Month: September 2024

One minute mvs: data set file system (/dsfs) on z/OS

There is a good overview of dsfs here.

My understanding of how dsfs works is that you can access z/OS datasets, members and spool, through a Unix file system interface, and so use commands like “ls”. When you read a member, it is read into the dsfs file system, and the Unix commands work on this data. When you write to the Unix file, it is written to the dsfs file system, and when the file is closed, the data is written to the dataset.

Some information is cached in the dsfs file system, and some definitions, such as DCB information on a per userid basis is also stored.

DSFS is defined to OMVS as a Physical File System. Part of the definition of the PFS is the started task name. When the PFS is defined to OMVS, it starts the DSFS started task.

To stop it, you issue a command to OMVS to stop the PFS.

Permissions

The dsfs started task has threads which do work. When you issue a request, one of the threads becomes your userid and accesses the data sets, so there is no change to the standard RACF data set protection.

User defaults

You can define defaults for when data sets are created. These are user dependant. To issue these for another user, you have to become a super user to become that id, and then issue the dfsadm command.

Changing configuration

You can change the configuration file and restart DSFS (which will be disruptive).

You can make changes to the active system (which are not saved) using the omvs command

Diagnosis

Messages are produced, and are documented in the M&C manual. if you get a reason code, you can use bpxmtext code to display the meaning of the code.

Creating data sets and members from /dsfs

You can configure defaults when using dsfs to create data sets and members. For example

Creating a PDS(E)

cd /dsfs/txt/colin
dsadm createparm -path . -pdsmodel "dsntype(library) dsorg(po) lrecl(133) recfm(vb)      
blksize(0)"

For path /dsfs/txt/colin (-path .) it creates a model for pds (-pdsmodel) with the parameters dsntype…blksize(0)

Note:blksize(0) says “pick the best block size”

You can display this using

dsadm fileinfo   -path /dsfs/txt/colin

and get 

path: /dsfs/txt/colin                                                                                
fid                    49,1          anode                  1285,4548                                
length                 16384         format                 BLOCKED                                  
1K blocks              16            dir tree status        VALID                                    
PDS model anode        31,60         PS model anode         0,0                                      
object type            DIR           object linkcount       181                                      
object genvalue        0x00000000    dir version            1                                        
dir name count         431           data set name type     HLQ DIR                                  
recfm                  na            lrecl                  na                                       
data mode              TEXT          data set status        RETRIEVED                                
data set name          COLIN                                                                         
ENQ held               NO                                                                            
direct blocks          0x00001BAF    0x00001BB0    0xFFFFFFFF    0xFFFFFFFF                          
                       0xFFFFFFFF    0xFFFFFFFF    0xFFFFFFFF    0xFFFFFFFF                          
indirect blocks        0xFFFFFFFF    0xFFFFFFFF    0xFFFFFFFF                                        
mtime       Sep  9 10:09:55 2024     atime        Sep  9 10:09:55 2024                               
ctime       Sep  9 10:09:55 2024     create date  Sep  9 2024                                        
not encrypted                        not compressed                                                  
PDS model              dsntype(library) dsorg(po) lrecl(133) recfm(vb) blksize(0)                  
PS model               na                                                                            
vnode,vntok          0x00000050,,0x072003C0      0x0099A7F0,,0x00000000                              
opens                oi=0          rd=0          wr=0                                                
file segments        na         file unscheduled        na                                           
meta buffers         0          dirty meta buffers      2

Creating a sequential file

dsadm createparm -path /dsfs/txt/colin -psmodel "dsorg(ps) lrecl(80) recfm(fb) blksize(3200)"

The command

dsadm fileinfo   -path /dsfs/txt/colin

now gives

PS model               dsorg(ps) lrecl(80) recfm(fb) blksize(3200)

The command

echo "hi" > /dsfs/txt/colin/seq2

creates a data set COLIN.SEQ2 with characteristics

Record format . . . : FB
Record length . . . : 80
Block size  . . . . : 3200

If you specify blksize(0) the system applies a default. In my case Block size . . . . : 27920, which makes good usage of the disk space.

Different data set types

There are three data set types

  • bin – binary for example load modules
  • rec – records
  • txt – text files, with a new line character “at the end of the line”

You can define the data set characteristics for each of these.

