Grouping with CATDSN
When data sets have been selected using CATDSN, the output data sets are normally grouped by the expiration dates of the input files. This allows files that will expire in the same range of days to be on a single tape (or multivolume set), so that the tape can be scratched and reused as soon as possible.
You can change this so that the output data sets are instead grouped together the same way they are grouped on the input volumes. All the files from one volume (or multivolume set) will go together to an output volume or multivolume set, regardless of their expiration dates. Use this option if you need to retain the input data set grouping or want to minimize the number of mounts of each input tape.
Q: Do you want to group by input volume set instead of the usual Expiration Date grouping?
Yes – Add GROUPBY=VOLSET to your COPY or SIM statement, then click here to continue.
You can specify what the allowed spread of expiration dates will be for a single group. The normal value is 7; data sets that expire within 7 days of each other will form a single group. (So if you have 14 daily data sets, the first 7 will be in the first group, and the next 7 will be in the next group.)
Q: Do you want a group spread of a number of days different from 7?
Yes1– Add EXPDTGROUP=n to your COPY or SIM statement, where the number of days n may be from 0 to 998.