isutl -i

Launch the information advisor

isutl -i filename

Options

filename

The name of the ISAM file(s) for which you want to launch the information advisor. The default extension is .ism.

Discussion

Isutl -i launches the information advisor, which displays helpful advice based on file organization and content. The identified file conditions can range from high-risk issues that may result in file failure to low-risk, performance-related issues. If the file condition is correctable, the information advisor will suggest corrective actions and/or ways to enhance performance.

The conditions reported are not errors. They simply provide helpful information to point out things that may or may not be otherwise detectable and suggestions that you can choose to ignore or act upon. Having one or more conditions be displayed for a file does not mean the file is corrupted.

Use isutl -i filename to quickly check static configuration information, or isutl -vi filename to generate a full analysis based on content. (See isutl -v.)

Isutl -i (or -vi) reports the following static conditions:

Duplicates exceed 80% full on one or more keys. Duplicates that exceed 100% will be denied with an $ERR_FILFUL error.
Index freelist overflow. Performance during STORE operations may be suffering.
Invalid file organization for pre-7.3.1a versions. The potential for file corruption exists if you’re using an old Synergy version.
Static RFA: High data segment re-use. This file may benefit from reorganization.
Static RFA: Large number of vectored segments. This file may benefit from reorganization.
Duplicates ordered at the beginning on one or more keys. Isutl performance may suffer. Consider changing to ATEND unless absolutely necessary.
Index depth exceeds 3 on one or more keys. Increasing PAGE size may improve overall performance.
Free space exceeds half. The percentage of free space is specified. Reducing file size may improve performance.

The following conditions are only available with isutl -vi:

One or more keys exhibit excessive blank duplicates. Change to a replicating null key to improve performance.
Index exhibits a low optimization level. Keyed and sequential file access may not be optimal.
Data exhibits a low optimization level. Sequential file access may not be optimal.
Existing data exhibits some compression benefit. Compressing data will reduce file size and improve performance.
Static RFA: Vectored records exceed 1%. RFA record access performance may suffer.
Static RFA: Unusable data exceeds percentage. Specifies the percentage and number of data bytes that are not usable.
Variable segment reduction waste: (n). When compressed records are rewritten and are smaller, they reuse the same segment but generate more waste. This information represents the savings that would occur if these smaller records were moved to a smaller segment. Use isutl -ro to reclaim this space.