VisualAge for Java Repository on Mainframe

[lakshmivenkatesan]

Hello all,
I am working in an Enterprise-Java project and our development environment is Enterprise VisualAge for Java.Our team is working on NT Workstations and we are facing frequent VisualAge crashes due to memory fragmentation.
Hence we have decided to have a central repository on MainFrame(OS-390) for saving and retrieving our projects.
To my knowledge,the VisualAge manual only talks about a central team repository on other platforms and not on MainFrames(OS-390).We are working at a hectic pace.If anyone can help out on the following please email me:
1.Alternative scenarios for storing in robust central repository
2.Version Control of code in Visual Age Team Devpt.
3.Preventing crashes and sudden code loss
My mailid:
[e-mail]
Thanx and regards,
lakshmi

[Kyle Brown]

Originally posted by lakshmivenkatesan:
Hello all,
I am working in an Enterprise-Java project and our development environment is Enterprise VisualAge for Java.Our team is working on NT Workstations and we are facing frequent VisualAge crashes due to memory fragmentation.
Hence we have decided to have a central repository on MainFrame(OS-390) for saving and retrieving our projects.
To my knowledge,the VisualAge manual only talks about a central team repository on other platforms and not on MainFrames(OS-390).We are working at a hectic pace.If anyone can help out on the following please email me:
1.Alternative scenarios for storing in robust central repository
2.Version Control of code in Visual Age Team Devpt.
3.Preventing crashes and sudden code loss
My mailid:
[e-mail]
Thanx and regards,
lakshmi

I can try to address some of these, but I don't have enough information to address all of them.
First, you can't put the VisualAge team repository on a mainframe. VisualAge requires a team repository management process called EMSRV to manage the repository -- this is only available on NT and Unix platforms. For that reason, you can't put the repository on the mainframe, which is why it's not listed in the documentation.
Second, I would STRONGLY discourage you from trying to use other code-management approaches (like using an external VCS) with VisualAge. While VisualAge will support storing code there, it is a NIGHTMARE to try to handle this -- it breaks the VisualAge paradigm, and does not integrate well with the environment. We do have a set of best practices for managing the lifecycle of code and ocnfigurations using both VisualAge and an external VCS, but it's not something short enough so that I can include in an email. Unfortunately, there aren't any really good books on this subject either. Instead, IBM teaches a number of classes on this subject == contact IBM AIM Services (ask your IBM software rep for this contact in your area).
For (3) I need to understand what is happening. Is your repository crashing (corrupting) or is the workbench crashing (much more likely). Under what circumstnaces does this occur? What kind of development are you doing (Servlet,EJB, etc.). How well trained are your developers in using the team environment?
Kyle Brown

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Kyle Brown,
Author of Enterprise Java (tm) Programming with IBM Websphere