==> On Wed, 30 Mar 2005 07:25:17 -0500, Richard Sims <rbs AT BU DOT EDU> said:


> I rue the day that IBM started encouraging customers to take their TSM
> system out of service and run salvage utilities to reorganize the db, as
> situations like this inevitably result, particularly as these utilities are
> not subject to the same development intensity and scrutiny as mainline TSM
> code. This has been a very poor decision on someone's part in IBM, to foster
> this kind of risky undertaking in enterprise sites as though it were a
> casual, risk-free activity. Some vendor thinking is just unfathomable.


I don't share Richard's tropism away from the offline utilities.  However,
embarking on any such process without a DB incremental immediately previous
is, well, foolhardy.

I think of the motorcyclists I sometimes see, on the highway with shorts, a
tank-top, flip-flops and sunglasses in leiu of helmet.

If you run regular DB fulls, and cut incrementals before you do anything
scary, you limit your downside to inconvenience and a setback schedule.  I
highly recommend the practice.


BTW, I've promoted my DB reload procedure to our main site.  Thanks greatly
to those of you who commented.  I continue to solicit experiences of before
and after sizes, and comments about behavior before and after.


http://open-systems.ufl.edu/services/NSAM/maint_docs/db_un_reload.html




- Allen S. Rout