You can share the cartridges in a tape library between multiple platforms and iSeries™ servers.
When an iSeries server is using a cartridge in a 3494 tape library, the cartridge must be in a category accessible to the iSeries server. This can be the *SHARE400 category or a user-defined category.
When initializing a tape, systems other than the iSeries server are able to write a 1-character security flag to the tape label. This is to restrict users who might read data from tapes initialized this way. Even though writing this security flag is not available in i5/OS™, i5/OS can read tapes written with this security flag in the tape label. When i5/OS detects the security flag, it decides whether that user can read the data, depending on the user's special authorities.
When the tape contains EBCDIC data, all users can read the tape when the security flag contains a space (hexadecimal 40), a zero (hexadecimal F0) or a hexadecimal 00. If it contains any other value, the user needs *ALLOBJ and *SECADM authority to read data from the tape.
If the tape contains ASCII data, all users can read the tape if the security flag contains an ASCII space (hexadecimal 20). If it contains any other value, the user requires *ALLOBJ and *SECADM authority to read data from the tape.
You cannot specify this security flag when a tape is initialized on an iSeries server and is to be read on another platform.