Thanks for all the wonderful replies. I believe that queue and quiesce may indeed be the best words for what we are intending to describe in my database world.

Thank you rodward for helping me out. Certainly the queues of IMS are treated very specifically in both sequence and priority. They in no way resemble a heap.

Those who don't want to know more about IMS please stop here.

IMS is the oldest database and transaction manager (c.1968) still in use. It collectively contains 90% of the financial data on earth. I have worked on IMS since 1981 when it was already considered a legacy (pejorative) and a dinosaur. New releases have added web enablement and TCP/IP (asynchronous) protocols that would have been anathema to the original designers. To give you an insight to what IMS is and what it does, I can offer this statement. IMS Transaction Manager serves hierarchical (native IMS) and relational (DB2/UDB) databases to local and remote users through any SNA (synchronous) or TCP/IP (asynchronous) telecommunications protocol with full recoverability of both data and messages at all times. Eg. If the power fails and IMS performs an emergency restart then not only will the databases be error free, but the IBM3270 terminal in front of the bank teller will be restored to the last screen image that was transmitted (Enter or PF Key). This occurs whether the user is in the same building or 10,000 miles away. Up to 255 IMS systems may be connected in a network called Multiple Systems Coupling (MSC) and transactions entered anywhere in the MSC network will be processed according to routing and availability rules on any coupled system. Typical full-function transaction rates for IMS systems are from 30 to 300 per second. Originally a joint development of Rockwell and IBM for NASA, IMS has become the most robust software offering of IBM on the OS/390 (mainframe) platform. At a former employment I frequently witnessed full recoveries of 25,000 terminal users and over 500 active databases within 10 minutes of a machine or power failure restart. This was usually delayed by the 20 minutes required to IPL (reboot) the OS and establish the network connections. Sorry for writing so much but IMS software has made me pretty well off for a non-management Dilbertesque cubicle dweller. I figure you would not have read this far if you weren't enjoying it.

Nosdrahcir Kram Nimajneb

Nosdrahcir