SPARTA News

February 2022

SPARTA President’s Corner

contributed by Randy Springs

This month, we will again be holding our SPARTA meetings via Zoom format. Due to the virtual format, we have suspended the dues requirement for 2021.

For our February meeting, join us for a presentation from Steve Pryor, CTO of DTS Software, who will be sharing information about SMS Storage Groups. Invite your fellow systems programmers to join us for networking and information.

Please join your colleagues online at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, February 1, on Zoom. Watch for meeting connection information coming your way soon.

Randy Springs
Retired (previously Truist)

Future Speakers (subject to change)

February 1, 2022 - SMS Storage Groups - Origins, Mysteries, and Management by Steve Pryor, CTO of DTS Software

March 1, 2022 - TBA

April 5, 2022 - TBA

We need ideas and volunteers for future speakers. Presentations don’t have to be fancy, just informative and interesting. Even a 5 or 10 minute talk can start an interesting interaction. Contact Ron Pimblett by phone as noted below.

2021-2022 SPARTA

Board of Directors

Randy Springs - President

Retired (Truist)                  (919) nnn-nnnn

street

Raleigh, NC 27604

Ron Pimblett - Vice President

MDI Data Systems

Land line 613 599 6970

Mobile 613 981 6919

190 Guelph Private

Kanata, ON K2T 0J7

Chris Blackshire - Secretary

Retired (Dell, Perot Systems, Nortel)  (919) nnn-nnnn

street

Durham, NC 27713

Randy Springs - (Acting) Treasurer

Retired (Truist)                  (919) nnn-nnnn

see Randy

Springs earlier

Ed Webb -  Communications Director

Retired (SAS Institute Inc.)  (919) nnn-nnnn

street

Apex, NC 27523

Mike Lockey -  Web Master

Guilford Co. Information Services  336-641-6235

201 N. Eugene St.

Greensboro, NC 27401

Meetings

Coronavirus Change: All meetings for the foreseeable future will be held online at 7 p.m. via the Zoom App. The link to meeting is sent to SPARTA Mailing list within 24 hours of the meeting time for security reasons. Stay safe.

Meetings are scheduled for the first Tuesday evening of each month (except no meeting in January), with optional dinner at 6:15 p.m. and the meeting beginning at 7:00 p.m.

These monthly meetings usually are held at LabCorp’s Center for Molecular Biology and Pathology (CMBP) near the Research Triangle Park (see last page). Take I-40 to Miami Boulevard and go north. Turn right onto T.W. Alexander Drive. Go about a mile or so. Then turn right into LabCorp complex and turn Left to the CMBP Building (1912 T.W. Alexander Drive). In the lobby, sign in as a visitor to see Bill Johnson. Bill will escort you to the conference room.

Call for Articles

If you have any ideas for speakers, presentations, newsletter articles, or are interested in taking part in a presentation, PLEASE contact one of the Board of Directors with your suggestions.

Newsletter e-Mailings

The SPARTA policy is to e-mail a monthly notice to our SPARTA-RTP Group. The newsletter is posted to the website about five (5) days before each meeting so you can prepare. The SPARTA-RTP Group is maintained by Chris Blackshire; if you have corrections or problems receiving your meeting notice, contact Chris at chrisbl@nc.rr.com.

November 2021 “CBT Tape” Shareware Online

The directory and files from the latest CBT tape V502 (dated November 7, 2021) are available from www.cbttape.org.

If you need help obtaining one or more files, contact Ed Webb (see Board of Director’s list for contact info).

Minutes of the December 7, 2021 Meeting

• The meeting was called to order at 7:02 PM by Randy Springs, the SPARTA President.

• This Twentieth (April 2020 to December 2021) virtual SPARTA meeting was held via the Zoom Software.

• Eleven (11) people were present at the virtual meeting.

• The Presentation was first, then followed by the business portion of the meeting.

• For the Roundtable, everyone introduced themselves, told where they worked, talked about working from home, and briefly described their job functions and what they've been doing at work and home.

OLD BUSINESS

• The minutes of the November 2, 2021 meeting as published in the December 2021 Newsletter were approved.

