Understanding CICS® VR alternate index processing

CICS® VR alternate index processing varies according to the type of backup that the VSAM sphere was restored from.

See the appropriate backup type for a complete description.

DFSMShsm™ logical backups

DFSMShsm™ logical backups can be made for the entire VSAM sphere; base cluster, alternate indexes, paths. Therefore, if through the CICS® VR panel interface you select a DFSMShsm™ backup, the entire VSAM sphere is restored. During CICS® VR forward recovery, any restored alternate index that is part of the upgrade set is updated appropriately without any additional processing.

If a new sphere name was entered for restore and recovery through the CICS® VR panel interface, only the base cluster is restored by DFSMShsm™. Any alternate index must therefore be recreated and rebuilt manually after successful recovery processing.

Note:

DFSMShsm™ backups created with the backup-while-open (BWO) facility require additional alternate index processing, as described in Understanding the backup-while-open (BWO) facility.

Backups restored outside of CICS® VR or no backups restored

If a backup is not selected for restore through the CICS® VR panel interface, no additional alternate index processing is performed by CICS® VR. However, any alternate indexes in the upgrade set defined for the VSAM sphere that is being forward recovered is updated appropriately during forward recovery processing.

DFSMSdss™ logical copies or dumps

CICS® VR can be notified of logical copies or dumps created for VSAM spheres. However, only the base cluster can be copied or dumped when CICS® VR is notified because the CICSVRBACKUP and SPHERE keywords of the COPY and DUMP commands are mutually exclusive. Therefore, when a DFSMSdss™ logical copy or dump is selected through the CICS® VR panel interface, only the base cluster is restored. Any alternate index must be manually recreated and rebuilt after forward recovery processing.

Backups registered through the file copy notification service

If a backup that was previously registered to CICS® VR through the file copy notification service is selected for restore, a restore skeleton for the product identifier associated with the backup must be defined to CICS® VR. The restore skeleton must run the appropriate program with the required commands and keywords to restore the selected backup type. The ability to restore the entire VSAM sphere; base cluster, alternate indexes, paths, depends on the restore program.

Offline and sharp online backups

CICS® VR does not perform any additional alternate index processing for the following types of backups registered through the file copy notification interface:

Backups that were taken while the data set remained offline and closed to CICS® for update.
Backups that were taken while the data set remained online and open to CICS® for update, but no updates were made to the data set during backup processing, sharp online backup.

Any alternate index in the upgrade set for the VSAM sphere that is being forward recovered is updated appropriately during forward recovery processing.

Fuzzy online backups

For all backups that were registered to CICS® VR with a fuzzy online status, indicating that the backup was taken while the data set remained online and open for update, and one or more updates were made to the data set during backup processing, CICS® VR performs the additional alternate index processing:

CICS® VR removes all alternate indexes that are reusable and part of the upgrade set prior to forward recovery processing.
The alternate indexes are rebuilt after successful completion of forward recovery processing.

Note:

CICS® VR does not rebuild alternate indexes when a new name has been specified for the restoration and forward recovery of a VSAM sphere.