Using Data Set Size Assist


One of the greatest abusers of DASD space is the data set that is consistently overallocated, where space may or may not be released at data set close.

The Data Set Size Assist feature identifies, reports, and alters allocation on data sets that are consistently overallocated. With this feature, you can:

  • Identify overallocated data sets and manually release space through BMC AMI Storage views
  • Set up automation to release the unused space
  • Set up automation to change the original allocation values for the data set to prevent the problem from occurring

The Data Set Size Assist feature uses the Allocation function, SPACAQTY, in conjunction with the Data Set Size Assist database (DB). SPACAQTY executes after the SPACSQTY function, regardless of whether SPACSQTY changed any of the allocation parameters in the data set.

The DB is a VSAM KSDS data set. Because the DB uses VSAM Record Level Sharing (RLS), you can update the DB from multiple occurrences of BMC AMI Storage or the Data Set Size Assist Maintenance Utility. The DB contains a record for each data set that the customer has requested for tracking. The DB is updated each time a qualified data set is uncataloged or migrated. A data set is determined to be qualified if it passes SPACAQTY FLST processing. Each data set record in the DB contains a history of uncatalogs, which is used by Reporting and Allocation alteration.

The Data Set Size Assist feature relies on the knowledge of allocation size and free space in the prior life of a data set. PDSE and HFS data set types are not available for tracking because the data set free space is unknown to the feature. VSAM indexes are also not processed. When a VSAM cluster is defined, if space is not explicitly specified for the index, VSAM will calculate the amount to assign to the index. At SPACAQTY processing time, this amount is not available. However, reporting of VSAM indexes is provided by this feature.

The Data Set Size Assist feature requires a license for the Reporting, Allocation, and Automation BMC AMI Storage components. The Allocation component must always be active in order for allocation information to be maintained. The Allocation and Reporting components must both be active in order to view the collection information.

For more information, see:



 

Tip: For faster searching, add an asterisk to the end of your partial query. Example: cert*