Problems I experienced when using /dsfs

I played around with /dsfs and found a couple of problems.

My userid is COLIN.

Data set not seen for a time

I created a data set COLIN.ENCR2.DSN in ISPF (and also in batch).

The command

ls -ltr /dsfs/txt/colin/en*

found the data set /dsfs/txt/colin/encrypt.jcl, but it did not find /dsfs/txt/colin/encr2.dsn.

A while later (a minute or two) it found /dsfs/txt/colin/encr2.dsn . This is because of the DIRECTORY_REFRESH_TIMEOUT that controls it. Its default value is 60. You can dynamically change it via command dsadm config -directory_refresh_timeout <number>. The expected value is a number in the range 30-600.

Encrypted data set not seen

I had set up a data set which was encrypted, and empty. I could not list it using /dsfs

I had to set up an encryption ZFS for DSFS (as the documentation says) for it to be seen. I expected the dataset name to be visible, but not the contents.

Create the label in ICSF

//IBMICSF  JOB 1,MSGCLASS=H 
//STEP10 EXEC PGM=CSFKGUP 
//  SET CKDS=COLIN.SCSFCKDS 
//CSFCKDS DD DISP=OLD,DSN=&CKDS 
//* LENGTH(32) GENERATES A 256 BIT KEY 
//CSFIN DD *,LRECL=80 
ADD TYPE(DATA) ALGORITHM(AES), 
LABEL(DSFSAES                ) LENGTH(32) 
/* 
DELETE TYPE(DATA) LABEL(COLINBATCHAES ) 
//CSFDIAG DD SYSOUT=*,LRECL=133 
//CSFKEYS DD SYSOUT=*,LRECL=1044 
//CSFSTMNT DD SYSOUT=*,LRECL=80 
//* REFRESH THE IN MEMORY DATA 
//REFRESH  EXEC PGM=CSFEUTIL,PARM='&CKDS,REFRESH'

Give the DSFS userid access to the label

//IBMRACF2 JOB 1,MSGCLASS=H RESTART=S2 
// EXPORT SYMLIST=(*) 
// SET KEY=DSFSAES 
//S1  EXEC PGM=IKJEFT01,REGION=0M 
//SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=* 
//SYSTSPRT DD SYSOUT=* 
//SYSTSIN DD *,SYMBOLS=(JCLONLY) 
RDELETE CSFKEYS &KEY 
RDEFINE CSFKEYS &KEY                          + 
  ICSF(SYMCPACFWRAP(YES) SYMCPACFRET(YES))    + 
  UACC(NONE) 
PERMIT  &KEY                                  + 
  CLASS(CSFKEYS) ID(DSFS         )            + 
  ACCESS(READ) 
SETROPTS RACLIST(CSFKEYS) REFRESH 
                                                             
RLIST  CSFKEYS &KEY      AUTHUSER         ICSF 
                                                             
ADDSD  'COLIN.ZFS.DSFS'  UACC(NONE) 
ALTDSD 'COLIN.ZFS.DSFS'  UACC(NONE)    DFP(DATAKEY(&KEY)) 
/*

Define the ZFS for DSFS

I stopped DSFS using the operator command

f omvs,stoppfs=dsfs

I could then delete and recreate the ZFS. If I wanted to keep the content of the DSFS ZFS, I think I could have using VSAM REPRO to copy the contents to a new file.

//IBMCLUST  JOB 1 
//DEFINE  EXEC PGM=IDCAMS,REGION=0M 
//SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=* 
//SYSIN DD * 
  DELETE          COLIN.ZFS.DSFS 
  DEFINE CLUSTER (NAME(COLIN.ZFS.DSFS)       - 
                  VOLUMES(*     )            - 
                  CYL(100 1000)              - 
                  KEYLABEL(DSFSAES)          - 
                  DATACLASS(DCEATTR)         - 
                  ZFS    ) 
LISTCAT ENT(COLIN.ZFS.DSFS) ALL 
/*

The LISTCAT output had

LISTCAT ENT(COLIN.ZFS.DSFS) ALL                                                                            
CLUSTER ------- COLIN.ZFS.DSFS                                                                                     
 ...                                               
     ENCRYPTIONDATA                                                                                                
       DATA SET ENCRYPTION----(YES)                                                                                
       DATA SET KEY LABEL-----DSFSAES

I restarted DSFS.

