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Determine Your Access Patterns

If you have access to input data or transactions, build small sample test programs to determine the effect of these inputs on the database design. This action involves simple REXX or COBOL programs that contain little or no business logic, just simple queries that simulate the anticipated database access. Running these programs can give you an idea about the impact of random versus sequential processing, or the impact of sequential processing versus skip sequential processing. It can also give you an idea of how buffer settings can affect performance and whether or not performance enhancers, such as sequential detection or index lookaside, will be effective.