this paper work as easy as possible, we suggest you point your browser at the Tape Service Request form, print the form using your browsers print button, then come back to these instructions.

Contact Information

This section is used to collect contact and account information on the owner of the tape as well as the request type (read or write). It also queries the owner if the tape contains sensitive data or not. If the tape is said to contain sensitive data, operations will take greater precautions when dealing with requests for this data. For example, service requests for tapes said to contain sensitive data will only be honored with a written letter signed by the tape owner, whereby similar requests for non-sensitive data may be submitted via email to operator@rci.rutgers.edu.

Tape Information

This section is used to collect information regarding the tape format.

Data Format

This defines the physical data format on the tape. It may be one of IBM Standard; IBM non-label; ANSI standard or RAW. If your tape was created using an IBM mainframe type OS like MVS, chances are the data format is going to be one of IBM Standard, IBM non-label or ANSI standard. If your tape was created using an OS like Unix, RAW should be specified.

For more information on tape data formats see tape formats.

Should I Convert Data?

In most cases you will want to convert to the character set used by the local system. If the data is being exported, you want to convert the data to that which is being used on the remote system.

NOTE: If your data contains "packed" or "zone" decimal fields, DO NOT specify convert. These type fields do not convert properly using the utilities currently available. However, many user applications such as SAS do support the conversion of these type fields and therefore should be used instead.

For example, if you've received data from the state that contains packed decimal fields and is in EBCDIC format. The tape service request would be filled out so as not to convert the data. The data is then placed online in EBCDIC format. You then code your SAS job to treat the input as EBCDIC data rather than ASCII.

Number of Volumes

This defines the number of physical volumes in the tape set.

Volume Sequence

This defines the order in which tapes should be read and should be specified by VOLSER or VSN. This applies only to those submitting multi-volume tape sets.

Data Information

This section is used to describe the actual data on the tape. The information supplied here will be used to read the tape content.

If this is a read request and your tapes contain either IBM or ANSI standard labels, you may skip this section of the form. If this is a write request or your tape volumes DO NOT contain standard labels or you would like to change the target directory to that of another user, this portion of the for MUST be completed.

Source File Name(s)

Specify the file name to be read or written. If omitted, a default name of "tape file position" (eg. file1, file2,....filen) will be used. For example, if your tape set contains one file and you don't specify the file name on the tape service request form, the operator will read the first file on the tape and place it in the following disk file.

/rci/scratch/users/username/"tape_set_name"/file1

DCB information

This is the data control information needed to read or write a tape. It should include a record format, a blocksize and a logical record length (lrecl). Those submitting tapes with a label type of "RAW" or a format of "UNIX" need only specify blocksize as Unix does not understand record format or logical records.

Record Formats(s)

• f - fixed length records
• fb - fixed length, blocked records
• v - variable length records
• vb - variable length, blocked records
• vs - variable length, spanned records
• vbs - variable length, blocked, spanned records
• u - unformatted data

Blocksize(s)

This refers to the physical blocking factor (or bytes per block) of data on the tape. This number should not exceed 32768 if the tape is to be read by an IBM operating system such as MVS.

Logical Record Length(s) (LRECL(s))

This refers to the number of bytes per record in the file. If a record format of variable is used, this value should equal that of the longest record within the file.

Target Directory Information

This line is provided for specifying an alternate target directory to that of the default as specified in the NBCS Tape Service Policy under Reading tapes(s). In cases where you are specifying a target directory owned by someone other than yourself, we recommend you read this section of the policy very carefully.