ADS writes:
> We've experience similar problems with corrupt message files.
>
> We use Netbase which communicates between its various processes via
> a series of  message files.  Occasionally,  and not just after a system
> abort, our main production system was getting major impede problems,
> traceable to the main Export process from Netbase.  Using glance we
> traced the impede to a "DISK FILL" wait on the first message file - and
> when we rebuilt the file this problem disappeared -  so the problem was
> not Netbase, but MPE.
>
> The moral - there are clearly ways in which message files can get corrupt

The situation described above in no way represents "corruption" in any
form, or any actual malfunction of either MPE, Message Files, or Netbase
for that matter.

The problem is that the message file at one point grew to be very large
and is using up a lot of disk space.  For whatever reason, Netbase does
occasional FCONTROL 6 calls against that message file, which require MPE
to perform a FILL DISK to clear out unused space at the end of the file.
By rebuilding the message file, you eliminate this extra allocated disk
space, thus eliminating the problem.

Everything is working exactly the way it was designed. Of course Netbase's
use of FCONTROL 6 in this case is causing you lousy performance, and I
would complain to Quest about this.  We've recently seen this exact same
performance problem at another site too.

Message Files are relatively complex beasts, but they are also one of the
most useful features in MPE.  So far in this discussion, I have yet to see
a single description of anything I would call "corruption" in a Message
File.

G.