Downloading and Installing TapeGen

About this document

The following trademarks and acknowledgements apply to this information:

     AIX is a trademark of International Business Machines Corporation.

TapeGen is a service tool from IBM that enables you to create a stacked tape containing SMIT installable fixes. You create a stack file that lists all the images you want stacked onto a tape and TapeGen does the rest.

The PTF images must be installable through SMIT. This means the fixes must be in installp format.

The tape device must have the block size set to 512.

The stack file must contain a list of PTF images that are to be written to tape.

To obtain TapeGen or read the user's guide, download it via anonymous FTP from any of the servers listed below. Many of these sites are also web servers (example URL: http://techsupport.services.ibm.com) and FixDist servers.

Anonymous FTP sites

   Canada           rwww.aix.can.ibm.com            
   Germany          www.ibm.de                      
   Japan            fixdist.yamato.ibm.co.jp         
   United Kingdom   ftp.europe.ibm.com               
   United States    techsupport.services.ibm.com     

The TapeGen client along with the user's guide is located in the anonymous FTP directory /aix/tools/tapegen. The following steps provide instructions on how to download and install the tool and the PostScript user's guide.

NOTE: The following procedure must be performed as root.

1. Change to your /tmp directory.

      cd /tmp 
   

2. Download the tool and documentation. The tool comes with the plain text user's guide in /usr/lpp/tapegen/tapegen.text.

      ftp techsupport.services.ibm.com 
      >login:       anonymous 
      >password:  "email"  (example: johndoe@) 
      > 
      >bin 
      >cd /aix/tools/tapegen 
      >get tapegen.tar.Z  (TapeGen tool in compressed tar format) 
      >get tapegen.ps.Z (User guide in compressed Postscript) 
      >quit 
   

3. Install the tool into the /usr file system. You must install it from the / (root) directory in order to access the online help and preserve your .netrc file.

   cd /     (change directory to the root)
   zcat /tmp/tapegen.tar.Z | tar -xpvf -     (uncompress and untar)
   

To run TapeGen, enter:

    tapegen -l stack_file -s fix_dir 
    [-d device] [-w work_dir] 

NOTE: The flags encased in brackets [ ] are optional flags. Descriptions of the applicable flags are listed below:

-l   Name of the stack file. One PTF image per line.

-s   Location of the PTF images.

-d   Tape device name. The default is /dev/rmt0.

-w   Location where temporary files will be created. The default is /tmp.

Once the command is executed, you will be asked to verify the parameters. See the example below:

                   AIX TapeGen Utility Version 1.14 
   The following parameters will be used to create a stacked tape: 
         STACK FILE                    stack.list 
         PTF IMAGES DIRECTORY          /images/32 
         TAPE DEVICE                   /dev/rmt0 
         TAPE TYPE                     8MM 
         WORK DIRECTORY                /tmp 
   Do you want to proceed with the above parameters (y/n)? 

When the parameters are correct and TapeGen is executed, the following informational message will be displayed on the screen.

   Verifying if the tape device block size is set to 512...done 
   Insert a writeable tape cartridge into /dev/rmt0 and press enter 

Press Enter to start the process. TapeGen will continue to display several informational messages verifing the processes as they are written to the tape.

[ Doc Ref: 90605223614656     Publish Date: Jan. 23, 2001]