Set ABR Disk Volume Processing Options

New installations

If you are installing ABR, you need to set the ABR DASD volume processing options for any DASD volume on which you want to use ABR for backups or ARCHIVing (this is also referred to as “initializing the ABR volumes”). This process creates a Model DSCB (a data set with no space assigned) on the specified volumes; this ABR Model DSCB contains the options you assign and controls the ABR processing for the volume. In addition, ABR uses two reserved bytes (at decimal displacements 103 and 104) in the DSCB for each data set on the volume.

Existing installations

Your ABR volume options should already be set, but you may need to use this dialog to change options or initialize new volumes.

This panel may also be used to display information about ABR options and current ABR backups for previously initialized volumes, and to change the ABR volume processing options.

Panel A.I.8 – Set ABR disk volume processing options

Select option 8 (ABRVOL) on the FDR Installation Options Menu that brings you to this panel:

Set ABR Disk Volume Processing Options – Panel A.I.8

FDR program library data set

If the name of the FDR program library is not correct, correct it (optionally you can specify the volume serial if it is not cataloged for some reason).

JCL information

Since batch job streams are generated if any volumes must be initialized or changed, specify SYSOUT CLASS and JOB STATEMENT information appropriate for running the job.

Panel A.I.8 (#2) – Set ABR Volume Processing Options Panel

Pressing ENTER on the previous panel displays this panel:

Set ABR Volume Processing Options – Panel A.I.8 (#2)

All the fields on the right side of the display are the default values for ABR volume initialization that are stored in your FDR Global Options. The values shown here are the defaults distributed by BMC, but you might have changed them earlier in the installation process (Panel A.I.4.7 – Set ABR Disk Volume Processing Options  and Panel A.I.4.8 – Set FDR Global Options for ABR in ABR-Options). These defaults can be used for the initialization of any DASD volumes not already initialized for ABR processing unless you override them on the panel.

You can now display the ABR status of one or more DASD volumes. This will also allow you to easily initialize volumes that are not initialized for ABR, or to change the ABR status of initialized volumes.

To display one or more volumes, enter a volume serial or mask in the VOLUME SERIAL NUMBER field. You can enter:

• A complete serial number (1-6 characters).
• A serial number prefix, followed by an asterisk, for example, ABC*, which will display all volumes starting with that prefix.
• A serial number mask, with one or more asterisks in positions in the serial; the asterisk will match any character, for example, A*B*01
• A combination, such as A*B* which will select any volume with A in position 1 and B in position 3.
• A single asterisk (*) selects all online DASD volumes in your installation (use this option with caution if you have many DASD volumes online).

When you press ENTER, all online DASD UCBs are scanned for the selected volume serials, their ABR status is interrogated, and the panel is redisplayed with that information (one line per volume). This may take a few moments, especially if many volumes are selected.

Basic line commands (I – insert; D – delete; R – repeat) are used to add and delete entries in the list. Inserted lines will have a blank volume serial that you can over type to add one or more volumes to the display. You can also over type the volume serial of an existing entry; it is deleted and replaced with the volumes selected.

The following example display was created by entering a volume serial of TSO* in an installation where ABR has been in use for a while, but where a new TSO volume has been recently added.

Set ABR Volume Processing Options

Current Backup

For a volume already initialized for ABR, these fields show the most recent backup of the volume. The fields are:

GEN

CYC

DATE

The ABR generation, cycle, and creation date of the most recent backup.

EXPDT

EXPD2

The expiration date of the most recent full-volume backup taken (if a COPY2 backup was created, its expiration is also shown).

AC

The number of auto-cycles taken in the current generation (significant only if you are doing TYPE=AUTO backups).

MOD

If you change to “YES”, you are able to modify the other fields under CURRENT BACKUP. This can be used in the rare case where you need to correct inaccurate information.

If the display contains “NO MODEL”, the volume is not currently initialized for ABR processing. The rest of the fields on the line will usually contain the defaults from the FDR Global Options. However, if you display an initialized volume, then overtype its volume serial with that of an uninitialized volume, the values from the first volume are retained and can be used to initialize the new volume, effectively copying the values.

