I'd like to add a few other thoughts onto of Mark's comments. Yes, I do work for CA, and have supported MIM. Just a disclosure, lest some people accuse me of hiding my true identity. I'm sure there are some with some negative impressions of MIM; but I did want to mention what our very large customers have been doing (Mark's site would be considered large).
MIM can use Control Files on Shared (FICON) DASD, XCF, XES, or CTCs (SCTCs or FCTCs). All provide excellent performance (when properly tuned). MII (Multi-Image Manager Integrity) has been used in many shops primarily for Volumes spanning Sysplexes, sometimes spanning Data Centers. MII does learn about how data sets are opened so a long list of Inclusions or Exclusions are not really needed. Recovery of MII or restarting it is very easy to do. No system outages required... MIA (MIM Allocation) has been used in many shops for sharing Tape devices (real/reel devices, ATLs, VTS, VTAPE) across Sysplexes. Again, within the same site or remote. Remote Tape device usage has increased in many shops with D/R considerations. MIA can also manage devices with z/VM and Linux Guests (something that is increasing in need). MIC (MIM Console) has been used in many shops for consolidating z/OS consoles. Again, consolidation is across Sysplexes and sites, and can be used to consolidate z/VM and Linux Guests. This is very useful in Server Consolidations on z/VM. Support for all of the MIM functions has been very good over the years, and support for new hardware and Operating Systems on day 1, has always been there. -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Mark Zelden Sent: Wednesday, September 21, 2005 SYSN 3:06 PM To: IBM-MAIN@BAMA.UA.EDU Subject: Re: Converting MIM to GRS On Wed, 21 Sep 2005 00:00:00 GMT, Ted MacNEIL <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >MIM in the CF performs just as well as GRS*. >But, I'd rather use the 'free' GRS. >And, I've had too many problems with a certain ISV. > Perhaps, but MII has been very solid code and bery good support over the years. Also more dynamic changes than GRS - especially in past years. I've had some issues with MIA (tape) in the past, but no glearing problems with MII (integrity). No one ever mentions MIC in these threads. While sysplex will let you consolodate your consoles within a sysplex, with MIC you can issue commands and view console messages that span the boundries of sysplex. Most people miss the fact that MIM can run with a control file in the CF and perform as well as GRS STAR, but many shops that run MIM do so specifically because it can span sysplexes. Also, some recent threads (and past threads) talk about a DASD shared control file. While you can do that, the best option is CTCONLY which uses 2 sets of CTCs (primary + backup) for communications and has a virtual control file that lives on one of the active LPARs in the MIMplex. Obviously if you have FCTCs your better off than with ESCON CTCs. It's not GRS STAR (or MIM in a CF), but performance is still good. Mark -- Mark Zelden Sr. Software and Systems Architect - z/OS Team Lead Zurich North America and Farmers Insurance Group mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Systems Programming expert at http://Search390.com/ateExperts/ Mark's MVS Utilities: http://home.flash.net/~mzelden/mvsutil.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
