3. CUSTOMIZING CA MICS StorageMate › 3.4 Volume Group Tables
3.4 Volume Group Tables
Your duties have grown more complex as the number of DASD
volumes installed has increased. While management on an
individual volume basis is possible with a few dozen volumes,
it becomes more complex when the number of volumes grows to
several hundred or more. This management task is also
complicated by the fact that several different types of
devices may be installed at any one time.
One concept that has evolved to assist in the complex task of
managing many volumes is the volume group. A volume group
represents a series of volumes with a common function.
Examples of common volume groups might be as follows:
o MVS volumes used for paging
o All dedicated volumes belonging to payroll
o Volumes used for new TSO data sets
o Volumes used for temporary work space
Several of the facilities within CA MICS StorageMate allow
you to report at the volume group level. This makes
reporting more effective, because it is based on the LOGICAL
function being performed by each group, rather than by the
PHYSICAL identification of a single volume.
The vehicle used to communicate your volume groups to CA MICS
StorageMate is a Volume Group Table. This table is always
required if you want to use reports that do volume grouping
and you are in a non-SMS environment. For SMS users, each
volume controlled by SMS is assigned to a Storage Group.
StorageMate will use any non-blank Storage Group name found
in the data as the volume group name. Thus, SMS users only
require a Volume Group Table to assign groups to those
volumes not managed by SMS. The one exception to this is the
SMS user that desires to simulate the effect of Storage Group
changes, as a Volume Group Table can also be used to perform
this function.
In summary, users desiring to use volume grouping reports
will need to define Volume Group Tables under three
conditions:
1) No volumes are managed by SMS.
2) Some volumes are managed by SMS, but grouping is also
desired for the volumes that are not managed.
3) Volumes are managed by SMS, but the user wants to ignore
the SMS Storage Group and group all volumes by means of a
Volume Group Table.
After you have defined your Work Data Set, you can use
options from the CA MICS StorageMate and MICF options menu to
create and maintain your Volume Group Tables.
Even though most users will only need to define one Volume
Group Table, you can create as many as you need. You may
want to have separate tables for multiple sites or to have
multiple tables that give different views of the same volumes
at one site. Note, however, that each execution of a CA MICS
StorageMate report can only access one Volume Group Table.
As already stated, installations that have fully implemented
SMS may not need to define Volume Group Tables. This is
because the SMS Storage Group assigned to each volume is used
by CA MICS StorageMate as the Volume Group. Unless you are
using a Volume Group Table designed for simulation, CA MICS
StorageMate only uses the table if the volume being processed
has no Storage Group name assigned to it (that is, the
STORNAME data element value contains blanks). This means
that users of SMS or any other system that supplies a value
to STORNAME may not need to define Volume Group Tables.
SMS users may want to use Volume Group Tables under the
following conditions:
o Even installations with full SMS implementation will
probably have some volumes that are not controlled by SMS,
such as system volumes or JES volumes. You may want to
define a Volume Group Table just to assign Volume Groups to
these volumes. When creating this type of Volume Group
Table, specify on the options panel used to create the
table that SMS-managed volumes should NOT be included. The
use of this option will cause only those volumes with no
SMS Storage Group assigned to be included in the Volume
Group Table that is generated. It will then only be a
simple matter to update the Volume Group Table and assign
group names to the few volumes that are not controlled by
SMS.
o SMS installations can use Volume Group Tables to simulate
alternate Storage Group configurations. Users would first
generate a Volume Group Table using the full 6-character
Volume Serial Number, and specifying that SMS volumes
SHOULD be included. This will create a Volume Group Table
with all volumes represented, and with the SMS Storage
Group name for each volume presented as the Volume Group.
It will also cause the table to be searched for all
volumes, including SMS-managed ones. You should then edit
the Volume Group Table and make the necessary changes to
Storage Group assignments. After this modification, you
may want to run multiple StorageMate reports, changing the
table definitions until you achieve the desired results.
The ability to update the Volume Group Table allows you to
simulate many different combinations of Storage Groups
before making any actual changes to your volume groupings.
Please note again the effect of the SMS volume option when
using CA MICS StorageMate to build a Volume Group Table. If
you specify 'N' (No), only volumes not managed by SMS will be
included in the table, and use of that table will cause the
table to be searched for unmanaged volumes only. If you
specify 'Y' (Yes), all volumes will be included in the table,
and use of the table will always cause the table to be
searched for all volumes, including managed ones.
Installations that are migrating to SMS can use CA MICS
StorageMate to simulate Storage Groups before they are
actually implemented. This simulation enables you to use the
StorageMate product to assist in the SMS migration process.
Example of a Volume Group Table
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This installation not yet implemented SMS, but they have
established the following standards for their volumes:
o The first three characters of the volume serial number
describe the usage of the volume.
o The prefix HSM is assigned to HSM Level 1 volumes.
o The prefixes MVS and MXA are assigned to operating system
volumes.
o The prefix TSU is assigned to TSO storage volumes.
o The prefix Snn is assigned to all IMS production volumes,
where nn represents a numeric value.
This installation generates a Volume Group Table, specifying
that the first three characters of the volume serial number
be used. Because most of the volumes found will be IMS
volumes, the default volume group assignment is specified as
IMSPROD. The generated table appears below:
VOL=HSM* IMSPROD
VOL=MVS* IMSPROD
VOL=MXA* IMSPROD
VOL=S08* IMSPROD
VOL=S24* IMSPROD
VOL=S28* IMSPROD
VOL=S32* IMSPROD
VOL=TSU* IMSPROD
The installation will now update the Volume Group Table to
contain the correct group assignments. No IMS volumes must
be updated, because they already have the default assignment
of IMSPROD, which is correct for those volumes. Other
volumes should be assigned to group names that reflect their
function. The updated table appears below:
VOL=HSM* HSMLV1
VOL=MVS* SYSTEM
VOL=MXA* SYSTEM
VOL=S08* IMSPROD
VOL=S24* IMSPROD
VOL=S28* IMSPROD
VOL=S32* IMSPROD
VOL=TSU* TSODS
Any CA MICS StorageMate report that uses this Volume Group
Table will do grouping using the volume group names shown in
the right-most column of the table. While the above table
will work correctly as shown, additional changes could be
made to reduce the size of the table by using even shorter
prefixes for some groups. The table shown below will
function correctly, but is smaller than the previous table:
VOL=HSM* HSMLV1
VOL=M* SYSTEM
VOL=S* IMSPROD
VOL=TSU* TSODS
Detailed information about Volume Group Tables is available
in the following subsections:
1 - Creating a Volume Group Table
2 - Modifying a Volume Group Table
