Expert system based configuration of VSAM files

The VSAM data access method supports management of sequential, relative, and index-sequential files. The latter are highly dependent on various parameters in terms of access behavior and storage overhead. Only few experts in this field are able to reasonably adjust these parameters to meet application programmers´ requirements. This paper reports on the implementation of an expert system containing all relevant facts as well as heuristics for an optimal design, and providing access for application programmers via a dialog shell.