For a volume that has been initialized but never backed up by ABR, the display says “NO BACKUP”.

MAX GEN

MAX AC

MAX GEN is the maximum number of generations (full-volume backups) that ABR will retain for this volume. As new generations are created, older generations, based on MAXGEN, are uncataloged from the ABR catalog.

MAX AC is the maximum number of auto-cycles permitted before a full-volume backup is forced. This is significant only if you intend to do TYPE=AUTO backups as described in FDRABR-Volume-Backups.

RETPD

RETP2

RETPD is the default retention period that is used for COPY1 full-volume backups, if no other retention period or expiration date is provided at execution time (in JCL or on the ABR DUMP statement). RETP2 is the default retention for COPY2 full-volume backups; a value of 0 (zero) for RETP2 cause the value of RETPD to be used for COPY2.

ARCHIVE

SCRATCH

OLDBKUP

These enable ABR processing options for each volume. ARCHIVE enables ARCHIVE backups (DUMP TYPE=ARC) and SCRATCH enables Superscratch (DUMP TYPE=SCR); since both of these will delete data sets from the volume, you may choose to disable these functions on some or all volumes.

OLDBKUP enables recording of old backups in the Format 1 DSCB of each data set. If disabled, only the most recent (current) backup is recorded; older backups may still be available but they are not recorded by data set and cannot be easily displayed and selected. If enabled, up to 13 old backups (14 total) are recorded and can be displayed and selected for restore. See ABR-Options for more information.

Default: ARCHIVE is enabled, SCRATCH and OLDBKUP are disabled.

STORCLAS

If the volume is SMS-managed, you must specify a valid SMS storage class name in order to initialize the volume for ABR processing. Any valid storage class can be used.

ARCHI

ARCLOW

These specify high and low thresholds for ARCHIVE processing. They are used only if THRESHOLD= is specified on the DUMP TYPE=ARC statement, as described in FDRABR-Archiving-and-Superscratch.

FORCE

Change this to YES only if an initialization of a volume for ABR processing fails because of non-zero values in the reserved DSCB fields used by ABR. FORCE will force the initialization to continue, zeroing those reserved bytes in all Format 1 DSCBs on the volume. You should verify that some other product is not using the bytes. Existing ABR customers can use FORCE on new volumes without concern but if you are a new ABR customer and get the message indicating that the reserved bytes contain data, contact BMC Support for assistance before proceeding.

Processing the requests

Once you have made any required changes to the parameter displayed, enter SUBMIT or EDIT on the COMMAND line to submit or edit the batch job that is generated.

The panel generates a job stream to execute the FDRABRM utility (see VTOC-Maintenance-Utility-FDRABRM) for:

• Any displayed volume that shows “NO MODEL”, an ABRINIT statement is generated to initialize it for ABR processing by creating an ABR Model DSCB, using the values shown on the line for that volume.
• Any displayed initialized volume where some fields on the right of the display have been changed; a MAINT statement is generated to change the ABR Model DSCB.
• Any displayed initialized volume where some fields under CURRENT BACKUP have been changed (if MOD is set to “YES”), a REMODEL statement is generated to rebuild the ABR Model DSCB with the new values.

Any previously-initialized volume for which no fields were changed is ignored. You can bypass initializing some volumes by deleting them from the display (the D line command).

Once the FDRABRM batch job completes, you can refresh the ABR volume information on the ISPF panel by using the REFRESH command.

Quick initialization of volumes

To quickly initialize for ABR processing all online volumes that are not already initialized, use this procedure:

• Display the initial (empty) panel. Change any defaults on the screen that are required (such as “YES” for OLDBKUP).
• Under VOLUME SERIAL NUMBER put an asterisk (*) to select all online volumes.
• Enter “EDIT” or “SUBMIT” to generate ABRINIT statements, using the defaults you entered, for all uninitialized volumes.