Optical disk system emulating magnetic tape units

• US 5,438,674 A
• Filed: 07/01/1994
• Issued: 08/01/1995
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/1988
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: BankBoston, N.A (Bank of America Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Data/Ware Development Incorporated
• Inventors: Mautner, Craig D., Thompson, Sidney R., Thorpe, Tracy J., Goodsell, Michael C., Keele, Richard V.
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas G.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Von Buhr, Maria N.
• Application Number:
  US08/270,109
• Time in Patent Office: 396 Days
• Field of Search: 364/DIG. 1, 364/DIG. 2, 395/400, 395/425, 395/500, 369/13, 369/14
• US Class Current: 711/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0601 Interfaces specially adapted for storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0664 at device level, e.g. emulation of a storage device or system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0673 Single storage device
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 7/0037 with discs
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99955 Archiving or backup

Abstract

An optical disk system emulating a 3480 magnetic tape subsystem having one or more magnetic tape drives, includes a VMEGate channel attached processor for receiving CCW tape commands, a SCSI board for controlling SCSI optical disk drives, a serial I/O board for controlling jukebox optical disk media handlers for automatically robotically loading and unloading optical disks containing virtual tape data into the optical disk drives, a cache RAM for buffering data between the channel and the optical disk drives, operator consoles for emulating the 3480 magnetic tape subsystem control panels, an SBC computer and VME bus for central control of the system, and floppy and hard disk drives for storing emulation SBC programs and disk directories, to enable the system to exhibit an organization of virtual tape data into a system of pointers and user records of the virtual tapes, a reallocatable mapping between magnetic tape drives and the optical disk drives, disk directories cross referencing virtual tapes VSNs to optical disks for locating particular optical disks storing requested VSNs, and to enable WORM optical media to appear to the channel as rewritable magnetic tape through the conversion of tape commands to jukebox load operations and optical disk drive seek operations for increased performance, said system emulates a 3480 magnetic tape subsystem by using jukeboxes to automatically load optical media into and out of optical disk drives and by using a dynamic re-allocation method for maintaining a one-to-one mapping between the virtual magnetic tape drives and the optical disk drives, which reduces access speed to the data.

Claims

1. A system for emulating a magnetic tape subsystem having and controlling a plurality of magnetic tape drives so as to read to write magnetic tape data onto and from magnetic tapes, said magnetic tape subsystem connected to a channel communicating magnetic tape subsystem channel commands and magnetic tape data organized in channel data formats, said system being for the purposes of recording and reading virtual magnetic tape data on optical disks in response to said magnetic tape subsystem channel commands, said system comprising:

an optical disk drive means responsive to optical disk drive commands, said optical disk drive means serving to record and to read said virtual magnetic tape data on said optical disks;

a system memory means, connected to said channel and to said optical disk drive means and to a computer means,

for buffering said virtual magnetic tape data bidirectionally between said computer means and said optical disk drive means,

for buffering said magnetic data bidirectionally between said channel and said computer means, and

for storing computer programs; and

computer means, connected between said channel and said optical disk drive means and connected to said system memory means,

for executing said computer programs stored in said system memory means,

for receiving said channel commands from said channel,

for translating said channel commands into said optical disk drive commands,

for transmitting said optical disk drive commands to said optical disk drive means,

for receiving said magnetic tape data from said channel via buffering in said system memory means,

for organizing said magnetic tape data into said virtual magnetic tape data,

for transmitting said virtual magnetic tape data to said optical disk drive means via buffering in said system memory means,

for receiving said virtual magnetic tape data from said optical disk drive means via buffering in said system memory means,

for reorganizing said virtual magnetic tape data into said magnetic tape data, and

for transmitting said magnetic tape data to said channel via buffering in said system memory means;

wherein said computer means communicates through said channel within said channel data formats;

