Converting Tapes to other Device Types (e.g.: Virtual Tapes)

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View

Issue/Introduction

We are in the process of converting all of our physical tapes to virtual tapes.

We need to copy the data from datasets **.SARTAPE.** to the new library.

What is the easiest and simplest way to do this?

Resolution

You need to specify a new device type for your archive tapes and set PTHRESH=100 and PMXTAPES=200 first.

SARPAC then consolidates all current tape content to the new device type. Please see the View Online Documentation Define and Add Output Devices

PTHRESH=100 says, that you consolidate ALL of your current tapes to the new device type,
PMXTAPE=200 says, that if you have 800 tapes you need to run the job four times, consolidating a maximum of 200 tapes per run.

The job may run for some hours, so you might want to start with PMXTAPE=50 to get a feeling of how long it takes and not to interfere with the rest of your production.

From the View Expanded Retention Option:

The SARPAC utility is part of the Expanded Retention Option (ERO).
SARPAC consolidates backup tapes, copying only current reports to new tapes.

PTHRESH
This parameter specifies the percentage of active SYSOUT groups on a tape as a threshold value and is used by the SARPAC tape consolidation program to determine whether to consolidate a tape. When the percentage of active SYSOUT groups on a tape is less than this threshold value, the tape is selected for consolidation. PTHRESH=50 is the default. Valid values are 1-100.

Note: Setting PTHRESH to 100 percent will allow SARPAC to consolidate all tapes regardless of the percentage of active reports. It enables SARPAC to be used to convert media or create new tapes.

PMXTAPES
This parameter specifies the maximum number of tapes that can be consolidated in any one execution of the SARPAC tape consolidation program.

PMXTAPES=20 is the default, valid values are 1-32767.

//EXAMPLE1 JOB ACCOUNT,PROGRAMMER
//INIT EXEC PGM=SARINIT,PARM=dbname
//STEPLIB DD DSN=CAI.CAILIB,DISP=SHR
//SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=*
//SYSIN DD *
PTRESH=100
PMXTAPE=20

STORGRP0=storage-group-name/tape-index/maxgent-value/unit1-name,unit2-name/t
vser1,tvser2
//

Tape Consolidation of Reports (SARPAC)
With ERO processing it is possible that the View backup tapes contain reports that expire at different times. For any particular tape, there can be one report that has ERO retention criteria of seven years, but other reports on the tape may have expired. The space occupied by these reports should be reused. The SARPAC tape consolidation utility is provided with ERO to consolidate backup tapes.

ARPAC copies current reports retained by View and bypasses expired reports. The first CA View backup cycle (standard or interim) following a SARPAC consolidation un-catalogs the input tapes that are no longer needed.

You can use SYSIN DD statements to process the following:

All backup tapes for the database
A particular backup tape (by CA View tape sequence number)
A range of tapes
A particular tape storage group

You can use storage groups to put reports with the same retention on the same tape, thereby minimizing the need for consolidation. For information about tape storage groups, see STORGRP0 and STORGRP1 to STORGRP9 in the chapter Initialization Parameters. J?J

Example:

All eligible tapes (given the values for PTHRESH, PMXTAPES, and PMXYEARS) are consolidated for database VIEW.SYSTEM1:

//EXAMPLE JOB ACCOUNT,PROGRAMMER
//SARPAC EXEC PGM=SARPAC,PARM='VIEW.SYSTEM1',REGION=0M
//STEPLIB DD DSN=CAI.CAILIB,DISP=SHR
//SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=*
//SARDRLST DD SYSOUT=*
//SYSOUT DD SYSOUT=*
//SORTLIB DD DSN=SYS1.SORTLIB,DISP=SHR
//SORTWK01 DD UNIT=SYSDA,SPACE=(CYL,(50))
//SORTWK02 DD UNIT=SYSDA,SPACE=(CYL,(50))
//SORTWK03 DD UNIT=SYSDA,SPACE=(CYL,(50))
//*SYSIN DD *
//*