"Thomas A. La Porte" wrote:
> Is anybody else a little bit distressed that Tivoli's TSM
> administrator needs to seek this advice from the list, rather
> than from the developers of the product?

I think I've read just about enough whining in this thread about how
Tivoli 'distresses' people by not commenting on/explaining/helping with
undocumented and proprietary commands. *Of course* there is no official
documentation on undocumented UNLOADDB/LOADDB, SHOW, and the various
undocumented flags to some commands.

There seems to be some mania in our list about 'defragging' a database
and how it is considered a cure for all TSM ills. The real world shows
that 'defragging' any database has at best minor results, save in the
most severely edited database. 99% of slow response problems stem from
far more likely situations, such as poorly configured networks and bad
TSM configurations.

People should keep in mind that there is a reason why undocumented
commands are undocumented. It's because they're buggy, unreliable, and
in some cases, dangerous to your TSM installation. Anybody who would run
UNLOADDB/LOADDB on a production box gets anything they deserve. If
you've *got* to reach for the nirvana of defragging your database,
consider running DSMSERV RESTORE DB from the OS command line; this is a
documented procedure for which you can get support help if necessary.

There. That should be enough flamage for one day. Sorry, folks; I've
been subjected to the same basic complaint for the four years I've
tracked this mailing list, and it was just time to say *something*.

--
Mark Stapleton (stapleton AT berbee DOT com)
Mark Stapleton (stapleton AT berbee DOT com)