What is syncsort ?

[Vibha]

Hi,

Can someone please tell me what is sync sort ? Why and How do we use it?

[Robert Sample]

Syncsort is a sort product from a third-party vendor called Syncsort. It is sometimes used in place of DFSORT. As with DFSORT, Syncsort will sort files, copy files, and merge files on a key field. You can also do reporting with either sort product.

[Vibha]

So all the features in DfSort are available with SyncSort too?

[zprogrammer]

NOPE DFSORT and SYNCSORT do not have same features but they have more common features in syntax names

[Robert Sample]

No, Syncsort and DFSORT are competitive products. Each has some unique features and many common features. Each company introduces new features that the other product does not have in an attempt to gain market share.

[Anuj Dhawan]

So all the features in DfSort are available with SyncSort too?

These products are designed to do that similar work, however, as has been said earlier, SyncSort and DFSort are competitive products so they don't really go hand-in-hand when it comes to features. DFSort is a product from IBM and the manuals for it are available using IBM site, for free. On the other hand, documentation for SyncSort is available to you only when you are using their product, they are not available to all.

I'm not spoke person for any of these products but have used both of them and from an end user perspective - DFSort's ICETOOL has got its documentation and in the time of needs you ask IBM to help you, on the other hand, SyncSort's SyncTool (equivalent to ICETOOL) is not "officially" documented and if you use the application written using it, you're your own at the time of crisis.

Also, here is another thread on the subject of this thread : http://ibm-mainframes.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=35

Hope this helps.

[Vibha]

Thanks Robert, Anuj.

[Anuj Dhawan]

You're welcome.

[amargulies]

SyncSort for z/OS has been renamed to MFX for z/OS. MFX is a high performance sort/merge/copy utility. It is designed for the advanced facilities of the zSeries architecture and exploits the features of the z/OS operating system, but also supports the system architectures of IBM System/390 and compatible computers. MFX is designed to conserve system resources, provide significant performance benefits, and operate efficiently in 31-bit or 64-bit environments.

Syncsort MFX Documentation is available to all licensed customers, free of charge. As Anuj mentioned, Syncsort's SYNCTOOL application was created for compatibility reasons with IBM's ICETOOL. The only documentation that we can provide to you regarding this product is our SYNCTOOL messages. However, if you were to encounter a problem in a SYNCTOOL job, our support analysts would be happy to review your job listing(s) and assist you.

Syncsort MFX technical services are available 24 hour a day, 7 days/week. If you have any further questions regarding Syncsort MFX or any of the other Syncsort mainframe products, please feel free to contact Product Services at zos_tech@syncsort.com or call (201)930-8260.

Thank you and regards,

Alissa Margulies
Syncsort Inc.

[zprogrammer]

Welcome Alissa

[Anuj Dhawan]

Hello Alissa and welcome to the Forums,

It's nice to see you here, how have you been!?

SyncSort for z/OS has been renamed to MFX for z/OS.

This got me interested but i could not really relate a document to the meaning of MFX - in what context it is used here, Mainframes Express!? And does that make change in the "prefix" of messages for SyncSort -- from WERxxxx to HLQxxxx, just curious.

[William Collins]

Anuj, since there is no connection between the name SyncSort and the message-prefix WER, and since there are probably thousands of bits of code around the world depending on the prefix WER for extracting information, I doubt that we'll ever see that change :-)

[Anuj Dhawan]

Yes, that sounds logical but curiosity kills, you know!

[Vibha]

Thanks Alissa and guys. And yes, curiosity kills.