This section is for ATCA data (RPFITS files) written on an Exabyte tape with the VMS operating system command COPY. This is the usual way in which ATCA data is archived. The tape structure is that of the ANSI standard. This means that for each RPFITS file, there is first a header file (with file names etc. encoded into it), the data file, and last a trailer file. You need to be aware of this if you position the tape drive with the AIPS command AVFILE as for every RPFITS file you wish to move, you must actually advance 3 tape files. Similarly if you manipulate the tape device from the Unix operating system with the mt command.
You must log into the workstation that has the desired tape drive associated with it. This is usually the workstation that you have booked. As discussed in § 2.3.2, it is also highly desirable that you write the data to a local disk associated with that workstation. Writing to a remote disk mounted on another workstation incurs a high network penalty and should be avoided (it penalizes users on the other workstation as well as yourself.
AIPS does have a remote tape mechanism by which you can access tape drives on other machines. However, for the purpose of loading ATCA data, this mechanism is NOT available. This is because the task that reads RPFITS files (ATLOD) does not use the standard AIPS tape handling software.