z/VM does take first device matching a VOLSER . Enter CP QUERY 4506-4507 to see what volid CP saw on them. And check you guest's DEDICATE's to see if they're still DEDICATE by volid: "DEDICATE 1500 VOLID xxxxx". If the 4506-4507 volid's match the DEDICATE's then CP dedicated them to the guest instead of the like-named volids at higher addresses as you suspect.
If you must DEDICATE full packs then it'd be more reliable to DEDICATE by address instead of volid, using "DEDICATE 1500 4701" this succeeds if the dasd is 'FREE' and is independent of its volid; if you use the 'volid' option then the DEDICATE will fail if the volid isn't what the DEDICATE specifies, as in "DEDICATE 1500 4701 VOLID LEMAI1" HCPLGN090I Device 1500 not defined; device LEMAI1 not available. Put the 4701-4708 dasd OFFLINE_AT_IPL in SYSTEM CONFIG and vary them online in AUTOLOG1's PROFILE EXEC before the guest is autologged. From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Karl Kingston Sent: Wednesday, September 02, 2009 2:13 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Using FDR Instant Backup to make FlashCopies We're running a Domino mail server under z/Linux under z/VM. Volumes are full-pack volumes and are dedicated to the VM guest when we autolog the guest. Dedicates are in the form of "DEDICATE 1500 VOLID xxxxx". This has worked well for us. For backing this system up, we use FDR from the z/OS side to backup. Of course, the linux system is down when we do this so we can get a clean copy. Since we're using 8 3390-27's to hold our mail files, our backup window is about 2 hours. In an effort to reduce the size of the window, we used FDR to Flashcopy these volumes to other DASD. And then backup these DASD. My understanding is when using FDR to flashcopy, it will change the VOLSER for the target devices (can't vary them online to z/OS). Our VOLSERS are LEMAI1 - LEMAI8. Reside on units 4701-4708. Our flashcopy targets are on 4506-450D. This scenario worked for several weeks until yesterday. When we autologged the guest machines, somehow they grabbed 4506 and 4507. (I'm assuming somehow the volsers got changed?) Has anybody had any experience with doing something like this? Any idea why z/VM assigned 4506-4507? Correct me if I'm wrong, but z/VM will take the first device it finds matching a VOLSER? What can we do to remedy this? Is this even a good idea? Thanks ________________________________ This e-mail, including any attachments, may be confidential, privileged or otherwise legally protected. It is intended only for the addressee. If you received this e-mail in error or from someone who was not authorized to send it to you, do not disseminate, copy or otherwise use this e-mail or its attachments. Please notify the sender immediately by reply e-mail and delete the e-mail from your system.
