z/OS 2.3 and VOLCOUNT

Discussion:

(too old to reply)

Beesley, Paul

2018-10-09 12:54:05 UTC

Did something change with VOLCOUNT parameter handling between z/OS 2.1 and 2.3?
We have a job that uses 21 tapes to backup an application's datasets, and has this parameter: VOL=(,RETAIN,,20),

Following the upgrade to 2.3 at the weekend, this job failed S837-08, indicating it has run out of tape volumes, which is quite correct.
However, looking back at the previous runs, they all have used 21 tapes. So they should really have abended as well, but all worked ok.

Hence, wondering if something has changed in volume count processing, or whether there was a bug in 2.1 which was fixed in 2.3.
Would appreciate any suggestions before I face the Spanish inquisition who are claiming that my upgrade broke their job.

Paul

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Styles, Andy , ITS zPlatform Services

2018-10-09 13:50:05 UTC

Permalink

Classification: Public
We tripped over something with z/OS 2.1 maintenance and volcounts. These are some notes I have:

With z/OS 2.1, an enhancement to DFSMS came in which meant that when a dataset (tape in this case) filled 5 volumes, DFSMS automatically created the additional control blocks to extend by another 5 tapes...and then another and so on

Until we applied maintenance to z/OS 2.1, that happened regardless of the VOL,,,x parameter in JCL or in the DATACLAS, After, the system now honours the VOL,,,x parameter or what's in the DATACLAS (and I think the DATACLAS overrides the JCL). A selection of DATACLAS's had VOLCOUNT=1 set (which really means 5 vols), and this caused us some abends.

We raised a PMR with IBM, and one part of the dialogue went:

There was a RAS enhancement to eliminate ABEND837-08 for tape data
sets introduced by APAR= OA46493.
This APAR also has a detailed description how the VOLCNT allocation
should work.

Andy Styles
z/Series System Programmer

-----Original Message-----
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-***@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Beesley, Paul
Sent: 09 October 2018 13:54
To: IBM-***@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: z/OS 2.3 and VOLCOUNT

-- This email has reached the Bank via an external source --

Did something change with VOLCOUNT parameter handling between z/OS 2.1 and 2.3?
We have a job that uses 21 tapes to backup an application's datasets, and has this parameter: VOL=(,RETAIN,,20),

Following the upgrade to 2.3 at the weekend, this job failed S837-08, indicating it has run out of tape volumes, which is quite correct.
However, looking back at the previous runs, they all have used 21 tapes. So they should really have abended as well, but all worked ok.

Hence, wondering if something has changed in volume count processing, or whether there was a bug in 2.1 which was fixed in 2.3.
Would appreciate any suggestions before I face the Spanish inquisition who are claiming that my upgrade broke their job.

Paul

Atos, Atos Consulting, Worldline and Canopy The Open Cloud Company are trading names used by the Atos group. The following trading entities are registered in England and Wales: Atos IT Services UK Limited (registered number 01245534), Atos Consulting Limited (registered number 04312380), Atos Worldline UK Limited (registered number 08514184) and Canopy The Open Cloud Company Limited (registration number 08011902). The registered office for each is at Second Floor, Mid City Place, 71 High Holborn, London, WC1V 6EA. The VAT No. for each is: GB232327983.

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Giliad Wilf

2018-10-10 08:48:08 UTC

Permalink

On Tue, 9 Oct 2018 12:53:45 +0000, Beesley, Paul <***@ATOS.NET> wrote:
As far as I remember, specifying no volcount at all lets you write up to five volumes.
If you need more - specifying volcount 6 will let you write up to 20 volumes, because DFSMS lets you have 5 volumes plus another whole multiple of 15 volumes per each "extension".
So, if you expect 21 volume or more, up to 35 inclusive - you have to specify the vocount as 21.