wherein said computer means accepts channel commands that are sufficient for said magnetic tape subsystem to control said plurality of magnetic tape drives to read and to write in order to, in response to said channel commands and instead of controlling said plurality of magnetic tape drives, control said optical disk drive means to read and to write; and

wherein said optical disk drive means, said system memory means and said computer means, collectively emulate said magnetic tape subsystem.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said computer means comprises:

an optical disk drive processor means, connected said optical disk drive means and to said system memory means and to said channel and to a central processor means, for, responsively to executing said computer programs stored in said system memory means,

receiving said optical disk drive commands from said system memory means as became stored therein by action of a central processor means,

transmitting said optical disk drive commands to said optical disk drive means,

reading said virtual magnetic tape data from, and writing virtual magnetic tape data to, said system memory means, and writing said virtual magnetic tape data to, and reading said virtual magnetic tape data from, said optical disk drive means; and

a central processor means, connected between said channel and to said system memory means, for, responsively to executing said computer programs stored in said system memory means,

receiving said channel commands,

translating said channel commands into said optical disk drive commands,

storing said optical disk drive commands in said system memory means,

commanding said optical disk processor means to transmit said optical disk drive commands to said optical disk drive means, and also to write and to read said virtual magnetic tape data between said system memory means and said optical disk drive means,

receiving said magnetic tape data from said channel,

organizing received said magnetic tape data into said virtual magnetic tape data,

storing said virtual magnetic tape data in said system memory means, from which system memory means said virtual magnetic tape data is read by the optical disk processor means responsively to the commanding,

for receiving said virtual magnetic tape data from the system memory means where it was written by the optical disk processor means responsively to the commanding;

reorganizing received said virtual magnetic tape data into said magnetic tape data, and

transmitting said magnetic tape data through said channel within said channel data formats.

3. The system of claim 1

wherein said channel commands include channel addresses for addressing a one of said plurality of magnetic tape drives,

wherein said computer means is programmed to assign said optical disk drive means to one channel address, and is further programmed to reassign said optical disk drive means to another one of said channel addresses,

and wherein said system memory comprises:

computer program memory means, connected to said computer means, for storing programs executed by said computer means, and

data buffer memory means, connected to said computer means, for buffering said virtual magnetic tape data during said communication of said virtual magnetic tape data to and from said assigned and reassigned optical disk drive means.

4. The system of claim 1

wherein said channel commands serve to identify individual ones of a multiplicity of said magnetic tapes, and

wherein said computer means is programmed to generate jukebox commands identifying a plurality of said optical disks,

and wherein said system further comprises:

computer memory means connected to said computer means for storing cross reference data cross referencing said plurality of optical disks with said multiplicity of magnetic tapes, said computer means being programmed to search said cross reference data to identify each said optical disk as is cross referenced to each said magnetic tape identified by each one of said channel commands, said computer means generating said jukebox commands to load said identified optical disk in said optical disk drive means, and

jukebox means, connected to said computer means for receiving said jukebox commands, for robotically loading said identified optical disk into said optical disk drive means.

5. The system of claim 1

wherein each said plurality of magnetic tape drives has a drive operator panel for entering operator commands;

wherein said computer means is programmed to generate a panel simulation depicting said drive operator panel;

and wherein said system further comprises;

an operator console means, connected to said computer means, for receiving said panel simulation from said computer means and for displaying said panel simulation, said operator console means having an input keyboard means for entering operator commands into said computer means, and

wherein said computer means is programmed to translate said operator commands received from said input keyboard means into optical disk drive commands for controlling said optical disk drive means.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein said computer means comprises:

a channel processor means, connected to said channel for receiving said channel commands, for executing channel processor programs responsively to which a communicating of said magnetic tape data between said system memory means and said channel is controlled, said channel processor means communicating said magnetic tape data over said channel within said channel data formats, and

a central processor means, connected to said system memory means, for executing said computer programs responsively to which said central processor means is

interrupted by said channel processor means to receive said channel commands,

generating channel processor commands communicated to said channel processor means,

generating said optical disk drive commands communicated to said optical disk drive means,

communicating said virtual magnetic tape data between said optical disk drive means and said system memory means,

commanding said channel processor means to communicate said magnetic tape data between said channel and said system memory,

commanding said optical disk drive means to read and write said virtual magnetic tape data,

organizing said magnetic tape data into said virtual magnetic tape data,

reorganizing said virtual magnetic tape data into said magnetic tape data, and

commanding said channel processor means to respond to said channel commands through said channel.

