> -----Original Message----- > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of O'Brien, David W. > (NIH/CIT) [C] > Sent: Wednesday, October 19, 2011 10:08 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Data offload to DVDs or external drives > > The following has been posed by one of our mainframe users. > > QUESTION: What options (if any) are available for migrating > these old study files and contents of accounts to storage > media such as DVDs and external hard drives that could be > securely held (off-line) by the agencies? > > Looking at the user id provided I find that most of these > files are VSAM. > > Is there any way to use VSAM in a non-mainframe environment?
Not really. And which VSAM do you mean? There are 5 flavors: ESDS (sequential), KSDS (keyed), RRDS (relative record - fixed length records), VRRDS (Relative record - variable length records), and LINEAR (no logical records at all, more like memory since access is via DIV and byte addressing). I assume you mean KSDS. I know of no way to directly access a KSDS except via z/OS. Now, there are equivalent indexed sequential access methods available on UNIX and Windows platforms. But that is a file conversion. > Is there a way to write directly to a dvd from a mainframe? I've never heard of one. DVDs are generally WORM devices. And you normally "premaster" the DVD image and write it in a single session. There are devices on the market which emulate mainframe tapes, storing the tape image in a disk file. You could then put those images on a DVD using UNIX/Windows software. That would be for off-site storage. And some of those devices have software subroutines so that a UNIX/Windows program can read the data from the tape image. Assuming the program knows how to handle the z/OS data (EBCDIC character coding, z/OS packed decimal, z/OS binary integers, z/OS HFP and BFP floating point formats). I think MicroFocus COBOL has the capability to do this latter in its I/O routines. What is your bottom line objective? To just have the data on DVDs in some format so that it can be restored to the mainframe? Or in a format so that it can be post processed by a non-z/OS system such as UNIX or Windows? In the former case, I would backup the dataset using ADRDSSU or FDR, then BINary ftp that dataset to a Linux/Windows platform so that it can be burned to DVD. In the latter case, you either need to ASCII ftp a sequential unload of the data which has converted everything to printable (translatable) characters. You could then burn a DVD with those files. > > TIA, > Dave O'Brien > NIH Contractor -- John McKown Systems Engineer IV IT Administrative Services Group HealthMarkets(r) 9151 Boulevard 26 * N. Richland Hills * TX 76010 (817) 255-3225 phone * [email protected] * www.HealthMarkets.com Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message may contain confidential or proprietary information. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message. HealthMarkets(r) is the brand name for products underwritten and issued by the insurance subsidiaries of HealthMarkets, Inc. -The Chesapeake Life Insurance Company(r), Mid-West National Life Insurance Company of TennesseeSM and The MEGA Life and Health Insurance Company.SM ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
