CA 1 - LWORM Retention VS CA1 retention

Products

• CA 1 Flexible Storage

Issue/Introduction

How does CA 1 retention work with respect to LWORM retention?

Environment

Release : All

Component : CA 1

Cause

Factors to consider when setting up tape retention in CA 1 and TS77xx for LWORM tapes.  

Resolution

1) If there is a need to extend the expiration date of LWORM tapes set at the time of creation: Until CA 1 tells the TS7700 that the virtual-volume should be changed to "SCRATCH" status; the tape will remain active in the TS7700. So, if  the expiration date is extended in CA 1, the tape will be kept longer in TS7700.

2) If there is a need to expire the LWORM tapes early than its expiration date set at the time of creation: Yes, the volume can be expired and scratch the tape within CA 1. And this will cause all the tape files cataloged on that volume to be un-cataloged (assumption that UNCATA is set to YES or run TMSUNCAT after TMSCLEAN) as well as all the DSNB's to be deleted. HOWEVER, even though the volume is scratched within CA 1 and the files are un-cataloged; the volume may still be kept in-tact within the TS7700. How long will depend on what the original expiration date in the JCL was set to. 

Note: With CA 1, retention specified in the JCL is often overwritten with the RDS retention rules. But, the TS7700 goes by what the original HDR1 expiration date was when the file was originally created and has NOTHING to do with the RDS rules or subsequent updates to CA 1's expiration date. Even if "Allow early return to scratch" is specified in the TS7700, the tape will only go into an "expire-hold state" until the retention period originally set has been met. 

Example setting at TS7700 : 

Fixed duration:  x Days
Allow early return to scratch:  Yes

Application managed duration::  xDays.

 

It is recommended to reach out to IBM to determine the expiring of volsers in the VTS

Here is the link to IBM's Redbook on the LWORM Retention:  IBM Redbook

 

 

 

Additional Information

What does "scratch" mean? Does it mean the files are un-cataloged and the secondary-file information is all thrown away - then yes. Does "scratch" mean that the cache data is gone and not recoverable - then no. It all depends on the users definition of "scratch".