7. A system for emulating a magnetic tape subsystem connected to a plurality of magnetic tape drives serving to read and to write magnetic tape data onto and from a plurality of magnetic tapes, and connected to a channel communicating magnetic tape subsystem channel commands and said magnetic tape data within channel data formats, said emulation system being for the purpose of reading and writing virtual magnetic tape data on a plurality of optical disks, said system comprising:

a plurality of optical disk drives for reading and for writing said virtual magnetic tape data on said plurality of optical disks, said plurality of optical disk drives being controlled for said reading and said writing by optical disk drive commands;

a bus means for communicating said virtual magnetic tape data, said magnetic tape data, and said optical disk drive commands;

a data buffer memory means, connected to said bus means and to said data buffer memory means, for buffering said magnetic tape data and said virtual magnetic tape data;

an optical disk drive processor means, executing drive processor programs and connected between said bus means and said plurality of optical disk drives, for receiving and for processing optical disk drive processor commands, for communicating said virtual magnetic tape data between said data buffer memory means and said plurality of optical disk drives, and for transmitting said optical disk drive commands to said plurality of optical disk drives;

a channel processor means, connected between said channel and said bus means and executing channel processor programs, for receiving and processing channel processor commands, for receiving said channel commands and for retransmitting said channel commands, and for communicating said magnetic tape data between said channel and said data buffer memory means;

a computer program memory means storing computer programs and said optical disk drive commands; and

a computer means,

connected to said computer program memory means for executing said computer programs and for accessing said optical disk drive commands stored therein,

connected to said channel processor means for transmitting said channel processor commands thereto and for receiving said channel commands re-transmitted therefrom,

connected to said optical disk drive processor means for transmitting said optical disk drive processor commands thereto,

programmed to translate said channel commands into said optical disk drive commands, said channel processor commands and said optical disk-drive processor commands,

programmed to organize said magnetic tape data into said virtual magnetic tape data,

programmed to reorganize said virtual magnetic tape data into said magnetic tape data,

programmed to command said channel processor means to communicate said magnetic tape data between said channel and said data buffer memory means through said bus means, and to communicate said magnetic tape data through said channel within said channel data formats, and

programmed to command said optical disk drive processor means to transmit said optical disk drive commands to said optical disk drive means and to transmit said virtual magnetic tape data between said data buffer memory means and said plurality of optical disk drives.

8. The system of claim 7 further for emulating a magnetic tape subsystem having a subsystem operator panel for entering subsystem operator commands for controlling said magnetic tape subsystem, said plurality of magnetic tape drives each having a respective tape drive operator panel into which tape drive operator commands are enterable for purpose of controlling said magnetic tape drive to transmit its status data that is communicated through said channel,

wherein said plurality of optical disk drives each presents optical disk drive status data, and wherein said system further comprises:

operator console means connected to said computer means;

said computer means being further programmed to generate a panel simulation depicting said subsystem operator panel and said tape drive operator panels;

wherein said operator console receives and displays said panel simulation;

wherein subsystem operator commands and said tape drive operator commands are enterable into said operator console;

wherein said subsystem operator commands and said tape drive operator commands are both communicated by said console means to said computer means;

wherein said computer means is programmed to translate said tape drive operator commands and said subsystem operator commands into said optical disk drive commands, and to translate said optical disk drive status data into said tape drive status data.

