Considerations and Warnings

Consider the following before you use global variable backup and restore:

Backups and restores can be scheduled at any time.
The backup and restore programs must be run while CA OPS/MVS is active.
The backup and restore programs must be run at the highest dispatching priority.
The backup and restore programs must be run from APF-authorized libraries.
When the backup and restore programs are executed, a single parameter must be specified in batch format; this parameter identifies the CA OPS/MVS subsystem ID whose global variables are to be backed up or restored (for example, PARM='OPSS').
The global variable restore will restore the entire global variable database from the designated backup data set; if the size of the global variable database (determined by the value of the GLOBALMAX parameter) has been changed since the backup was taken, then the restore will fail. Therefore, you should take new backups immediately after changing the value of the GLOBALMAX parameter.

Note: GLOBALBACKUPSTCLASS overrides both the unit (GLOBALBACKUPUNIT) and volser (GLOBALBACKUPVOLSER) parameters.

There are three methods for allocating the global backup data set:

In an SMS environment, when you want to allocate the global backup data set on any volume in a particular SMS storage class, use the GLOBALBACKUPSTCLASS parameter.
Note: In this case, the GLOBALBACKUPVOLSER and GLOBALBACKUPUNIT parameters are ignored.
In a non-SMS environment, when you want to allocate the global variable data set on a specific volume, use the GLOBALBACKUPUNIT and GLOBALBACKUPVOLSER parameters. In this case you must not specify a value for the GLOBALBACKUPSTCLASS parameter.
In both SMS and non-SMS environments, you may specify only the GLOBALBACKUPUNIT parameter, representing a generic or esoteric device name (for example SYSDA). Because generic and esoteric names are associated with a group of volumes, there is no need to specify the GLOBALBACKUPVOLSER parameter.