The Junkpile

Tivoli Backup Manager ”Blue Tape”

EBCDIC

Yes, really, EBCDIC:

Restriction: Tivoli Storage Manager accepts only tapes that are labeled with IBM standard labels. IBM standard labels are similar to ANSI Standard X3.27 labels except that the IBM standard labels are written in EBCDIC (extended binary coded decimal interchange code). For a list of IBM media sales contacts who can provide compatible tapes, go to the IBM website. If you are using non-IBM storage devices and media, consult your tape-cartridge distributor. — IBM Tivoli Storage Manager for Windows: Administrator’s Guide page 272, “About This Task”

For example, the first 10 bytes in the first 80-byte block on a tape are: First block -⇒ e5 d6 d3 f1 e3 c1 d7 c5 f0 f9 40 40 40 40 …(all 40’s)

Translating those hexadecimal characters to EBCDIC characters gives:

  • ⇒ V O L 1 T A P E 0 9

This shows that this is the VOL1 block, and that the volume label is TAPE09.

— Reading tape labels using device driver tools (ibm.com)

Dumping with dd’s “conv” argument seems to work: dd if=$NST_DEVICE of=$FILENAME bs=256K conv=ascii status=progress

“Blue Tape”

Was stuck in LTO-5 drive when I got it.

From Unisys ClearPath (aka A Series “MCP”, “Master Control Program”). Hardware appears to be “ClearPath NX” (probably “Libra” server line like the Libra 470). OS name is “CLEARPATH MCP RELEASE 17” with copyright “COPYRIGHT (C) 2013 2014 UNISYS CORPORATION”. ClearPath 17 came out in June 2015.

Boot Tape?

There doesn’t appear to be any machine-specific data in these files — could this have been a boot/ipl tape? But no, we know it’s in Tivoli Storage Manager Format. Maybe a backup of a virgin system?

Interesting Tidbits

THE EXTENDED MANTISSA ARE DECLARED INTEGER JUST TO MAKE SURE THAT AN OVERSIGHT IN THE PROGRAM LOGIC WHICH MIGHT LEAD TO FLOATING- POINT NORMALIZATION BY THE 6500 ARE CAUGHT BEFORE THINGS GET HOPELESSLY CONFUSED.

(BLUE_TAPE.data.1390.0.0)

Machine name (or Storage Volume Name) might be “NG4ST2”? Seen in BLUE_TAPE.data.1406.0.0

“MCP_FILEWRAPPER”: “The MCP_FILEWRAPPER interface enables a program to package MCP files into wrapped or container files for transport across heterogeneous systems.”

BLUE_TAPE.data.15.0.0: “SYSTEMCCF�PARAMS”

BLUE_TAPE.data.16.0.0: “SYSTEMCCF�PARAMS�BACKUP�010613�142422”