Re: Max Records in Physical or Printer Files - To Max or Not To Max...

[bill.reger@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Rick,

I'm probably opening myself up to a bunch of flames, but setting files to
*NOMAX is a pet peeve of mine.  This has always been my opinion on whether
to use *NOMAX or not:

In my experience, Database files generally fall into one of two distinct
categories: those files that grow at 10% or less per year (these tend to be
master files, parameter/setup files, etc.) and those files into which
records are constantly being entered, deleted, updated in a relatively
short time frame (these tend to be transaction files, such as Order Entry
files, etc.).

In either case, it is not a particularly difficult task for an Analyst to
figure out what the appropriate SIZE values should be when
creating/maintaining a database file.  The important thing is to consider
the current requirements, reasonable growth expectations, data entry plans,
and purge criteria.

When I've seen files fill up and begin to halt, it generally shows that
insufficient (or non-existent) analysis was done or the purge criteria was
never identified for historical files.  In my opinion, setting files to
*NOMAX should not be a substitute for proper Data Analysis.  Obviously if
you are in a high growth  industry, your master files may grow at a higher
rate, say 30% per year or more.  But when these file full halts occur it is
a sign that something wasn't done or your business is changing - a fact
that probably has you working on changing your applications anyway.

My flame retardant suit is now on - fire away!

Bill

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