Understanding the DWWMSGA, DWWMSGB, DWWDMSG, and DWWDUMP data sets naming convention

Data sets must be allocated to the DWWMSG, DWWALT, DWWDMSG, and DWWDUMP ddnames on each system in a sysplex that has the CICS® VR server address space running. In addition, the data sets must be unique for each system. Therefore, CICS® VR requires that the data sets follow a specific naming convention.

However, the naming convention slightly differs according to the following variations of a system name:
System name begins with a non-numeric character
If the first character of the system name is a non-numeric character, the following naming convention is used. 
hlq.slq.DWWMSGA.systemname
hlq.slq.DWWMSGB.systemname 
hlq.slq.DWWDMSG.systemname  
hlq.slq.DWWDUMP.systemname
Where:
  • hlq.slq is the CICS® VR data set name prefix, high level qualifier and optional second level qualifier, defined in the CICSVR_DSNAME_PREFIX parameter of the active IGDSMSxx PARMLIB member.
  • DWWMSGA, DWWMSGB, DWWDMSG, and DWWDUMP are constants.
  • systemname is the name of the system.
For example, if the system name is SYS1, and the value of the CICSVR_DSNAME_PREFIX parameter is DWW, the naming convention of the CICS VR server message data sets is: 
DWW.DWWMSGA.SYS1
DWW.DWWMSGB.SYS1
System name begins with a number and is less than 8 characters long
If the first character of the system name is a number and the name is less than 8 characters long, the following naming convention is used: 
hlq.slq.DWWMSGA.Ssystemname
hlq.slq.DWWMSGB.Ssystemname  
hlq.slq.DWWDMSG.Ssystemname  
hlq.slq.DWWDUMP.Ssystemname
Where:
  • hlq.slq is the CICS® VR data set name prefix, high level qualifier and optional second level qualifier, defined in the CICSVR_DSNAME_PREFIX parameter of the active IGDSMSxx PARMLIB member.
  • DWWMSGA, DWWMSGB, DWWDMSG, and DWWDUMP are constants.
  • S is a constant.
  • systemname is the name of the system.
For example, if the system name is 1290, and the value of the CICSVR_DSNAME_PREFIX parameter is DWW, the naming convention of the DWWDMSG data set is: 
DWW.DWWDMSG.S1290
System name begins with a number and is 8 characters long
If the first character of the system name is a number and the name is 8 characters long, the following naming convention is used: 
hlq.slq.DWWMSGA.SHsystemname(1:4).SLsystemname(5:8) 
hlq.slq.DWWMSGB.SHsystemname(1:4).SLsystemname(5:8) 
hlq.slq.DWWDMSG.SHsystemname(1:4).SLsystemname(5:8)
hlq.slq.DWWDUMP.SHsystemname(1:4).SLsystemname(5:8)

Where:
  • hlq.slq is the CICS® VR data set name prefix, high level qualifier and optional second level qualifier, defined in the CICSVR_DSNAME_PREFIX parameter of the active IGDSMSxx PARMLIB member.
  • DWWMSGA, DWWMSGB, DWWDMSG, and DWWDUMP are constants.
  • SH is a constant.
  • systemname(1:4) is the first four characters of the system name.
  • SL is a constant.
  • systemname(5:8) is the last four characters of the system name.
For example, if the system name is 14091956, and the value of the CICSVR_DSNAME_PREFIX parameter is DWW, the naming convention of the DWWDUMP data set is: 
DWW.DWWDUMP.SH1409.SL1956