POINTER_VALIDATION

Use the POINTER_VALIDATION keyword to select the method to be used to perform logical validation of pointers to the root and direct dependent segments.

Use

POINTER_VALIDATION is an optional keyword for the following commands:

ANALYZE
CHANGE
EXTEND
GLOBAL
IMAGECOPY
PREPARE
REORGANIZE
RELOAD

Related keywords

LARGEST_DATABASE_RECORDS
SDEP_VALIDATION
RAP_VALIDATION

Syntax

POINTER_VALIDATION=parameter

Parameters

Specify one of the following parameter values:

Value	Description
AUTO	For the Fast Path Online Restructure/EP product, this value is the default and is only valid on the PREPARE command. If pointer analysis is performed, it will only gather statistics (same as POINTER_VALIDATION=OFF).
FULL	This value performs a complete cross-reference validation of every pointer and segment occurrence. All pointers are checked to ensure that a segment occurrence of the proper type appears at the referenced relative byte address (RBA). The complete chain of dependent segment occurrences associated with their parent segment (the PCF/PTF pointers) is identified. PCL and SSPTR pointers are checked to verify that the segments referenced appear in the chain and that the PCL pointer references the last segment in the chain. FULL validation also ensures that every segment occurrence is referenced by only one PCF/PTF pointer.
QUICK	This value generates a checksum for each segment type within each UOW. The checksum consists of the sum of the RBAs for each segment occurrence minus the RBAs of all PCF/PTF pointers to the segment type. Because there should be only one PCF/PTF pointer to each segment, the resultant checksum is zero if no errors are present. A second checksum value consists of the sum of the RBAs for each segment with a null PTF pointer minus the RBAs of all PCL pointers to the segment type. SSPTR pointers are not validated in QUICK validation mode. Because many of the statistics needed cannot be collected in QUICK validation mode, certain reports are not produced, certain thresholds are not checked, and modeler output is not allowed.
OFF	This value specifies that pointers will not be validated by either of the methods discussed above. The analysis process performs physical validation of the area and gathers statistics for reporting. Because many of the statistics needed cannot be collected in this mode, certain reports are not produced, certain thresholds are not checked, and modeler output is not allowed.
NONE	This value is valid only on GLOBAL, EXTEND, REORGANIZE, RELOAD, CHANGE, and IMAGECOPY commands. The analysis function is not executed.

Note

You must have a license for Fast Path Analyzer/EP to use the FULL, QUICK, and OFF parameters on the PREPARE command.

Default

POINTER_VALIDATION=QUICK

POINTER_VALIDATION=AUTO (when used with the PREPARE command)

Alias

PTR
FPA