Defining different archive retentions for same jobs MSGCLASS output

Products

• Dispatch Output Mgmt

Issue/Introduction

I received a request from our application team to increase the archive MSGCLASS retention, of jobs that start with NSU** and YDAA**,  to 400 DAYS.

I don't want to make changes to the existing occurrences of archived MSGCLASS data for these jobs. Instead, I want to make changes to the archive retention for only NEW occurrences of MSGCLASS data for these specific jobs. Can this be done and if so, how can it be done?

Environment

Release : 11.7

Component : Dispatch

Resolution

- Traditionally, when "MSGCLASS data" gets archived in Dispatch, it's archived with a "REPORT NAME=MSGCLASS" and would reflect the JOBNAME as that of the creating job.

  Example:  REPORT=MSGCLASS ; JOBNAME=ABCxxxxx

 

- However, if you were to begin archiving these specific jobs MSGCLASS output using the DIRECT ARCHIVE method provided by Dispatch, then you would be able to assign a DIFFERENT archive retention then you would have for the "Traditionally" archived occurrences of these jobs MSGCLASS data. This duel retention functionality would be enabled because when you archive the MSGCLASS directly, Dispatch will assign the JOBNAME as "both" the REPORT NAME and the JOBNAME. See the Additional Information section of this article for more information on DIRECT archival.

  Example:  REPORT=ABCxxxxx ; JOBNAME=ABCxxxxx

 

- Considering the above, you could have different archive retentions for the "REPORT=MSGCLASS" occurrences, than you do for the "REPORT=ABCxxxxx" occurrences.

 

- To accomplish this, on the 'VARMU100-Archive Definition Selection' screen, you would define the 400 DAY retention for the DIRECT ARCHIVE reports using the "fully qualified JOBNAME" as BOTH the REPORT and the JOBNAME. You would need to define an archive retention record, specifying the fully qualified jobname, for EACH JOB that you run.

Example:

REPORT=ABC123 ; JOBNAME=ABC123 ; Tape retention DAYS=400, GENS=0 
REPORT=DEF123 ; JOBNAME=DEF123 ; Tape retention DAYS=400, GENS=0  
REPORT=GHI123 ; JOBNAME=GHI123 ; Tape retention DAYS=400, GENS=0 
REPORT=JKL123 ; JOBNAME=JKL123 ; Tape retention DAYS=400, GENS=0 
Etc...

 

- Once the above is defined in Dispatch, ALL OCCURRENCES of that jobname & jobname combination (both existing and new) will use the NEW retention.

 

- The "Traditional" archived occurrences of report=MSGCLASS ; JOBNAME=ABCxxxxx, if any, will use their OWN previously assigned retention.

 

- The retention records defined on the VARMU100 screen represent the "TYPE=J" records available to the database load/unload utility, so depending on the number of retention records you need to add, you can either define them manually or use the batch utility. 

Additional Information

* For more information on the DIRECT ARCHIVE method of archival, please refer to Knowledge Article Id: 241877 - Dispatch MSGCLASS archival methods - Traditional verses Direct.

* For more information on using the database load/unload utility to increase archive retentions, please refer to Knowledge Article ID: 15878 - Title: DSEXLOD(L) - Batch utility for updating large quantities of CA Dispatch database records.