• The November 30, 2021 Treasurer's report (no November income or expenses) as published in the December 2021 Newsletter was approved. As of November 30, 2021, the current balance was $1,489.66.

• Call For Articles: Articles are needed for this newsletter. If you would like to write an article for this newsletter, please contact Ed Webb. Keep in mind that you don't really need to write the article, it can be an article that you read that you would like to share with the membership.

• The SPARTA Web page is available. To access the SPARTA Web page, point your Web browser to this site: http://www.spartanc.org. Please send any comments or suggestions about the Web page to Mike Lockey. Be sure to check the Web page every once in a while to see any new or changed information.

• 2022 meeting dates, Future Speakers and Topics (subject to change based on internal politics, budget, the weather):

If you have suggestions about speakers and topics, contact Ron Pimblett.

• The next SPARTA monthly meeting will be held virtually on Tuesday, February 1, 2022.

• The 2021 dues have been suspended (motion passed in the March 2021 monthly meeting).

• Thanks to Randy Springs for online hosting the December 7 meeting via Zoom.

• There are currently 94 people on the SPARTA e-mail distribution list.

• Send any e-mail address changes to Chris Blackshire so he can update the SPARTA distribution List. The SPARTA meeting notices are being sent via a simple distribution list maintained by Chris.

• Randy Springs is looking for a new Treasurer volunteer. He projects about 2 hours per month is needed.
- Contact Randy Springs if you are interested.

• LabCorp Meeting Place Update: No update needed from Bill Johnson.

NEW BUSINESS

• Mike Lockey will be sending the website bills to Randy for payment with an update at the Feb. 1, 2022 meeting.

• Discussion about a hopeful February 2022 in person meeting at LabCorp, depending on vaccinations and room availability. Stay tuned.

• The Business portion of the meeting and the meeting itself ended about 8:30 P.M.

• Presentation Topic: PDS, PDSE, GDG, HFS, USS and Other Strange z/OS Animals: A Trip Through the Mainframe Menagerie

by Steve Pryor, CTO of DTS Software, LLC

AGENDA
• Many Different Dataset Types
- - Types of z/OS Dataset Organization
- - - Sequential: SEQ, DA, VIO, JES, GDS
- - - Partitioned: PDS, PDSE: HFC, GDS
- - - VSAM: KSDS, ESDS, RRDS, VRRDS, LDS, ZFS, VSAMDB, AIX, DB2, CATALOG, VOLCAT
• Different Access Methods
- - QSAM, BSAM, DDAM, BPAM, VSAM, DIV, OAM, shell
• Documentation
• Summary / Q and A

• Presentation Access - See Below for a full outline of the presentation. See the SPARTA webpage for the complete presentation.

• Contact Info:
Speaker: Steve Pryor, CTO
DTS Software, LLC.
4350 Lassiter at North Hills Ave., Suite 230 
Raleigh, North Carolina 27609
Office: 919.833.8426 x162
Mobile: 404.210.5975
Email: steve@dtssoftware.com
Website: www.dtssoftware.com/products
Customer Support: Support@DTSsoftware.com

• The December 7, 2021 monthly meeting ended about 8:30 P.M.

Treasurer’s Report for January 2022

contributed by Randy Springs

The balance in the account is $1489.66 as of January 31, 2022.

SPARTA Financial Report
4/01/2021 through 01/31/2022

Items of Interest

SPARTA Schedule and Menu for 2022

contributed by Chris Blackshire

Feb 1, 2022 - Chicken
Mar 1, 2022 - Subs
Apr 5, 2022 - BarBQ
May 3, 2022 - Pizza
June 7, 2022 - Chicken
July 12, 2022 - Subs (July 4 holiday is Monday before the usual July 5 meeting)
Aug 2, 2022 - BarBQ
Sept 13, 2022 - Pizza (Labor Day holiday is Monday Sept 5)
Oct 4, 2022 - Chicken
Nov 1, 2022 - Subs
Dec 6, 2022 - BarBQ

An IBM Security Update on the Apache Log4j 2.x vulnerabilities on Z and non-Z products

contributed By Ed Webb

Recently the IBM PSIRT (IBM Product Security Incident Response Team) Blog expanded on various IBM product exposures to the widespread open-source security vulnerability known as Log4j 2.x or just Log4Shell or LogJam. This blog post (most recently updated January 27, 2022) is a must read for IBM Z Security Administrators and System Programmers. With lists of vulnerable and not-vulnerable products linked by the blog, it will be invaluable to determine what risk if any affects your IBM Z shop.

