Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!rutgers!ames!ucbcad!ucbvax!SBCCMAIL.BITNET!RMALOUF From: RMALOUF@SBCCMAIL.BITNET (Rob Malouf) Newsgroups: comp.os.vms Subject: Backups and disks Message-ID: <8707080955.AA22830@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> Date: Tue, 7-Jul-87 15:58:00 EDT Article-I.D.: ucbvax.8707080955.AA22830 Posted: Tue Jul 7 15:58:00 1987 Date-Received: Sat, 11-Jul-87 02:42:47 EDT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Distribution: world Organization: The ARPA Internet Lines: 31 Hello, I have two questions that I hope someone out there can answer. First, do I really need software checksums in my VAX backups? I have read that they are not really necessary and only degrade performance. Does anyone have any experience with not using them? Any comments? I am running a VAX 11/730 with VMS 4.5 and a Cipher 990 GCR CacheTape 9-track tape drive for backups. My next question may be a little more difficult. In the next few weeks, we will be upgrading our site from a lowly VAX 11/730 to a VAX 8530 with a VAXstation II/GPX networked to it and six diskless VAXstation 2000s in a Local Area VAXcluster with the 8530 as a boot node. Unfortunately, we could not afford network hardware/software for the 11/730, so it will not be part of this configuration. However, I noticed in the documentation that an RA81 disk drive can be driven by two UDA50 controllers. If this is really true, then I could connect the 11/730's RA81 to controllers in both machines. This kind of dual-porting would create a shared disk drive and a "poor-man's" VAXcluster! All my instincts say that it could never work, but why not? Has anyone actually tried this? And by the way, does anyone know how I can get the _Guide_to_Local_Area_VAXclusters_? It is mentioned in the documentation for MicroVMS/WS, but I did not receive it with the LAVC software, and I can't even find it in the Winter/Spring 1987 _Software_Documentation_Products_ Directory_! Any help anyone can give me would be GREATLY appreciated. Thank you. Rob Malouf Marine Sciences Research Center State University of New York Stony Brook, NY 11794-5000 RMALOUF@SBCCMAIL.BITNET