Welcome
Reference information
The reference sections of the information contain reference information that you need when you use CICS® VR.
CICS VR command reference
Descriptions of the CICS VR command rules and how to read the syntax diagrams.
Synonyms for all commands and keywords
A summary of all the synonyms that you can use rather than the complete command names.

What's new in CICS VR 6.1
CICS® VR 6.1 contains these changes.
Operating environment
CICS® VR uses logs to recover your VSAM data.
CICS VR Overview
Getting Started
CICS® VR and CICS® TS
CICS VR Exits
Running CICS® VR forward recovery
CICS® VR forward recovery consists of a restore and then forward recovery.
Running CICS® VR backup
The information in the following topics describe how to take a backup using CICS® VR. The panels and secondary windows are in the sequence that they are displayed during a backup job generation.
Running CICS® VR reorganization
You can reorganize a VSAM sphere using CICS® VR. VSAM sphere reorganization can increase the space of a sphere and its alternate indexes. It can also change the control interval sizes for a sphere's components.
Working with other VSAM sphere list pull-down menus
The CICS® VR recovery and backup functions are typically accessed using the Utilities pull-down menu after selecting VSAM spheres.
Working with CICS® Backout Failed spheres
The CICS® Backout Failed sphere list shows the CICS spheres registered for manual recovery or reorganization after CICS notification of a backout failure.
Working with logs
Using ISMF data set lists with CICS® VR
CICS® VR is integrated with ISMF so that you can create a CICS VR recovery job for the data sets in an ISMF data set list by entering the VSAMREC line operator or list command. When you enter the VSAMREC line operator or list command, the necessary CICS VR panels are called and you can create a recovery job for the VSAM sphere.
Running CICS® VR manually
IBM® recommends that you use the CICS® VR panel interface to create recovery jobs for your VSAM spheres. Using the CICS VR panel interface eliminates the need for you to manually keep track of daily update activity, logs, backups, etc. Also, the CICS VR panel interface automatically creates the recovery JCL for you.
Running CICS® VR batch backout
The CICS® VR batch backout utility allows you to remove updates that were made to KSDS, ESDS, RRDS, and VRRDS VSAM spheres by steps in a batch job. This section describes how to run the CICS VR batch backout utility.
Understanding CICS® VR reports
The CICS® VR forward recovery and batch backout utilities produce a set of reports upon successful completion. The reports are written to the data set allocated to the DWWPRINT ddname. However, the set of reports written for the forward recovery backout utilities differ from the set of reports written for the batch backout utilities.
Understanding IBM® program support
The IBM® Customer Engineering Program Support structure helps you resolve problems with IBM products, and ensures that you can make the best use of your IBM computing systems.
Problem determination procedures
If you have to contact IBM® personnel about a CICS® VR problem, you must classify and describe the problem.
Diagnosing the causes of abends
You can determine the cause of a CICS® VR abend in a number of ways.
Reference information
The reference sections of the information contain reference information that you need when you use CICS® VR.
- CICS VR command reference
  Descriptions of the CICS VR command rules and how to read the syntax diagrams.
  - Command rules
    CICS® VR commands are made up of the command name, one or more keywords, and one or more values for the keywords.
  - How to read the syntax diagrams
    Syntax described using diagrams.
  - Synonyms for all commands and keywords
    A summary of all the synonyms that you can use rather than the complete command names.
  - CICS® VR program names
    You must use the specific CICS® VR program name when you call CICS VR to perform a certain function.
- CICS® VR commands
  A table of descriptions of CICS® VR functions and commands used with CICS TS.
- CICS® VR Messages and abend codes
  This section includes the messages and abend codes that are used by CICS VR, and also includes instructions to successfully complete the recovery of CICS VSAM data.
- CICS® VR ddnames
  A table that contains the ddnames for CICS® VR.
- UNDO log structure overview
  Every undo log block consists of a Block Header (MVSLogBlockHeader type), followed by log records. Every log record includes a standard General Log Header (GenLogRecord type), followed by record data.
- DWWBKNT REXX
  The REXX procedure DWWBKNT performs multiple calls of the CICS VR NOTIFY utility DWWNT for IDCAMS REPRO backups listed in the input data set. It can be used in TSO and in a batch environment.
- Customization parameters
  The table lists parameters that you can specify on the DWWCST01 panel to customize members of &HLQ.SDWWCNTL.OUT and &HLQ.SDWWSENU/SJPN.OUT data sets.
- User replaceable JCL skeleton
  You can replace the CICS® VR supplied JCL skeleton DWWUJOB with one of your own ones that satisfies your requirements.
Glossary
The terms in this glossary are defined as they pertain to the CICS VSAM Recovery documentation.
Edition notice
This is the information for CICS VSAM Recovery for z/OS. It applies to CICS VSAM Recovery for z/OS Version 6.1, and to all subsequent versions, releases, and modifications until otherwise indicated in new editions. Make sure you are using the correct edition for the level of the product.
Download PDF
Download the PDF format documentation for CICS VSAM Recovery for z/OS 6.1

Synonyms for all commands and keywords

A summary of all the synonyms that you can use rather than the complete command names.

Table 1. Command Synonyms
Command name	Synonyms	Description
ALLOCATE	ALLOC	Allocate a journal.
BACKOUT	BO	Back out a sphere.
BLDVRP	BVRP	Set VSAM BLDVRP values.
DEFEXIT	X, DX, EXIT, EXITS	Define CICS® VR exits.
FCTCOMP	FCTC, FCTCOMPLEMENT	Pass FCT record-format information.
MIGRATE	MIG, MI	Migrate RCDS from a previous release.
RECOVER	RO, RECO, RECONLY, RECOV	Forward recover a sphere.
RELATE	REL	Relate a path to the base cluster.
SEQCHKL	SEQL, LDS	Define sequence check for log data sets.
SEQCHKR	SEQR, LREC	Define sequence check for log records.

A summary of all the synonyms that you can use rather than the keyword names and values shown in the command descriptions.

Table 2. Keyword and Keyword Value Synonyms
Keyword name or value	Synonyms
B1K	B1024
B2K	B2048
B4K	B4096
B8K	B8192
B12K	B12288
B16K	B16384
B20K	B20480
B24K	B24576
B28K	B28672
B32K	B32768
BACKUPNAME	BACKUP, BN
BACKUPTIME	BTIME, TIME
CICSID	CID
CATALOG	CAT, CTLG
DSNAME	NAME, DSN
ERROR	ERR
ESDSDELETE	ESDSDEL, EDEL
EXPORT	EX
FCTNAME	FCT
FILEID	DD, DDNAME
FIXED	FXD
GAPINSEQUENCE	GAPINSEQ, GAP
IMPORT	IM
JOURNALID	JID
LOG	JOURNAL, JNL
NEWPATH	NEWDATASETNAME, NEWDSNAME, NEWDSN
NEWSPHERE	NEWSPH, NEWDATASETNAME, NEWDSNAME, NEWDSN
OUTOFSEQUENCE	OUTOFSEQ, OUT
PATH	DATASETNAME, DSNAME, DSN
PREALLOC	ALLOC
PREAPPLY	PREAPP, PRE
PRODUCT	PROD
RECFORM	RECFM, RECORDFORMAT
RESETSEQUENCE	RESETSEQ, RESET
SPHERE	SPH, DATASETNAME, DSNAME, DSN
STARTTIME	STARTDATETIME, STARTDATE, START
STOPTIME	STOPDATETIME, STOPDATE, STOP
TERMID	TERMINALID
TERMINATION	TERM
TRANSID	TRANSACTIONID
VARIABLE	VAR
VERSION	VER
VOLUME	VOL