VM:Archiver and minidisk cache

Products

• VM:Archiver for z/VM

Issue/Introduction

You recently turned on minidisk cache on your system. You expected better system performance but you have been seeing poorer performance instead. Your VM:Archiver machine is taking a long time to perform archives.

Should you specify MINIOPT NOMDC for the VM:Archiver staging disks?

Environment

Using SFS with some large SFS filepools.

Resolution

Yes, turn off minidisk caching for the VM:Archiver minidisks. 

Additional Information

Turning off cache for the VM:Archiver disks may fix only part of the problem. If users are archiving from SFS and the SFS filepool performance has been impacted, then that would also impact archival process time. In that case, you should consult with IBM.

CA recommends that you turn off caching for all of our product’s minidisks.