Post by Beesley, Paul
Did something change with VOLCOUNT parameter handling between z/OS 2.1 and 2.3?
We have a job that uses 21 tapes to backup an application's datasets, and has this parameter: VOL=(,RETAIN,,20),
Following the upgrade to 2.3 at the weekend, this job failed S837-08, indicating it has run out of tape volumes, which is quite correct.
However, looking back at the previous runs, they all have used 21 tapes. So they should really have abended as well, but all worked ok.
Hence, wondering if something has changed in volume count processing, or whether there was a bug in 2.1 which was fixed in 2.3.
Would appreciate any suggestions before I face the Spanish inquisition who are claiming that my upgrade broke their job.
Paul

Vernooij, Kees - KLM , ITOPT1

2018-10-10 09:13:08 UTC

Permalink

That is also how I recalled it, but the description of APAR OA46493 mentions a start value of 6, with additions in blocks of 15. That could explain why 21 volumes were possible with a volume count of 20.

Kees.

Post by Styles, Andy , ITS zPlatform Services
-----Original Message-----
Behalf Of Giliad Wilf
Sent: 10 October, 2018 10:48
Subject: Re: z/OS 2.3 and VOLCOUNT
As far as I remember, specifying no volcount at all lets you write up to five volumes.
If you need more - specifying volcount 6 will let you write up to 20
volumes, because DFSMS lets you have 5 volumes plus another whole
multiple of 15 volumes per each "extension".
So, if you expect 21 volume or more, up to 35 inclusive - you have to
specify the vocount as 21.

Post by Beesley, Paul
Did something change with VOLCOUNT parameter handling between z/OS 2.1

and 2.3?

Post by Beesley, Paul
We have a job that uses 21 tapes to backup an application's datasets,

and has this parameter: VOL=(,RETAIN,,20),

Post by Beesley, Paul
Following the upgrade to 2.3 at the weekend, this job failed S837-08,

indicating it has run out of tape volumes, which is quite correct.

Post by Beesley, Paul
However, looking back at the previous runs, they all have used 21

tapes. So they should really have abended as well, but all worked ok.

Post by Beesley, Paul
Hence, wondering if something has changed in volume count processing,

or whether there was a bug in 2.1 which was fixed in 2.3.

Post by Beesley, Paul
Would appreciate any suggestions before I face the Spanish inquisition

who are claiming that my upgrade broke their job.

Post by Beesley, Paul
Paul

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Beesley, Paul

2018-10-10 09:19:37 UTC

Permalink

That makes sense. But seemingly that is no longer true with z/OS 2.3 and VOL=20 means just that... try and use 21 and you get an abend.

Regards and thanks
Paul

-----Original Message-----
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <IBM-***@LISTSERV.UA.EDU> On Behalf Of Vernooij, Kees (ITOPT1) - KLM
Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2018 10:12 AM
To: IBM-***@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: z/OS 2.3 and VOLCOUNT

That is also how I recalled it, but the description of APAR OA46493 mentions a start value of 6, with additions in blocks of 15. That could explain why 21 volumes were possible with a volume count of 20.

Kees.

Post by Styles, Andy , ITS zPlatform Services
-----Original Message-----
On Behalf Of Giliad Wilf
Sent: 10 October, 2018 10:48
Subject: Re: z/OS 2.3 and VOLCOUNT
On Tue, 9 Oct 2018 12:53:45 +0000, Beesley, Paul
As far as I remember, specifying no volcount at all lets you write up to five volumes.
If you need more - specifying volcount 6 will let you write up to 20
volumes, because DFSMS lets you have 5 volumes plus another whole
multiple of 15 volumes per each "extension".
So, if you expect 21 volume or more, up to 35 inclusive - you have to
specify the vocount as 21.

Post by Beesley, Paul
Did something change with VOLCOUNT parameter handling between z/OS 2.1

and 2.3?

Post by Beesley, Paul
We have a job that uses 21 tapes to backup an application's datasets,

and has this parameter: VOL=(,RETAIN,,20),

Post by Beesley, Paul
Following the upgrade to 2.3 at the weekend, this job failed S837-08,

indicating it has run out of tape volumes, which is quite correct.

Post by Beesley, Paul
However, looking back at the previous runs, they all have used 21

tapes. So they should really have abended as well, but all worked ok.

Post by Beesley, Paul
Hence, wondering if something has changed in volume count processing,

or whether there was a bug in 2.1 which was fixed in 2.3.

Post by Beesley, Paul
Would appreciate any suggestions before I face the Spanish
inquisition

who are claiming that my upgrade broke their job.