This PSIRT Blog and related websites appear to reflect a major change to IBM's previous very private, authorized access-only, limited reporting of product vulnerabilities. However, IBM Z-specific exposures are still only provided by the IBM Z and LinuxONE Security Portal to which each shop has to request access.

"IBM’s top priority remains the security of our clients and products. Product teams are releasing remediations for Log4j 2.x CVE-2021-44228 as fast as possible, moving to the latest version that’s available when they are developing a fix. Where possible, the dependency on Log4j is removed entirely.

IBM is aware of additional, recently disclosed vulnerabilities in Apache Log4j, tracked under CVE-2021-45105 and CVE-2021-45046. Work continues to mitigate or remediate these vulnerabilities in products and services that already have released a remediation based on Log4j 2.15.

With so much active industry research on Log4j, mitigation and remediation recommendations will evolve. We are actively assessing the latest Log4j developments and will share updates accordingly.

IBM is actively responding to the remote code execution vulnerability in the Apache Log4j 2 Java library dubbed Log4Shell (or LogJam). We are investigating and taking action for IBM as an enterprise, IBM products and IBM services that may be potentially impacted, and will continually publish information to help customers detect, investigate and mitigate attacks, if any, to their IBM products and services."

Learn more about the IBM PSIRT Blog (IBM Product Security Vulnerabilities) and the Log4j vulnerability at this link.

Our friends Frank Kyne and Cheryl Watson at Watson and Walker have pointed to a free Log4j Scanning Tool for z/OS systems.

"If you follow IBM-MAIN, you should have seen Itschak Mugzach’s post [login required], kindly offering a free copy of their Log4j scanning tool to anyone that requests it. The tool is part of Ironsphere’s Inspector, a DISA STIG assessment automation product, however you do not have to have Inspector installed in order to run the program. The program, QIFUSS99, is a compiled Rexx program that searches all mounted file systems for copies of a Log4j jar file, or other jar files that call Log4j. Installation is a piece of cake – you upload an XMIT-format file to your z/OS system, run a TSO RECEIVE against it, and then run the program using JCL provided by Itschak."

SHARE Offers In-Person and Online Sessions at March 2022 Conference

contributed By Ed Webb

SHARE is returning to in-person events in 2022, first in March 27-30 in Dallas, Texas, then in August in Columbus, Ohio.

"Finalize your registration and begin planning your trip to Dallas today!

Can't travel to Dallas this time? No worries! Register for Virtual Access to enjoy select livestreamed technical sessions and their recordings for convenient learning wherever you are! "

Review the SHARE Technical Agenda. Book your hotel ASAP (The hotel cut-off date for reservations is Monday, February 28, 2022, or whenever rooms sell out, whichever occurs first) and then register for the SHARE 2022 Dallas conference.

IBM Updates z/OS 2.5 (and z/OS 2.4) with the z/OS Management Services Catalog

contributed By Ed Webb

"IBM® z/OS Management Services Catalog assists z/OS system programmers in managing their z/OS environment using services. Services streamline repetitive and frequent tasks as well as complex, infrequent tasks. Associated institutional knowledge and processes are embedded in services, therefore helping z/OS system programmers adhere to best practices and internal standards.

Services are built using z/OSMF Workflows technology. They improve usability and make workflows more accessible by shielding system programmers from the complexity of steps involved in the workflow."

Just APPLY the appropriate PTFs to z/OS 2.5 (UI78078) or z/OS 2.4 (UI78079) and start automating System Programmer tasks. Learn the basics at z/OS® Management Services Catalog (zMSC). Prepare to find out more at the May 2022 SPARTA meeting during the SHARE conference report by SPARTA member and zMSC Sponsor User Ed Webb.

