Using CICS® VR at the remote site

A failure at the primary site might require you to use the remote site to recover any lost data. If you followed the steps 1 through 5, you must perform the next steps at the remote site to recover the VSAM spheres.

  1. Be sure CICS® VR is installed at the remote site

    Ensure that CICS® VR is installed at the remote site and an RCDS is allocated. The initial RCDS used at the remote site can be empty because you import the recovery data into it in the next step.

  2. IMPORT the RCDS

    Use the CICS® VR RCDS utility with the IMPORT keyword specified to place the contents from the sequential data set, produced from the RCDS EXPORT job, into the RCDS used at the remote site. While you might have received multiple generations of a sequential data set produced by the RCDS EXPORT job, you only need to import the latest version. Once completed, CICS® VR contains the information necessary to build a recovery job for the VSAM spheres. See Using the RCDS utility to import your RCDS for more information.

  3. Catalog the log stream copies

    After you receive the log stream copies at the remote site, you need to catalog them. CICS® VR contains the names of the log stream copies but can only use them if they are cataloged.

  4. Restore the VSAM spheres
    The process of restoring VSAM spheres from backups at the remote site is dependent on the type of product that was used to create the backups. See the appropriate backup utility for an explanation of how to restore the backups:
    DFSMShsm™ logical backup
    If your VSAM spheres can be restored from DFSMShsm™ logical backups, you do not need to restore the spheres manually. The CICS® VR panel interface can create a job that first restores the VSAM spheres, then performs a forward recovery. You need to run the DFSMShsm™ utilities to update your remote site's DFSMShsm™ control data sets. These steps are described in DFSMShsm logical backup on tape – at the primary site.
    DFSMShsm™ full volume dump
    If your VSAM spheres can be restored from a DFSMShsm™ full volume dump, you do not need to restore the spheres manually. The CICS® VR panel interface can create a job that first restores the VSAM spheres, then performs a forward recovery. You need to run the DFSMShsm™ utilities to update your remote site's DFSMShsm™ control data sets. These steps are described in section DFSMShsm full volume dump on tape – at the primary site.
    ABARS (aggregate backup and recovery support)
    If the backups for the VSAM spheres at the remote site were created by ABARS, you do not need to restore them manually if all the following are true:
    • CICS® VR was notified when the ABARS backups were created. This means that the CICS® VR address space was active and the DFSMSdss™ logical dump registration control default was activated when the ABARS backup job was submitted.
    • The ABARS backups were sent to the remote recovery site and cataloged.
    • The RCDS EXPORT utility exported ABARS backup information. This means that the BACKUP keyword was specified on the RCDS EXPORT command.
    If all the conditions are true, you can use the CICS® VR panel interface to create a job that first restores the VSAM spheres, then performs a forward recovery. If any one of the conditions is not true, you must restore the VSAM spheres manually. Use the ABARS utility to restore the VSAM spheres and be sure to record the date and time of the backup that you are restoring. This means that you must record the date and time the backup was created.
    DFSMSdss™
    If DFSMSdss™ logical copies or dumps exist for your VSAM spheres, you do not need to restore them manually if:
    • CICS® VR was notified when the DFSMSdss™ logical copies or dumps were created, the CICSVRBACKUP keyword was added to the job and the CICS® VR address space was active when the copy or dump job was submitted.
    • The DFSMSdss™ backups were sent to the remote recovery site and cataloged.
    • The RCDS EXPORT utility exported DFSMSdss™ backup information, the BACKUP keyword was specified on the RCDS EXPORT command.

    The CICS® VR panel interface can create a job that first restores the VSAM spheres, then performs a forward recovery.

    Otherwise, you must restore the VSAM spheres manually. Use the DFSMSdss™ utility to restore the VSAM spheres and be sure to record the date and time of the backup that you are restoring, date and time the backup was created.

    Backups registered through the file copy notification service
    You can use the CICS® VR panel interface to select backups for restore that were previously registered to CICS® VR through the file copy notification service, if you have performed the following tasks:
    • Sent the backups to the remote recovery site and cataloged them.
    • Sent the associated restore skeletons to the remote recovery site, and defined them to CICS® VR at the remote recovery site. Restore skeletons can either be added as a member to the SDWWSENU data set, using the characteristics of this PDS, or as a member of another PDS allocated to the DWWSLIB ddname.
    • Exported backup information from the RCDS, BACKUP keyword added to the RCDS EXPORT command.
    If these conditions are true, CICS® VR adds the restore skeleton associated with the selected backup as a step in the produced recovery job.
    Other backup utilities
    If the backups for the VSAM spheres at the remote site were created by any other utility not previously mentioned, restore the VSAM spheres manually. Use the proper utility to restore the VSAM spheres and be sure to record the date and time of the backup that you are restoring, date and time the backup was created.
  5. Start the CICS® VR panel interface

    Next, start the CICS® VR panel interface to create and submit a recovery job for your VSAM spheres. The utility used to create the VSAM sphere backups dictate how you use the CICS® VR panel interface. See the appropriate backup utility for an explanation of how to use the CICS® VR panel interface.