9. The system of claim 7

wherein said optical disk drive processor means reads said optical disk drive commands stored in said computer program memory means, transmits said optical disk drive commands to said plurality of optical disk drives, and by communicating said virtual magnetic tape data between said plurality of optical disk drives and said buffer memory means, all via said bus means.

10. The system of claim 7 further for emulating a magnetic tape subsystem wherein said channel commands identify an individual one of said plurality of magnetic tapes, wherein said system further comprises:

a computer memory means connected to said computer means for storing cross reference data cross referencing said plurality of optical disks with said plurality of magnetic tapes;

an additional computer program memory means for storing additional computer programs executed by said computer means to search said cross reference data to identify which particular individual one of said plurality of optical disks is cross referenced to a particular individual one of said plurality of magnetic tapes as is identified by said channel commands;

wherein said computer means is further programmed to generate jukebox commands directing a loading of said particular individual identified one of said plurality of optical disks into a one of said plurality of optical disk drives;

wherein said computer means being still further programmed to generate input-output commands suitable to control transmission of the generated jukebox commands;

jukebox means, robotically connected to said plurality of optical disk drives and to said plurality of optical disks, for receiving said jukebox commands, said jukebox means for loading said particular individual identified one of said plurality of optical disks into a particular one of said plurality of optical disk drives; and

input-output processor means, connected to said computer means for receiving said input-output commands and said jukebox commands, for communicating said jukebox commands to said jukebox means in response to said input-output-commands;

therein causing the jukebox means to robotically load said particular individual identified one of said plurality of optical disks into said particular one of said plurality of optical disk drives.

11. The system of claim 7 wherein said data buffer memory means comprises:

a cache RAM memory connected to said bus means;

wherein said data buffer memory means is accessed under control of said channel processor means for communicating said magnetic tape data, and is accessed under control of said optical disk drive processor means for communicating said virtual magnetic tape data;

and wherein said computer program memory means comprises;

a computer RAM memory;

wherein said computer program memory means is accessed under control of said optical disk drive processor means for reading said optical disk drive commands, and is accessed under control of said computer means for reading said computer programs;

wherein said channel processor means transmits said channel commands to said computer means via said bus means;

wherein said computer means transmits said generated channel processor commands to said channel processor via said bus means; and

wherein said channel processor means processes said channel processor commands by accessing said data buffer memory means via said bus means, and communicates said magnetic tape data via said bus means between said data buffer memory means and said channel.

12. The system of claim 7 further for emulating a magnetic tape subsystem wherein said channel commands identify said plurality of magnetic tapes by serial numbers and identify said plurality of magnetic tape drives by respective channel addresses, said system further comprising:

a computer memory means, connected to said computer means, for storing cross reference data cross referencing said plurality of optical disks and said plurality of magnetic tapes;

an additional computer program memory means for storing additional computer programs executed by said computer means;

wherein the computer means executes said additional computer programs so as to identify from a one of said channel commands a selected one of said plurality of optical disks, and so as to generate jukebox commands to load said selected one of said plurality of optical disks into a selected one optical disk drive assigned to and identified by one of said channel addresses;

wherein said computer means is further programmed to generate input-output commands causing action on the jukebox commands to effectuate loading of said selected one of said plurality of optical disks;

a plurality of jukebox means for receiving said jukebox commands, each of said plurality of jukebox means being robotically connected to a respective plurality of optical disks and to a respective plurality of optical disk drives;

wherein said cross reference data further cross references said respective plurality of optical disks and a selected one of said plurality of jukebox means;

wherein said selected one of said plurality of jukebox means to load said selected one of said plurality of optical disks into said selected one of said plurality of optical disk drives;

wherein said computer means is programmed to search said cross reference data to identify a selected one of said plurality of jukebox means;

wherein said computer means is programmed to generate said jukebox commands to command said selected one of said plurality of jukebox means to robotically load said selected one of said plurality of optical disks in one of said selected one of said plurality of optical disk drives identified by one of said channel addresses; and

an input-output processor means, connected between said plurality of jukebox means and said computer means, for receiving and processing said input-output commands to communicate said jukebox commands to said selected one of said plurality of jukebox means.

