> -----Original Message-----
> From: Linux on 390 Port [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of
> Post, Mark K
> Sent: Wednesday, May 03, 2006 6:31 PM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: Creating a second zVM 5.1: Spool issue
> 
> I'd have to disagree with your final assessment. 

Well, here's my thinking: 

MVS systems are able to derive more value from a shared res volume
because the allocation and at least some of the dataset
location/management information is stored in each volume VTOC, not in an
external source like the CP directory (which needs to be kept in sync
across multiple CP instances). CP can't just search the VTOC to find out
what's where or where it can find free space for stuff -- you need
something like CSE to keep all that data coordinated in multiple places,
which is not exactly trivial to do, and CSE requires a fair amount of
skill in setup and maintenance. There is a similar problem in MVS to
maintaining multiple catalogs and catalog indexes, but there's also a
lot of code in MVS to deal with this that isn't in VM (geoplexes where
the speed of light is actually noticeable make this a really
*interesting* problem). 

Second, while you *can* share minidisks by defining them in multiple
overlapping directory entries on multiple systems, most VM products have
both on-disk and NSS components. Again, without shared spool to get to
the NSSes (which again requires CSE), you don't gain as much benefit as
you do from having concatenated LPA lists that reference a
system-specific volume in front of a common res or "library" shared
volume. 

Note that I didn't say there is *no value* in a shared res volume -- I
don't disagree that it's a possibly useful technique -- it's just a lot
more work *on VM* to make it useful for a relatively small gain in
function, and the overhead to get it working in a maintainable way is
substantially larger than the benefits. 

David Boyes
Sine Nomine Associates

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