    DFSMShsm™ logical backup
    If you have DFSMShsm™ logical backups for your VSAM spheres, CICS® VR creates a recovery job that restores each VSAM sphere from its latest DFSMShsm™ backup and then forward recovers the sphere. Call the CICS® VR panel interface, accept the default recovery parameters that CICS® VR displays, and specify QSAM copy as the log stream type to restore each VSAM sphere from its latest backup and perform a forward recovery on the restored VSAM spheres.
    DFSMShsm™ full volume dump
    If the backups for the VSAM spheres you want to recover reside on a DFSMShsm™ full volume dump, CICS® VR creates a recovery job that restores each VSAM sphere from its latest backup and then performs a forward recovery on the restored spheres. Call the CICS® VR panel interface, select “Full volume dump” as the backup type, enter the date that the full volume dump was created as both the backup time and the forward recovery start time, and specify QSAM copy as the log stream type.
    ABARS (aggregate backup and recovery support)
    Use the CICS® VR panel interface to create a job that automatically restores the VSAM spheres from ABARS backups, then performs a forward recovery on the restored VSAM spheres.
    DFSMSdss™
    If DFSMSdss™ logical copies or dumps exist for your VSAM spheres, CICS® VR creates a recovery job that restores each VSAM sphere from its latest backup and then performs a forward recovery on the restored spheres if:
    • CICS® VR was notified when the DFSMSdss™ logical copies or dumps were created, the CICSVRBACKUP keyword was added to the job and the CICS® VR address space was active when the copy or dump job was submitted.
    • The DFSMSdss™ backups were sent to the remote recovery site and cataloged.
    • The RCDS EXPORT utility exported DFSMSdss™ backup information, the BACKUP keyword was specified on the RCDS EXPORT command.
    If all of these points are true, call the CICS® VR panel interface and select the appropriate DFSMSdss™ logical backup from the VSAM sphere parameters secondary window. Then, specify QSAM copy as the log stream type. CICS® VR builds a job to restore the VSAM sphere from the selected backup, then forward recover the restored VSAM sphere.
    Note:
    If you do not send all backups registered to CICS® VR to the remote site, you might want to deregister backups that have not been received and cataloged at the remote site from the RCDS. This prevents information about backups that do not reside at the remote site from being displayed through the CICS® VR panel interface. See the CICS® VR User's Guide for more information about invoking automatic backup deregistration from the CICS® VR VSAM sphere list Administrate menu.

    If you did not export backup information from the RCDSs, then the backups must have been restored manually prior to running forward recovery. Call the CICS® VR panel interface and enter the date and time each backup was taken as the forward recovery start time. Also, since the backups have already been restored, select None as the backup type. Specify QSAM copy as the log stream type. CICS® VR then creates a job that forward recovers the VSAM spheres.

    Backups registered through the file copy notification service
    If the tasks listed in step four, Restore the VSAM spheres, were followed, call the CICS® VR panel interface and select the appropriate backup from the VSAM sphere parameters secondary window. Then specify QSAM copy as the log stream type. CICS® VR builds a job to restore the VSAM sphere from the selected backup using the associated restore skeleton, then forward recover the restored VSAM sphere.
    Note:
    If you do not send all backups registered to CICS® VR to the remote site, you might want to deregister backups that have not been received and cataloged at the remote site from the RCDS. This prevents information about backups that do not reside at the remote site from being displayed through the CICS® VR panel interface. See the CICS® VR User's Guide for more information about setting automatic backup deregistration from the CICS® VR VSAM sphere list Administrate menu.
    Other backup utilities
    If you restored the VSAM spheres from a backup created by any other utility not previously mentioned, then you must call the CICS® VR panel interface and enter the date and time the backup was taken as the forward recovery start time. Also, since the backups have already been restored, select None as the backup type. Be sure to specify QSAM copy as the log stream type, then CICS® VR creates a job that forward recovers the VSAM spheres.

These steps are recommendations that must be added to your remote site disaster recovery plan. Implement the steps to fit into your current remote site disaster recovery plan.