ADSM-L

Re: TSM 3.7 GUI Admin - did I miss something?

1999-10-08 08:29:26
Subject: Re: TSM 3.7 GUI Admin - did I miss something?
From: Rui Malheiro <rmalheiro AT MAIL.TELEPAC DOT PT>
Date: Fri, 8 Oct 1999 13:29:26 +0100
Hi,

Though in the beginning I was very annoyed with the lack of response of the
webadmin interface, I've lately found that it can have some advantages.
Here's my view:

GUI Admin
Pros: 
 - Fast response
Cons:
 - Only available on Win32
 - Doesn't incorporate all ADSM/TSM functions (define classes, 
   libraries, drives, work with multiple servers, etc),
 - We have to install it to be available

Web Admin
Pros:
 - Available from any web browser
 - Covers almost all ADSM/TSM functions
 - Allows to use command line (*very*, *very* useful)
Cons:
 - Slow response
 - Buggy
 - Connection times-out regardless of usage (*very*, *very* annoying)

As I see it, the web interface is far more powerful than the GUI, but
suffers from growing pains. I was never able to use the GUI interface to do
all the administration, either because some functions were never implemented
(eg: checkin/out a volume, running a macro/script) or because it was much,
much easier to do it from the command line. I used the GUI only for working
with schedules, policies and client option sets, and used the command line
for everything else. So I'd already figured that sooner or later the GUI
would go away.

Now, if they were taking away the command line interface...

>Date:     October 7, 1999               Time: 1:32 PM
>From:     Jerry Lawson
>          The Hartford Insurance Group
>(860)  547-2960          jlawson AT thehartford DOT com
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Yesterday I downloaded the TSM 3.7 (Sorry - I'm just an Acronym sort of 
>>Yesterday I downloaded the TSM 3.7 (Sorry - I'm just an Acronym sort of guy)
>client for Win32, and installed it on my machine.  I was a little bit of
>surprised when I found that there was no GUI Admin client - just the GUI
>backup client, and CLIs for the Backup and admin.  Well, maybe they were
>rushed, and couldn't get it rolled out in time, I thought.
>
>Then I tried my old 3.1 Admin GUI, and low and behold, it still seemed fine -
>after all, I haven't upgraded the server, so all should be well, right?  It
>was up until I shut it down, when it took an ANS8003S catastrophic error.  A
>peek in the error log indicated that a couple of messages were missing from
>the repository.  OK, I thought - time to report the problem, which I did.
>
>The response, to my surprise, came back that there was no intention of
>supporting a GUI for the Admin; we would now have to use a Web Browser
>Interface.
>
>I am still trying to see the logic in this.  My first inclination is that
>some planners/developers have struck upon this as a neat way to avoid a GUI
>application - they can now just use HTML and some Java.  Probably easier on
>their end.  The trouble is, I don't think they have taken a look at anyone's
>network lately.  In my shop, this would mean that I need to keep a Browser
>loaded all the time (certainly not a big deal), but I must also now contend
>with internet and intranet traffic.  Our firewall is not always the best; it
>has sometimes caused outages to internet/intranet traffic when regular TCP/IP
>traffic to my server (OS/390) has not been impacted.  The bottom line is that
>I expect that response time will be slower, and availability will not be as
>good.  Is this the way a major product should be going?
>
>I think I understand some of the reasons given for web enabled clients, but I
>certainly do not want to have them as my sole means of access to a native
>product.  I haven't been monitoring the list actively lately - has this been
>a hot discussion item that people are clamoring for?  What did I miss?  What
>do others think?
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>                                                     Jerry
>                                                     Jerry
>
>Insanity is doing the same thing over and over..and expecting the results to
>be different - Anon.


--
Rui Malheiro,
Rui Malheiro,
6 Mil - Tecnologias de Informacao
URL: <http://www.6mil.pt/>