Hello Marco,

There is nothing we can do about this situation with the
file names. The problem exists as a side-effect of Microsoft's
decision to incorporate an 8.3 naming scheme for backward
compatibility with DOS and Windows 3.1x programs (This is not
a criticism of Microsoft, just a statement of fact).

The operating system is responsible for assigning the 8.3
names. There is no Win32 API call that allows me to say,
"Create file 'Include accounts.xls' with short name
'INCLUD~2.XLS' ". I can only say "Create file
'Include accounts.xls' ". The operating system handles the
creation of the short name. Even as an end user, there are
no operating system commands that allow you to specify the
short name. For example, you can not say
"copy 'Include accounts.xls' 'Include accounts2.xls'
/shortname=INCLUD~5.XLS".

Even the operating system occasionally has problems with this.
For example, try this scenario:

1. Create a directory called C:\Dir1
2. In C:\Dir1, create a file called INCLUD~1.XLS.
3. In C:\Dir1, create another file called
   "Include accounts.xls". If you issue the command
   "dir /x" you will see that this second file has a
   short name of INCLUD~2.XLS.
4. Now create a directory called C:\Dir2.
5. "cd" into C:\Dir1, then issue this command:
   move * \Dir2

You will get an error message that says:

   Cannot create a file when that file already exists.
   1 file(s) moved.

If you look in C:\Dir1, you will see that INCLUD~1.XLS is
still there. If you look in C:\Dir2, you will see
"Include accounts.xls" and it now has a short name of
INCLUD~1.XLS. This is the first file that move tried to
process. The second file it tried to process was
INCLUD~1.TXT. At that time, it saw "Include accounts.xls"
in C:\Dir2 with short name INCLUD~1.XLS, and the move failed.

The problem is worse if instead of issuing move, you issue
copy. The command will say "2 file(s) copied." But if you
look in C:\Dir2, you will see only one file:
"Include accounts.xls". The copy command copied
"Include accounts.xls" first, then copied INCLUD~2.XLS over
it.

So ADSM is not the only product to have the problem. Even
the operating system itself can have conflicts between long
and short names. And the problem grows if you have multiple
files that are similarly named, such as INCLUD~3.XLS,
INCLUD~5.XLS, "Include accounts45.xls", etc.

The only thing I can think of is to avoid using short names
that can cause this kind of conflict.

Regards,

Andy

Andy Raibeck
IBM Storage Systems Division
ADSM Client Development
e-mail: storman AT us.ibm DOT com
"The only dumb question is the one that goes unasked."

All,

I've run into a situation where I have two files. The files are listed
below:

        Include accounts.xls
        Includ~1.xls

By the names of the files it looks like the same file, the long filename
and the
short filename. The two files are in the same directory. Some of the
characteristics are same file size and different date and time.

During a backup (ADSM backup/archive ver 3.1.0.3) ADSM backs up both file
as
separate and independent files.

During restores adsm detects that the file already exists and asks if you
want
to replace.
Include accounts.xls is restored first then includ~1.xls which is when you
are
asked if you want to replace.

Where not using ADSM client ver 3.1.0.6 due to some of the problems that
exist
especially the application error we get when using the dsmcutil to setup a
backup schedule service. It creates the service but it doesn't work.

Thanks
Marco