STORAGE S TRATEGIES

Sharing the Wealth:

N
ot long ago, it seemed that the future of the large mainframe To take full advantage of VSAM RLS, the application (usually CICS)
environment was in doubt. Legions of smaller, less expensive, must provide control of the logical units of work that perform multiple
distributed computers would replace complex, costly mainframes, concurrent updates and provide logging facilities to allow recovery
along with the expensive systems programming talent required to processing. For VSAM RLS data, the SHAREOPTION values are
maintain them. Like most doomsday scenarios, however, this one has ignored, and many different tasks, running in many different regions,
failed to materialize. Despite explosive growth in the number and can update the same data without danger of corruption, since data
power of smaller systems, the bulk of vital corporate data, particularly is locked at the record level, not at the control-interval level.
for larger companies, remains on the mainframe. Indeed, faced with VSAM RLS is subject to a number of restrictions, as is the case
what has turned out to be the very high cost of installing, maintaining, with most new MVS features. For example, RLS datasets must be
and controlling widely distributed hardware and software, corporations SMS-managed. VSAM RLS datasets may be in key-sequenced,
have begun reemphasizing the role of the mainframe. entry-sequenced, or relative-record format. Clusters accessed with
One reason for this move back to a centralized environment is RLS may not be defined with IMBED (although REPLICATE is
the maturity and functionality available in the large systems allowed) and may not use control interval access. For KSDS clusters,
environment. While distributed systems still struggle with issues of addressed access (RPL OPTCD=ADR) is also not allowed.
backup, recovery, and accessibility to data, each new release of VSAM RLS is implemented by a new SMSVSAM address space
DFSMS provides new features that extend the already robust that must be started on each system which takes part in the sysplex.
reliability, availability, and security that is the hallmark of the The SMSVSAM address spaces contain the VSAM control blocks
mainframe environment. For the storage administrator, each new and coordinate the sharing of VSAM RLS data across systems.
release of DFSMS also brings increased capacity and complexity Each SMSVSAM address space is also linked to two data spaces,
that must be effectively managed. one that is used for data buffering, and the other for activity moni-
It has been estimated that more than half of all data stored on toring and writing SMF data. For RLS files, the ACB buffering
mainframes is VSAM. Accordingly, recent operating system options, such as BUFND, BUFNI, BUFSP, and STRNO are
releases have concentrated on improving the performance of ignored, as are requests for control blocks in common (CBIC) and
VSAM files and making access to VSAM data easier and more user buffering (UBF). Instead, all of the buffering is performed in
reliable. This month’s column will discuss some of the new fea- the SMSVSAM address space and its associated data spaces. Only
tures of DFSMS/MVS that relate to VSAM data and how these fea- the ACB, RPLs, and EXLSTs are left in the user address space.
tures impact the storage administrator’s job. Along with its new possibilities for applications, VSAM RLS brings
with it a number of complexities for the storage administrator. Since each
VSAM RLS VSAM RLS dataset must be SMS-managed, the storage administrator
For many VSAM-based applications, sharing data across multiple must ensure that the ACS routines assign appropriate storage classes.
systems has been a difficult problem. Applications that need to The SMS base configuration definition and CFRM (coupling facility)
maintain integrity while allowing multiple systems to update policy may need to be changed to specify CF cache structures. Storage
VSAM files have had to resort to complex enqueueing schemes to classes that are to be assigned to VSAM RLS datasets must contain
prevent data from being corrupted, since there has not been any the CF cache structure names. A CF lock structure with the fixed
ability within MVS to provide cross-system serialization at the name of IGWLOCK00 must also be defined to support VSAM RLS.
record level. Until now, that is. In addition to changes to the SMS base configuration and
DFSMS/MVS version 1.3 introduced VSAM Record-Level Sharing storage class definitions, changes may need to be made to JCL
(RLS), which uses the coupling facility hardware to allow VSAM data and IDCAMS control statements or SMS data classes. VSAM
to be accessed for update from multiple systems. The coupling facility datasets that are to be eligible for RLS will need to be assigned
is used as a store-through cache where records accessed for update LOG ids and LOGSTREAM attributes that indicate whether they
can be stored and where locks can be maintained to ensure integrity. are recoverable and whether forward recovery logging should
VSAM RLS itself is merely an access method that can be imple- be performed. This can be done either through the IDCAMS
mented by a JCL parameter (RLS=) or in the ACB (MACRF=RLS). DEFINE and ALTER control statements, or for DFSMS 1.4

© 1998 Technical Enterprises, Inc. Reproduction of this document without permission is prohibited. February ‘98 TECHNICAL SUPPORT
(OS/390 version 2.4) through the equivalent other functions of the to the VARY SMS extents per component on a single vol-
SMS data class attributes. commands, such as VARY SMS,SMSVSAM ume). Many other significant changes to
which can be used to start or stop the VSAM processing are also present
IMPLEMENTING VSAM RECORD-LEVEL SHARING SMSVSAM address space and control its in DFSMS 1.4.
To implement VSAM record-level connectivity to the coupling facility. New releases of DFSMS/MVS are now
sharing, Sharing Control Data Sets N ew parameters in the IGDSMSxx appearing at the rate of one every six
(SHCDSs) must be created. These datasets member of SYS1.PARMLIB are also of months. With each new release, the ability
are used to hold record locking information concern to the storage administrator. of mainframe systems to handle ever larger
and prevent data from being corrupted during The DEADLOCK_DETECTION interval volumes of data with greater ease, speed,
a failure of the SMSVSAM address space or determines how long a transaction may and reliability improves. Along with this
coupling facility lock structure. At least two wait before the system decides a lock- improvement comes increased complexity.
SHCDSs must be defined along with at least out is present and terminates it. The To succeed in the challenging modern
one spare, and they must be defined with RLS_MAX_POOL_SIZE sets the size of business environment, corporations also
exactly the same space allocation characteris- the buffer pools on a system. need highly knowledgeable storage
tics. The SHCDSs have a name of the form DFSMS/MVS continues to expand in administrators who are as effective and
SYS1.DFPSHCDS.qualifier.Vvolser, and functionality and complex i t y. DFSMS reliable as the systems they manage. ts
thus are placed on specific shared-DASD version 1.4, distributed with OS/390
volumes (preferably ones without any version 2.4, extends the reach of VSAM
RESERVE activity) via a guaranteed-space record-level sharing to extended-format NaSPA member Steve Pryor has more than 15 years of
storage class. (striped) VSAM datasets that are more than experience in storage management, disaster recovery,
The SHCDSs can be manipulated 4GB in size. With DFSMS 1.4, DFSMShsm software development, and technical support. Steve
(activated, deactivated, added, deleted) via control datasets may also take advantage of can be contacted via the Internet at [email protected].
new parameters on the DISPLAY SMS and VSAM RLS. A number of other extensions
VARY SMS console commands. DISPLAY to VSAM processing are included in ©1998 Technical Enterprises, Inc. For reprints
SMS, SHCDS, for example, will display DFSMS 1.4, including the ability for of this document contact [email protected].
the status of all SHCDSs. The storage VSAM datasets to occupy a total of up to
administrator must also be familiar with 255 extents (subject to a limit of 123

TECHNICAL SUPPORT February ‘98 www.naspa.net