Re: listing active user directory
Hi Kris, I now have also a FORMAT EXEC, which rejects to format certain minidisks, such as MAINT 191, MAINT CF1 and so on. Other thing which has happened to me, was to shutdown the wrong of two VMs at 11am. Since then I disable with AUTOLOG1 the CP SHUTDOWN at IPL and have an exec, which checks if the VSE systems are logoff, otherwise it does no shutdown. kind regards Franz Josef Pohlen Kris Buelens schrieb: I did the same 25 years ago: at 10PM, just before starting the 1h drive home, quickly added a new userid to please the customer, wanted to format this new 191 and entered FORMAT 191 Z used to the prompts that always come one enters YES...Needless to say I wasn't home around 11PM But, since then I've got a FORMAT EXEC on my tools disk that gives a very different message when formatting a minidisks that can be ACCESSed. 2008/3/10, Franz Josef Pohlen [EMAIL PROTECTED]: thanks Kris an Rob for your valuable hints. With the mentioned tools I will check the directory against the source. Rob, don't worry, I'm familiar with this stuff. It was only a bit late and I was tired when I formatted the Maint 191. I wanted to format a temp disk but I entered the wrong device instead. (Sh... happens) kind regards Franz Josef
Re: listing active user directory
On Tue, Mar 11, 2008 at 1:59 AM, Alan Altmark [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: While trying to reconstruct a source directory from an object directory might seem logical, far too much information is lost in translation. Obviously it would be really easy to write a wrapper around DIRECTXA that also runs DIRMAP (or what it is called these days) and extra sanity checks *before* bringing the directory online. Sometimes it makes sense to also detect the change to mini disks that are currently linked by logged-on users (typically for something you need to do after the new directory is online). While you can keep a lot in GLOBALV, it might be nice if DIRECTXA would place de FSTAT of the source directory in the object in a way that CP can tell it us. If you also keep your set of copies, it would identify which source is currently online. PS I also think it would be very practical if we would have the userid and device address of mini disks in the VTOC of the real volume. For people doing physical backup it would be more reliable than a copy of the directory. But I don't want to think about how complicated this will make DIRECTXA. Rob
Re: listing active user directory
While these may not help you if you format your directory source disk, you could modify it to do some copies to other disks instead of or in addition to the renames. These were written in the 80's and I'm sure a plumber could make them pretty. Bob. /** BSAVE XEDIT - make packed backup copies of whatever file you are working on **/ trace 'o' 'transfer fname ftype fmode' pull fn ft fm 'cp set emsg off' 'command erase 'fn 'bk4-'||ft fm 'command rename 'fn 'bk3-'||ft fm fn 'bk4-'||ft fm 'command rename 'fn 'bk2-'||ft fm fn 'bk3-'||ft fm 'command rename 'fn 'bk1-'||ft fm fn 'bk2-'||ft fm 'command rename 'fn ft fm fn 'bk1-'||ft fm retcode = rc if retcode = 0 then do 'save' 'exec pack 'fn' bk1-'||ft fm end 'cp set emsg on' exit retcode /** PACK EXEC - pack a file **/ trace 'o' parse upper arg fn ft fm fm = left(strip(fm),1) if fm ^= A then do 'q disk 'fm' (lifo' pull . . . stat . 'desbuf' end if stat = R/W then tofm = fm else tofm = A 'copyfile 'fn ft fm' $t$e$m$p$ file 'tofm' ( pack replace olddate' if rc ^= 0 then exit if stat = R/W | fm = A then 'erase 'fn ft fm 'rename $t$e$m$p$ file 'tofm fn ft tofm exit -Original Message- From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Rob van der Heij Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2008 2:17 AM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Re: listing active user directory On Tue, Mar 11, 2008 at 1:59 AM, Alan Altmark [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: While trying to reconstruct a source directory from an object directory might seem logical, far too much information is lost in translation. Obviously it would be really easy to write a wrapper around DIRECTXA that also runs DIRMAP (or what it is called these days) and extra sanity checks *before* bringing the directory online. Sometimes it makes sense to also detect the change to mini disks that are currently linked by logged-on users (typically for something you need to do after the new directory is online). While you can keep a lot in GLOBALV, it might be nice if DIRECTXA would place de FSTAT of the source directory in the object in a way that CP can tell it us. If you also keep your set of copies, it would identify which source is currently online. PS I also think it would be very practical if we would have the userid and device address of mini disks in the VTOC of the real volume. For people doing physical backup it would be more reliable than a copy of the directory. But I don't want to think about how complicated this will make DIRECTXA. Rob This electronic transmission and any documents accompanying this electronic transmission contain confidential information belonging to the sender. This information may be legally privileged. The information is intended only for the use of the individual or entity named above. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution, or the taking of any action in reliance on or regarding the contents of this electronically transmitted information is strictly prohibited.
