"For that matter, explain why all the SFS-related stuff is in a separate manual from the rest of the CMS user's guide and the help files for the admin commands are so bloody hard to find? "
Picking the easy one.... Because SFS isn't CMS. Just like the REXX documentation is not in the CMS manuals. The XEDIT documenation is not in the CMS manuals The Pipeline documentation is not in the CMS manuals Well, the SFS documenation isn't in the CMS manuals The one manual that everyone new to VM should start with is the VM General Information Manual. No one reads it. And the few that do, it just goes over their head "wooosh" <G>. If you understand how IBM writes manuals, you can figure out that VM is a package of a lot of applications, products, Operating Systems, utilities, etc. Some of which was written for VM, other pieces taken from other OS's, and others, just grew from someone just trying to fill a need. Not many things are very well integrated. There strength, in some cases, stems from just the opposite. My first install of VM.... I had no training. The installation class I was going to was a month away. I decided to try the install. That would give me a jump start on the class. Really, seemed to go pretty well. Brought up DOS/VS under it and we still ran.... One thing I was taught, by another System Programmer was: I don't care what you do, as long as you can recover from it. So, I was a good one for backups. And like many, I kept corrupting CMS formatted minidisks. The install class, told me what I was doing wrong, but I couldn't grasp it. I came back to work, and set up some test minidisks and proved how they were getting corrupted. I only cause it to happen a couple times a decade, nowadays. The point in all of this is: If you don't have the experience, you will get the experience, by a combination of classes, mentoring, and by trial-by-fire. Some shops can't afford the downtime and you need experience people onsite (or at least, easily available). Tom Duerbusch THD Consulting
