Kisco Launches Spool File Distribution Software

by Alex Woodie

Kisco Information Systems last week announced new software for moving OS/400 spool files between iSeries servers, or OS/400 partitions. SpoolMover/400, as the new FTP-based product is called, only needs to be installed on the sending machine, which makes distributing reports to many servers easy, the company says.

Rather than installing and configuring FTP on each OS/400 server that needs a copy of a report (such as a corporate sales report, for example), the new SpoolMover/400 product could do the same job from a central location. Once SpoolMover/400 is installed on the source server, it's a simple matter to distribute that report to any connected iSeries server.

The product works by distributing with the file all the software that's needed for restoring the report on the target end. Once this utility is used to successfully download the report from the host server, it's removed from the target server.

SpoolMover/400 keeps the spool files in tact and doesn't alter their attributes. Practically any type of spool file can be moved by SpoolMover/400, including those with SCS, IPDS, LINE, AFPDSLINE, USERASCII, and AFPDS formatting, Kisco says.

Kisco gives several examples of SpoolMover/400 uses, including routing reports to remote locations using the Internet, distributing reports to printers hooked up to different servers, moving a report from a server without a printer to one with a printer, and distributing reports to a different logical partition (LPAR) on the same server.

SpoolMover/400 supports OS/400 V4R5 through i5/OS. The menu-based utility also includes a trace reporting feature to help diagnose any communications failures that may occur during transfers. Kisco is selling SpoolMover/400 licenses for $695. For more information or a free license visit the company's Web site at www.kisco.com.