Re: listing active user directory
On Tuesday, 03/11/2008 at 03:17 EDT, Rob van der Heij [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Tue, Mar 11, 2008 at 1:59 AM, Alan Altmark [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: While trying to reconstruct a source directory from an object directory might seem logical, far too much information is lost in translation. Obviously it would be really easy to write a wrapper around DIRECTXA that also runs DIRMAP (or what it is called these days) and extra sanity checks *before* bringing the directory online. Sometimes it makes sense to also detect the change to mini disks that are currently linked by logged-on users (typically for something you need to do after the new directory is online). IMO, sanity checks are in the domain of directory maintenence products. While you can keep a lot in GLOBALV, it might be nice if DIRECTXA would place de FSTAT of the source directory in the object in a way that CP can tell it us. If you also keep your set of copies, it would identify which source is currently online. While GLOBALV is useful for setting default behavior (e.g. DEFAULTS), I wouldn't propose using it as a database of directory metadata. Adding USER DIRECT metadata to the object directory seems useful and is relatively straightforward to implement. I'd want filename, file timestamp, and source mdisk. Alan Altmark z/VM Development IBM Endicott
Re: listing active user directory
While GLOBALV is useful for setting default behavior (e.g. DEFAULTS), I wouldn't propose using it as a database of directory metadata. Adding USER DIRECT metadata to the object directory seems useful and is relatively straightforward to implement. I'd want filename, file timestamp, and source mdisk. Alan Altmark z/VM Development IBM Endicott There could be a lot of timestamps and source minidisks in a cluster format source directory. Bob Bolch
Re: listing active user directory
On Tue, Mar 11, 2008 at 6:16 PM, Alan Altmark [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: IMO, sanity checks are in the domain of directory maintenence products. Fully agree, so for folks using XEDIT and DIRECTXA by hand (that we were talking about) they *are* the directory maintenance product... They may have bizarre rituals like saving a copy of the source directory on their 1-pack rescue system, checking for overlaps after editing extents by hand, formatting new mini disks. And on my wish list: the userid that issued the DIRECTXA command, so we know where to put the monkey. And there might also be a need to record the number of DIAG84 calls after DIRECTXA, as well as the parameters of the last one :-) Rob Bob: I have never met anyone who maintains his directory by hand and uses cluster format. ;-) I must admit that I was thinking about a checksum of the full source, but then realized it would be not very informative for the audience looking for the source directory.