13. The system of claim 7 further for emulating a magnetic tape subsystem wherein said channel commands have at a plurality of channel addresses for addressing said plurality of magnetic tape drives, wherein said system further comprises;

an additional computer program memory means for storing additional programs for said computer means;

wherein said computer means executes said additional programs so as to assign said each of said plurality of channel addresses to an associated one of said plurality of optical disk drives, therein to allocate each one of the plurality of optical disk drives to each one of said plurality of magnetic tape drives,

wherein said computer means is further programmed to reallocate each one of said plurality of optical disk drives to each one of said plurality of magnetic tape drives by reassigning one of said plurality of optical disk drives to another one of said plurality of channel addresses or by reassigning one of said plurality of channel addresses to another one of said plurality of optical disk drives.

18. The system of claim 13

wherein said computer is programmed to generate magnetic disk commands;

and wherein said system further comprises;

a magnetic disk interface means, connected to said computer, for receiving said magnetic disk commands;

a magnetic hard disk drive means, connected to and controlled by said magnetic disk interface means, for storing cross reference data cross referencing said plurality of optical disks to said plurality of magnetic tapes, wherein said magnetic disk commands communicate said cross reference data to said computer; and

a magnetic soft disk drive means, connected to and controlled by said magnetic disk interface means, for storing said computer programs and for communicating said computer programs into said computer program RAM.

14. A system for emulating a magnetic tape subsystem connected to a plurality of magnetic tape drives serving to read and to write magnetic tape data on a plurality of magnetic tapes, and connected to a host computer having a channel serving to communicate magnetic tape subsystem channel commands to said magnetic tape subsystem so as to direct the reading and writing of said magnetic tape data on said plurality of magnetic tapes, said channel communicating within channel data formats, said magnetic tape subsystem communicating said magnetic tape data between said channel and said plurality of magnetic tape drives, said channel commands having serial numbers identifying a one of said plurality of magnetic tapes and having channel addresses respectively identifying a one of said plurality of magnetic tape drives, said system being for the purpose of reading and of writing virtual magnetic tape data on a plurality of optical disks each of which records a plurality of virtual magnetic tapes, said system comprising,

a plurality of optical disk drives each of which is allocated to a respective ones of said plurality of magnetic tape drives and each of which is controlled by optical disk drive commands for reading and writing said virtual magnetic tape data on respective ones of said plurality of optical disks;

a bus for communicating said magnetic tape data, said virtual magnetic tape data, and said optical disk drive commands,

a cache RAM, connected to said bus, for buffering said virtual magnetic tape data communicated to and from said plurality of optical disk drives, and for buffering said magnetic tape data communicated to and from said channel;

a computer bus RAM connected to said bus for storing said optical disk drive commands;

a disk drive processor, connected between said plurality of optical disk drives and said bus, for reading said optical disk drive commands from said computer bus RAM, for communicating said optical disk drive commands to said plurality of optical disk drives, and for communicating said virtual magnetic tape data between said plurality of optical disk drives and said cache RAM;

a channel processor, connected between said channel and said bus, for receiving said channel commands through said channel and for communicating said magnetic tape data between said cache RAM memory and said channel;

a computer program RAM for storing computer programs; and

a computer connected to said computer program RAM for reading and executing said computer programs, and for, responsively to the executing,

receiving said channel commands via said bus from said channel processor,

assigning said channel addresses to said optical disk drives,

generating from received said channel commands said optical disk drive commands suitable to command said optical disk drive processor,

storing said optical disk drive commands in said computer bus RAM memory,

organizing said magnetic tape data received through said channel into virtual magnetic tape data recorded on optical disks,

