Improving performance with the --sort-command parameter

To improve performance of the mmapplypolicy command, follow these guidelines.

One possible way to improve the performance of the mmapplypolicy command is to specify an alternative sort command to be used instead of the default sort command provided by the operating system. To do this, issue mmapplypolicy --sort-command SortCommand, specifying the executable path of the alternative command.

For example, on AIX® the GNU sort program, freely available within the coreutils package from AIX Toolbox for Linux® Applications (www.ibm.com/systems/power/software/aix/linux/toolbox), will typically perform large sorting tasks much faster than the standard AIX sort command. If you wanted to specify the GNU sort program, you would use the following command: mmapplypolicy --sort-command /opt/freeware/bin/sort.

Before issuing mmapplypolicy --sort-command on a large number of files, first do a performance comparison between the alternative sort command and the default sort command on a smaller number of files to determine whether the alternative command is in fact faster.

If you specify an alternative sort command, it is recommended that you install it on all cluster nodes.