On Fri, 11 Jan 2008 08:51:38 -0500, Karl Kingston <[EMAIL PROTECTED] > wrote:
>> >> > 2) We use FDR/ABR on our z/OS side for backing up for Disaster >Recovery. >> We >> > would like to keep using FDR. Now I know I can get clean backups if > >> the >> > systems are shut down. Are there any gotcha's if I take a FDR full >> dump >> > against say 530RES or 530SPL while the system is up? \ >> >> I strongly encourage you NOT to do that. The warmstart area and the >spool >> volumes must all be consistent. If you must use FDR, then set up a 2n d >> level guest (with dedicated volumes, not mdisks) whose sole purpose is >to >> provide a resting place for spool files to be backed up by FDR. >> >> SPXTAPE DUMP the first level spool to tape. Then attach the tape to t he > >> 2nd level guest and SPXTAPE LOAD it. Shut it down. Back it up with >FDR. >> When recovering, use FDR to restore the guest volumes. IPL the guest, >> SPXTAPE DUMP them and then load them on the first level system. If >> necessary, you could IPL the guest first level, as it were. The nice >> thing is that the guest doesn't have to have the same spool volume >> configuration; it just needs enough space to store the spool files. >> >> Of course, if you only use the spool for transient data and don't care >if >> you lose it, you can simply COLD/CLEAN start and rebuild the NSSes and >> DCSSes. > >Don't care about the spool. Can you provide a step by step to rebuild >the NSSes and DCSSes? > >Can't use SPXTAPE dump as we have no tape drives attached to either of t he >VM systems. Is there a way to save the DCSSes and NSSes without a tap e >drive? If all you care about is the DCSS's and the NSS's you do have an option , albeit unpopular and sure to draw ire. The key lies in the nuances of Alan's statement above that "The warmstart area and the spool volumes mus t all be consistent". If you care about *all* spool files then you *have* to do as he recommends and either SPXTAPE them or backup your DASD from a shutdown system. If, and only if, you need spool files (such as DCSS's and NSS) which have existed for a long enough time that their information has been written to the checkpoint area then they will be correctly recovered during a FORCE start if you use full pack backups of that running system. This is similar to what you should expect to recover if you lose power or otherwise lose your system without doing a SHUTDOWN. This can easily be tested by DDR'ing your running 1st level system packs to a 2nd level guests MDISKs and IPLing the 2nd level guest. Again, the best advice is to do it properly, but it's always useful to know what is possible and what the risks are even if it's not recommended . Brian Nielsen