Uploads of dumps and files to IBM cannot be anonymous after August 2022

Contributed by Ed Webb

"Effective 31 August 2022, all uploads of documentation to both the IBM testcase and ecurep servers' /toibm directories will require an authenticated log-in using an IBM Support File Transfer ID and password (token). In addition, a secure transport protocol, such as HTTPS, FTPS, or SFTP will need to be used to upload to the testcase and ecurep servers."

See this Flash Unsecured and anonymous FTP to upload IBM documentation will be disabled for details and how to implement a secure upload function for your system dumps and other diagnostic data.

IBM Replaces RFE with the IBM Ideas Portal

Contributed by Ed Webb

"... The IBM Ideas Portal [is] Where the IBM community comes together to ideate and co-create the future of IBM’s products. On this portal, you can submit new ideas and view the status of the ideas you previously submitted, voted on or are subscribed to.​"

Start at the IBM Ideas Portal for more information about submitting your requirements directly to IBM.

For more impact with IBM, submit your requirements and ideas via SHARE Requirements. The SHARE MVS Program will review your z/OS and z/VM requirements and provide the strength of multiple customers to your requirement, improving the odds that IBM will act.

Humor

Humorous Thoughts

contributed by Duane Reaugh

I stole this and laughed til I cried.. #20 is my favorite

1. When one door closes and another door opens, you are probably in prison.
2. To me, "drink responsibly" means don't spill it.
3. Age 60 might be the new 40, but 9:00 pm is the new midnight.
4. It's the start of a brand new day, and I'm off like a herd of turtles.
5. The older I get, the earlier it gets late.
6. When I say, "The other day," I could be referring to any time between yesterday and 15 years ago.
7. I remember being able to get up without making sound effects.
8. I had my patience tested. I'm negative.
9. Remember, if you lose a sock in the dryer, it comes back as a Tupperware lid that doesn't fit any of your containers.
10. If you're sitting in public and a stranger takes the seat next to you, just stare straight ahead and say, "Did you bring the money?"
11. When you ask me what I am doing today, and I say "nothing," it does not mean I am free. It means I am doing nothing.
12. I finally got eight hours of sleep. It took me three days, but whatever.
13. I run like the winded.
14. I hate when a couple argues in public, and I missed the beginning and don't know whose side I'm on.
15. When someone asks what I did over the weekend, I squint and ask, "Why, what did you hear?"
16. When you do squats, are your knees supposed to sound like a goat chewing on an aluminum can stuffed with celery?
17. I don't mean to interrupt people. I just randomly remember things and get really excited.
18. When I ask for directions, please don't use words like "east."
19. Don't bother walking a mile in my shoes. That would be boring. Spend 30 seconds in my head. That'll freak you right out.
20. Sometimes, someone unexpected comes into your life out of nowhere, makes your heart race, and changes you forever. We call those people cops.
21. My luck is like a bald guy who just won a comb.

Membership Information

Don’t Forget the Next SPARTA Meeting

Tuesday, February 1, 2022

7 p.m.

Location: Online

Information about access to our online meeting will be sent to our e-mail list by Tuesday, February 1.

Free Food before meeting: Your Food at Your Home

Program:

SMS Storage Groups - Origins, Mysteries, and Management

Speaker: Steve Pryor, CTO of DTS Software

SPARTA Corporate Sponsors:

December 2021 Presentation outline

• Presentation Topic: PDS, PDSE, GDG, HFS, USS and Other Strange z/OS Animals: A Trip Through the Mainframe Menagerie

by Steve Pryor, CTO of DTS Software, LLC

AGENDA
• Many Different Dataset Types
- - Types of z/OS Dataset Organization
- - - Sequential: SEQ, DA, VIO, JES, GDS
- - - Partitioned: PDS, PDSE: HFC, GDS
- - - VSAM: KSDS, ESDS, RRDS, VRRDS, LDS, ZFS, VSAMDB, AIX, DB2, CATALOG, VOLCAT
• Different Access Methods
- - QSAM, BSAM, DDAM, BPAM, VSAM, DIV, OAM, shell
• Documentation
• Summary / Q and A