With the DSFS ZFS encrypted, the ls command for the encrypted data set worked, and I was able to read the content.

When my userid COLIN which had access to the encrypted data set, but not the encryption key, tried to display the contents there were messages on the system log

ICH408I USER(COLIN   ) GROUP(SYS1    ) NAME(####################) 008    
  COLINBATCHAES CL(CSFKEYS )                                             
  INSUFFICIENT ACCESS AUTot HORITY                                          
  ACCESS INTENT(READ   )  ACCESS ALLOWED(NONE   )                        
IDFS00338E RACROUTE REQUEST=FASTAUTH call to authorize access to the keylabel COLINBATCHAES                                                   
for data set COLIN.ENCR.DSN for user COLIN failed with SAF rc 8 RACF rc 8 Reason Code 0.

and the OMVS session got

cat: /dsfs/txt/colin/encr.dsn: EDC5164I SAF/RACF error.

It is hard work getting error messages

I got 

COLIN:/u: >dsadm config -hlq_list_add SYS1.PARMLIB                                                                                
IDFS00324E Could not add the specified high-level qualifier directory names to the HLQ list, error code 139 reason code ED04618D.

To get the full description of the error I had to use

COLIN:/u: >bpxmtext ED04618D                                                                                                      
DSFS Tue Sep 12 19:21:54 EDT 2023                                                                                                 
Description: The caller is not UID 0.                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                  
Action: Ensure that you are properly authorized for this operation. This                                                          
subcommand requires UID 0 or READ access to the SUPERUSER.FILESYS.PFSCTL                                                          
profile in the z/OS UNIXPRIV class.

Where’s the $?

Because the OMVS shell uses $ to replace variables, you have to quote the data set name.

IBMUSER:/u/ibmuser: >ls /dsfs/txt/sys1.proclib/$$$COIBM                           
ls: FSUM6785 File or directory "/dsfs/txt/sys1.proclib/50397215" is not found

You have to use

ls '/dsfs/txt/sys1/parmlib/$$$COIBM'

with quotes around it, or escape the special characters.

ls /dsfs/t*/sys1/proclib/\$\$\$coibm

Setting up data set file system /dsfs on z/OS

There is a good overview of dsfs here.

The documentation is pretty good. It is clear – but I would have ordered the sections differently.

Concept

My understanding of how dsfs works is that you can access z/OS datasets, members and spool, through a Unix file system interface, and so use commands like “ls”. When you read a member, it is read into the dsfs file system, and the Unix commands work on this data. When you write to the Unix file, it is written to the dsfs file system, and the data is written to the dataset when the file is closed.

Some information is cached in the dsfs file system, and some definitions, such as DCB information on a per userid basis is also stored.

Setup the RACF definitions

//IBMRACFL JOB 1,MSGCLASS=H                                
//S1  EXEC PGM=IKJEFT01,REGION=0M                          
//SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=*                                     
//SYSTSPRT DD SYSOUT=*                                     
//SYSTSIN DD *                                             
 ADDGROUP DSFSGRP SUPGROUP(SYS1)                           
 ADDUSER DSFS DFLTGRP(DSFSGRP) AUTHORITY(USE) UACC(NONE)   
 RDEFINE STARTED DSFS.** STDATA(USER(DSFS))                
 SETROPTS RACLIST(STARTED) 
 SETROPTS RACLIST(STARTED) REFRESH 
/*                                                         
//

The started task procedure is in IOE.SIOESAMP(DSFS)

You can configure it to use the parmlib concatenation. I configured it to use a member in user….parmlib.

//DSFS     PROC REGSIZE=0M                                            
//*                                                                   
//DSFSGO   EXEC PGM=BPXVCLNY,REGION=&REGSIZE,TIME=1440                
//*                                                                   
//*STEPLIB DD DISP=SHR,DSN=hlq.SIEALNKE               <--DSFS LOADLIB 
//IDFZPRM DD DISP=SHR,DSN=USER.Z31A.PARMLIB(DSFS) <--DSFS PARM FILE

This is automatically started when you activate the dsfs physical file system (in a bpxprmxx member).