Re: listing active user directory
On Tuesday, 03/11/2008 at 01:52 EDT, Bob Bolch [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: There could be a lot of timestamps and source minidisks in a cluster format source directory. Yeah, but who maintains such by using DIRECTXA directly? Alan Altmark z/VM Development IBM Endicott
Re: listing active user directory
On Tuesday, 03/11/2008 at 04:39 EDT, Rob van der Heij [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: And on my wish list: the userid that issued the DIRECTXA command, so we know where to put the monkey. Ooooh! I like that one, too! Alan Altmark z/VM Development IBM Endicott
Re: listing active user directory
On Mon, Mar 10, 2008 at 10:26 AM, Franz Josef Pohlen [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I have formatted the MAINT 191 disk with the user direct by accident. I have restored it from a backup which is one week old. I assume I have done all the changes to the user direct since then. Is there a way to list the currently installed directory for comparing with the source? I have zvm 5.3 but no dirmaint active. There's a DIRENT package on the VM Download page that can pull a user entry from storage. It probably can also extract all directory entries for you, but any smart things like profiles would be lost. If you think that most of your changes were mini disks, it might be practical to use Q MDISK USER ... DIR and compare. A bit of plumbing would for that would not be too hard... Rob -- Rob van der Heij Velocity Software, Inc http://velocitysoftware.com/
Re: listing active user directory
On Mon, Mar 10, 2008 at 11:12 AM, Kris Buelens [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Another way: Detach the 123, create a TDISK as 123 of a few cylinders, be sure the 123 is the T-disk, not the resident... Unless you're already very comfortable playing with this stuff, I would not recommend learning while fixingthe problem. This is a big gun and when one foot is already hurting... While the default is to have the sysres linked at 123, I have also seen installations who changed the address in the directory statement to match the *real* device (probably not understanding how this works). Following your recipe, that customer would place his old directory online... (problem solved ;-) Rob -- Rob van der Heij Velocity Software, Inc http://velocitysoftware.com/
Re: listing active user directory
DIRENT can indeed grab the whole CP directory. I would pass the old CP dir and the copy obtained with DIRENT to DIRMAP and compare both maps. More practical: - Get my DRM PACKAGE from VM's download lib - Issue DRM old-cp DIRECT, press PF16 this creates and shows you fn MDISKMAP Press PF4, this removes headers from the MDISKMAP and places the volser on every record. FILE this cleaned MDISKMAP - Do the same steps for the DIRENT copy of the CP directory. Then compare both MDISKMAPs with your usual compare tool (maybe look at COMPAIR from VM's download lib). To compare non-MDISK statements of both directories: DRM contains a tool that can help: DIRFLAT. DIRFLAT makes a single record for each userid, it resolves the INCLUDEd profiles. Running DIRFLAT against both source directories could help. Another way: Detach the 123, create a TDISK as 123 of a few cylinders, be sure the 123 is the T-disk, not the resident... Use ICKDSF to format it and allocate it as DRCT, as label give it the same as your current sysres, cpvol format unit(123) nvfy volid(VTERES) type(DRCT,1,3) run DIRECTXA to create an object directory based on the old CP directory (DIRECTXA should end with rc 5 as CP will not activate it), then run DIRENT to grab the just written object directory. Now compare both directories obtained with DIRENT. 2008/3/10, Rob van der Heij [EMAIL PROTECTED]: On Mon, Mar 10, 2008 at 10:26 AM, Franz Josef Pohlen [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I have formatted the MAINT 191 disk with the user direct by accident. I have restored it from a backup which is one week old. I assume I have done all the changes to the user direct since then. Is there a way to list the currently installed directory for comparing with the source? I have zvm 5.3 but no dirmaint active. There's a DIRENT package on the VM Download page that can pull a user entry from storage. It probably can also extract all directory entries for you, but any smart things like profiles would be lost. If you think that most of your changes were mini disks, it might be practical to use Q MDISK USER ... DIR and compare. A bit of plumbing would for that would not be too hard... Rob -- Rob van der Heij Velocity Software, Inc http://velocitysoftware.com/ -- Kris Buelens, IBM Belgium, VM customer support
