Reservation period
When the expiration date is assigned in the MAREN catalog, the specification of the retention period (RETPD) in the HSMS and ARCHIVE statements is observed. This value is copied to the MAREN field “Volume Expiration Date” when a backup tape is created. The expiration date in the catalog entry field “Tape Expiration Date” contains either the specification of the retention period from the save run or, if it is higher, the standard retention period set by the MAREN administrator.
The retention period can be modified by the MAREN administrator using the MARENADM statement MODIFY-VOLUME-ATTRIBUTES. The nonprivileged user can only prematurely release tapes reserved using HSMS/ARCHIVE (e.g. under ARCHIVE with *PURGE ..., FORCE=YES).
In a PURGE run, the MAREN field “Volume Expiration Date” is set to the current date if the user or the administrator did not modify the retention period via MAREN.
The retention period of HSMS backups can be modified retroactively under HSMS:
//MODIFY-ARCHIVE <archive-name>,
SAVE-FILES=*RETENTION-PERIOD(SAVE-FILE-ID= <sfid>,RETPD-EXTENSION=...)
This command is used to adjust the retention period of the save file and of the associated tape in the directory and in the MAREN catalog. The volume expiration date on the tape remains unchanged. Thus when the user extends the retention period in HSMS and consequently in MAREN, the tape would no longer be protected if MAREN were not used. BS2000 systems support must therefore ensure that MAREN is always loaded.
If, on the other hand, the user reduces the retention period, the tape must in all cases be reinitialized as the volume expiration date on the tape would prevent it from being overwritten.
Placing MAREN in service for the first time and handling directories which already exist
When MAREN is placed in service for the first time, existing directories can continue to be used normally. However, you must note the following:
The tapes in these directories are not yet identified in the MAREN catalog as belonging to a directory. This means that when the expiration date has been reached, they will be released without first being removed from a directory via the ARCHIVE statement POOL or PURGE.
If such a directory is deleted, the resetting of the directory name via the MARENADM statement MODIFY-VOLUME-ATTRIBUTES (operand NEW-DIRECTORY-NAME= *NONE) is not necessary to release the tape.
As the directory name is not entered in the catalog entry, the archive numbers in the directory cannot be requested via the MARENADM statement SHOW-VOLUME-ATTRIBUTES (operand DIRECTORY-NAME).
The tapes stored in these directories are not reserved in MAREN exclusively for HSMS/ARCHIVE applications. They can be overwritten with other utility routines at any time.
If, however, new tapes are added to such a directory, for example via the ARCHIVE POOL statement or the free tape allocation facility, the tapes are then flagged as belonging to a directory and will not be released from the directory until they have been removed from the directory.
All the differences listed can be eradicated by integrating existing directories fully into the MAREN catalog with the help of the MARENADM statement UPDATE-MAREN-CATALOG.
Handling the tapes of a backup
In ARCHIVE, saved files are combined in a backup version which can be addressed via the svid in ARCHIVE statements. However, in HSMS and consequently in MAREN also, files are combined in a save file identified by its SAVE-FILE-ID (sfid) (see section “Processing backups”). In MAREN, a save file created with ARCHIVE therefore has to be accessed using its sfid.
Access protection for HSMS/ARCHIVE save tapes
If a tape is reserved in the context of a backup, the catalog entry field USER-ACCESS is supplied with values.
Under HSMS, with the BACKUP-FILES or EXPORT-FILES statement:
| Value in the HSMS statement | Archive entry field USER-ACCESS |
| SAVE-FILE=*NEW(...,USER-ACCESS=*ALL-USERS) | FOREIGN-READ-ONLY |
| SAVE-FILE=*NEW(...,USER-ACCESS=*OWNER-ONLY) | OWNER-ONLY |
Under ARCHIVE,with the SAVE or EXPORT statement
| Value in the ARCHIVE statement | Archive entry field USER-ACCESS |
| SHARE=YES | FOREIGN-READ-ONLY |
| SHARE=NO | OWNER-ONLY |
If a tape is reserved by being added to a directory’s free tape pool, only the system-specific MAREN parameter DEFAULT-USER-ACCESS is used to serve USER-ACCESS. The values (ALL-USERS, OWNER-ONLY, FOREIGN-READ-ONLY) are taken over unchanged here.
If save runs are performed with an already reserved tape, the contents of USER-ACCESS are generally not changed. The only exception to this rule is when USER-ACCESS is set to OWNER-ONLY and the save run is executed with the parameter USER-ACCESS=*ALL-USERS (HSMS) or SHARE=YES (ARCHIVE). In this case, the USER-ACCESS value is changed to FOREIGN-READ-ONLY.
In addition, MAREN offers a special form of access protection for save tapes: these tapes can only be accessed by HSMS or ARCHIVE.