Create the ZFS

If you are going to use encrypted data sets the ZFS needs to be encrypted. See One minute MVS – Using individual data set encryption on z/OS.

I do not know how much space you actually need. If you specify a secondary extent, the ZFS can expand as needed.

If you want the ZFS to be larger than 4GB you need to specify Extended Addressability. On ADCD there is an SMS Data Class DCEATTR with extended attributes.

The documentation talks about having the z/OS image name as part of the data set when part of a sysplex. I specified the name as part of DSFS startup.

If you are using ADCD and you use a “system” HLQ such as ZFS.DSFS, then when you move to the next release of ADCD you’ll have to migrate it. By using COLIN as a HLQ, it gets picked up automatically in the next release after I have imported the user catalog.

//IBMCLUST  JOB 1 
//DEFINE  EXEC PGM=IDCAMS,REGION=0M 
//SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=* 
//SYSIN DD * 
  DEFINE CLUSTER (NAME(COLIN.ZFS.DSFS)       - 
                  VOLUMES(*     )            - 
                  CYL(100 1000)              - 
                  DATACLASS(DCEATTR)          - 
                  ZFS    ) 

/* 
 LISTCAT ENT(COLIN.ZFS.DSFS) ALL
 DELETE          COLIN.ZFS.DSFS

The ZFS is formatted when it is first used, and as it expands.

Startup parameters

In USER.Z31A.PARMLIB(DSFS), referred to in the DSFS started procedure, I have

* 
UTFS_NAME=COLIN.ZFS.DSFS

Without the UTFS_NAME, it will look for a data set with the image name. If you are running in a sysplex each system needs its own ZFS.

Define the root

In TSO OMVS use mkdir /dsfs

Define the physical file system, and mount the file

I created USER.Z31A.PARMLIB(BPXPRMFS) with

FILESYSTYPE TYPE(DSFS) ENTRYPOINT(IDFFSCM) ASNAME(DSFS)

MOUNT TYPE(DSFS)
MODE(RDWR)
NOAUTOMOVE
MOUNTPOINT('/dsfs')
FILESYSTEM('COLIN.ZFS.DSFS')

Activate and start it

You can use the operator command set omvs=(FS) to activate the member bpxprmfs (defined above). This starts the address space DSFS. You could have this activated as part of IPL in the usual way.

The first time I started DSFS, I got messages

SET OMVS=(FS)                                                         
IEE252I MEMBER BPXPRMFS FOUND IN USER.Z31A.PARMLIB                    
BPXO032I THE SET OMVS COMMAND WAS SUCCESSFUL.                         
IEF196I IEF285I   USER.Z31A.PARMLIB                            KEPT   
IEF196I IEF285I   VOL SER NOS= A3CFG1.                                
...                           
$HASP100 DSFS     ON STCINRDR                                         
$HASP373 DSFS     STARTED                                             
IEF403I DSFS - STARTED - TIME=08.51.23                                
IDFS00153I DSFS kernel: Initializing z/OS    DSFS 279                 
Version 03.01.00 Service Level OA65531 - HZFS510.                     
Created on Tue Sep 12 19:21:54 EDT 2023.                              
Address space asid x47.                                               
IDFS00064I USER.Z31A.PARMLIB(DSFS) is the configuration data set currently in use.                                                     
IDFS00352I DSFS is using HLQ EXCLUDE mode.                            
IDFS00039I DSFS kernel: initialization complete.                      
BPXF025I FILE SYSTEM COLIN.ZFS.DSFS IS BEING MOUNTED.                                                     
IDFS00320I Formatting to 4096 control interval 18000 for primary 
IDFS00003I Primary extent loaded successfully for COLIN.ZFS.DSFS. 
IDFS00034I Detaching utility file system COLIN.ZFS.DSFS.

Stop dsfs

If you get messages saying data set in use etc, this may be due to the DSFS program has started. You can stop it using f omvs,stoppfs=dsfs, fix any problems, and restart it.