Re: listing active user directory
thanks Kris an Rob for your valuable hints. With the mentioned tools I will check the directory against the source. Rob, don't worry, I'm familiar with this stuff. It was only a bit late and I was tired when I formatted the Maint 191. I wanted to format a temp disk but I entered the wrong device instead. (Sh... happens) kind regards Franz Josef Original-Nachricht Datum: Mon, 10 Mar 2008 12:12:56 +0200 Von: Kris Buelens [EMAIL PROTECTED] An: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Betreff: Re: [IBMVM] listing active user directory DIRENT can indeed grab the whole CP directory. I would pass the old CP dir and the copy obtained with DIRENT to DIRMAP and compare both maps. More practical: - Get my DRM PACKAGE from VM's download lib - Issue DRM old-cp DIRECT, press PF16 this creates and shows you fn MDISKMAP Press PF4, this removes headers from the MDISKMAP and places the volser on every record. FILE this cleaned MDISKMAP - Do the same steps for the DIRENT copy of the CP directory. Then compare both MDISKMAPs with your usual compare tool (maybe look at COMPAIR from VM's download lib). To compare non-MDISK statements of both directories: DRM contains a tool that can help: DIRFLAT. DIRFLAT makes a single record for each userid, it resolves the INCLUDEd profiles. Running DIRFLAT against both source directories could help. Another way: Detach the 123, create a TDISK as 123 of a few cylinders, be sure the 123 is the T-disk, not the resident... Use ICKDSF to format it and allocate it as DRCT, as label give it the same as your current sysres, cpvol format unit(123) nvfy volid(VTERES) type(DRCT,1,3) run DIRECTXA to create an object directory based on the old CP directory (DIRECTXA should end with rc 5 as CP will not activate it), then run DIRENT to grab the just written object directory. Now compare both directories obtained with DIRENT. 2008/3/10, Rob van der Heij [EMAIL PROTECTED]: On Mon, Mar 10, 2008 at 10:26 AM, Franz Josef Pohlen [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I have formatted the MAINT 191 disk with the user direct by accident. I have restored it from a backup which is one week old. I assume I have done all the changes to the user direct since then. Is there a way to list the currently installed directory for comparing with the source? I have zvm 5.3 but no dirmaint active. There's a DIRENT package on the VM Download page that can pull a user entry from storage. It probably can also extract all directory entries for you, but any smart things like profiles would be lost. If you think that most of your changes were mini disks, it might be practical to use Q MDISK USER ... DIR and compare. A bit of plumbing would for that would not be too hard... Rob -- Rob van der Heij Velocity Software, Inc http://velocitysoftware.com/ -- Kris Buelens, IBM Belgium, VM customer support -- Pt! Schon vom neuen GMX MultiMessenger gehört? Der kann`s mit allen: http://www.gmx.net/de/go/multimessenger
Re: listing active user directory
I did the same 25 years ago: at 10PM, just before starting the 1h drive home, quickly added a new userid to please the customer, wanted to format this new 191 and entered FORMAT 191 Z used to the prompts that always come one enters YES...Needless to say I wasn't home around 11PM But, since then I've got a FORMAT EXEC on my tools disk that gives a very different message when formatting a minidisks that can be ACCESSed. 2008/3/10, Franz Josef Pohlen [EMAIL PROTECTED]: thanks Kris an Rob for your valuable hints. With the mentioned tools I will check the directory against the source. Rob, don't worry, I'm familiar with this stuff. It was only a bit late and I was tired when I formatted the Maint 191. I wanted to format a temp disk but I entered the wrong device instead. (Sh... happens) kind regards Franz Josef -- Kris Buelens, IBM Belgium, VM customer support
Re: listing active user directory
