Volume status function

This section describes the VOL function and its implementation.

Description

The Volume Status (VOL) Function allows you to "inform" ThruPut Manager of the status of DASD volumes, regardless of their real physical status. This information is kept in the ThruPut Manager DASD Volume List. ThruPut Manager adjusts its resource analysis accordingly. Additionally, the contents of the DASD Volume List can influence whether a job is placed in MHS_VOL hold at job initiation, as explained below.

Making better use of this facility requires an understanding of the "volume determination process" done by ThruPut Manager. In its handling of resident DASD volumes, ThruPut Manager distinguishes between situations where the volume serial number has been "hard-coded" in JCL or comes from the catalog. ThruPut Manager's default handling of the situation is as follows:

1.  If the resident volume was "hard-coded" but is not resident, then ThruPut Manager assumes that it is an error (finger-problem in JCL coding). The job is flushed with an appropriate message.
2.  If the volume comes from the catalog, ThruPut Manager assumes that the volume is temporarily unavailable. If the volume is still not available at job initiation time, the job is requeued and MHS delays the job by removing its system affinity and placing it in the MHS_VOL category, with a notation indicating which volumes caused the delay.

The above processing logic covers a situation where there is no entry for the DASD volume in the ThruPut Manager's "Volume Status Table". You can instruct ThruPut Manager to alter its behavior with the Volume Status Function. Facilities are provided for volume status to be communicated to ThruPut Manager through:

• TMSS Initialization Statements.
• Operator Commands.
• An installation Exit.

Implementation Considerations

Once you have implemented a Volume Status Table, ThruPut Manager's behavior changes to reflect your table:

1.  If the volume was "hard-coded" but is not resident, then ThruPut Manager looks for the volume serial number in the Volume Status Table.
   1. If the volume is not found in the table, the job is flushed with an appropriate error message.
   2. If the volume is found, ThruPut Manager takes action depending on how the volume is defined in the table, as described below.
2.  If the volume comes from the catalog, ThruPut Manager looks for the volume serial number in the Volume Status Table. If the volume is found in the table, the action taken depends on how the volume is defined in the table, as described below.

The volume list allows you to mark volumes as having one of five possible states:

• Ignore-This indicates that when this volume entry is coded as a single VOL=SER entry in JCL, it is to be ignored. This replicates the behavior of the Dummy Storage Group in SMS.
• Migrate-This indicates that any data set found with a volume serial number equal to the one specified here is a "migrated" data set. This allows you to define the "trigger volser" that your storage manager uses to detect data sets under its control.
• Retired-This indicates that this DASD volume was part of the system before but it is no longer available. Any job which refers to a "retired" volume is failed with an informative message. This is useful in situations where you have removed from the system one or more online volumes. There could still be entries in the catalog referring to the retired volumes.
• Resident-This indicates that the DASD volume is to be treated as resident (and already mounted) regardless of its real status in the system. As an example, you might use this to avoid holding jobs that refer to unavailable volumes in conditional steps that will not be executed.
• Unavailable-This indicates that a particular DASD volume is not available at this time. As with volumes indicated as resident, this is independent of the actual status of the volume. Upon encountering a reference to a volume in "unavailable" status, ThruPut Manager requeues the job, delays the job by removing its system affinity, and places it in the MHS_VOL category with a notation indicating which volumes caused the delay.

Implementation Summary

To set up your ThruPut Manager DASD Volume List:

• Code IGNORE for any volume serial numbers that have been defined as part of the SMS Dummy Storage Group.
• Code RETIRED for volumes that will not be available again.
• If you have a storage management system such as CA-Disk (formerly SAMS:Disk and DMS/OS) or DFHSM, code MIGRATE for the volume serial number that identifies migrated data sets. In the case of DFHSM, it is MIGRAT. In the case of CA-Disk, it is ARCHIV.
• Code RESIDENT in situations where you want a volume treated as RESIDENT regardless of its true status.
• Code UNAVAILABLE for situations where a volume is temporarily out of service. This status is normally managed with operator commands, since it is temporary.

Dependencies

There are no other dependencies to activate this function.

TMSS Initialization Statements

There is one initialization statement associated with the VOL function:

Facilities Summary