If the DSORG supports multivolume, then add UNIT=(,5) to everything that opens 
the file for output.

That does not mean the IEFBR14 that allocates it; you want the program that 
writes to it.

You can do this with the DATACLAS as well, with or without using SCR, but with 
a large number of datasets you need to watch the TIOT.

Ron Hawkins
Director, Ipsicsopt Pty Ltd (ACN: 627 705 971)
m: +61 400029610 | h: +61 387399252 | f: +1 4087912585 | email: 
[email protected]

-----Original Message-----
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <[email protected]> On Behalf Of 
Joel C. Ewing
Sent: Friday, 8 March 2019 02:23
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [IBM-MAIN] Disk space allocation question [EXTERNAL]

On 3/6/19 10:32 AM, Paul Gilmartin wrote:
> On Wed, 6 Mar 2019 08:36:23 +0000, Sean Gleann wrote:
>> Up until reading the doc regarding ALLOCxx, I was unaware that 
>> "...Primary space may be acquired in up to 5 extents" and that was 
>> the root cause of the problem report that I was given. That doc and 
>> the further testing I've done has allowed me to understand the 
>> numbers seen in the resulting ISPF 'I' command output, and to 
>> communicate that information to the person who reported the 'problem' (I 
>> requested 9000 tracks! Why did I get only 7200?
>> Why did my job go to a B37 after that??)
>>  
> I have routinely done Info on one data set then changed the DSN and 
> Allocated, intending to create one very similar.  I have been dismayed 
> when space is different from what I requested on the original data set.
>
> I consider this a bug.
>
> -- gil
>
> ...
>
Backward compatibility will always leave specifying allocation the old ways in 
units of tracks or cylinders problematic.  If you actually care whether you get 
a specific amount of space, you need to be using newer SMS allocation 
techniques, specifying space using AVGREC and record size, using 
System-Determined Blocksize, specifying (in JCL or via SMS
definitions) multi-volumes, and using extended datasets (which greatly 
increases allowed extents per volume and allows secondary allocations to also 
have multiple physical extents).  It also helps with volume fragmentation 
issues if your SMS rules don't  attempt to allocate huge datasets in the same 
SMS storage pools as smaller datasets.

Yes the old allocation rules are a mess and in retrospect perhaps a bad design 
choice, but since IBM is supplying other ways to solve the allocation problem 
and reduce allocation dependency on physical DASD architecture, don't expect 
the old rules to change.   Another major exposure the old allocation rules 
always had:  While a 16 extent limit per volume implied there was always a 
possibility of adding 11 to 15 secondary extents, If DASD space was getting 
scarce and the primary allocation proved insufficient, there was never any 
guarantee of space for ANY secondary allocations being available for later 
allocation when the primary space limit was exceeded.

Just dynamically adding DASD space from anywhere to files as needed as long as 
some job limit, step limit, or total storage limit wasn't exceeded would 
obviously be a much nicer solution today from a user standpoint (and has been 
used on other mainframe operating systems); but when the original DASD 
allocation schemes were created for OS/360, allowing explicit control to 
restrict the number of extents and encourage allocation of contiguous tracks 
and contiguous cylinders was considered essential for maximizing DASD 
performance.

    Joel C Ewing

--
Joel C. Ewing

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