Joel C. Ewing wrote:
The concept of Name/Token pairs is aesthetically pleasing and
obviously less likely to get you into trouble, but has anyone done any
serious study on the cost of using this service?
I will confess that we have used and continue to use TCBUSER field as
an anchor for some persistent installation data that is potentially
accessed a VERY LARGE number of times per day. The cost of only a few
load fullword instructions to chase pointers to locate data through a
TCBUSER field has got to be impossible to beat from an efficiency
standpoint, but just what kind of performance can one expect from
Name/Token lookup? It would be nice some day to get rid of the
TCBUSER field dependencies, but if that were to impact transaction
times adversely or force an earlier hardware upgrade it would be
awfully hard to justify replacing something that is working effectively.
This particular poster is running unauthorized code. What is the cost to
setup and invoke an authorized service to update TCBUSER? How much of an
exposure might be created in doing so?
TCBUSER is intended for *installation* use. Not IBM use. Not ISV use.
Not "shareware" product use. Not "freeware" product use. Speaking from
an ISV standpoint, we have no choice but to use Name/Token or roll our
own alternative. (In the old days, we used to use ENQ SCOPE=STEP to save
a TCB-level "token" and GQSCAN to retrieve it.)
If your (already) authorized code is using TCBUSER for its intended
purpose (for example to save data for use by installation exits or
system modifications), then don't worry. There's no reason to change a
thing. That's what it's for!
--
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| Edward E. Jaffe | |
| Mgr, Research & Development | [EMAIL PROTECTED] |
| Phoenix Software International | Tel: (310) 338-0400 x318 |
| 5200 W Century Blvd, Suite 800 | Fax: (310) 338-0801 |
| Los Angeles, CA 90045 | http://www.phoenixsoftware.com |
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