Setting up permissions

Some of the dsadm commands, for example which change the configuration, need permission. The issuer must be logged in as a root user (UID=0) or have READ authority to the
SUPERUSER.FILESYS.PFSCTL resource in the z/OS UNIXPRIV class. Note: If you are permitted READ to the BPX.SUPERUSER resource in the RACF FACILITY class, you can become a UID of 0 by issuing the su command to get uid 0.

PERMIT SUPERUSER.FILESYS.PFSCTL CLASS(UNIXPRIV) ID(userid) ACCESS(READ)
SETROPTS RACLIST(UNIXPRIV) REFRESH

PERMIT BPX.SUPERUSER CLASS(FACILITY) ID(userid) ACCESS(READ)
SETROPTS RACLIST(FACILITY) REFRESH

Once it has started – now what?

In OMVS you can use the ls -ltr command

IBMUSER:/u/ibmuser: >ls -ltr  /dsfs                           
total 0                                                       
drwxrwxrwx   2 OMVSKERN SYS1           0 Sep  9 03:51 txt     
drwxrwxrwx   2 OMVSKERN SYS1           0 Sep  9 03:51 sysout  
drwxrwxrwx   2 OMVSKERN SYS1           0 Sep  9 03:51 rec     
drwxrwxrwx   2 OMVSKERN SYS1           0 Sep  9 03:51 bin

You can use the dsfs commands in Unix Services

dsadm fsinfo
   File System Name:          COLIN.ZFS.DSFS                         
                                                                     
   System:              S0W1            Devno:                  0    
   Size:                72000K          Free 8K Blocks:         8732 
   Free 1K Fragments:   7               Log File Size:          2056K
   Bitmap Size:         16K             Anode Table Size:       8K   
   File System Objects: 7               Version:                1    
   Overflow Pages:      0               Overflow HighWater:     0    
   Space Monitoring:    0,0                                          
   ENOSPC Errors:       0               Disk IO Errors:         0    
   Status:              NE,NC                                        
                                                                     
   File System Creation Time: Sep  9 03:51:25 2024                   
   Mount Time:                Sep  9 03:51:25 2024                   
                                                                     
   Last Grow Time:            n/a

Using z/OS health checker is good – but how do I use it?

I had a message on the console saying

HZS0001I CHECK(IBMICSF,ICSF_CLEAR_KEYS): CSFH0056E Clear keys in the CKDS, PKDS, or TKDS were found.

Great – but what next?

In SDSF, you can use the CK command to display the health-checker events.

There were a lot of checks. The SDSF command CK E, displays only those with exceptions; where the result was > 0.

There are various line commands, but SE gives you all of the information, in the ISPF editor.

In the page it told me

CSFH0054I Check for clear keys in the CKDS, PKDS, and TKDS. 
Active TKDS: COLIN.SCSFTKDS 
-----------------------------------------------------
PKISRVD.PKITOKEN                00000001T
Explanation: ...
System Action:  ...                           
Operator Response: ...
System Programmer Response: ...

Great – this is very useful. However the action “Contact the ICSF administrator” is not very helpful as I am the ICSF administrator!

Where is my z/OS started task output?

I was trying to resolve problems with a started task, and the output kept disappearing.

The JES2 class had been defined so it purged the JES2 output if the job ended cleanly

$DJOBCLASS('STC'),OUTDISP

gave me

$HASP837 JOBCLASS(STC)       OUTDISP=(PURGE,HOLD)

This says, if the job ends normally then purge the JES2 related datasets.

I needed

$T JOBCLASS(STC),OUTDISP=(Keep,keep)

to keep the JES2 related datasets around. This command should be remembered across warm starts of JES2.

With $HASP837 JOBCLASS(STC) OUTDISP=(KEEP,HOLD) the spool files in the output are

DDNAME   StepName ProcStep C Dest 
JESMSGLG JES2              K LOCAL
JESJCL   JES2              K LOCAL
JESYSMSG JES2              K LOCAL
CFGPRINT TCPIP             K LOCAL
SYSOUT   TCPIP             H LOCAL
SYSERROR TCPIP             K LOCAL

With $HASP837 JOBCLASS(STC) OUTDISP=(PURGE,HOLD) the spool files in the output are

DDNAME   StepName ProcStep C Dest 
SYSOUT   TCPIP             H LOCAL
SYSERROR TCPIP             K LOCAL
CFGPRINT TCPIP             K LOCAL

where the JES* files have been purged.

