IBM Mainframe Forum

by **Bad Man** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 6:08 pm

Hi We had a physical tape and we got it replaced with a new tape now the tape has been not going going to scrtach even using option 2 of CA1 because it says it's VOLSEQ=2. Now we have made DSN as null and even entere it in library but it will not scratch. can you help please. I displayed the detaiols of it using TMSBINQ and founf it was used way back in 2012 by a backup job and so whatever the VOLSEQ=1 was is no more active.

by **BillyBoyo** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 7:08 pm

Can you paste any messages you get in trying to access this? Is it a problem with the tape catalog? Or the tape labels on the physical tape?

by **Bad Man** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 7:22 pm

When I went to manually scratch it from option 2 of CA1 it said no it cant as VOLSEQ=2.

by **Bad Man** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 7:25 pm

Select all

VOLSER = GA0217 ACTVOL= SMSMC= BLANKS
DSN = HEXZEROS DSN17= HEXZEROS
EXPDT = 05-01-2012 ACCT= HEXZEROS
FLAG1 = 61 FLAG2 = C8 FLAG3 = 00 BATCHID= 59 = TMSIONLN
FLAG4 = 00 FLAG5 = 00 FLAG6 = 00 HOOKID = FE =
EDMID = WMC = 00000 WWID = - -
CDATE = 04-26-2012 CJOB = DRBKPB07 CTIME = 0645 CPGM = ADRDSSU
LDATE = 04-26-2012 LJOB = DRBKPB07 LTIME = 0854 LPGM = ADRDSSU
CSTEP = BACKUP CDDNAME= TAPE2 CUNIT = 3301 LUNIT = 3301
OUTDATE= ZEROS OUTCODE= VMS SLOT = 0000000 TRERRC = 00000
BTHDATE= 03-02-2012 VENDOR = BLANKS COUNT = 00397 TWERRC = 00000
DATECLN= ZEROS USECLN = 00000 CLNCNT = 000 TRERRI = 00000
VOLSEQ = 0002 ROBTY = ROBID = 000 TWERRI = 00000
1STVOL = NEXTVOL= PREVVOL= PRERRC = 00000
NUMDSNB= 00000 1STDSNB= 00000000 LSTDSNB= 00000000 PWERRC = 00000
LABEL = SL DEN = 3592 TRTCH = EEF2 PRERRI = 00000
RECFM = U LRECL = 000000 BLKSIZE= 065520 PWERRI = 00000
AUDATE = 01-26-2015 AUTIME = 1439 BESKEY = 00000 BLKCNT = 0000000000
AUCODE = 00 AUFLAG1= 00 CPUID = SYSB USERID = GACSRMH
VOLPERC= 008 FILPERC= 000 COMPRES= 051 CTLGCNT= 001

Coded to make more readable

by **nevilh** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 9:18 pm

Tape will not go to scratch as it is part of a multi-volume dataset. If you know the original dataset name you can scratch the dataset and then the volume can be scratched.

by **steve-myers** » Sun Feb 01, 2015 8:54 am

I am working from memory on this.

You cannot create a "scratch" tape through the "regular" CA1 utilities. Only the CA1 utilities that are periodically (usually once a day) run to find volumes that have expired or have expired data sets can "scratch" a tape volume and add the volume to the list of "scratch" volumes that can be pulled from the library for that purpose.

Nevilh is correct when he states that a volume that is one volume in a data set located on multiple volumes cannot be made a "scratch" tape until the data set itself is deleted. However, I'm not certain that is an issue here as there does not seem to be any data set information for the volume.

Looking through the volume report a couple of posts back, it looks to me as though the volume is in offsite backup vault VMS. Since it is off site, it cannot be a scratch tape. Since it has expired it should be recalled from the vault and marked by the library as in house. Then, I think, it can be used as a "scratch" tape.

by **Bad Man** » Sun Feb 01, 2015 11:27 pm

I did a tms updte and change the volseq=1 and scratched the volseq=1 didnt exist and had been scratched long back as it was a backup from past 2 years back which scratches in 7 days and this tape was damaged and replaced.

by **BillyBoyo** » Mon Feb 02, 2015 5:38 am

So you've got a multi-volume backup, the first volume of which no longer exists, and you want to release the second volume, unusable for anything at the moment, to scratch?

I'd go with Steve Myers' suggestion. It seems that the only thing CA1 knows about it that is stopping it being processed to scratch is that it is in a "vault".

It doesn't look like a tape which is "cataloged" as such, just a volume which is recorded as being in a vault, and which can't be reused until it is booked out of there.

If that works, ensure that procedures for dealing with damaged tapes take into account subsequent volumes where they exist.

If that fails, how about treating it is a "damaged" tape?

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