FDRPAS overview

FDRPAS™ (FDR Plug and Swap™) is used to move z/OS DASD volumes non-disruptively from one DASD volume to another, and to create non-disruptive point-in-time backups of DASD volumes.

FDRPAS allows a z/OS installation to:

  • Swap DASD volumes from their current locations to new DASD hardware.
  • Move DASD volumes within the installation for load balancing.
  • Create point-in-time backups of DASD volumes.
  • Create duplex copies of DASD volumes.
  • Do this volume movement without interrupting any system activity.
  • Do this volume movement during normal system operations.
  • Swap shared DASD on all sharing systems simultaneously.
  • Swap many DASD volumes concurrently.
  • Monitor and control FDRPAS functions with ISPF panels.

FDRPAS Benefits

  • The operating system, application jobs, online systems, and users are unaware that FDRPAS is swapping DASD volumes to new DASD devices.
  • A 24x7 installation, with no window for major re-configurations and hardware changes, can install and activate new DASD hardware.
  • Even installations that do have dedicated maintenance windows may choose to use FDRPAS to swap to new DASD hardware during normal business hours.
  • No matter how big your maintenance window is, it is not big enough to move the terabytes of data in most installations. FDRPAS removes that limitation.
  • FDRPAS can be used for load balancing within your existing DASD hardware.
  • FDRPAS can create point-in-time backups without special hardware features.
  • It can create duplex copies of volumes, between control units from different vendors, without special hardware connections. These copies can be in local or remote subsystems.

Supported Software & Hardware

FDRPAS executes on any release of z/OS.

FDRPAS supports a wide variety of DASD devices from hardware vendors including IBM, EMC, and Hitachi. FDRPAS can swap DASD volumes between DASD of the same type from the same hardware vendor or different hardware vendors without any special software or hardware modifications.

FDRPAS supports DASD volumes attached via zHPF, FICON, and ESCON channels. FICON and ESCON directors and channel extenders are supported.

Supported Volume Types

FDRPAS can swap any z/OS volume. This includes the SYSRES volume, other system volumes, page volumes (see PAGE and SWAP Data Sets), open catalog volumes (user and master catalogs), application data volumes, CICS volumes, database volumes, Hierarchical File System (HFS) and z/OS File System (zFS) volumes, LINKLIST volumes, TSO volumes, SMS-managed volumes, and work volumes.

FDRPAS by itself can swap z/VM volumes or Linux on IBMZ volumes from a z/OS system, if the z/OS systems and Linux on IBMZ systems that use them are shut down. FDRPAS can swap z/VM volumes (including Linux on IBMZ volumes used by Linux running in a virtual machine under z/VM) while the z/VM systems that use them are running, if FDRPASVM is running on the z/VM systems (see the FDRPASVM manual, and FDRPAS z/VM and Linux on IBM Z Considerations).

Movement to New Hardware

z/OS hardware and software allows you to attach new DASD subsystems (hardware) to your system and dynamically activate an updated I/O configuration to make them available. FDRPAS complements that capability by allowing you to move your DASD volumes to this new hardware while those volumes are still in use.

When the FDRPAS swap of a volume is complete, the volume resides completely on the new device, and the original device is no longer required. If all the volumes on an old DASD subsystem are moved to new locations with FDRPAS, the old subsystem can be powered off and disconnected.

Without the use of FDRPAS, implementation of new DASD subsystems might require that many of your applications, perhaps your entire system, be shut down while volumes are backed up and restored to new locations. The conversion process may take many hours, even days, and often needs to be done during evenings or weekends.

FDRPAS can be used to move production application volumes to new hardware, to see if the hardware meets performance expectations or claims. If it does not, FDRPAS can easily move the data back to its original location.

With FDRPAS, the new hardware can be implemented at any time, even during prime time, without interrupting any of your normal workload or activities. FDR Plug and Swap truly allows you to “plug” in new DASD hardware and “swap” your DASD data to the new DASD non-disruptively.

I/O Load Balancing

FDRPAS can also be used to move DASD volumes for load balancing purposes while those volumes are still in use.

System performance monitoring may discover that certain channel paths, DASD subsystems, or sets of DASD hardware are overloaded because of the current placement of certain data sets or databases. These overloads may cause your service times to degrade, and the problem can get worse over time.

The normal response to such overloads is to live with the problem until time can be scheduled to shut down the affected applications and move volumes or data sets until the I/O loads are more evenly balanced.

With FDRPAS, volumes can be moved within your system to re-balance your I/O loads at any time, while the applications are running. I/O load balancing can become a regular part of your system performance tuning.

Duplex Copies

FDRPAS can also be used to create duplex copies of volumes, without requiring special hardware connections. These duplex copies can be in subsystems that are locally attached or remotely attached over extended-distance connections or channel extenders. There are no hardware restrictions; the duplex copy of a volume can be in any DASD subsystem, even if it is from a different vendor than the primary copy.

These duplex copies are updated asynchronously. FDRPAS copies each volume and then monitors the primary volume for updates, re-copying updated tracks as necessary to keep the volumes closely synchronized.

At any point, the duplex volume can be split from the primary and can be used as a copy of the primary volume.

Indexed VTOC Maintenance Utility

FDRPAS includes a utility function to create an Indexed VTOC (VTOCIX) or rebuild a disabled VTOCIX on a volume even while that volume is online and in use on multiple systems. This is similar to the BUILDIX function of the IBM ICKDSF utility. The FDRPAS SWAPBUILDIX function uses the cross-system coordination functions built into FDRPAS to allow the BUILDIX to be recognized on all systems without taking it offline.

 

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