• How Data is Stored on z/OS DASD
- Catalog
- - DSN VOLSER
- - DATA.SET1 TSO001
- - PAYROLL.X TSO002
- - MY.DS.ONE CICS04
- - DATA.SET2 WORK01
- - DATA.SET3 WORK01
- - MY.CLUS
- - MY.CLUS.DATA WORK01
- - MY.CLUS.INDEX WORK02
- LABEL
- - VTOC, VVDS
- Maximum 59 vols per dataset

• Dataset Attributes and System Managed Storage
- Dataset
- - DATA CLASS
- - STORAGE CLASS
- - JCL
- - IDCAMS
- - TSO / ISPF

• Terms – RECFM, LRECL, BLKSIZE Terms – RECFM, LRECL, BLKSIZE
- RECFM – Record Format
- - Fixed– all records are equal length, may be blocked
- - Variable – records and blocks preceded by RDW and BDW
- - Undefined – records of varying lengths (usually load modules)
- - BLKSIZE– Length of a block(one or more records)
- - - Blocking factor = no. of records per block

• Terms – DSORG and Access Method Terms
- Sequential Organization
- - DSORG= PS / PSU
- - DSORG= DA
- Partitioned Organization
- - DSORG= PO
- VSAM
- - RECORG= KS / ES / RR/ LD
- zFS or HFS

• Dataset Organization: Sequential Data Sets
- BASIC
- - Ordinary sequential dataset, 16 extents per volume, max 65,535 tracks total
- LARGE
- - May exceed 65,535 tracks (to 16,777,215 tracks per volume)
- EXTENDED FORMAT(STRIPED)
- - May exceed to 65,535 tracks. Up to 123 extents per volume.
- - From one to 59 stripes (volumes).The stripes are read/written in parallel
- - 32-byte ‘invisible’ block suffix for each block

• Dataset Organization: Partitioned DataSets
- Partitioned Data Sets
- - PDS
- - - Directory and members. Directory size is fixed when created, directory is alphabetical.
- - - 16 extents per volume, single volume, limited to 65,535 tracks
- LIBRARY (PDSE)
- - Directory and members. Directory is expandable and indexed. Internally, all 4K blocks
- - 123 extents per volume, single volume, may exceed 65,535 tracks
- If no DSORG and no directory, SPACE, then IGDSMSxx HONOR_DSNTYPE_PDSE determines format (PS/PDSE)

• PDSE Member Generations
- JCL Keywords
- - MAXGENS= (default 0)
- - REFDD= copy Member Generations limit from referenced dataset
- Systemwide MAXGENS limit specified in IGDSMSxx
- IEBCOPY does not copy Member Generations
- - Use DFSMSdss dump/restore instead
- - TSO XMIT and IDCAMS REPRO also copy only the most recent generation

• Dataset Organization: DSNTYPE=
- BASIC
- LARGE
- EXTREQ / EXTREQ(1) /EXTREQ(2)
- EXTPREF / EXTPREF(1) / EXTPREF(2)
- PDS / LIBRARY / LIBRARY(1) / LIBRARY(2)
- HFS
- PIPE

• Dataset Organization: HFS
- Hierarchical File System Dataset DSORG=PO, DSNTYPE=HFS, SPACE=(dir, primary, sec) - - HFS
- - - Collection of files and directories, accessible by USS
- - - 4K block structure with attribute and name directories and subdirectories
- - - Depreciated (use VSAM zFS), cannot be copied via IEBCOPY
- - - 16 extents per volume, single volume, limited to 65,535 tracks
- If no DSORG and no directory, SPACE, then IGDSMSxx HONOR_DSNTYPE_PDSE determines format(PS/HFS)

• Generation Data Groups and Generation DataSets
- GDG (DSN=MY.GDG )
- - Collection of like-named non-VSAM datasets (sequential or PDS/PDSE)
- - - Cataloged in a ‘sphere’ record, so that JCL need not change
- - - Generations kept in chronological order, and automatically deleted as necessary
- - Reference by relative (or absolute) generation number
- - GDG ‘Base name’ refers to all datasets in the collection (‘GDG-all’)
- GDS (DSN=MY.GDG(+1) DSN=MY.GDG.G0001V00 )
- - An individual generation –maybe ACTIVE, DEFERRED, or ROLLED OFF
- - Absolute version numbers can be used to replace generations

