Halcyon Goes Graphical with Disk Space Manager

Published: June 27, 2006

by Alex Woodie

Keeping an eye on disk space usage is one of the important activities that occupies the time of iSeries administrators. For one thing, DASD is very expensive on the iSeries, so it shouldn't be wasted, just on principle. And if usage should ever get close to capacity, it could really slow down application performance. Luckily, there are all kinds of tools to help administrators track disk space, including Disk Space Manager version 4.0, which was just released by Halcyon Software.

Halcyon Software is an English software company that develops a line of systems management tools for the iSeries, as well as a line of tools for Windows servers. Halcyon has more than a dozen OS/400 systems management tools, which are available on a stand-alone basis, or as an integrated part of several suites it offers.

The Disk Space Manager, one of Halcyon's OS/400 utilities, is designed to keep administrators on top of the amount of disk being used, to help them plan when a disk upgrade may be required, and to help clean up old or seldom-utilized files residing in the DB2/400 database or on the IFS.

In early June, Halcyon announced the immediate availability of Disk Space Manager version 4.0, which added two significant features, including a graphical user interface (GUI) called the Disk Explorer that brings new drag-and-drop capabilities. The other significant feature is support for independent auxiliary storage pools (iASPs).

The new Windows-based Disk Explorer component lets administrators customize their views into the iSeries disk usage. First, administrators drill down into files and objects on the iSeries, and once they drill to a sufficient level a customized view in Disk Explorer allows a survey of items, and the capability to sort them and determine their disk status.

Support for iASPs keeps Disk Space Manager current with iSeries trends. OS/400 shops are increasingly adopting iASPs to give them greater flexibility in reallocating storage.

Disk Space Manager is available as a stand-alone product, or as a component of one of Halcyon's product suites, including the Operations Center, the High Availability Suite, and the Data Center Management Suite.

Most of Halcyon's customers are in Europe, although it does have some in the united States, too. The company has been working on entering the U.S. market for some time (see "Halcyon Enters U.S. Market for Systems Management Tools"), and today it lists a subsidiary in Las Vegas.

Pricing for Disk Space Manager starts at $2,730. For more information, see www.halcyonsoftware.com.