Maybe it would be better to keep the USER DIRECT file (or whatever you're using as the source directory) off the 191 disk altogether, placing it on a separate disk, and at known address? Known address could be defined in two parts: 1) Perhaps at cylinder 1 of a particular volser that you know and love (and can remember in a crisis)? 2) A new MAINT MDISK, maybe 5DD (following VMSES/E's convention of the '5' looking a bit like an 'S' when one squints ones eyes - the 5DD reminds one of the SDD or 'S'ource 'D'irectory 'D'isk )? Or, following the SYSTEM CONFIG CF1/CF2/CF3 disk standards, a paranoid sysprog could set up SD1, and SD2 disks. Where the live directory is on the SD1 directory (at a known extent on a known volume), always make a backup copy to the SD2 disk (at a known extent on a known volume) before making any changes. That way if anything goes wrong you can always go back one generation without needing to mount a tape. It vastly reduces the chances of formatting *both* disks. It depends on your level of paranoia. By placing it on a disk other than 191 one must be very sure to never copy or save it to the 191 disk by accident or on purpose (just for a test, of course) because then you have the opportunity to figure out which is the real USER DIRECT, or worse - which has some of the real entries and which has the rest of the real entries. A good PROFILE EXEC could easily check for such duplicate errors. Mike Walter Hewitt Associates Any opinions expressed herein are mine alone and do not necessarily represent the opinions or policies of Hewitt Associates. Kris Buelens [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent by: The IBM z/VM Operating System IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU 03/10/2008 07:21 AM Please respond to The IBM z/VM Operating System IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU To IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU cc Subject Re: listing active user directory I did the same 25 years ago: at 10PM, just before starting the 1h drive home, quickly added a new userid to please the customer, wanted to format this new 191 and entered FORMAT 191 Z used to the prompts that always come one enters YES...Needless to say I wasn't home around 11PM But, since then I've got a FORMAT EXEC on my tools disk that gives a very different message when formatting a minidisks that can be ACCESSed. 2008/3/10, Franz Josef Pohlen [EMAIL PROTECTED]: thanks Kris an Rob for your valuable hints. With the mentioned tools I will check the directory against the source. Rob, don't worry, I'm familiar with this stuff. It was only a bit late and I was tired when I formatted the Maint 191. I wanted to format a temp disk but I entered the wrong device instead. (Sh... happens) kind regards Franz Josef -- Kris Buelens, IBM Belgium, VM customer support The information contained in this e-mail and any accompanying documents may contain information that is confidential or otherwise protected from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient of this message, or if this message has been addressed to you in error, please immediately alert the sender by reply e-mail and then delete this message, including any attachments. Any dissemination, distribution or other use of the contents of this message by anyone other than the intended recipient is strictly prohibited. All messages sent to and from this e-mail address may be monitored as permitted by applicable law and regulations to ensure compliance with our internal policies and to protect our business. E-mails are not secure and cannot be guaranteed to be error free as they can be intercepted, amended, lost or destroyed, or contain viruses. You are deemed to have accepted these risks if you communicate with us by e-mail.
Re: listing active user directory
We've got MAINT B91 as backup of MAINT 191 since the VM/SP days. Our DIRBKP EXEC keep the last 9 levels of the CP directory there, as well as SYSTEM CONFIG; the result of a QUERY DASD and Q ALLOC. DIRBKP does not only maintain these backups but also performs some checks each night such as: is MDISK MAINT 298 (i.e. VTAM) still in the directory. Additionally, the 9 copies of the directory co are also copied to a central SFS: so when a system is down due to disk errors, we know what is lost (touching wood: didn't need this for more than 10 years). 2008/3/10, Mike Walter [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Maybe it would be better to keep the USER DIRECT file (or whatever you're using as the source directory) off the 191 disk altogether, placing it on a separate disk, and at known address? Known address could be defined in two parts: 1) Perhaps at cylinder 1 of a particular volser that you know and love (and can remember in a crisis)? 