Gerald - You've conveyed how bad performance is in that operation, but we have no solid information on what you are doing or the configuration there, as in exactly what kind of Import, disk and I/O channel configurations, tape connection type, etc. An Import is like an intense client Backup, and thus tests the capabilities of the system as it was set up. As such, many of the factors listed under "Backup performance" and "Disk performance" in ADSM QuickFacts pertain here. For example, if the disk types were unfamiliar to AIX when installed, you will get poor performance from a small disk controller Queue Depth value. And TSM deliberately throttles back performance when the Recovery Log goes over 80% full.
And we have no information on your TSM configuration. If you are importing data for a variety of clients, and node collocation is in effect, then extra time will go to mounting more tapes. If there are any drive or tape media issues, writing to tape will be a struggle and slow things down. Too many things on one SCSI channel will result in contention. (Do not have tape and disk on the same channel.) And Raw Logical Volumes is the way to go for the TSM db in AIX. The more heads serving the TSM db, by whatever method, the better. The TSM Performance Tuning Guide has good information. You know the configuration, and have to weigh the factors. Consider stopping and taking a good look at that configuration: if loading is slow, the subsequent serving of that data may not be any better, so you could face further grief in the future is the issues are not resolved. Richard Sims
