Introduction › How EDIF Prevents Data Set Damage

How EDIF Prevents Data Set Damage

EDIF enhances the integrity and availability of system and user data sets by eliminating most of the common causes of data set damage. EDIF prevents the following problems:

• Attribute damage that occurs when the attributes specified in the JCL of a job, a TSO command, or an application program are different from those in the data set control block (DSCB)
• Attribute damage that occurs when a PDS directory is the target of a sequential output operation
• Simultaneous updates that occur when a job does not request serialization or uses the wrong serialization technique
• Updates by unauthorized programs or by programs that direct output to the wrong file
• Read operations by unauthorized programs

EDIF provides you with a series of statements to enable or negate processing options for data sets. EDIF applies statements to data sets, based on characteristics of the dsname of a data set or on its data set organization.

You can create a processing list containing statements that apply to all data sets, a group of data sets, or a single data set. EDIF also merges statements so that you have greater flexibility in enabling and negating processing options.