2) A new MAINT MDISK, maybe 5DD (following VMSES/E's convention of the '5' looking a bit like an 'S' when one squints ones eyes - the 5DD reminds one of the SDD or 'S'ource 'D'irectory 'D'isk )? Or, following the SYSTEM CONFIG CF1/CF2/CF3 disk standards, a paranoid sysprog could set up SD1, and SD2 disks. Where the live directory is on the SD1 directory (at a known extent on a known volume), always make a backup copy to the SD2 disk (at a known extent on a known volume) before making any changes. That way if anything goes wrong you can always go back one generation without needing to mount a tape. It vastly reduces the chances of formatting *both* disks. It depends on your level of paranoia. By placing it on a disk other than 191 one must be very sure to never copy or save it to the 191 disk by accident or on purpose (just for a test, of course) because then you have the opportunity to figure out which is the real USER DIRECT, or worse - which has some of the real entries and which has the rest of the real entries. A good PROFILE EXEC could easily check for such duplicate errors. Mike Walter Hewitt Associates Any opinions expressed herein are mine alone and do not necessarily represent the opinions or policies of Hewitt Associates. -- Kris Buelens, IBM Belgium, VM customer support
Re: listing active user directory
Then again, we use VM:Backup and copy our data to tape. -Original Message- From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Kris Buelens Sent: Monday, March 10, 2008 10:33 AM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Re: listing active user directory We've got MAINT B91 as backup of MAINT 191 since the VM/SP days. Our DIRBKP EXEC keep the last 9 levels of the CP directory there, as well as SYSTEM CONFIG; the result of a QUERY DASD and Q ALLOC. DIRBKP does not only maintain these backups but also performs some checks each night such as: is MDISK MAINT 298 (i.e. VTAM) still in the directory. Additionally, the 9 copies of the directory co are also copied to a central SFS: so when a system is down due to disk errors, we know what is lost (touching wood: didn't need this for more than 10 years). 2008/3/10, Mike Walter [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Maybe it would be better to keep the USER DIRECT file (or whatever you're using as the source directory) off the 191 disk altogether, placing it on a separate disk, and at known address? Known address could be defined in two parts: 1) Perhaps at cylinder 1 of a particular volser that you know and love (and can remember in a crisis)? 2) A new MAINT MDISK, maybe 5DD (following VMSES/E's convention of the '5' looking a bit like an 'S' when one squints ones eyes - the 5DD reminds one of the SDD or 'S'ource 'D'irectory 'D'isk )? Or, following the SYSTEM CONFIG CF1/CF2/CF3 disk standards, a paranoid sysprog could set up SD1, and SD2 disks. Where the live directory is on the SD1 directory (at a known extent on a known volume), always make a backup copy to the SD2 disk (at a known extent on a known volume) before making any changes. That way if anything goes wrong you can always go back one generation without needing to mount a tape. It vastly reduces the chances of formatting *both* disks. It depends on your level of paranoia. By placing it on a disk other than 191 one must be very sure to never copy or save it to the 191 disk by accident or on purpose (just for a test, of course) because then you have the opportunity to figure out which is the real USER DIRECT, or worse - which has some of the real entries and which has the rest of the real entries. A good PROFILE EXEC could easily check for such duplicate errors. Mike Walter Hewitt Associates Any opinions expressed herein are mine alone and do not necessarily represent the opinions or policies of Hewitt Associates. -- Kris Buelens, IBM Belgium, VM customer support This message w/attachments (message) may be privileged, confidential or proprietary, and if you are not an intended recipient, please notify the sender, do not use or share it and delete it. Unless specifically indicated, this message is not an offer to sell or a solicitation of any investment products or other financial product or service, an official confirmation of any transaction, or an official statement of Merrill Lynch. Subject to applicable law, Merrill Lynch may monitor, review and retain e-communications (EC) traveling through its networks/systems. The laws of the country of each sender/recipient may impact the handling of EC, and EC may be archived, supervised and produced in countries other than the country in which you are located. This message cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free. This message is subject to terms available at the following link: http://www.ml.com/e-communications_terms/. By messaging with Merrill Lynch you consent to the foregoing.
