MFNetDisk Product value
MFNetDisk emulates 3490 tape (MFNetDisk virtual tape) and 3390 disk.
MFNetDisk can replicate any real 3390 disks. It can be IBM, EMC, HDS and any disk which support CKD/ECKD CCW.
MFNetDisk can create mirrors to all 3390 (also Shark) OEM (EMC, IBM, HDS and more) using TCP and PC hard disk as storage media.
MFNetDisk PC can be Windows, Linux, Unix and more.
The host can be any PC HARDWARE or any Mainframe HARDWARE with Z/Linux.
MFNetDisk let you decide which Hardware you need and The cost you are willing to pay for the Hardware. You can use old PC, which cost you 100$ or newest Z/Linux MF. We give the software and you are free to decide the hardware you can afford for yourself!
MFNetDisk emulates 3390 disks and 3490 tapes ( MFNetDisk virtual tape), with data in PC disks storage the same as IBM emulates Shark 3390 and their tapes products or EMC emulates Symmetrix 3390 and their tape products.
MF can access the MFNetDisk emulated disks data and virtual tapes data from any distance using MFNetDisk fast TCP new technology.
MFNetDisk emulates tape. Easily, the data can be stored on PC. Any number of PC and any number of tapes can be emulated by one running MFNetDisk in MVS and many in PC.
The MFNetDisk emulated disks and tapes can be accessed and shared from any MF in any location and without any limited distance. MFNetDisk keeps the integrity of the data of the MFNetDisk disks and tapes data even if you share the disks and tapes storage between many IBM MF and many other emulated MF. No need to have Ficon or Escon connection to the storage because MFNetDisk uses TCP to access the MFNetDisk disks and the tapes.
Unlimited PC storage can hold all the 3390 disks data as well as all the virtual tape's data created by the MF.
Everyone can add MFNetDisk mirrors and 3390 emulation and the virtual tape emulation drives without the need to stop the normal operation of the MF channels or devices or without the need to schedule a service time with technicians.
Using the MFNetDisk PC Tool GUI, in a short time, you can create new attached 3390 disks and new attached mirrors and virtual tapes to your critical real 3390 and tapes data and excellent DR plan for your MF critical data.
MFNetDisk can keep the backup data and any level HSM 3390 disks and tapes data in PC storage (Hard disks or any other storage media in PC), and can access the data from MF without the need to restore the data to real 3390 disk by using its feature to emulate 3390 disks, MFNetDisk can access the data from MF the same as it was in real 3390 disks or real tapes.
Tape media was created to enable the software to use cheaper media, but now hard disks are cheaper media than tapes. Everyone can be sure if dumping the MF data to tape ended OK, but nobody can be sure that the data from tapes can be read OK.
Hard disks are much more reliable media than tape and the MFNetDisk hard disk can be accessed anytime, and the hard disk data can be checked anytime without the need to restore first the data to MF disks.
MFNetDisk emulates tapes as well. No need to mount tapes manually anymore.
All MF mount requests are handled automatically and fast and without the need for operators.
The only storage you need for tapes is more hard disks in the PC.
MFNetDisk supports any number of virtual tapes with any capacities.
You can have many MF. Each one with one running MFNetDisk with many virtual 3390 and virtual 3490 tapes and even replicate your real 3390. No need to use neither HW controllers nor specific devices to support it. Just take your free PC with its hard disk storage, and you have new 3390 disks and new tapes and even new mirrors to your critical real 3390.
MFNetDisk is a software which can add new features in days, this is currently one-man software, for now, asks a feature, and if it makes sense to me and other users, it will be there.
MFNetDisk can add confidence that in case that DR is needed, the MF users can have another great and easy way to access the MF data in any remote site which can be your DR site in seconds for your data.
MFNetDisk enables you to snapshot backup all your disks, real disks and MFNetDisk emulated disks in one second without using any MF resources at all.
MFNetDisk snapshot backup, backup your disks in less than one second. Just run a script from PC or MF to PC and you have a backup for your disks.
MFNetDisk Snapshot backup files are stored in the PC hard disk, No MVS CPU cycles are needed to do the backup, Restored disk data can be stored in the PC and the PC can emulate 3390 to MVS, the backup data is compressed and deduplicated, the data is managed by the PC to enable easy and fast backup and restore requests.
