MAREN administers all MTCs in the MAREN catalog (see the “MAREN” manual [10]). As soon the statements are entered, MAREN checks the specified volumes. The volumes, which are specified via their VSNs, must be entered in the MAREN catalog. If volumes are to be used which are not in this catalog, the FOREIGN-TAPE-CHECK parameter in the //MODIFY-MAREN-PARAMETERS statement must be set to *NO by means of the MARENADM administration program.
All the specified volumes of an FDDRL function must be either cataloged or not cataloged. If both cataloged and non-cataloged volumes are specified together in a list of VSNs, the first unknown volume will be rejected.
If the volume type is specified directly, the specification must match the entry in the MAREN catalog in the case of input volumes (RELOAD function). In the case of output volumes, the values need not be identical (e.g. T-C4 instead of T-C2), which means that the volume type may be switched.
If volumes in the MAREN catalog are protected by passwords, the passwords must be added to the password list with the /ADD-PASSWORD command before the statement with the VSN specification, but at the latest before the //START-JOBS statement (see the “Commands” manual [9]).
When MAREN is used, in particular the following archive entries for the volumes are updated in the MAREN catalog:
CREATION-CATALOG-ID (catalog ID of the home pubset)
CREATION-USER-ID
CREATION-DATE
CREATION-TIME
CREATION-JOB-NAME
OPEN-MODE
RESERVATION-DATE
USER-ACCESS
PASSWORD(=*NONE)
VOLUME-SEQUENCE (sequence of the volumes in the tape set)
FIRST-VOLUME (VSN of the first volume in the tape set)
FILE-NAME (see chapter "MAREN tape set")
CLOSE-INDICATOR (with valid backup volumes CLOSED)
LAST-CLOSE-DATE
LAST-CLOSE-TIME
EXPIRATION-DATE (calculated from the FDDRL RETENTION-PERIOD)