Gerner Tape Dataset w/o VOLSER

JamesK · New User Joined: 08 Mar 2007 Posts: 5 Location: St Louis

I need to gener a tape data set either to another tape or DASD. But I don?t know the VOLSER for the ?from? dataset. Is there a way to do this?
I always thought you needed to know the VOLSER.

expat · Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2007 7:30 pm

What do you know about the tape ?

If you use BLP processing you will need to know the RECFM & LRECL

Do you know the dataset name that you want to copy, if so, 3.4 will tell you the volser if it is catalogued.

How come you don't know the volser ?

JamesK · New User Joined: 08 Mar 2007 Posts: 5 Location: St Louis

We are generating the JCL in a web based system and sending the JCL to the mainframe for execution.

I do know the RECFM and LRECL.

expat · Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2007 7:41 pm

If you are generating the JCL and sending it to process on the mainframe, then hopefully you will know the dataset name of the output from this process, and if it will be catalogued.

May I suggest that you create the output onto DASD initially, use this to be copied onto tape or whatever and catalog the output from this step. A GDG might be useful, allowing you to keep up to 255 versions of the created dataset.

If you have a schedule package you might be able to use event triggers to trigger a copy job from DASD to tape, and include the date / time stamp in the dataset name to make it easier to find when a dataset was created should you need it later on.

Just a couple of suggestions that might make your life easier.

vin78dotcom · New User Joined: 06 Dec 2005 Posts: 7 Location: pune

hi,
the problem is like the input or the from dataset is uncataloged...
so in any processing including copying the dataset ...we need to specify the VOLSER...
even the
LISTCAT ENT('tapename') . and the 3.4 ...wont work...since the tape is uncatalog

expat · Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 3:44 pm

First question - is why the input dataset is uncatalogued. If it is catalogued then there is much less of a problem to resolve. Where is it created.

Do you have a tape management package that you could interface with.

Do you know the dataset name of the input dataset.

vin78dotcom · New User Joined: 06 Dec 2005 Posts: 7 Location: pune

hi,
we have the dataset name.
we cant see it using 3.4 but we can view its VOLSER using TMSDSN utility...

expat · Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 4:04 pm

How is the input dataset created ?
and why can it not be catalogued at creation time ?

By getting the dataset catalogued you will have the easiest solution.

vin78dotcom · New User Joined: 06 Dec 2005 Posts: 7 Location: pune

i am not sure

thats wht the problem is!!!
is there any way to get the VOLSER with just the name of uncataloged dataset...
can you suggest a solution .. difficult is also fine...

vin78dotcom · New User Joined: 06 Dec 2005 Posts: 7 Location: pune

i found that the JCL in which, dataset is getting created...has parameter given as
UNIT=(VTSTAPE,,DEFER),VOL=PRIVATE

expat · Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 4:35 pm

You can get the volser from TMSDSN as you have said. From what I can recall from tape management software you can also get the date and time that the dataset was created. This may help eliminate some potential errors. Don't forget that the TMSDSN will still maintain all of the previous versions of this dataset in its database until a particular tape is written to again.

You can get the volser from TMSDSN using this information, you know the RECFM & LRECL, so now know what you need to know to copy the tape.

In my opinion this is NOT the safest way to do it, meaning it may be worth the effort to spend an hour or two finding out where the dataset is created and if it is possible to get it catalogued.

Do you have a scheduling package, which can register when the dataset has been created & catalogued and trigger a copy job which copies the dataset and then deletes it ready for the next process.

If not, then the JCL generated from the web application would need to be changed to (a) Get the volser using the TMSDSN method, maybe REXX (b) if you use REXX - you can invoke the copy process from within the REXX once you have the volser.

As I said above, it may be messy and it may be unsafe, and if I was your manager I'd not be 100% happy doing it this way. In fact I'd be less than 50% happy.

expat · Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 4:37 pm

Great - if you can get that changed to DISP=(,CATLG,DELETE) you're there !!!

The copy job can access the dataset with DISP=(OLD,DELETE,KEEP) which deletes the dataset on sucessful copy of it.

vin78dotcom · New User Joined: 06 Dec 2005 Posts: 7 Location: pune

Thanks for the reply. But copying the file is unrealistic in our scenario.
Is there a way by which we can achieve this in JCL. Any utility which wud help us finding the VOLSER. [Without using REXX]

expat · Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 5:23 pm

Then why was the original point of this thread to copy the damned tape !!!

vin78dotcom · New User Joined: 06 Dec 2005 Posts: 7 Location: pune

sorry for all the confusion ...
Actually the tape is getting created in of the JCLs which i suppose we cant change....
and we need to make a copy of the tape in of the new JCLs...and NDM it to different region

expat · Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 5:49 pm