reorganizing said virtual magnetic tape data into said magnetic tape data, and

generating channel processor commands that are communicated to said channel processor via said bus in order to command said channel processor to communicate said magnetic tape data upon said channel via said bus.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein said computer is programmed to

respectively assign at least one drive command buffer within said computer bus RAM memory to a one of said plurality of optical disk drives that is respectively assigned to said respective channel addresses,

to store said optical disk drive commands in said respectively assigned at least one drive command buffer, and

to respectively assign at least one data buffer within said cache RAM memory to said respectively assigned channel addresses, and

wherein said disk drive processor communicates said optical disk drive commands between said respectively assigned at least one drive command buffer and said respectively assigned one of said plurality of optical disk drives, and communicates said virtual magnetic tape data between said respectively assigned one of said plurality of optical disk drives and said respectively assigned at least one data buffer.

16. The system of claim 14 wherein said system further comprises:

an additional computer program memory for storing additional programs executed by said computer so as to generate jukebox commands and to store said jukebox commands in at least one jukebox command buffer in said computer bus RAM, and, responsive to the channel address, for generating and communicating channel processor commands identifying a one of said plurality of magnetic tape drives, at least one of said plurality of magnetic tapes, and at least one of the plurality of jukebox drives;

a computer memory, connected to said computer, for storing cross reference data cross referencing said plurality of optical disks with said plurality of virtual magnetic tapes,

at least one jukebox controlled by said jukebox commands received from said at least one jukebox command buffer,

wherein said computer is programmed to respectively assign said at least one jukebox command buffer to said at least one jukebox each robotically connected to a respective plurality of said optical disks and robotically connected to a respective at least one of said at least one optical disk drive each respectively identified by said at least one channel address, said cross reference data further cross referencing each of said at least one jukebox to said respective plurality of optical disks, said identified jukebox receiving said jukebox commands from said respective jukebox command buffer for loading said identified optical disk into said identified optical disk drive, and

a jukebox interface connected between said bus and said at least one jukebox for respectively communicating said jukebox commands from said respectively assigned at least one jukebox command buffer to said identified jukebox to load said identified optical disk in said identified optical disk drive.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein said computer

stores an allocation mapping assignment among said channel addresses, said magnetic tape drives and said at least one optical disk drive and

dynamically alters said allocation by reassigning said at least one channel address to another one of said plurality of optical disk drives which other optical disk drive is subsequently robotically connected to said identified jukebox so as to enable said identified jukebox to load said identified optical disk in said new robotically connected and identified optical disk drive when initially said identified optical disk drive was not robotically connected to said identified jukebox.

19. The system of claim 14 for emulating a magnetic tape subsystem wherein said subsystem communicates status data through said channel within said channel data formats,

wherein said computer is programmed

to allocate at least one channel address buffer in said computer bus RAM memory accessed by said computer and said channel processor means,

to respectively assign said at least one channel address buffer to said at least one optical disk drive and to at least one of said channel addresses,

to generate and store said status data in said at least one channel address buffer, and

to command said channel processor to communicate status data through said channel.

20. A method of reallocating at least one magnetic tape drive to at least one optical disk drive in a system for reading and writing with a plurality of optical disk drives a plurality of virtual magnetic tapes recorded on a plurality of optical disks, said system communicating within channel data formats as would a magnetic tape subsystem having a plurality of magnetic tape drives for reading and writing magnetic tape data on a plurality of magnetic tapes, said magnetic tape subsystem connected to a channel communicating magnetic tape subsystem channel commands and said magnetic tape data, said channel commands having a plurality of channel addresses for respectively addressing a plurality of magnetic tapes and magnetic tape drives, said system being connected to said channel and comprising a programmed computer with memory, said method comprising the steps of,

assigning each of the plurality of optical disk drives each to a respective one of said plurality of channel addresses so as to therein allocate each of the plurality of magnetic tape drives to the plurality of optical disk drives,

receiving one of said channel commands requesting the writing or reading of a particular one magnetic tape by such an addressed one of said plurality of magnetic tape drives as is identified by a respective channel address,

determining which one of said plurality of optical disk drives is loaded with that one of said plurality of optical disks that stores said particular magnetic tape as one of said plurality of virtual magnetic tapes, and

reassigning the determined one of said plurality of optical disk drives to another one of said plurality of channel addresses, therein to reallocate which one of the plurality of said optical disk drives is identified to said particular one magnetic tape drive.