Re: listing active user directory
On Monday, 03/10/2008 at 10:40 EDT, Stracka, James (GTI) [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Then again, we use VM:Backup and copy our data to tape. The point is that it doesn't matter what you do, as long as you keep a backup of your source directory in a place you can get to it. That would typically mean a locally archived version for system programmer errors and limited h/w failures and a DR copy in the event of a disaster. Alan Altmark z/VM Development IBM Endicott
Re: listing active user directory
z/VM has come with the directory defaulting to MAINT 2c2 disk accessed as c. I have always left it there because the 191 disk has too many accesses and changes. It seem to me that if you leave the directory on 2c2 it would less vulnerable to an accidental deletion or in my case, it would result in one less hole in my foot! Loren Charnley, Jr. IT Systems Engineer Family Dollar Stores, Inc. (704) 847-6961 Ext. 3327 (704) 814-3327 [EMAIL PROTECTED] -Original Message- From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Kris Buelens Sent: Monday, March 10, 2008 10:33 AM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Re: listing active user directory We've got MAINT B91 as backup of MAINT 191 since the VM/SP days. Our DIRBKP EXEC keep the last 9 levels of the CP directory there, as well as SYSTEM CONFIG; the result of a QUERY DASD and Q ALLOC. DIRBKP does not only maintain these backups but also performs some checks each night such as: is MDISK MAINT 298 (i.e. VTAM) still in the directory. Additionally, the 9 copies of the directory co are also copied to a central SFS: so when a system is down due to disk errors, we know what is lost (touching wood: didn't need this for more than 10 years). 2008/3/10, Mike Walter [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Maybe it would be better to keep the USER DIRECT file (or whatever you're using as the source directory) off the 191 disk altogether, placing it on a separate disk, and at known address? Known address could be defined in two parts: 1) Perhaps at cylinder 1 of a particular volser that you know and love (and can remember in a crisis)? 2) A new MAINT MDISK, maybe 5DD (following VMSES/E's convention of the '5' looking a bit like an 'S' when one squints ones eyes - the 5DD reminds one of the SDD or 'S'ource 'D'irectory 'D'isk )? Or, following the SYSTEM CONFIG CF1/CF2/CF3 disk standards, a paranoid sysprog could set up SD1, and SD2 disks. Where the live directory is on the SD1 directory (at a known extent on a known volume), always make a backup copy to the SD2 disk (at a known extent on a known volume) before making any changes. That way if anything goes wrong you can always go back one generation without needing to mount a tape. It vastly reduces the chances of formatting *both* disks. It depends on your level of paranoia. By placing it on a disk other than 191 one must be very sure to never copy or save it to the 191 disk by accident or on purpose (just for a test, of course) because then you have the opportunity to figure out which is the real USER DIRECT, or worse - which has some of the real entries and which has the rest of the real entries. A good PROFILE EXEC could easily check for such duplicate errors. Mike Walter Hewitt Associates Any opinions expressed herein are mine alone and do not necessarily represent the opinions or policies of Hewitt Associates. -- Kris Buelens, IBM Belgium, VM customer support NOTE: This e-mail message contains PRIVILEGED and CONFIDENTIAL information and is intended only for the use of the specific individual or individuals to which it is addressed. If you are not an intended recipient of this e-mail, you are hereby notified that any unauthorized use, dissemination or copying of this e-mail or the information contained herein or attached hereto is strictly prohibited. If you receive this e-mail in error, notify the person named above by reply e-mail and please delete it. Thank you.
