Welcome
Getting Started
Introducing CICS® VR
CICS® VSAM Recovery Version 6 Release 3 (CICS VR) recovers your lost or damaged VSAM data.
CICS® VR capabilities and limitations
Descriptions of the capabilities and limitations of CICS® VR.
Alternate indexes

What's new in CICS VR 6.3
CICS® VR 6.3 contains these changes.
Operating environment
CICS® VR uses logs to recover your VSAM data.
CICS VR Overview
Getting Started
- Introducing CICS® VR
  CICS® VSAM Recovery Version 6 Release 3 (CICS VR) recovers your lost or damaged VSAM data.
  - How CICS® VR can help you
    CICS® VR helps you recover your VSAM data sets in CICS VR VSAM batch logging, when the VSAM data sets are not accessed in record level sharing–mode following, and CICS TS environments.
  - Understanding CICS® VR functions
    CICS® VR offers many different functions. Some functions are specific to a particular environment such as: VSAM batch logging, or CICS TS.
  - CICS® VR capabilities and limitations
    Descriptions of the capabilities and limitations of CICS® VR.
    - Forward recovery
      CICS® VR uses the after-images on the logs to forward recover your VSAM spheres; it cannot forward recover a VSAM sphere that does not have an associated log containing after-images.
    - Alternate indexes
    - CICS® VR batch backout
      CICS® VR uses the before-image log records to back out updates that are made by a batch job. CICS VR undo logging can produce before-image log records for updates that are made to VSAM spheres by batch jobs.
    - VSAM data set attributes
      CICS® VR can detect whether the VSAM attributes of the target VSAM sphere in a recovery run differ from the attributes of the sphere as recorded on the log.
    - Extended Addressability mode support
      CICS® VR supports the Extended Addressability mode for ESDS, KSDS, RRDS and VRRDS VSAM spheres.
    - DFSMShsm™
      CICS® VR can restore VSAM spheres from DFSMShsm™ logical backups and logical dumps.
    - DFSMSdss™
      CICS® VR can keep an inventory of and restore DFSMSdss™ logical copies and dumps created for VSAM base clusters.
    - ABARS
      CICS® VR can keep an inventory of and restore backups created by ABARS.
    - Other logical backups
      By using the CICS® VR file copy notification service, CICS VR can maintain an inventory of, and list through the panel interface, logical backups made using other backup products (IBM® or non-IBM).
- Overview of CICS VR installation
  This information describes all the necessary steps to successfully set up CICS VR 6.3. It includes a detailed description of the various CICS VR components and how to set them up. The CICS VR server address space is required for batch logging, backup notification, and backout failure notification.
- Migration considerations
  Consider these general migration considerations when you migrate to CICS® VR 6.3 from an earlier release.
- Activating the CICS® VR server address space
  The CICS® VR server address space provides a communication vehicle for CICS VR and other applications. It must be active if you want to use any of these CICS VR functions.
- Setting up CICS® VR VSAM batch logging
  CICS® VR VSAM batch logging, referred to as batch logging, provides logging of updates made to VSAM data sets by batch jobs. Two types of batch logging are available, forward recovery logging and undo logging.
- CICS® VR security
  Security has been enhanced to protect the RCDS from being updated by any user. It is possible to specify that the users security profile must be checked before allowing certain information in the RCDS to be added, changed, or deleted.
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.
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 6.3, 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 6.3

Alternate indexes

When an offline or "SHARP" online backup is restored, or no backup is restored by CICS® VR:
- Forward recovery and batch backout automatically update any alternate indexes defined for a VSAM sphere that are part of the upgrade set.
When an online "Fuzzy" backup is restored by CICS® VR:
- Forward recovery automatically removes alternate indexes that are part of the upgrade set and are reusable prior to forward recovery processing. The alternate indexes are then rebuilt after forward recovery completes.
Forward recovery can process a VSAM sphere with non-unique alternate indexes.