The "H" in "HBUFN*" indeed stands for "Hiperspace". These spaces still exist 
and always were distinct from  Dataspaces. VSAM does not use Dataspaces.

Nowadays Hiperspaces will be backed by real memory; They remain a valid 
architectural concept / implementation.

And will damped autocorrupt boldly well stop changing "Hiperspace" to 
"Hyperspace". Aargh! 😊

There IS still a use case, I suppose: Virtual Storage Constraint Relief. 
Better, though, to put VSAM LSR buffers above the line (and below the bar).

Thanks to Allan Winston for tapping me on the shoulder as one of the authors of 
the SG24-2557 "Parallel Sysplex Performance Topics" Redbook - where we 
discussed this sort of thing. (Most of this Redbook is still valid.)

And, Peter, you're not alone in the "small extended private" club; I saw a 
similar number in another customer the other day.

I am working with someone right now on a presentation we're tentatively calling 
"Virtual Storage After All These Years". No promises and I mention that merely 
to test the assumption that virtual storage remains a hot topic - whether some 
customers realise it or not.

Cheers, Martin

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <[email protected]> on behalf of 
Farley, Peter <[email protected]>
Date: Saturday, 30 May 2026 at 01:27
To: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: What is the SUBSYS=(BLSR,...) current implementation 
for HBUFND and HBUFNI allocations?

Yes, I just found my copy of that manual as well (I should have remembered I 
had it around somewhere or other), and it does day the HBUFNx buffers are (or 
can be if you are authorized to do so) allocated in a ā€œVSAM hiperspaceā€.

Sorry for wasting bandwidth here when I should have RTFM’ed first.

Peter

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <[email protected]> On Behalf Of 
Michael Watkins
Sent: Friday, May 29, 2026 8:09 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: What is the SUBSYS=(BLSR,...) current implementation for HBUFND 
and HBUFNI allocations?


I have a .pdf copy of the 1994 IBM publication 'MVS Programming: Batch Local 
Shared Resources Subsystem Guide', if you'd like to share your email address, 
Peter Farley.





-----Original Message-----

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List 
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> On Behalf Of 
Farley, Peter

Sent: Friday, May 29, 2026 5:52 PM

To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>

Subject: Re: What is the SUBSYS=(BLSR,...) current implementation for HBUFND 
and HBUFNI allocations?



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After I hit send on this question, I thought of another possible implementation 
– are HBUFNx buffers perhaps allocated in a separate data space below the 2G 
bar?  If so are there any measurements I could view to tell me the actual 
usage/performance affect for such buffers?



Peter



From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List 
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> On Behalf Of 
Farley, Peter

Sent: Friday, May 29, 2026 6:41 PM

To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>

Subject: What is the SUBSYS=(BLSR,...) current implementation for HBUFND and 
HBUFNI allocations?



I know that for BLSR the HBUFND and HBUFNI parameters originally allocated 
memory in "extended storage" when that actually existed as a hardware option.



In z/OS today (V3.1), given that RMODE31=ALL is also specified, are HBUFND and 
HBUFNI buffers allocated above the 16M line but below the 2G bar just like 
BUFND and BUFNI, or are HBUFNx buffers allocated above the 2G bar?



I am trying to determine if it is worth using BLSR HBUFNx parameters for 
NON-extended VSAM KSDS reference files on somewhat memory-constrained below 2G 
systems (available PRIVATE < 1148M) for batch applications that use lots of 
reference data READ's, or instead should I just increase the BUFND and BUFNI 
values within the existing memory constraints below 2G?



Peter



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