What did VFBA do?
VFBA allowed VSE systems to treat CKD (Count Key Data) disk devices as FBA (Fixed Block Architecture) devices. This provided a layer of abstraction, making the underlying disk format transparent to applications. It essentially eliminated application dependencies on specific disk types.
Was VFBA a system, application, or tool?
VFBA was a system-level tool. It modified the way the operating system interacted with disk storage. It was not an application in itself, but rather a piece of middleware that altered the behavior of the system.
What types of organizations used VFBA?
Organizations running zVSE/VSEn that needed to use CKD disk devices with applications designed for FBA devices would have considered using VFBA. This was especially relevant when migrating or consolidating systems with different disk formats. It was useful for any organization that wanted to avoid application modifications due to disk format changes.
When would an organization have considered VFBA?
VFBA would have been considered when an organization running zVSE/VSEn needed to use CKD disks with applications expecting FBA disks. This might occur during a hardware upgrade, data migration, or when consolidating systems with different disk configurations. It allowed applications to continue running without modification.
What were the alternatives to VFBA?
Alternatives to VFBA included modifying applications to directly support CKD disks, using a different storage virtualization solution, or migrating to a platform that natively supported both disk formats. Software solutions that provide similar disk virtualization capabilities might also be considered.