I agree with Julia on this one. Get AlphaStor to do the initial install and
setup. By all means, watch over their shoulder while they're doing it but,
there's no need to go through the steep learning curve trying to do it
yourself. Your time will be better spent learning how to use it rather than
how to install it.
If you do go for AlphaStor install, make use of your time with 'the experts'
and have them show you how to handle everyday exceptions (how to manually
move a tape from location to location, how to get AlphaStor, Legato and the
library to agree what volumes are where, how to handle a stuck tape, adding
and modifying rotations, etc., etc.)
Like all software, it has 'features' that sometimes produce unexpected
results but these are unlikely to be showstoppers, a bit of practice and
you'll soon find the right bit to 'nudge' when it all appears to have hung
(and a bit of judicious tweaking of your jukebox timers can virtually
eliminate these - although it will still bowl the odd curved ball when the
library is near capacity).
Don't be put off by this note, it a good product and I find it very useful.
Regards
Bob
-----Original Message-----
From: Julia Byrnes [mailto:JByrnes AT PHN DOT COM]
Sent: 20 November 2002 18:53
To: NETWORKER AT LISTMAIL.TEMPLE DOT EDU
Subject: Re: [Networker] AlphaStor
I had a previous version installed running with 5.5.3 (had some issues so
deinstalled it) but am anxiously awaiting to upgrade my Legato to install
Alphastor again. I found managing my offsite tapes so much easier with
Alphastor. Right now I use an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of my tapes
and it is a hassle and I only have 400 tapes to take care of. Can't imagine
how you deal with your volumes.
I found that the gui was very simple and was just given a quick lesson on
how to deal with it and was up and running. Mind you, I had a few co-op
students that couldn't cope with the concept of remove the tape and then hit
the continue button on the gui but I think that was more an issue with
aptitude (I am trying to be nice)
I did have the Alphastor team install the product since it needs to be
aligned with all your pools and retentions and such. If you don't have the
time to spend at least a day to set it all up then it is much easier to have
them deal with it. I later on learned how to use the command line
utilities as needed. It really wasn't that big of a deal.
The program is also very easy to remove from Networker if you change your
mind. It just involves rerunning jbconfig. Alphastor doesn't actually
touch any of the Networker indexes.
Julia
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