If your job does not provide any output, then when the JES* files are purged, there will be no trace of the job in the spool.

Why can’t I see WordPress draft pages in firefox?

I kept getting Oops! That page can’t be found.

This had me stumped for weeks, until I found the answer. It is to do with Enhanced Tracking Protection. This stops one tab from seeing information in a different tab. Without this, a tab could peek at the cookies in other tabs,and pass the information to snooping applications.

See What to do if a site seems broken.

  • Visit the website.
  • At the left of the address bar, click the Fx89ShieldIcon shield icon.
  • At the top right of the panel, toggle off the Enhanced Tracking Protection switch Fx91ETPbluetoggle. The site will be added to your Enhanced Tracking Protection exception list, allowing trackers on it, and the page will reload automatically.

What sites have this enabled?

With Firefox in the URL use about:preferences#privacy . It displays “Trackers follow you around..”. Click on Manage Exceptions, and you can display and specify the web sites that have the Enhanced Tracking Protection turned off.

I have a list including

Migrating an ADCD z/OS release to the next release.

With traditional z/OS you upgrade products one at a time. For example, you use one release of CICS, install the next release of CICS, and check it works. You then roll it out to all z/OS images. You take the next product and repeat it.

With z/OS you create a new IPL image, using all of the old components, such as master catalog, page sets etc, do a test IPL and resolve any problems.

With ADCD you have one complete system for example with system data sets on volumes beginning with D4, and the next “release” has volumes beginning with D5. It is not just a matter of IPLing the new system because your data, and any configuration you did will not be on the new system.

In this post, I’ll cover some of the steps you need to take to be able to run on a newer level of ADCD. The list will not be complete or detailed enough, so please let me have any suggestion and comments to improve it.

What to you need to think about?

There is a series of pre-requisites that are needed in the migration process.

My initial thoughts list is

  • Define the zPTD devmap configuration file with the new disks, so the new and old systems can see all of the DASD volumes
  • In any old configuration you want to use, change explicit volumes to their symbolic volume. The operator command D SYMBOLS gives you the symbol names. For example change ….Z24C… to …&SYSVER… This means it will pick up the current level which ever system you have IPLed
  • Import any user catalogs
  • Define the alias for COLIN.* data sets into the new master catalog. You can now use COLIN.* data sets from the new system.
  • Use your old RACF database, or make a copy for the new system to use
  • Copy system Unix files. For example in /etc/. It is easiest to backup and restore them
  • Copy user Unix files. If you have a ZFS for all your files, this may be as simple as mounting it on the newer system. If you have files in the system provided file system, you will have to backup and restore them, or move them to your ‘user ZFS’.
  • Copy across your members in USER.* members. it is worth reviewing these and deleting old ones which are not used. I compared the USER.old.parmlib members with the ADCD.old.parmlib member to see what changes I had made. 
  • Once you IPL the new system it will use your new members
  • Copy across ICSF definitions
  • Check out all started tasks.

First steps

You need to copy data sets and files from the old system to the new system, for example user.z24c.proclib to user.z25d.proclib. It is easiest to have the volumes from both systems available to the z24 and z25 systems.

The user.z24c.proclib will be cataloged on the z24 system, and the user.z25d.proclib will be cataloged on the z25 system, so you’ll need to cross catalog the data sets. These configuration data sets will be on the xxCFG1 volume, so you can use ISPF 3.4, specify the volume and use the ‘C’ line command to catalog the datasets so they can be seen on both systems.

User data – for example all my RACF define jobs are in a PDS under COLIN. These are in a user catalog which can be imported into the newer system.

You need to create an alias in the master catalog

DEFINE ALIAS (NAME(COLIN ) RELATE('A4USR1.ICFCAT') )

With this, I can now refer to COLIN.* data sets from the older system.

Detailed instructions

TCPIP

I had to change the TCPIP Resolver (of IP names and addresses).

In ADCD.Z31A.TCPPARMS(GBLTDATA) I changed the commented LOOKUP statement. Then I stopped and restarted the RESOLVER. Without this change requests to lookup caused 30 second delays.

