Re: Test Development System Survey

[Al Barsa <barsa@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

With all due respect to Jim, I am playing with IASPs, and they are really
complicated.  Although they are easy to set up, their parameters complicate
many commands on the system, and are missing on many more commands.  For
example, why does the CRTLIB command (a simple one) on V5R2 need an ASPDEV
parameter unless ASP(*ASPDEV) has been specified, this should have been a
conditional parameter.

Forget about complicating in CL programming (a job that they have done
relatively well to insulate finished HLL applications), but when a user has
to call a help desk, the first question should be "which IASP are you
using?".  (DSPJOB option 2 or 3, and roll up a few times.  Really obvious.)

Furthermore, I contend that IASPs have broken almost all utility software
that exists on the system today.  Jim Sloan and I are struggling with it on
TAA.

I have asked IBM to make many of the parameters conditional, and to allow
conditional prompting below F10 on the prompter, where there are many many
more IASP parameters.  (This would also be useful in many other areas; for
example why do SAVxxx commands need SAVACTWAIT and SAVACTMSGQ parameters is
SAVACT(*NO) is specified?)

Also, yesterday I tried to do an option 21 save on my system with two IASPs
set to *AVAILABLE (kind of like *VARIED ON, as the approximate opposite is
*VARIED OFF).  You can only get an IASP saved in an option 21 save if it is
*AVAILABLE.  Yet the save apparently failed over duplicate objects auto
created in one of the several auto created IASP libraries when an IASP is
*AVAILABLE.  There was no one in Rochester Support who could answer the
question (although they were very pleasant about it, but had to admit that
very few understood the function), so it had to be re-queued to Monday
morning.  At the moment, I am only experimenting with IASPs, but if I were
in production, I would have been *SCREWED.

Al

Al Barsa, Jr.
Barsa Consulting Group, LLC

400>390

914-251-1234
914-251-9406 fax

http://www.barsaconsulting.com
http://www.taatool.com



                                                                           
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<snip>
A little juggling of the library list gives complete isolation from
production:
LIVE ENVIRONMENT:
             DATALIVE
             PROGRAMLIVE
             ...
TEST ENVIRONMENT:
             DATATEST
             PROGRAMTEST
             PROGRAMLIVE
             ...
</snip>

I have to point out that at V5R2, Independent Disk Pools eliminate the need
for these types of library lists.  You can completely segregate the
different environments and move between them without having to manipulate
job descriptions and library lists.  Security is also greatly enhanced.
Programmers can still see the data without signing on to the production
environment, (using SQL) so they loose the one primary complaint the use.
We have the ability to test the actual object in the actual environment it
will run in.  That should be a compelling case to at least investigate the
use of the new tools we have.  One more thing, IDPs set up the system up
for clustering.  Along with an LPAR, that will allow a properly set up
system to run 24*7*365 without much if any downtime, HA software optional
unless an HA environment is needed.


Jim Oberholtzer
Senior Solutions Architect
Computech Resources, Inc.

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