FDRMOVE, which includes FDRPAS, provides a high-performance, non-disruptive or minimally-disruptive movement of z/OS data sets. It is ideal for volume consolidation (e.g. consolidating 3390-3s to 3390-9/27/54s & EAVs), which can help to free up UCBs where the number of UCBs is restrained by operating system limits. It is also useful for the ad-hoc migration of data between disk volumes, and for load balancing to reduce I/O contention within a single DASD subsystem.
Why Use FDRMOVE?
Moving large numbers of datasets can be a complex, time-consuming process, and prone to error if you use “manual” dataset copy utilities. It requires a degree of planning and careful synchronisation with your applications in order to move your data. FDRMOVE was specifically designed for consolidating large amounts of z/OS data onto new DASD. It moves data sets on a progressive basis, constantly monitoring their status and moving them as soon as they become inactive.
FDRMOVE also includes a dynamic allocation exit, so your applications (including DB2) will not fail if they try to use a dataset while it is being moved by FDRMOVE. Instead, they wait until the move has completed and the dataset is once again available. This means that you don’t have to try and synchronize the submission of the FDRMOVE job with application downtime, and there’s no need to ‘micro manage’ what FDRMOVE is doing.
What Can I Move?
FDRMOVE can move data sets between disk volumes in the same disk subsystem, or between volumes in different subsystems, and between different hardware manufacturers. All data set types are supported, including VSAM, non-VSAM, DB2, SMS or non-SMS. You can move individual pieces of a multi-volume data set, or the entire data set, and data can be selected and moved by dataset names or groups, by volume names (volsers), or by storage groups.
Modes of Operation
FDRMOVE provides two modes of operation. MOVE uses high-performance I/O to move selected data sets directly between the source and target disks as soon as the data sets become available, while FASTMOVE uses a combination of FDRPAS and instant replication technology (e.g, FlashCopy, EMCSNAP or SnapShot Copy) within the target subsystem to move the datasets at ultra-fast speeds. An ISPF interface is provided to allow the initiation and monitoring of FDRMOVE activity.
Simulation
FDRMOVE includes the SIMMOVE feature, which simulates an FDRMOVE job by validating the control statements. No data is moved, but this useful feature provides a list of the data sets covered by the selection criteria, the volume(s) on which they currently reside, and their current status (i.e. “active” or “inactive”). For currently active datasets, it shows which job(s) have them allocated (ENQ’d). If datasets are selected through the catalog, SIMMOVE will indicate how many input volumes will be involved in the move process.
Expanding VTOCS
The EXPANDVTOC function lets you dynamically expand a VTOC on a volume, even if the volume is active on one or more LPAR. This feature is especially useful when moving source disks across to larger target disks, and if the VTOCs on the source disks are not large enough for the higher capacity target on which they will soon reside.