• DEFINE GDG Attributes
- IDCAMS DEFINE GDG (base-name) LIMIT (1-999)
- - EXTENDED/NOEXTENDED – more than 255 gens?
- - EMPTY/NOEMPTY – remove all gens when over LIMIT?
- - SCRATCH/NOSCRATCH – scratch from DASD (not tape) at EMPTY time?
- - PURGE/NOPURGE -delete at scratch time even if unexpired
- - FIFO/LIFO – read order for GDG-all
- (GDGORDER JCL parm)

• GDG and GDS Processing
//DEFGDG EXEC PGM=IDCAMS
//SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=*
//SYSIN DD *
DEF GDG(NAME(SJP.TEST.GDG) LIMIT(3) )
// EXEC PGM=SOMEPGM//DD1 DD DSN=SJP.TEST.GDG(+1),UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(TRK,1),DISP=(,CATLG)
//DD1 DD DSN=SJP.TEST.GDG(+2),UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(TRK,1),DISP=(,CATLG)
//DD1 DD DSN=SJP.TEST.GDG(+3),UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(TRK,1),DISP=(,CATLG)
//DD1 DD DSN=SJP.TEST.GDG(+4),UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(TRK,1),DISP=(,CATLG)

- Catalog
- - G0030 ROLLED OFF
- - G0031 ACTIVE
- - G0032 ACTIVE
- - G0033 ACTIVE
- DASD
- - SJP.TEST.GDG.G0030V00
- - SJP.TEST.GDG.G0031V00
- - SJP.TEST.GDG.G0032V00
- - SJP.TEST.GDG.G0033V00

• VSAM Clusters, Components, and Attributes
- Sphere
- - VSAM.FILE.KSDS
- - VSAM.FILE.DATA
- - VSAM.FILE.INDEX
- - VSAM.FILE.AIX
- - VSAM.FILE.AIX.DATA
- - VSAM.FILE.AIX.INDEX
- - VSAM.FILE.PATH
- KSDS
- - Records in key order
- - Multiple components per cluster
- ESDS
- - Records in sequential order, access by RBA
- - USS files treated as ESDS by VSAM access method
- RRDS
- - Access by record number; fixed or variable
- LINEAR
- - 4K unstructured blocks, access via DIV
- - DB2 datasets are linear datasets
- - zFS datasets are linear datasets

• VSAM Data Class Attributes
- Defaults
- - Maximum 123 extents per volume, 255 extents total, 4GB max size
- Extended Format (Striped)
- - Volumes written in parallel
- - Allows PARTREL and SMB
- Extended Addressability
- - Can exceed 4G in size
- Extent Constraint Removal
- - Can exceed 255 extents (total max = 123*59 =7257 extents)

• VSAMDB – BSON and JSON (UTF-8)
- NoSQL(Non-relational) Database
- - key: value document store
- - using VSAM KSDS RLS
- Key length/location not fixed, objects can vary in format
- Documents can span VSAM records/CA
- Max record length = 2G
- Allows access by modern APIs
- DEFINE CLUSTER
- - DATABASE (BSON/JSON) KEYNAME/KEYNAMEU (keyname)

• BSAM,QSAM,BPAM VSAM
• USS Datasets – HFS and zFS
- Application
- z/OS Unix
- Physical File System
- 4K blocks
- directory
- Data Pages
- VSAM LDS
- - HFS and zFS
- - - z/OS Utilities, programs
- - - BSAM, QSAM, BPAM, VSAM
- Other local / remote FS
- - NFS
- - TFS
- - etc

• Copying z/OS Data to/from USS (zFS or HFS)
- Unix ‘cp’ or ‘mv’ shell commands
- - cp "//'STEVE.TEST.TEXT'" steve.new.text
- TSO Commands
- - OPUT / OPUTX / OGET / OGETX / OCOPY
- PATH, PATHDISP, PATHMODE, PATHOPTS
- FILEDATA

