Re: Clarification on DISK CONFIGURATION -- MIDRANGE-L

Andy,

I will say that you have enlighten me with your answers. I'm a self-learner
in regards to the AS/400 administration with a lot of reading and using
common sense.  I started in '88 as a programmer and added administration in
'94.  My concerns and observation you have confirmed except that I was
thinking that the OS stays in the "load source" only.  I still think that it
is dangerous to thread the waters when dealing with system. Loading V5,
which requires 2Gig, on a 1.967Gig DASD is not proper or save, in my
opinion.

Respectfully,

Dare


----- Original Message -----
From: "Andy Nolen-Parkhouse" <aparkhouse@attbi.com>
To: <midrange-l@midrange.com>
Sent: Thursday, September 05, 2002 3:13 PM
Subject: RE: Clarification on DISK CONFIGURATION


> Dare,
>
> Comments inline:
>
>
>
> > On Behalf Of Dare
> > Subject: Clarification on DISK CONFIGURATION
> >
> > Hi guys,
> >
> > I'm on OS400 V4R5M0, AS/400 9406-510 2144, with current CUM.
> >
> > Need some clarification, education AND/OR suggestion(s) on my system
> disk
> > configuration.
> >
> > I have 2 ASP (ASP 1 is Mirrored and Raided) with a total of 173.1 Gig
> and
> > 90% threshold.
> > My system ASP is 57.19Gig with 87.4692% USED.  I think the only unit
> > MIRRORED in this ASP is UNIT 1.
> > ASP 2 is 115.92Gig with 82.49% USED. I think this ASP is totally
> RAIDED.
> > The protection column for both ASPs shows all "DEVICE PARITY" except
> for
> > Unit 1 in ASP1 that shows "CONTROLLER".
> >
> > QUESTIONS:
> > ==========
> > 1.    Can this configuration be improved without any additional
> hardware
> > and system disruption?
>
> It looks good to me.  I'm not sure what you mean by improved, do you
> have a specific issue?  Generally you have disk contention issues and
> capacity issues.  You don't have disk contention issues (see #2 below),
> you do have capacity issues.  Most people would recommend that someone
> in your situation (mid-80% capacity) start implementing a plan for
> additional capacity.  You would have the choice of adding additional
> drives or replacing existing drives with higher capacity drives.  You
> really cannot do much to improve the disk configuration of a 510 without
> system disruption.  In your case, since your drives seem to be optimally
> configured, you can't do anything without changing hardware.
>
> > 2.    My disk arm AVG % busy < 10% is this a good number and better
> usage
> > of these ARMS?
>
> This is a very good number.  Generally speaking, you don't run into disk
> arm contention issues until you exceed 40% or so.
>
> > 3.    My MIRRORED disks are at 100%, if this is bad what can I do to
> > improve?
>
> I don't know the technical answer to this Dare, but I don't feel good
> about it.  I would imagine that there are some things which the OS would
> prefer to be on the boot disk, so it filled it up and then starting
> putting things elsewhere.  It doesn't make me feel good, but I don't
> have any empirical basis for that feeling.  Other than substituting
> larger drives, I don't know what you would do.  I doubt that it has many
> user objects on it.
>
> > 4.    If I decided to upgrade to V5, will the MIRRORED disk be
> sufficient
> > to accommodate the OS?
>
> Minimum load source for V5R1 is 2 GB, so technically you're within
> guidelines.  I find your current load source at 100% to be scary
> however.
>
> > 5.    Can I safely say that my current OS is contained in my MIRRORED
> > disk?
>
> No, only those portions of the OS required to boot.  More SLIC than OS I
> would imagine.
>
> > 6.    What other suggestions or comments would you give with this
> > configuration?
>
> I don't see much external disk (9337's) anymore.  Is this a genuine IBM
> 9337 or a device emulating a 9337?  If they're 9337's, then you must
> have two or more.  Do you have more than one device?  There might be
> some things (improvements) that you could do with your external drives,
> but the disk configuration doesn't make clear what those devices are.
> If you don't have any problems, I wouldn't change anything.  Do you
> think you have disk problems?  It would help if you stated your goals in
> asking these questions.
>
> > 7.    How do my both ASPs get used in terms of internal code libraries
> and
> > other libraries?
>
> I'm not sure what you mean.  Your system stuff will be in ASP 1.
> Whatever user stuff you put in ASP 2 will be in that ASP.
>
> Regards,
> Andy Nolen-Parkhouse
>
> > Thanks for all of your input.
>
>
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