Max no of generations in a GDG

charu arora · New User Joined: 30 May 2006 Posts: 13 Location: bangalore

I have heard that max no of generations can be only 255

but generation name format is G0001V00

so it should be more than 255

what is the reason

sri.mainframes · New User Joined: 16 Feb 2006 Posts: 29 Location: MUMBAI

hi arora,

once the limit(255 or lessthan 255 depends on your requirement) is reached, the older generations automatically deleted
or if the retention period has expired, then the generations will be deleted
suppose if u set that limit is 5, then after 5 generations the older genarations deleted

sri.mainframes · New User Joined: 16 Feb 2006 Posts: 29 Location: MUMBAI

correct me if i am wrong

regards
PRINCE

senthilarumugam · New User Joined: 09 May 2006 Posts: 19 Location: chennai

Yes u r rigth that maximum limitis 255.
The maximum value for LIMIT when defining the GDG base is 255. The LIMIT determines how many generations can be accessed by relative access (i.e. 0, -1, -2, -254, etc.). The settings for ERASE and SCRATCH determine what happens when the next cataloged dataset exceeds the specified LIMIT. With NOERASE and NOSCRATCH, the first cataloged dataset that exceeds the LIMIT will be "rolled out" of the Generation Data Group, but will still be cataloged, and the newest dataset "rolled in". With this setting, you can keep up to 9999 GDG datasets cataloged. Once generation 9999 is reached, the generation number rolls back to 0001.