21. The method of claim 20 further comprising the steps of

emulatively dismounting one of said plurality of virtual magnetic tapes so as to disable the reading or writing of magnetic tape data in this emulatively dismounted one of said plurality of virtual magnetic tapes, and

emulatively mounting one of said plurality of virtual magnetic tapes so as to enable the reading or writing of magnetic tape data on a corresponding optical disk in a corresponding optical disk drive to this emulatively mounted virtual magnetic tape.

22. A method of claim 20 conducted in a system comprising one or more jukeboxes each respectively for supporting a plurality of optical disks in a respective plurality of slots, and each for robotically loading said plurality of optical disks in a certain one of said plurality of optical disk drives, said method further comprising the steps of

generating optical disk drive commands to eject a one of said plurality of optical disks that is not storing said virtual magnetic tape so as to enable the loading of another one of said plurality of optical disks in said optical disk drive, and

generating jukebox commands to put said ejected one of said plurality of optical disks in one of said respective slots,

generating jukebox commands to retrieve a one of said plurality of optical disks that is stores said virtual magnetic tape from another one of said slots, and

generating jukebox commands load said optical disk that is storing said virtual magnetic tape into said certain one of said plurality of optical disk drives.

23. A method of accessing one of a multiplicity of virtual magnetic tapes recorded on a plurality of optical disks in and by a system for emulating a magnetic tape subsystem that is

connected to a plurality of magnetic tape drives for reading and writing magnetic tape data on a multiplicity of magnetic tapes,

further connected to a channel of a host computer communicating magnetic tape subsystem channel commands to said magnetic tape subsystem for the reading and writing of said magnetic tape data on said multiplicity of magnetic tapes,

wherein said channel communicates said channel commands and magnetic tape data between said host computer and said magnetic tape subsystem within channel data formats,

wherein said magnetic tape subsystem communicates said magnetic tape data between said channel and said plurality of magnetic tape drives,

wherein said channel commands have serial numbers respectively identifying individual ones of said multiplicity of magnetic tapes,

wherein said channel commands have channel addresses respectively identifying individual ones of said plurality of magnetic tape drives,

wherein within the system each of said plurality of optical disks is recording at least one virtual magnetic tape, said system comprising a programmed computer with memory and a plurality of optical disk drives for reading and writing said virtual magnetic tapes on said plurality of optical disks, said system being connected to said channel and communicating said magnetic tape data across said channel within said channel data formats, said method comprising the steps of:

assigning said channel addresses to said plurality of optical disk drives so as to allocate said plurality of magnetic tape drives to said plurality of optical disk drives, and

generating a disk directory cross referencing said plurality of optical disks to said multiplicity of magnetic tapes referenced as respective ones of said virtual magnetic tapes,

receiving a channel command requesting the writing or reading of magnetic tape data on an addressed one of said multiplicity of magnetic tapes in an addressed one of said plurality of magnetic tape drives having a one of said channel addresses,

determining which selected one of said plurality of optical disk drives is allocated to said addressed one of said plurality of magnetic tape drives, and is assigned to said channel address,

determining which selected one of said multiplicity of optical disks is that optical disk storing said addressed one of said multiplicity of magnetic tapes in the form of a virtual magnetic tape, and

reading or writing said virtual magnetic tape data on said selected one of said plurality of optical disks in and by said selected one of said plurality of optical disk drives.

