FDR Tape Copy (FDRTCOPY)

The FDR tape copy utility (FDRTCOPY) has been specifically designed to copy FDR-formatted backups on tape or DASD. The FDR format is used by all backups created by FDR, FDRDSF, FDRABR, or Stand Alone Restore (SAR). As noted in Working-with-FDR-and-ABR-backup-maintenance, FDR backups cannot be correctly copied by any non-BMC utilities.

FDRTCOPY may be used to copy any FDR backup optionally creating a second copy at the same time. Simple JCL and control statements are used to specify the input and output backup data sets

Copying ABR backups

When the input is backup or archive files created by ABR, FDRTCOPY has the ability to:

Automatically copy multi-file tapes (multi-file tapes contain multiple backups or archives stacked on tape by ABR).
Create replacement copies of backups, that is, create and catalog data sets with the same name as the input.
Create duplicate copies of backups, that is, create COPY2 backups from COPY1 input, or vice versa.
Create additional copies (COPY3 through COPY9) of full-volume and incremental backups.
Drop expired backup files during a multi-file copy, allowing reduction and consolidation of incremental and archive files.
Update the ABR Archive Control File if archive files are copied.

FDRTCOPY automatically recognizes that input backups were created by FDRABR based on the format of their data set names. The data set name format of backups created by ABR is described in detail in:

Tape Format and Naming Conventions in Working-with-FDRABR-Volume-Backups
Tape Format and Naming Conventions in Working-with-FDRABR-Archiving-and-Superscratch
Tape Format and Naming Conventions in Working-with-FDRAPPL

but briefly it is:

abrindex.Vvolser.xczzzzzz

where:

abrindex

is a fixed index (usually “FDRABR”).

volser

is the volume serial of a DASD volume.

is “C” for backups and other characters for archives and application backups.

is a copy number (1-9).

zzzzzz

is variable data.

FDRTCOPY gets the usual ABRINDEX from the FDR Global Options.

Important

The “abrindex” may be any user-chosen value for Application Backups (DUMP TYPE=APPL).

FDRTCOPY does a pattern-match on the input data set name to see if it meets the requirements for an ABR backup (if you do not wish FDRTCOPY to identify ABR backups, for example, if you want to copy an ABR backup to a non ABR backup name, specify “ABR=NO” on the COPY control statement). When the input is on tape, the tape label only contains the last 17 characters of the data set name, so FDRTCOPY cannot verify the “abrindex” and checks only the remainder. If an input file is identified as ABR-created, the following rules apply (see FDRTCOPY COPY Statements for the meaning of the FDRTCOPY operands):

The input data set name is always copied to the output data set (COPYDSN=YES is assumed). The output name is identical to the input unless ABRCOPY= and/or ABRCOPY2= is specified; these operands allow you to change the copy number “c” in the data set name.
The output data sets are cataloged unless CAT= and/or CAT2= is specified (CAT=RECAT is the default).
If the input is identified as an archive backup, FDRTCOPY attempts to update the Archive Control File to point to the output backup.
If the end of the last input tape is reached without finding the end of the backup data (as indicated by internal FDR control blocks), FDRTCOPY attempts to locate the backup in the ABR catalog to get the remainder of the backup tape volume serials. This allows you to copy an ABR tape set while specifying only the first input tape (or first few tapes) in the JCL.
If ALLFILES or MAXFILES= is also specified, FDRTCOPY copies multiple ABR files from the input tapes. Since backups created by ABR are normally multi-file, this allows all the backups on a tape set to be copied without specifying anything except the first file to be copied. If necessary, it uses the ABR catalog to get the additional tape volume serial numbers for each backup, until either the number of files specified by MAXFILES= has been reached, or a double tape mark (indicating the end of the tape set) is encountered.

Files that are not identified as being created by ABR do not receive this special processing.

Copying Backup Subsystem Tapes

FDRTCOPY can be used to copy ABR full-volume and incremental backup tapes. The JCL must point to the input backup (or the first backup on a multi-file tape). Given the nature of the backups created by ABR, it is not always easy to make up standard JCL to copy the tapes created by ABR every day, but FDRTCOPY Examples contains some sample JCL that can be used to do so.

