Any ideas to deal with a VMBACKUP problem?

[dhdurgee]

I am currently running a P/370 that, once async terminal issues are
resolved,
may become a Hercules installation. The system is running VM/ESA (370
feature)
and among other software I am using VMBACKUP 5.0D for backing up
minidisks at
the file level.

My DLT7000 recently died, leaving me with backup issues. I have
started using
AWSTAPE virtual tapes as an alternative to DLT cartridges.

I am able to use AWSTAPE virtual tapes for other purposes, but
VMBACKUP appears
not to recognize them. I am writing SL labels to these virtual tapes
prior to
attempting to use them with VMBACKUP, but for some reason VMBACKUP
refuses to
accept them. I attach the virtual tape drive to VMBACKUP at the
requested
address, but when I reply OK I simply get another prompt back to mount
the tape.

I can take one of these virtual tapes and write them fine using proper
FILEDEF
and LABELDEF statements, so as far as that level of VM is concerned
they are
fine.

Any suggestions how to determine what VMBACKUP doesn't like and get it
to accept
an AWSTAPE virtual tape? Are there any reasonable alternatives to
VMBACKUP
available?

I am doing backups of the minidisks by zipping up a copy weekly, but
of course
this doesn't make it easy if I want to retrieve particular files only.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Dave