24. The method of claim 23 performed in an by a system further comprising a plurality of jukeboxes each having a respective plurality of storage slots to support a respective plurality of said optical disks for purposes of robotically loading said respective plurality of said optical disks in a respective one of said plurality of optical disk drives, said method further comprising the steps of

updating said disk directory to further cross reference each of said plurality of jukeboxes to said respective plurality of storage slots, to said respective plurality of said optical disks, and also to said respective one of said plurality of optical disk drives,

determining which one of said plurality of jukeboxes is crossed referenced to which one or more of said plurality optical disks and which one or more of said plurality of optical disk drives,

generating jukebox commands to retrieve a selected one of said plurality of optical disks from a respective one of said plurality of storage slots, and

generating jukebox commands to load said selected one of said plurality of optical disks that stores said magnetic tape recorded as said virtual magnetic tape into a selected one of said plurality of optical disk drives.

25. The method of claim 23 wherein said method further comprises the steps of,

emulatively dismounting a one of said multiplicity of virtual tapes so as to disable the readings or the writing of this virtual magnetic tape,

generating optical disk drive commands to eject a one of said plurality of optical disks when another one of said plurality of optical disks that is in a selected one of said plurality of optical disk drives does not store said virtual magnetic tape, therein to enable the insertion of another one of said plurality of optical disks in said selected one of said plurality of optical disk drives, and

emulatively mounting said selected one of said multiplicity of virtual magnetic tapes which was requested by said channel command, therein enabling the reading or writing of virtual magnetic tape data in said virtual magnetic tape after loading said selected one of said plurality of optical disks in said selected one of said plurality of optical disk drives.

26. A system writing and reading data from an optical disc so as to emulate the reading and the writing of a plurality of magnetic tapes that are individually addressable and controllable in any intermixed sequence for the writing and the reading of data, the optical disc system emulating magnetic tapes comprising:

a first means for recording, in respect of each and every magnetic tape as is individually addressable and controllable intermixed in order with all other magnetic tapes, a virtual magnetic tape on the optical disc, each virtual magnetic tape including

data records, called user records, located in addressable locations upon the optical disk and containing data that is written and read to and from a particular magnetic tape, and

a first set of pointers, called a tape map, to all the addressable locations as contain all the user records as constitute the particular magnetic tape, the tape map being itself located in an addressable location;

a second means for recording, in respect of any one or ones of additions, deletions and alterations to any one or ones of the virtual magnetic tapes,

all new and additional user records, and

a new, updated, tape map containing pointers to, and only to, all the addressable locations as contain all the most current user records as constitute a most current revision of a particular magnetic tape,

wherein, consonant with the write once read many operational principles of optical disc media, old and outdated user records and tape maps cannot be and are not erased, but, for any virtual magnetic tape, a one most recent single tape map will contain pointers to all most current user records as constitute a most current revision of the virtual magnetic tape;

a third means for recording in a dedicated area of the optical disc a directory, called a tape directory, of all the virtual magnetic tapes stored on the optical disk, the tape directory containing a pointer to the most current tape maps of each and all virtual magnetic tapes; and

a fourth means for recording seriatim upon the optical disk in the dedicated area an updated tape directory as and upon the occasion that any one or ones of virtual tapes are any one or ones of added, deleted and altered;

wherein the most current data contents of each and any virtual magnetic tape may readily be located upon and read from the optical disk by first reading tape directories seriatim until a last such directory is read, and then proceeding, by reference to the pointers within this tape directory contained, to second reading a most current tape map for an individual virtual magnetic tape of interest, and then proceeding, by reference to the pointers within this tape map contained, to third reading any addressable locations as contain the most current data.

27. The optical disc system emulating magnetic tapes according to claim 26 wherein each of the first and the second means are further for recording, in addition to and in association with the user records,

interblock gaps and tape marks tape maps;

and, in association with each tape map,

pointers to the interblock gaps and tape marks, as well pointers as the user records.