//COPYDMP EXEC PGM=IKJEFT01
//SYSTSPRT DD SYSOUT=*
//TARGET DD PATH='/u/ibmuser/customer.dump.tersed',
// PATHDISP=(KEEP,DELETE),
// PATHOPTS=(OCREAT,ORDWR),
// FILEDATA=BINARY
//SOURCE DD DSN=CUSTOMER.DUMP.TERSED,DISP=SHR
//SYSTSIN DD *
OCOPY INDD (SOURCE) OUTDD (TARGET)

• OAM
DFSMS / OAM DFSMS / OAM
- Object Support (OSMC)
- - Unstructured data ‘objects’
- - 1 byte to 2G
- - Storage Hierarchy
- - Access Method-OSREQ
- Tape Library Support (LCS)
- - Tape volume inventory (VOLCAT)
- - Tape volume display/management
- - Interfaces to Tape Management Systems

• OAM Access Method and Storage Hierarchy
- Applications
- - OSREQ
- OAM
- - OSMC
- - OTIS
- - DB2 / SMS
- Collections / Objects
- - Primary or Backup
- - - Disk Level
- - - Cloud
- - - Optical Level
- - - Tape Level

• Attributes for All Types of Datasets
- COMPACTION (Data Class attribute)
- - YES/NO –do/do not compress; default compression type in IGDSMSxx
- - GENERIC–use ‘dictionary building block’ algorithms in SYS1.DBBLIB
- - TAILORED–use dataset-specific compression (sequential datasets only)
- - ZEDC–use zEDC hardware compression
- Encryption
- - Dataset key label specified in RACF, JCLDSKEYLBL=, or Data Class
- - Compression is performed first
- - Almost all types of datasets
- - Sequential EF always Version 2; no BDAM or BLKSIZE < 16

• IGDSMSxx Defaults
- DSNTYPE(LIBRARY / PDS / HFS)
- - Default for dataset with no DSNTYPE but with directory space specified
- HONOR_DSNTYPE_PDSE(YES /NO)
- - create PDS/HFS even if no DSORG and no directory blocks, otherwise create PS
- MAXGENS_LIMIT(0-2,000,000)
- - Maximum value that can be specified in JCL
- PDSE_VERSION (1 / 2)
- - Default version for DSNTYPE=LIBRARY
- PS_EXT_VERSION( 1 / 2)
- - Default version for sequential EF
- USEEAV(YES / NO)

• IGGCATxx GDG Defaults
- GDGEXTENDED(YES / NO)
- - Allow or disallow EXTENDED operand
- GDGFIFOENABLE(YES / NO)
- - Allow or disallow FIFO operand
- GDGPURGE(YES / NO)
- - Default for PURGE operand
- GDGSCRATCH(YES / NO)
- - Default for SCRATCH operand

• Documentation
- Research
- - z/OS Basic Skills Information Center - z/OS concepts
- - DFSMS Using Data Sets SC23-6855
- Redbooks
- - ABCs of z/OS System Programming – Volumes 1-13 (Volume 3 = DFSMS)
- - z/OS Distributed File Service zSeries File System Implementation z/OS V1R13 SG24-6580
- - Hierarchical File System Usage Guide SG24-5482 (archived)
- Reference
- - MVS Initialization and Tuning Reference SA23-1380
- - MVS JCL Reference SA23-1385
- - DFSMS Object Access Method Planning, Installation, and Storage Administration Guide for Object Support SC23-6866

• Summary / Q and A
- Next webinar planned for Sept. 28, 2021, 11:00AM Eastern
- - Can You Keep a Secret? Understanding z/OS Encryption
- SHARE On-Demand Webinars
- - What Good are DFSMShsm Exits? What Can I Do with Them?
- - It's All on Tape - DFSMSrmm and REXX
- Reminders
- - DTS Products release 7.1 available at www.dtssoftware.com
- - Product use available for a year – just ask!
- - Send your ACS routines or DTS product rules for analysis

The virtual presentation and demonstration ended at about 8:20 PM.