GeoStan FileServer is an add-on product designed to significantly improve performance of GeoStan batch and GeoStan interactive (CICS). A started task caches GeoStan data, and makes that cached data available to all instances of GeoStan running on that partition, eliminating the need for most of the physical I/O performed otherwise. This allows GeoStan to run up to four times faster than it does without GeoStan FileServer.
GeoStan does not efficiently cache data. Without GeoStan FileServer, any caching that does occur is in each address space. This potentially consumes a great deal of memory if many instances of GeoStan are running on a single partition. GeoStan FileServer ensures that the data is cached in a central location, rather than on an address space by address space basis.
GeoStan FileServer is designed for use in system configurations which are running multiple instances of GeoStan on a partition at the same time. Performance benefits may also be realized in configurations which are running a single GeoStan instance, especially over time, as cache data gets loaded. However, the performance gains may not offset the cost of setup and maintenance.