Re: listing active user directory
My method. A. I always rename the user direct to user dirmmddyy copy user dirmmddyy to user direct make changes. I keep so many backups Your option on how many. # of months or items B. I log on as the new user and format the disk as them. -Original Message- From: LOREN CHARNLEY [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Mar 10, 2008 8:40 AM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Re: listing active user directory z/VM has come with the directory defaulting to MAINT 2c2 disk accessed as c. I have always left it there because the 191 disk has too many accesses and changes. It seem to me that if you leave the directory on 2c2 it would less vulnerable to an accidental deletion or in my case, it would result in one less hole in my foot! Loren Charnley, Jr. IT Systems Engineer Family Dollar Stores, Inc. (704) 847-6961 Ext. 3327 (704) 814-3327 [EMAIL PROTECTED] -Original Message- From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Kris Buelens Sent: Monday, March 10, 2008 10:33 AM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Re: listing active user directory We've got MAINT B91 as backup of MAINT 191 since the VM/SP days. Our DIRBKP EXEC keep the last 9 levels of the CP directory there, as well as SYSTEM CONFIG; the result of a QUERY DASD and Q ALLOC. DIRBKP does not only maintain these backups but also performs some checks each night such as: is MDISK MAINT 298 (i.e. VTAM) still in the directory. Additionally, the 9 copies of the directory co are also copied to a central SFS: so when a system is down due to disk errors, we know what is lost (touching wood: didn't need this for more than 10 years). 2008/3/10, Mike Walter [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Maybe it would be better to keep the USER DIRECT file (or whatever you're using as the source directory) off the 191 disk altogether, placing it on a separate disk, and at known address? Known address could be defined in two parts: 1) Perhaps at cylinder 1 of a particular volser that you know and love (and can remember in a crisis)? 2) A new MAINT MDISK, maybe 5DD (following VMSES/E's convention of the '5' looking a bit like an 'S' when one squints ones eyes - the 5DD reminds one of the SDD or 'S'ource 'D'irectory 'D'isk )? Or, following the SYSTEM CONFIG CF1/CF2/CF3 disk standards, a paranoid sysprog could set up SD1, and SD2 disks. Where the live directory is on the SD1 directory (at a known extent on a known volume), always make a backup copy to the SD2 disk (at a known extent on a known volume) before making any changes. That way if anything goes wrong you can always go back one generation without needing to mount a tape. It vastly reduces the chances of formatting *both* disks. It depends on your level of paranoia. By placing it on a disk other than 191 one must be very sure to never copy or save it to the 191 disk by accident or on purpose (just for a test, of course) because then you have the opportunity to figure out which is the real USER DIRECT, or worse - which has some of the real entries and which has the rest of the real entries. A good PROFILE EXEC could easily check for such duplicate errors. Mike Walter Hewitt Associates Any opinions expressed herein are mine alone and do not necessarily represent the opinions or policies of Hewitt Associates. -- Kris Buelens, IBM Belgium, VM customer support NOTE: This e-mail message contains PRIVILEGED and CONFIDENTIAL information and is intended only for the use of the specific individual or individuals to which it is addressed. If you are not an intended recipient of this e-mail, you are hereby notified that any unauthorized use, dissemination or copying of this e-mail or the information contained herein or attached hereto is strictly prohibited. If you receive this e-mail in error, notify the person named above by reply e-mail and please delete it. Thank you. Jan Canavan [EMAIL PROTECTED] VSE/VM SYSTEMS PROGRAMMER
Re: listing active user directory
On Monday, 03/10/2008 at 10:15 EDT, Mike Walter [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Maybe it would be better to keep the USER DIRECT file (or whatever you're using as the source directory) off the 191 disk altogether, placing it on a separate disk, and at known address? If you could GLOBALV SELECT DIRECTXA SETLP BACKUP_TARGET MAINT 555 or GLOBALV SELECT DIRECTXA SETLP BACKUP_TARGET B and DIRECTXA would place a copy of a directory *successfully* placed online on MAINT 555 or filemode B, would that be sufficient to help protect you from casual SNAFUs? You could envision GLOBALV SELECT DIRECTXA SETLP BACKUP_GENERATIONS 3 to make that a bit more sophisticated. While trying to reconstruct a source directory from an object directory might seem logical, far too much information is lost in translation. Alan Altmark z/VM Development IBM Endicott