Post by Beesley, Paul
Paul

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This e-mail and the documents attached are confidential and intended solely for the addressee, and may contain confidential or privileged information. If you receive this e-mail in error, you are not authorised to copy, disclose, use or retain it. Please notify the sender immediately and delete this email from your systems. As emails may be intercepted, amended or lost, they are not secure. Atos therefore can accept no liability for any errors or their content. Although Atos endeavours to maintain a virus-free network, we do not warrant that this transmission is virus-free and can accept no liability for any damages resulting from any virus transmitted. The risks are deemed to be accepted by everyone who communicates with Atos by email.

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R.S.

2018-10-10 09:28:56 UTC

Permalink

"The system can extend your data set to more volumes than the volume
count but never more than 255. If the volume count is 1 through 5, the
system allows 5 volumes. If the volume count is greater than 5, the
system allows 5 plus a multiple of 15 volumes."

I recommend to read the chapter in JCL Reference, because it is
rewritten quite much.
--
Radoslaw Skorupka
Lodz, Poland

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Giliad Wilf

2018-10-10 09:37:36 UTC

Permalink

I'm reading APAR OA46493 at http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=isg1OA46493 and it states twice, both for SMS managed datasets (when there's no dataclass-based volcount) and non-SMS managed, in the below wording:

"If the volume count is 1 through 5, the system allows 5 volumes. If the volume count is greater than 5, the system allows 5 plus a multiple of 15 volumes".

So, you have to specify 6, 21, 36, etc. (up to 255) to be able to write up to 20, 35, 50, etc. volumes, correspondingly...

Post by Beesley, Paul
That makes sense. But seemingly that is no longer true with z/OS 2.3 and VOL=20 means just that... try and use 21 and you get an abend.
Regards and thanks
Paul
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2018 10:12 AM
Subject: Re: z/OS 2.3 and VOLCOUNT
That is also how I recalled it, but the description of APAR OA46493 mentions a start value of 6, with additions in blocks of 15. That could explain why 21 volumes were possible with a volume count of 20.
Kees.

Post by Styles, Andy , ITS zPlatform Services
-----Original Message-----
On Behalf Of Giliad Wilf
Sent: 10 October, 2018 10:48
Subject: Re: z/OS 2.3 and VOLCOUNT
On Tue, 9 Oct 2018 12:53:45 +0000, Beesley, Paul
As far as I remember, specifying no volcount at all lets you write up
to five volumes.
If you need more - specifying volcount 6 will let you write up to 20
volumes, because DFSMS lets you have 5 volumes plus another whole
multiple of 15 volumes per each "extension".
So, if you expect 21 volume or more, up to 35 inclusive - you have to
specify the vocount as 21.

Post by Beesley, Paul
Did something change with VOLCOUNT parameter handling between z/OS
2.1

and 2.3?

Post by Beesley, Paul
We have a job that uses 21 tapes to backup an application's datasets,

and has this parameter: VOL=(,RETAIN,,20),

Post by Beesley, Paul
Following the upgrade to 2.3 at the weekend, this job failed S837-08,

indicating it has run out of tape volumes, which is quite correct.

Post by Beesley, Paul
However, looking back at the previous runs, they all have used 21

tapes. So they should really have abended as well, but all worked ok.

Post by Beesley, Paul
Hence, wondering if something has changed in volume count processing,

or whether there was a bug in 2.1 which was fixed in 2.3.

Post by Beesley, Paul
Would appreciate any suggestions before I face the Spanish
inquisition

who are claiming that my upgrade broke their job.

Post by Beesley, Paul
Paul

Beesley, Paul

2018-10-10 09:51:24 UTC

Permalink

Yes, thanks, understood now, just been reading that APAR myself.

So.., z/OS 2.1 came with an enhancement that did away with S837-08 abends, but this prevented customers restricting the number of volumes. APAR OA46493 (UA76741) reinstated the ability to restrict the volume count but we never applied this, so any jobs exceeding the vol count were never affected. Now we are on 2.3, it matters again.

