5. Maintenance › 5.1 Create an Alternate CA MICS Environment

5.1 Create an Alternate CA MICS Environment

This section describes a method for creating alternate
CA MICS complex or unit environments from an existing complex
or unit.  The method explains how to create a completely
independent copy of a production CA MICS system.

Users often need an alternate method for applying maintenance
or product upgrades that minimally impact their production
CA MICS system.  These alternate requirements arise from
factors such as:

o  A variety of change control methods mandated by a formal
   change control program in the organization.

o  Operational and maintenance philosophies that may either
   demand an extended test period or allow only a very narrow
   window for testing before propagating changes to
   production.

o  The need to compare the before-and-after images of the
   CA MICS system changes prior to actual production
   implementation.

This methodology is based on the concept of establishing a
separate CA MICS complex and one or more alternate units to
which changes can then be applied and tested without
impacting the production CA MICS system. The alternate system
is created from a snapshot of the production system.  Once
created, the alternate system has no connection with the
production system, i.e., the resulting alternate system
cannot be placed directly into production.

Each day during generation of the alternate complex, create a
backup copy of the sharedprefix and prefix libraries for the
production complex to protect against accidental updates to
production.

Important:  Read this entire section before you attempt to
            build an alternate complex.  Follow the
            instructions carefully.


Use the following checklist to create an alternate complex
from a production CA MICS complex. The alternate complex will
be a totally independent CA MICS system and, as such, will
have different sharedprefix, prefix, and tapeprefix names.
Your alternate complex will also have a separate MWF
environment. It is important to ensure that this isolation is
maintained during the generation and use of the alternate
complex.  Check your records for any user modifications to
CA MICS that contain hard-coded assumptions about data set
name information.

As you follow these checklists, be sure to review the JCL you
are submitting.  To avoid production system problems, verify
that the correct data set and PROC names are contained in the
job streams you are running.  Also, check your output
listings for positive indications that updates are actually
being applied to the alternate rather than the production
data sets.

Note: Ensure that any PROCLIB statements maintained in job
submission panels under MWF refer to the correct complex name
before submitting jobs from the online dialogues.

Checklists for creating alternate CA MICS environments are
listed in the following sections. The first checklist should
be followed once. The second checklist should be followed
once for each unit created in the alternate environment.

  1 - Create a CA MICS Complex from an Existing Complex
  2 - Create a CA MICS Unit from an Existing Unit