Guards are managed for each pubset in a separate guards catalog named $TSOS.SYSCAT.GUARDS.
A catalog is open as long as the relevant pubset is imported, but can still be backed up by a system administrator with HSMS/ARCHIVE and restored by a guards administrator with the /CHANGE-GUARD-FILE command. However, such backups and restores can only be carried out on the guards catalog in its entirety. Separate guards cannot be backed up and restored in this way.
In contrast to this, the GUARDS-SAVE utility allows the guards managed in the guards catalog to be selectively backed up or restored. The functionality of GUARDS-SAVE is also available to nonprivileged users.
Saving a selectable set of guards
A user can define which guards from a particular pubset are to be saved into a user-specific backup file. The guards administrator can select guards from the entire guards inventory for backup but all other users can only back up their own guards.
Restoring a selectable set of guards from a backup file
A user can define which guards are to be transferred back into the system from a backup file. The guards administrator can select these guards from the entire guards inventory in the backup file but all other users can only restore their own guards.
The restore process can be carried out in two ways:
The guards are restored by GUARDS-SAVE from the saved guards inventory immediately and without queries. The user thereby has no influence on the execution of the restoration process.
GUARDS-SAVE generates commands from the saved guards inventory and writes them into a procedure file named by the user. The actual restoration process must be carried out by the user by starting the generated procedure file. This provides the option of checking the restoration process beforehand and making manual changes to it if necessary.
Displaying a selectable set of saved guards
The user can display guard names or guard attributes from a guards inventory saved with GUARDS-SAVE. The guards administrator can select the guards to be displayed from the entire guards inventory in the backup file but all other users can only display their own guards.