Archival › Archival of SYSOUT Using the SARSTC Started Task › Method of Operation and the Backup Cycle

Method of Operation and the Backup Cycle

The CA View archival started task receives SYSOUT from the job entry subsystem using the standard subsystem interface (SAPI).

CA View receives SYSOUT from JES, writes it out as its current disk generation to its database, and records its location and characteristics in a master index that also resides in its database. At specified intervals, it automatically performs a backup cycle while continuing to archive SYSOUT. Two types of backup cycles can be performed:

• For non-baseyear databases (ARCHCHG=NO), the standard backup cycle increments the current generation number by one, so that archival of SYSOUT continues to a new generation.
• The interim backup cycle does not increment the generation number or start the microfiche task. After an interim backup, archival of SYSOUT continues to the same generation.
• For baseyear databases (ARCHCHG=yyyy), the generation number is incremented either when the first report is archived after midnight, or when the first standard backup cycle is run after midnight.

Both types of backup cycles are asynchronous, that is, the backup cycle executes concurrently with archival of SYSOUT.

The backup cycle consists of the following list:

• Creating a new current generation (standard backup only)
• Backing up SYSOUT not currently on tape media
• Purging entries for "old" SYSOUT from the master index
• Cleaning up and recovering space for SYSOUT groups that were
  • migrated to tape status
  • loaded temporarily to disk
  • created actively before a system crash or abend
• Backing up the master index to tape
• Updating the CA View recovery file
• Un-catalog tape data sets no longer required
• Starting the microfiche task (standard backup only)

In addition to the automatic initiation of the backup cycle by CA View, you can initiate a backup cycle at any time using the operator commands.

A tape is considered expired, when:

• There are no active reports, that is, all reports have expired
• There are no active Master Index backups, that is, the difference between the Current Generation Number and the Generation Number of the Master Index backups on the tape is greater than the number of index generations to be saved (initialization parameter NGENI=)
• The tape is at least five days old.

The Backup Cycle Report (SARBKLST) lists the fully-qualified tape dataset names and the volume serial number containing the backup data. The volume serial number shown on the report represents the current volume serial number. This number can differ from the original volume serial number if the tape was copied to a new volume with the Tape Copy Utility (SARTCP). The volume serial number can also be shown as "*NOCAT" if the dataset is no longer cataloged.