This might be used to create a duplicate copy in a separate run, rather than using the TAPExx facility of ABR to create the duplicate at dump time; you might do this if you do not have enough tape drives or if you are trying to reduce the dump elapsed time. It can also be used to create additional duplicate copies for off site storage; ABR supports restoring from copy numbers 3 through 9, but they can be created only by FDRTCOPY. FDRTCOPY can also be used to recreate a backup from a duplicate copy when the original has been damaged or lost.

When copying backup files, FDRTCOPY always copies the data set name created by ABR, but the copy number in the name can be changed by using the ABRCOPY=/ABRCOPY2= operands.

Since ABR uses only the ABR catalog to locate backup subsystem tapes, it is essential that the output files created by FDRTCOPY be cataloged. The default of CAT=RECAT and CAT2=RECAT ensures that the output files are always cataloged; this is especially important when you are recreating tapes that are already cataloged to different volumes.

FDRTSEL can also be used to automate the copying of ABR incremental and full volume backups. FDRTSEL can select the backups from the ABR catalog and dynamically allocate the inputs, eliminating the FDRTCOPY requirement for JCL pointing to the backups. FDRTSEL also has options for ordering the backups to improve restore performance. See FDRTSEL Introduction.

Copying archive subsystem tapes

FDRTCOPY can be used to copy ABR archive backup tapes. The JCL must point to the input backup (or the first backup on a multi-file tape); FDRTCOPY Examples contains some sample JCL that can be used to automate these copies.

Archive backups are recorded in the Archive Control File. They may also be cataloged in the ABR catalog, but ABR does not use the catalog entries for restore unless the backup exceeds five tape volumes. The structure of the Archive Control File only allows copy numbers “1” and “2” to be recorded; when FDRTCOPY copies an archive backup file and the output file copy number is 1 or 2, it updates the Archive Control File using this technique:

The ID of the input file (data set name, tape volume serial number, and file sequence number) are noted.
The ID of the equivalent output file (name, tape volume serial number, file sequence number, expiration date and device type) are also noted.
The Archive Control File is searched for any archive data set that is identified as being archived on the input file (both COPY1 and COPY2 are checked against the input file ID).
When a match is found, the ID of the output file is inserted into the slot for COPY1 or COPY2, depending on which copy number appears in the output file name.

With this technique, you can create a COPY2 from a COPY1 input, and FDRTCOPY finds the proper entries from the COPY1 name and add the COPY2 ID. If you are copying an archive tape using the same copy number, FDRTCOPY replaces the old backup IDs with the new volume serials, device type, and expiration.

FDRTCOPY updates the Archive Control File unless you specify the NODYNARC operand. You can point to that file by providing an ARCHIVE DD statement, or, if the file to be updated is the one named in the FDR

Global Options, you can use the default of DYNARC.

Moving archive files from DASD

Although FDRTCOPY is capable of moving archive files from DASD to tape, the procedure is laborious so it is not convenient to do so. FDRTSEL is a utility that can automate the process of copying DASD archive files to tape, invoking FDRTCOPY to do the actual move. FDRTSEL is especially useful if you archive to DASD with short-term retention, and want to create tape copies of those files when they expire.

FDRTCOPY is also capable of moving archive backups from DASD to DASD, but again the process is laborious. FDRTSEL can also automate this process.

Documentation on FDRTSEL is found in FDRTSEL Introduction.

Application backup files

It is possible to use FDRTCOPY to copy backups created by ABR's Application Backup (DUMP TYPE=APPL), but it is usually not useful. Application backup creates a Application Control File describing the backups, similar to the Archive Control File, but the usual process for application backup involves putting a backup of that Application Control File as the last file on the backup tape in order to make that tape self-contained. FDRTCOPY can copy the backup tapes, and can update the Application Control File if it is still on DASD, but it cannot update the backup of the Application Control File on the tape.

If you are using a variation of Application Backup that only creates a DASD Application Control File, you may use FDRTCOPY on those backups; you need to provide an ARCHIVE DD statement pointing to the Application Control File, and you must use the ABRINDEX= operand to specify the high-level index used for those backups.

FDRTSEL contains features that can be used for copying Application Backups.

Supported devices

Since FDRTCOPY uses standard access methods, all tape devices and DASD devices supported by your operating system are supported by FDRTCOPY. The input and output device types do not need to be the same, so FDRTCOPY can be used to copy backup data sets from DASD to tape, or from one tape device type or density to another. The output files may occupy more or fewer volumes than the original input.