When I last worked on this, we used CA-1's catalog retention (RETPD=990000 if I recall) for the GDGs, but because of the 255-entry GDG limit we had to do some 'merge jobs' to combine various archive "tapes" (ours were redirected to disk by Tape Mount Management) so we could have a year or two retention. Catalog retention for GDGs means that when the GDG entry "rolls off" the tape should expire during your next CA-1 cycle.
I don't know what level of z/OS you are on but at z/OS 2.2 the ability to set the GDGEXTENDED parameter to YES (default is NO) in IGGCATxx means you can go to 999. What, specifically, are you trying to do with $AVRS? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
