Re: I have to use the 'O' word.

Jim Bohnsack Thu, 09 Feb 2006 05:29:22 -0800

Steve--The CP owned volumes, assuming they have CP allocated space on them such as DRCT, PAGE, TDSK, or SPOOL already have a "osvtoc" on them. If you enter, from a priviliged id such as MAINT, Q ALLOC, you will see a display of those volumes. Those you can be sure of as having a useable VTOC. Another way to tell if there is an "osvtoc" and not a volume label that would have been created by the CMS FORMAT program is to use ICKDSF CPVOL LIST on the volume. The CP owned volumes I mentioned above would have been formatted with CPFMTXA or ICKDSF with the CPVOL option (same thing). That is what you want. CPVOL will leave a format 6 (or is it 5) DSCB on the volume showing that the volume is completely full and it will also create a "osvtoc". So, if you see the following when you use ICKDSF with CPVOL LIST you're ok, assuming that the number of cylinders shown is the same as the size of your volumes rather than the 1 cyl tdisk I used here for the example.

cpvol unit(111) nvfy list CPVOL UNIT(111) NVFY LIST ICK00700I DEVICE INFORMATION FOR 0111 IS CURRENTLY AS FOLLOWS: PHYSICAL DEVICE = 3390 STORAGE CONTROLLER = 3990 STORAGE CONTROL DESCRIPTOR = E9 DEVICE DESCRIPTOR = 0A ADDITIONAL DEVICE INFORMATION = 48001B35 ICK04000I DEVICE IS IN SIMPLEX STATE ICK00703I DEVICE IS OPERATED AS A MINIDISK ICK00091I 0111 NED=002105.000.IBM.13.000000023792 ICK091I 0111 NED=002105.000.IBM.13.000000023792 ICK03090I VOLUME SERIAL = 111111 ICK03024I DEVICE IS CURRENTLY FORMATTED WITHOUT FILLER RECORDS ICK03000I CPVOL REPORT FOR 0111 FOLLOWS: ICK03021I 0111 IS FORMATTED FOR VM/XA|ESA MODE CYLINDER ALLOCATION CURRENTLY IS AS FOLLOWS: TYPE START END TOTAL ---- ----- --- ----- PERM 0 0 1 ICK00001I FUNCTION COMPLETED, HIGHEST CONDITION CODE WAS 0 At 07:57 AM 2/9/2006, you wrote:

Thanks all for the comments. I cannot go into extreme detail on this due to confidentiality issues. But, let's say I'm a zOS shop with no VM experience. I suddenly have access to VM machine and I want to do full volume backups because that's all I know how to do in zOS. Will putting an osvtoc on my VM 'sysres' volumes cause problems? The answer I've gleaned is 'yes' if it is the cp volumes i.e., 520RES, 520W01, etc. We do full volume backups on 7 'system' drives. All other backups are taken care of by using a 3rd party product, which is to say we don't do full volume back ups on these.
I have nothing personal against zOS. EVERY operating system has it's strengths and weaknesses. It's when factions put blinders on and only see their o/s as an end all is when I get a little passionate about operating systems.
Thanks again to all that have responded.
Steve G.

"Jeff Gribbin, EDS" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent by: VM/ESA and z/VM Discussions <[email protected]>

02/09/2006 02:26 AM
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Hello Stephen,
Hopefully by now you've got the idea that the, "How" of an OS VTOC is
quite straightforward - but have we really answered your question /
resolved your problem? I'm not sure. I think it'd help us if you could

give a bit more background on what exactly you're trying to achieve - if

it's as simple a just getting a VM volume online to zOS for (say) taking

full-volume backups then you probably now have all you need ... but I've

got a sneaking feeling that you're looking for something more.

Can you share some of the, "why" (you want an OS VTOC) with us? That way
-
if we haven't done so already - we might be able to help resolve whatever

your, "real problem" might be.

Regards
Jeff Gribbin

(P.S. Joking aside, never feel the need to have to apologise when you
acknowledge zOS' existence on this list - most folk here actually have a

deep respect for its power and capabilities - "He Aint Heavy - He's My

Brother".)

Jim Bohnsack
Cornell Univ.
(607) 255-1760

Re: I have to use the 'O' word.

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