Thanks all for your help

-----Original Message-----
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <IBM-***@LISTSERV.UA.EDU> On Behalf Of Giliad Wilf
Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2018 10:37 AM
To: IBM-***@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: z/OS 2.3 and VOLCOUNT

I'm reading APAR OA46493 at http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=isg1OA46493 and it states twice, both for SMS managed datasets (when there's no dataclass-based volcount) and non-SMS managed, in the below wording:

"If the volume count is 1 through 5, the system allows 5 volumes. If the volume count is greater than 5, the system allows 5 plus a multiple of 15 volumes".

So, you have to specify 6, 21, 36, etc. (up to 255) to be able to write up to 20, 35, 50, etc. volumes, correspondingly...

Post by Beesley, Paul
That makes sense. But seemingly that is no longer true with z/OS 2.3 and VOL=20 means just that... try and use 21 and you get an abend.
Regards and thanks
Paul
-----Original Message-----
Behalf Of Vernooij, Kees (ITOPT1) - KLM
Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2018 10:12 AM
Subject: Re: z/OS 2.3 and VOLCOUNT
That is also how I recalled it, but the description of APAR OA46493 mentions a start value of 6, with additions in blocks of 15. That could explain why 21 volumes were possible with a volume count of 20.
Kees.

Post by Styles, Andy , ITS zPlatform Services
-----Original Message-----
On Behalf Of Giliad Wilf
Sent: 10 October, 2018 10:48
Subject: Re: z/OS 2.3 and VOLCOUNT
On Tue, 9 Oct 2018 12:53:45 +0000, Beesley, Paul
As far as I remember, specifying no volcount at all lets you write up
to five volumes.
If you need more - specifying volcount 6 will let you write up to 20
volumes, because DFSMS lets you have 5 volumes plus another whole
multiple of 15 volumes per each "extension".
So, if you expect 21 volume or more, up to 35 inclusive - you have to
specify the vocount as 21.

Post by Beesley, Paul
Did something change with VOLCOUNT parameter handling between z/OS
2.1

and 2.3?

Post by Beesley, Paul
We have a job that uses 21 tapes to backup an application's
datasets,

and has this parameter: VOL=(,RETAIN,,20),

Post by Beesley, Paul
Following the upgrade to 2.3 at the weekend, this job failed
S837-08,

indicating it has run out of tape volumes, which is quite correct.

Post by Beesley, Paul
However, looking back at the previous runs, they all have used 21

tapes. So they should really have abended as well, but all worked ok.

Post by Beesley, Paul
Hence, wondering if something has changed in volume count
processing,

or whether there was a bug in 2.1 which was fixed in 2.3.

Post by Beesley, Paul
Would appreciate any suggestions before I face the Spanish
inquisition

who are claiming that my upgrade broke their job.

Post by Beesley, Paul
Paul

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Atos, Atos Consulting, Worldline and Canopy The Open Cloud Company are trading names used by the Atos group. The following trading entities are registered in England and Wales: Atos IT Services UK Limited (registered number 01245534), Atos Consulting Limited (registered number 04312380), Atos Worldline UK Limited (registered number 08514184) and Canopy The Open Cloud Company Limited (registration number 08011902). The registered office for each is at Second Floor, Mid City Place, 71 High Holborn, London, WC1V 6EA. The VAT No. for each is: GB232327983.

This e-mail and the documents attached are confidential and intended solely for the addressee, and may contain confidential or privileged information. If you receive this e-mail in error, you are not authorised to copy, disclose, use or retain it. Please notify the sender immediately and delete this email from your systems. As emails may be intercepted, amended or lost, they are not secure. Atos therefore can accept no liability for any errors or their content. Although Atos endeavours to maintain a virus-free network, we do not warrant that this transmission is virus-free and can accept no liability for any damages resulting from any virus transmitted. The risks are deemed to be accepted by everyone who communicates with Atos by email.

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Tom Marchant

2018-10-10 12:07:03 UTC

Permalink

Post by Giliad Wilf
"If the volume count is 1 through 5, the system allows 5 volumes. If the volume count is greater than 5, the system allows 5 plus a multiple of 15 volumes".
So, you have to specify 6, 21, 36, etc. (up to 255) to be able to write up to 20, 35, 50, etc. volumes, correspondingly...

16*15=240. Plus 5 is 245.

17*15=255. Plus 5 is 260.

That last increment of 15 must be limited to 10.

--
Tom Marchant

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