MFNetDisk can dump MF DASDs and tapes in seconds by using utilities, which run on the PC and the PC manages the catalog information which is needed to restore any 3390 disks at any point in time.
The backup data can be viewed anytime by viewing the VTOC of the backup data without the need to restored the backup to 3390 disk format.
You can access your backup as a regular 3390 disk access by MF as a read-only disk or RW disk if you select so, without the need to restore any data but to use the backup data as a regular 3390 from your selected MF site locally or remote to your site.
MFNetDisk enables any site to access MVS files from PC without accessing the MF.
A site can read files easily and quickly and directly without run FTP before and use double data storages, in MF and PC as well.
MFNetDisk support all QSAM access method for any file type V,F,VB,VB,U and even span records for PS and PO files.
For PO you can read any member in the library.
For VSAM and PDSE, MFNetDisk currently will read disk record (block and not logical record) for each read.
MFNetDisk can be used as a product which enables using the net or local mirrors and backups and more, but this product can also be used as utilities, which run one time or period of time to implement an unexpected need which cannot be done the way MFNetDisk does.
None can be sure that they never need to share MF 3390 (IBM, EMC, HDS) between remote sites without distance limitation.
The entire universal network is available for MFNetDisk to access MF 3390 data.
None can be sure that they never need to copy disks from one place to another without the need to stop the source 3390 disks or to install a new expensive hardware which can do the same.
None can be sure that they never need to backup disks and put the compressed backup data in USB hard disk to be used in second in any other site in the world as 3390 disks or tape.
To access the data in remote you do not need to transfer the disk and tape data because MFNetDisk supports sharing of any number of MF at any distance to support your disk and tape data in a remote.
MFNetDisk enables any sites in the earth to use the MFNetDisk remote mirroring. No new HW is needed, just have a TCP/IP, and you are done.
Imagine that by using MFNetDisk, IBM MF can share DASD with other remote MVS sites which until now could not share their local disks with a remote site.
Imagine that TCP in IBM MF, thanks to IBM and other companies, is better and faster now than ever and MFNetDisk faster and better as well.
MFNetDisk supports all hardware available in the PC or MVS. This product, unlike other storage companies, is a software solution only, and that is the fundamental reason that in case of changing PC Hard Disk or PC computer or MF CPU, the MFNetDisk will continue to run without any problems.
MFNetDisk 3490 tape emulation can share tapes in any distance. That is the dream of any serious MF teams to have data in any distance using the TCP/IP protocol.
MFNetDisk product can be the solution for these MF middle small companies. Now all companies can have net mirroring to their critical data.
AFAIK, MFNetDisk is the only MF product in the market which does not require any technicians to come with heavy boxes to install the product which supports unlimited 3390 disks emulation, unlimited 3490 tapes emulation and even replication of real 3390 disks.
MFNetDisk CIOD (the same as IBM PAV), enables you to run many IO requests simultaneity for one MF 3390 emulated device.
Undelete feature (The first and the only product in MF) which enable you to recover a disk file you deleted by mistake. Instead of blaming your luck, just run a MFNetDisk script from PC and the file is restored in a second if the required file space in the disk was not rewritten by other newer files.
Any type of MVS file (VSAM, regular file, SMS management file, PDSE and more) can be restored using the MFNetDisk undelete feature.
MFNetDisk also can be a good tape manager if you enable this feature.
This is a revolution tape manager which run totally on PC.
AFAIK all the standard tape managers run on MF. MFNetDisk tape manager runs only in PC.
MFNetDisk tape manager in PC is required because MFNetDisk supports shared tapes for unlimited MF without limitation of distance from MF to the PC and without the need to share the MF DISKS and catalogs required by the standard tape manager. This MFNetDisk tape manager will set your tape to scratch or to private automatically according to your definition in PC.
MFNetDisk enables you to continue to use your favorite old tape manager (CA, IBM, BMC or other)
and MFNetDisk will only do the emulation of tapes for you the same as it is done currently by EMC IBM and HDS.
MFNetDIsk enables you to use your favorite standard tape manager to handle all your tapes including your MFNetDisk tapes. This option is the default.