S4i Gives DASD-Plus a New GUI

Published: February 27, 2007

by Alex Woodie

Keeping your iSeries server's direct access storage device (DASD) in peak working condition can be a tedious task, one that sometimes is best left to dedicated utilities that can track disk usage, reclaim lost disk space, and forecast expected disk needs. One such tool, the DASD-Plus utility from S4i Systems, was augmented this week with the delivery of a new graphical interface, called DASD-Plus Chart, that should make disk-related management tasks even easier.

DASD-Plus is a mature product that includes 25 routines that automate standard iSeries housekeeping tasks, such as clearing history logs; compressing data; resizing libraries, job queues, and objects; and reorganizing physical file members. Once the product is set up, it typically runs on a certain schedule, ensuring the maximum DASD efficiency with a minimum of manual intervention.

Previously, S4i Systems offered GUI and green-screen options to DASD-Plus. With this week's introduction of DASD-Plus Chart, S4i is giving users more options to view disk use and growth-related data in a graphical format, including pie charts, bar charts, line graphs, and histograms. What's more, by using standard XML, DASD-Plus Chart makes it easier to distribute and share the DASD-related information with other people using products like Microsoft Excel.

There are three types of disk usage survey data delivered by DASD-Plus Chart, including analysis, variance, and trend charts, the company says. The analysis charts include a snap shot of disk consumption for an entire system, or multiple systems, including, ASPs, libraries, and objects. They enable managers to perform comparisons of disk usage for a single point in time.

The variance chart lets users plot changes in DASD usage across two points in time, while the trend chart is useful for associating changes in DASD usage with business metrics, such as the number of customers a user has.

S4i Systems' new DASD-Plus Chart provides a graphical depiction of disk-related information.

While DASD-Plus previously offered many of these capabilities, the graphics were not portable. DASD-Plus Chart makes the graphics portable by converting the raw DASD usage data into graphical images that can be manipulated and customized with colors, fonts, and labels. DASD-Plus Chart saves its graphics using the PNG format.

DASD-Plus Chart also saves chart data in the XML format, enabling it to be imported into Excel and other spreadsheet programs.

DASD-Plus Chart version 1.0 is available now. The product is being sold as a component of DASD-Plus. Customers that purchase DASD-Plus before March 31 will receive a 25 percent discount on the cost of the products, which start at $5,995. For more information, visit www.s4isystems.com.

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