Is DFO "free"?

[Art Wiens]

Is it like DCPS where they decided to throw it in? I imagine the Plus version with scheduling features might cost a bit. The SPD and Install doc's talk about licenses, however so does the DCPS documentation.

Cheers,
Art

[Uwe Zessin]

Last time I checked, you could install it and analyze disks without a license.

[Art Wiens]

$ defrag volume disk$dkb200

Disk File Optimizer for OpenVMS DFG V2.9
© Copyright 2005 Hewlett-Packard Development Company,L.P.
%LICENSE-F-NOAUTH, DEC DFG use is not authorized on this node
-LICENSE-F-NOLICENSE, no license is active for this software product
-LICENSE-I-SYSMGR, please see your system manager

Is there just an "analyze" type of command without actually trying to do a defrag?

Anyone have an idea on how much a license costs? And I guess if it does cost money, how does it's value compare to a 3rd party product? I remember using Diskeeper a long time ago...it worked very well at the time.

Cheers,
Art

[Uwe Zessin · Accepted solution]

I think it is something like:

$ DEFRAG SHOW /VOLUME ddcu:

[John Gillings]

Art,

TANSTAAFL. You can do:

$ DEFRAG SHOW

without a PAK loaded. But if you want to do anything about the report, you have to pay ;-}

Sorry, no idea how much a license costs, you'll have to ask your local sales rep. The PAK enables all features.

>how does it's value compare to a 3rd party product?

"Value" I'm not sure about, but I'd guess DFG *costs* less, as the other products have many more bells & whistles.

With modern, large capacity drives, it's easier to keep files contiguous. Give them generous initial allocations and extend quantities. With a fairly modest investement in thought and time, you might not need a defragger at all. It's a handy tool to have, but consider spending the cost of the license on an extra disk. With sufficient spare capacity, COPY/CONTIGUOUS can deal with problem files, and SET FILE/EXTEND can keep them clean.

[Art Wiens]

Thanks Uwe ... your correct.

[Uwe Zessin]

I had good results with RAXCO's product during the VAX/VMS V4 days. Our operator-controlled backups to TU77 and TU78 tape drives ran quite a bit faster.

Much later I used DFO for free space consolidation to create contiguous files. It was a nice time saver, because I didn't have to do BACKUP/RESTORE cycles.

[John Abbott_2]

We've used the various levels of defrag without any issues for several years (currently running v2.8 on vms v7.3-1). I can't recall the exact cost, but I didn't feel it was too expensive at the time of purchase (we don't have a lot of pennies to spend!).

For us, the unused/free block consolidation is very useful.

Kind Regards,
John.

[JKrucus]

DFO is $1000 for small systems.

Country List Price for USA. Part# Part Description Loan-EMEA Only SPD
QL-2GNAE-AA DiskFile Optimizer for OpenVMS/Alpha Workgroup Licence 975
QL-2GNAG-AA DiskFile Optimizer for OpenVMS/Alpha Departmental Licence 2925
QL-2GNAQ-AA DiskFile Optimizer for OpenVMS/Alpha Enterprise Licence 7800
QL-GJ8A2-AA DiskFile Optimizer for OpenVMS/VAX Departmental Licence 2925
QL-GJ8A5-AA DiskFile Optimizer for OpenVMS/VAX Enterprise Licence 7800
QL-GJ8AB-AA DiskFile Optimizer for OpenVMS/VAX Workgroup Licence 975
QA-2GNAA-GZ DiskFile Optimizer Documentation for Alpha 110
QA-GJ8AA-GZ DiskFile Optimizer Documentation for VAX 110

[comarow]

I will tell you I've submitted two Elevations for DFO so it's a very actively
worked and evolving product.

Specificially dealing with huge disks,
performance and small cluster sizes on huge disks.