IBM Mainframe Forum

What is GDG?
Why we use GDG?

A Generation Data Group (commonly known as a GDG) allows a group of related files to be created that can easily be referenced individually or as a group. Typically, GDG's are used to store cyclical changes or updates for an application, whether they be a backup for audit or off-site storage purposes, or as a way to allow a backout and recovery of application updates that may have been processed in error. They may be used to store files that may someday need to be recovered due to some up-stream data processing problem.