Archive Backup ISPF Support

The ABR ISPF dialogs support data set archives and restores for Archive Backups. Users can use them to submit their own ABR jobs to restore specific data sets from the Archive Backups, or they can add the requests to a Remote Queue data set (see Remote Queue in FDRABR-Processing-Options-and-Requirements).

ABR ISPF main menu

We recommend that the ISPF dialogs be installed so that a character of “A” on your regular ISPF main menu calls the ABR main menu. Details of this installation are found in Invoking-the-ABR-Install-ISPF-Dialog. When this manual refers to a panel name such as A.S, it assumes that this convention was used. If your installation used a different letter on your ISPF main menu, or uses some other technique to get to the ABR main menu, you will have to change our examples appropriately.

If you enter simply “A” (or whatever) from your ISPF main menu, the ABR main menu is displayed:

ABR ISPF Main Menu – Panel A

Option 2 (RESTORE) can be used to restore the archived data sets from Archive Backups, while option 3 (ARCHIVE) can request that certain data sets be archived. Depending on the customization of the dialogs done during install (Invoking-the-ABR-Install-ISPF-Dialog), the user may have the option to directly submit an ABR job or to add the request to a remote queue. Although the RESTORE panels support restore of older backups, the SRS dialog, described next, is a far superior way of restoring data sets.

SRS ISPF dialog

SRS stands for “Search, Report, and Services”. It is described in detail in FDRSRS-Search-Report-and-Services-Dialog. It allows users to search for information on data sets from a variety of sources, display the information in an easy-to-use format, and optionally to execute various TSO and ABR functions against the data sets displayed.

For Archive Backups, it can display backup information for the data sets selected. If data sets have been archived more than once, it can display all of the recorded backups, including the date of the archive. Simply by typing the RESTORE command on the proper line, users can request that a data set be restored.

Users can also add a request to the backup Remote Queue, so that the displayed data set is included in the next incremental backup of the volume it resides on.

From your ISPF main menu, if you enter “A.S.1”, you receive this SRS panel:

SRS Data Set Selection – Panel A.S

In this example, the user has filled in a data set name mask, has specified several attributes of the selected data sets to display (including ABR backup information), and had requested that all recorded backups of each data set be displayed (OLDBACKUP=ALL). Information from the Archive Control File has been requested (ARCDSN defaults to the common Archive Control File named in the FDR Global Options).

All of the SRS report and selection fields shown may not display on the screen at once, you may need to scroll up and down to find the SRS fields you need. FDRSRS-Search-Report-and-Services-Dialog includes information and examples on customizing SRS to display just the information required for a particular function, such as restore from Archive Backup.

In response to this request, SRS searches the Archive Control File for the data sets requested and display their backup information in a format similar to:

SRS Archive Search Results

For data set USR.MULTI.VOLTEST, it was archived from volumes SMS912 and SMS911 on 20.210, and again on 20.234. If you want to restore the version from 20.210, enter the RESTORE command next to both pieces of the data set.

The RESTORE command takes you to another panel where you can set options for the restore:

FDRSRS - Archive Restore

The user has the option to submit a batch ABR job stream to perform the restore (EDIT or SUBMIT commands), to attach ABR under TSO and execute the restore in the foreground (FG command), or to add the requests to the ABR Restore Remote Queue (RQ command, only valid if that remote queue has been implemented as described in The Remote Queue Data Sets in SET-FDRREORG-Options). Foreground (FG) restores from tape work only if the TSO user is authorized to mount tapes. Your installation may have modified this panel to limit the choices available, or it may execute a particular command (for example, RQ) automatically without displaying this panel. The proper volume and archive date have already been filled in. If required, a new name or NEWINDEX can be entered for renaming the restored data set; a new target volume serial number can also be specified if it is not to be restored to the original volume. Because of the NOTIFY= operand, your TSO session receives a message when the restore of each data set is complete.