When Will They Get A Clue?

[chad_small]

OK so I used TSMManager when I was with IBM and at the new account I must say I see the headaches involved when you don't have a central management tool. I am trying to configure my views on the ISC Admin Center and it is a piece-o-crap! I don't think anyone at Tivoli or IBM did a usability study. If so they would not have moved to the new interface, or they would have made it a lot better. Now we are almost two years into the ISC and it still sucks so what gives? Anyone have anything positive or hints to make it somewhat useable? It's slow, clunky, and not intuitive.

 

[sgabriel62]

Never

Its on the Websphere Development Team's Todo list with no expected return. A year ago when my team was working directly with the IBM Developers - we learned back then that this team has the task to supposedly integrate the two (Websphere & TSM) but nothing came of it.

I believe the goal was to integrate DataWarehouse with TSM but DW is too hard to maintain so I think it got scrubbed.

So now everyone in the IBM community is voicing their opinions = if enough PMRs get opened with Sev 1 priorities - perhaps someone will open their eyes

 

[heada]

Other groups within IBM have looked at the ISC to see ifthey want to use it for thier interface (HMC/CSM group) and it was rejected for all the obvious reasons.



When the internal IBM people think its crap, someone should get a clue. I have put off upgrading to 5.3 just because of the ISC. Its just not worth it. Once I'm forced to upgrade, I'll make sure all my procedures use the command-line only and I'll never even bother with the ISC.



-Aaron

 

[Castaway]

I kept the Web GUI as a crutch when we went to 5.3. Even though they said it wouldn't work, it was a lot easier to use to add new nodes, look for tape history, all that stuff. After catching myself using nothing but the GUI, I found, at some point, that there are some data elements that can only be changed with ISC. I'm trying to use the ISC more, setting up new TSM/HSM servers and stuff but, to be honest, it still sucks. Hello? Developers? Any body listening?

 

[mricca]

Geezzzz....cant wait to upgrade my Server now! HPUX..should be fun fun fun!

 

[chad_small]

I am a die hard TSMManager guy since 5.3. At my new location they have Servergraph but it's really not a robust Admin tool. Great for reports and alerts though!

 

[PJ]

Having worked with TSM/ADSM for a very long time, I personally don't need anything but dsmadmc, preferrably running on a ksh, to handle the servers. The idea of running the administrative interface through a seperate instance like TSMManager and the ISC, might have its sweet spots when it comes to monitoring and reporting, but for the simple matter of defining and updating entities and settings, I'd prefer somthing more 'direct'. The good ole Windows Gui was fast and supported a straight forward working style. Just imagine what it could look like if they'd put their efforts into improving that rather than dreaming up fancy wizards.

I don't believe we'll see anything really usable as long as the TSM DB structure remains as monolythic as it currently is. What I'd like most from IBM is to provide a standardized, inheritable object model which can seriously link seperate TSM server instances together. The current profile subscription method is (to be polite) lacklustre. I know this is a long shot and it will require a compete redesign of the entire product - but I still hope they'll build at least some structured inheritance into TSM when the new DB model does finally materialize. This stuff isn't new either. Take a look at ActiveDirectory and you'll get the idea.



Just dreaming, PJ