; LOOKUP DNS LOCAL 
; Colin's change 
  LOOKUP     LOCAL

Using the RACF DDS server I got messages

ICH420I PROGRAM GPMDDSRV FROM LIBRARY SYS1.SERBLNKE CAUSED THE
ENVIRONMENT TO BECOME UNCONTROLLED.

I also needed to do the RACF commands

RALTER PROGRAM * ADDMEM('SYS1.SERBLNKE'//NOPADCHK)
RALTER PROGRAM * ADDMEM('SYS1.SGRBLINK'//NOPADCHK)
SETROPTS WHEN(PROGRAM) REFRESH

Save and copy /etc

Migrating an ADCD z/OS release: user data sets, user catalogs and High Level Qualifier

Start here:Migrating an ADCD z/OS release to the next release.

I have covered datasets, aliases and catalogs in One minute mvs: catalogs and datasets.

If your master catalog is a mess

If you have your personal data sets in the master catalog instead of a user catalog, see Here’s another nice mess I’ve gotten into!

You could start again on the new system and do it properly.

Note down which volumes your data sets are on. On the new system define a user catalog and alias, and use ISPF 3.4, to list the contents of the volume and use the C local command to catalog the data set.

I found the easiest way of doing VSAM datasets is a backup and restore

If you have a user catalog for your user data sets

You need to get a list of the user aliases in the master catalog on the old system, and the user catalogs the aliases refer to, before trying to import them into the new system. I could not find a way to list the master catalog from another system. See here for example JCL

To access your data sets in a user catalog you need to import the catalog into the master catalog on the new system, and define the aliases for your data to the catalog.

On your new system, you will not have immediate access to your data sets, so you either need

  • to access a dataset, and specify the volser information,
  • or you need to have a copy of the JCL to import a user catalog, and define alias, stored in a note pad area outside of z/OS. Edit a member such as USER.*.PROCLIB(TEMP) and paste the import catalog JCL. When that has worked, paste in the add alias to your datasets ( COLIN.*). Once you have done this, you can use ISPF 3.4 and use COLIN.* to locate your data sets.

Once you have your list of aliases and user catalogs, you can IPL the new system and import the user catalogs, and define the aliases.

Product data sets

There is usually an alias in the master catalog for a program product. The alias may have the product release as part of the name. If you have customised any of the product owned datasets, you may need to copy the data off.

Migrating an ADCD z/OS release: datasets

Start here:Migrating an ADCD z/OS release to the next release.

What to you need to think about?

ADCD provided data sets you may have changed

This should only be USER.*.* data sets, but you may have updated ADCD data sets. You should copy any changes into the USER.*. data sets. On the new system, you can copy this to the newer (and empty) USER.*.* data sets.

Some of the data sets I updated are

  • USER.Z24C.PARMLIB
  • USER.Z24C.PROCLIB
  • USER.Z24C.CLIST
  • USER.Z24C.SYSEXEC
  • USER.Z24C.TCPPARMS
  • USER.Z24C.VTAMLST
  • ADCD.Z24C.PARMLIB(JES*)
  • ADCD.Z24C.TCPPARMS. I should have create a copy of the TCPIP procedure in USER.Z24C.PROCLIB, and changed ADCD.Z24C.TCPPARMS to USER.Z24C.TCPPARMS

You can use ISPF 3.4 to display the contents of a PDS, and use sort changed or tab to the Changed column and press enter. Check the date and userid.

If you haven’t changed the ADCD.* members, compare the old and new, and change your USER.* to incorporate any changes if necessary. You can use the ISPF editor command “compare” to show you the differences between members.

User data

I have a lot of data sets with a high level qualifier of COLIN. Fortunately I set up an IDCAMS alias so all COLIN.** data sets were cataloged in a user catalog. On the new system, I just have to import the catalog.

If you did not set up a user catalog for your personal data sets.

You could set up a user catalog on the old system, set up an alias such as COLIN1, then rename all COLIN.* to COLIN1. On the new system you import the user catalog, and define the alias COLIN1. Set up a new user catalog, and a new alias, then copy/rename the data set from COLIN1 to COLIN.