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Deleting Expired Volumes

The ARCHVOL expiration date is established based on the value set for sysparm DYNEXPDT, described in DYNEXPDTE99365 in the Systems Guide. The recommended value for this sysparm is E99365 (never scratch), its default value. Using this recommendation ensures that an ARCHVOL record will exist in the archives, as long as it contains one or more unexpired DSNINDEX records.

For details on how to delete an ARCHVOL created under this recommendation, see Deleting Expired Datasets.

The VOLDELETE command is used to delete ARCHVOLS that were created outside of this recommendation. It causes all expired archive volumes (and its contents), either on tape or on disk, to be deleted from the archives. An archive volume (ARCHVOLS record) is considered expired if its expiration date is less than or equal to the current date. Any ARCHVOLS record not expired will not be processed. (See EXPDSNS for the exception to this.)

The EXPDSNS parameter adds a DSNDELETE DSN=/ function to VOLDELETE. Any non-SMS DSNINDEX record that has expired by EXPDT or catalog control will be deleted even though the ARCHVOL has not expired. (SMS-managed data sets are bypassed by VOLDELETE processing even with specifying the EXPDSNS parameter). However, if VOLDELETE is expiring a volume that did not have a never expire expiration date, all data sets on that volume, SMS managed and non-SMS, will be purged without regard to EXPDT or SMS verification.

If the ARCHVOLS expiration date is never expire or catalog control, VOLDELETE will provide no processing benefit over DSNDELETE. DSNDELETE is the only command needed for removal of expired DSNINDEX and ARCHVOL records from the Files Data Set along with assurance of SMS verification.

If it is determined that no DSNINDEX records exist for a given ARCHVOLS record, a flag is checked to ensure that the volume has been closed. If the volume is still flagged as OPEN, it will not be deleted unless the creation date is less than today's date minus one (that is, CREDT < TODAY-1). This check maintains integrity even if ARCHIVE and IXMAINT are running concurrently over midnight.

Unlike the DSNDELETE command, data sets that have expired can remain in the archive index if the ARCHVOLS record they correspond to has not yet expired. However, the user should be very cautious if the VOLDELETE command is used in an environment where any of the following are in place at archive time:

//ARCHIVE0 DD LABEL=EXPDT=96350
//ARCHIVEC DD LABEL=EXPDT=96350
//SYSIN    DD *
SCAN REALVOLS

SELECT DSN=/

ARCHIVE EXPDT=97200

	OR

//ARCHIVE0 DD LABEL=RETPD=60
//ARCHIVEC DD LABEL=RETPD=60
//SYSIN    DD *
SCAN REALVOLS

SELECT DSN=/

ARCHIVE RETPD=365

	OR

//SYSIN    DD *
SCAN REALVOLS

SELECT DSN=/

ARCHIVE EXPDT=97200

//SYSPARMS DD *
DYNEXPDTE96350
	OR

//SYSIN    DD *
SCAN REALVOLS

SELECT DSN=/

ARCHIVE RETPD=365

//SYSPARMS DD *
DYNEXPDTR60

In the previous examples, the CA Disk-calculated ARCHVOLS expiration date is overridden. In every case, the data sets are kept in the archives for a longer period than that of the ARCHVOLS they reside on.

When the VOLDELETE command is executed in the previous environment, unexpired data sets will be deleted; because they exist on volumes that have expired.