× The internal search function is temporarily non-functional. The current search engine is no longer viable and we are researching alternatives.
As a stop gap measure, we are using Google's custom search engine service.
If you know of an easy to use, open source, search engine ... please contact support@midrange.com.



Al--

If you're on v5r4, you can now save the -contents- of an output queue! This will let you use SAVOBJ and write the output queues concerned to tape! Chances are, they never really -look- at the reports from over a year ago, so maybe you can sneak them onto tape while no one's looking!

Ah, yes... auditors... Offer them a tape copy. I assume you've explained exactly how big the reports are.

re: longevity of media-- Tape wins. As far as I know, "burn it yourself" CDs are only good for 5 years or so... we have tapes more than 10 years old that are (mostly) still readable. I 'assume' that burn-your-own DVDs have similar life to CDs.

Thumbnail drives may not have the capacity-- and some cheaper ones can get fried-- I have one toasted one myself.

re: reading in the future-- Our month end backups include all of our data files plus program files plus a copy of the operating system. So at any time in the future we can grab any convenient piece of iSeries hardware that's big enough and restore the computer as it was at that moment in time-- including the programs needed to use the files.

re: keeping reports-- this is something the accountants, legal department, and auditors dictate. In some cases, we keep extra stuff that no one has asked for just because it seems likely to be useful. Now that we can save the contents of output queues this becomes a lot simpler!

As far as distributing reports to other systems-- we can always CPYSPLF to a PF, specifying *FCFC for the carriage control information, then distribute a flat file and let the receiving system reprint it.

There are also simple programs that will convert a spooled file to a PDF file, which can then be distributed.

re: files eating space-- every good file needs a good purge program-- the old records are migrated to a 'purged' file, which is then saved to tape and the space reclaimed. Our auditing department determines how much we need to keep on line. Thank goodness the price of disk space (even on the iSeries) keeps dropping!

--Paul E Musselman
PaulMmn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

This thread ...

Follow-Ups:
Replies:

Follow On AppleNews
Return to Archive home page | Return to MIDRANGE.COM home page

This mailing list archive is Copyright 1997-2024 by midrange.com and David Gibbs as a compilation work. Use of the archive is restricted to research of a business or technical nature. Any other uses are prohibited. Full details are available on our policy page. If you have questions about this, please contact [javascript protected email address].

Operating expenses for this site are earned using the Amazon Associate program and Google Adsense.