Backing up the Registry

Automated Registry Backup facility

You can use the Automated Registry Backup facility to back up the Registry at TOM PAS initialization, at specified intervals, at a specific time of day, or at TOM PAS termination. We recommend that you enable this facility to make sure that you have valid backups of your Registry. Only the Registry that owns the TOM PAS produces backups.

Several parameters in the MAMPLX00 BBPARM parmlib member use this facility. 

Specifying the Registry dump data set names

To enable the Automated Registry Backup facility you must specify the REGISTRY_DUMP_DSN1= and REGISTRY_DUMP_DSN2= parameters in the MAMPLX00 BBPARM parmlib member. If these data sets do not exist, TOM dynamically allocates them based on the size of the Registry when the backup is created. You can use these parameters to specify the z/OS system date and time symbols in the data set names so that each time a backup is performed, a new set of date and time-stamped data sets is created. We strongly recommend that you use these symbols while creating data sets so that you can revert back to a specific backup if you encounter a problem. If you use the same set of dump data sets for each backup, then you cannot recover from a specific point in time.   

For example, if you specify the following parameters, each time you back up the Registry, a new set of backup data sets is created that includes a date and a time stamp.

If you specify only the REGISTRY_DUMP_DSN1= and REGISTRY_DUMP_DSN2= parameters, then the Registry owning TOM at TOM PAS initialization and termination creates a backup of the Registry.

At the TOM PAS initialization, the following messages are displayed:

At the TOM PAS termination, the following messages are displayed:

If you didn't specify the REGISTRY_DUMP_DSN1= and REGISTRY_DUMP_DSN2= parameters at the TOM PAS initialization, or if you want to change the data set names dynamically, you can use the following console command to set REGISTRY_DUMP_DSN1=.

You can use the following console command to set REGISTRY_DUMP_DSN2=.

To set dump data set names that specify the z/OS date or time system symbols, you must prefix them with an ampersand (&) so that the z/OS command processor does not resolve the symbols as the command is issued. For example, to set REGISTRY_DUMP_DSN1= to a name that is date and time-stamped, use the following command:

Enabling periodic Registry backups

You can also set the REGISTRY_DUMP_INTERVAL= parameter to create Registry backups at specified intervals. If you set this parameter, the message is displayed at the TOM PAS initialization:

If you don't specify this parameter, the following message will be displayed at the TOM PAS initialization:

You can dynamically set or change the dump interval using the following console command:

In this command, nnn is the number of minutes from 5 to 720.

Enabling time-of-day backups

You can use the REGISTRY_DUMP_TOD= parameter to request the TOM to create a Registry backup at a specific time of day. When you specify this parameter and TOM creates the backup, the following messages are displayed:

Dynamically enable or disable Registry backups

If you specified the REGISTRY_DUMP_DSN1= and REGISTRY_DUMP_DSN2= parameters, you can dynamically enable or disable the Automated Registry Backup facility. To enable the facility, issue the following console command: 

To enable the facility, issue the following console command: 

On-Demand Registry backup

You can also create a Registry backup on-demand by using the following console command: 

In this command, ddname represents the name of a pre-allocated dump data set. Enter the name of a DD from your TOM PAS JCL. We recommend that you allocate this data set with DSORG=VB,DCB=(LRECL=8192,BLKSIZE=32760) (or other appropriate BLKSIZE). The data set should be large enough to hold the backup of the TOM Registry. If you enable the Automated Registry Backup facility, you can allocate this data set with the same characteristics as one of those backup data sets. 

When you issue the command successfully, the following messages are displayed:

The use of this facility is not required, but it could be useful for creating a backup of the Registry after making mass changes.

Backing up key Definition Bases

In addition to using one of the Registry backup methods, we recommend that you make periodic backups of your key object and calendar Definition Bases by using the Registry export utility. The Registry export utility, MAMEXPRT, is a series of REXX EXECs that are distributed in the BBSAMP data set. Using the MAMEXPRT, you can create an import EXEC that can create the exported Definition Base under a new name or on a different sysplex, or recover the Definition Base to the same sysplex if a problem or failure occurs. This utility provides a quick way to rebuild one or more objects or calendar Definition Bases without having to restore or rebuild the entire Registry. For additional information about this utility and how to use it, see Registry-export-utility.