PROCEDURE TO ELIMINATE DUPLICATE VOLUME SERIAL NUMBERS

Products

• EPIC for z/VSE

Issue/Introduction

This procedure will identify and eliminate tape volume serial numbers found within the EPIC catalog.  

The procedure can be done while EPIC is active.  There is no adverse impact on running jobs requesting EPIC services.                                        

Environment

z/VSE any level
Epic for VSE 5.1 and above

Resolution

1)  IDENTIFY DUPLICATE VOLUME SERIAL NUMBERS                              
                                                                          
Run the following job step (a label for SORTWK1 is assumed to be          
available in the STDLABEL or PARSTD label areas):                         
                                                                          
   // EXEC TSIDUTL                                                        
   DSPLY ALL,SEQ=SERIAL                                                   
   /*                                                                     
                                                                          
If EPIC message EP210 is issued, there is at least one and possibly       
multiple duplicate volume serial numbers.                                 
                                                                          
The resulting listing needs to be reviewed very carefully by scanning     
down the SERIAL NO column looking for an asterisk (*) just to the right   
of the volume serial number displayed in that column.  If a volume        
serial number is displayed more than once but not flagged with an         
asterisk, it only means that more than one file is active on that volume  
serial number and is not to be considered a duplicate.                    
                                                                          
You typically find a volume serial number duplicated only once with an    
asterisk appearing to the right of the second occurrence.  It is also     
possible that a single volume serial number can be repeated several       
times with some or even all of the repetitions flagged with an asterisk.  
This means that the volume serial number is duplicated several times.     
Make a note of any unique volume serial number that is identified as a    
duplicate.                    

2)  PHYSICALLY RESERVE ALL IDENTIFIED DUPLICATE VOLUME SERIAL NUMBERS    
                                                                         
Take physical possession of each unique volume identified as a duplicate 
in Step 1.  This ensures that the disposition (either active or scratch) 
of the identified volume is correct when you are done.                   
                                                                         
3)  PURGE DUPLICATE VOLUME SERIAL NUMBER(S)                              
                                                                         
Use either the TSIDMNT batch catalog maintenance program or your         
online catalog maintenance transaction to PURGE (not DELETE) each unique 
volume serial number identified as a duplicate.  If the purge request    
fails with EPIC message EP116 VERSION CONTAINS ACTIVE FILES, go back to  
the TSIDUTL DSPLY ALL,SEQ=SERIAL listing created in Step 1 and scratch   
all dataset versions listed as active for that volume serial number and  
then attempt the purge request again.                                    
                                                                         
4)  REBUILD THE CATALOG INDEX                                            
                                                                         
Run the following job step (a label for SORTWK1 is required and must be  
either a start-track-1 or uncontrolled dataset as documented in the      
"EPIC Installation and System Guide" - this sample JCL shows a typical   
start-track-1 dataset which needs the disk pool name changed if POOL01   
is not appropriate for your installation):                               
                                                                         
   // DLBL SORTWK1,'===.TSIDUTL.INDEX.SORTWK1(D)'                        
   // EXTENT SYS001,POOL01,,,1,15                                        
   // EXEC TSIDUTL                                                       
   INDEX                                                                 
   /*                                                                    
                                                                         
It is normal for other jobs running on any system which shares this      
EPIC catalog to wait during the time the TSIDUTL INDEX function is       
processing because the catalog is enqueued for the duration of this job  
step.                                                                     
                                                                          
5)  DETERMINE IF ALL OCCURRENCES HAVE BEEN ELIMINATED                     
                                                                          
Use either the TSIDMNT batch catalog maintenance program or your          
online catalog maintenance transaction to display each unique volume      
serial number identified in Step 1.  For each unique volume serial        
number identified in Step 1 that is still found in the catalog, return    
to Step 3.  Continue with Step 6 only when every unique volume serial     
number identified in Step 1 no longer exists in the catalog.              
                                                                          
6)  DETERMINE TRUE CONTENTS OF RESERVED VOLUMES                           
                                                                          
To determine the true contents of each volume reserved in Step 2,         
process that volume with the DITTO Tape Map function.  Here is a          
sample of a typical DITTO batch control statement to accomplish the TAPE  
Map function:                                                             
                                                                          
   $$DITTO TMP INPUT=cuu,NFILES=EOV,NBLKS=2                               
                                                                          
DITTO will display an 80-byte record called a 'HDR1' which identifies     
the beginning of another data file found on the volume.  Here is a        
partial field layout of that 80-byte record:                              
                                                                          
  Start  End  Length  Description                                         
                                                                          
     1     4     4    'HDR1'                                              
                                                                          
     5    21    17    Dataset name (padded with blanks if less than 17 characters or truncated to 17 characters if longer)                                        
 
    32    35     4    Dataset sequence number (zoned decimal - 0001 indicates a prime dataset, greater than 0001 indicates a subordinate dataset)    
              
    42    47     6    Creation date (zoned decimal julian date (yyddd) right justified)                                   
                                                                           
7)  REPLACE RESERVED VOLUMES BACK INTO CATALOG                             
                                                                           
If none of the datasets found on the volume are to be considered active,   
use the TSIDMNT batch catalog maintenance program or your online           
catalog maintenance transaction to add the volume serial number to the     
prime dataset as version 1 and then scratch version 1 of that dataset.     
                                                                           
If any dataset found on the volume (either the prime dataset or any        
subordinate dataset) is to be considered active, use the TSIDMNT batch     
catalog maintenance program or your online catalog maintenance             
transaction to add the volume serial number to the prime dataset as        
the appropriate version and then retain that version to the appropriate    
expiration date.  Add the subordinate dataset version(s) still             
considered active to its respective dataset name using the appropriate     
version number while specifying the file sequence number value as shown    
by the HDR1 record and then retain that version to the appropriate         
expiration date.