Home > What’s New in Backup and Recovery Manager (BRM) V6.2

What’s New in Backup and Recovery Manager (BRM) V6.2

BRM V6.2 contains a number of enhancements we think you will find valuable. Some were requested by our BRM users, and others were initiated by our development team. In the near future we will begin drafting a list of enhancements for the next version of BRM, so if you have features or functions you would like added to BRM please open an enhancement request via the Rocket Customer Portal. Click here if you don't have an RCP account and would like to request one.

The BRM V6.2 enhancements fall into a number of categories:

ASAP Enhancements

• Improved integration of ISPF panels and functions
  • Removed inactive and renumbered panel options and added dropdown menus
• Enhanced support for All/Star BKUPEND function
  • Optionally prevent APPLEND execution when BKUPEND not run
  • New options added to application setup and BRMINI
• Job Collection Support for ESP V5.5 scheduler
  • New SADGEN report format automatically detected and processed

All/Star Enhancements

• Enhanced BKUPEND functionality
  • Support ASAP APPLEND/VERIFY enhancements
  • New ASAP application setup parameters
  • Retain multiple cycle point backup versions for recovery
  • Optionally prevent BKUPEND execution when APPLEND not run
• New BKUPEND Validation report
  • Verify backups still exist
• Additional Summary Report control card options
  • APPL(applname1/mask1 applname2/mask2 ……….) or (*)
  • CYCLE (n) where n is either a relative generation or * for all
• Multi-level backup support
  • Track and restore from duplex copies and copies of backups
• Support for new backup utilities
  • TAPECOPY
  • SYNCSORT, ICEMAN
  • PDSMAN
  • User Defined Backup utilities
  • DFDSS disk to disk copy

DAD Enhancement

• Job name filtering to skip recording dataset changes made by specific jobs
  • Provides mechanism to skip DFSMShsm recall activity

Tape Management Metadata Support for RMM and CA1

• ABARS Manager and All/Star Tape Pull List reports
  • List backup tapes by tape storage location
• Tape dataset information added to Inventory Data Set
  • Tape dataset size displayed for tape data backed up using ABARS
• Tape dataset information used by Aggregate LoadBalancer
  • Tape dataset size used for distribution by size function

DB2 Image Copy Backup Inventory Support

• DB2 subsystem Image Copy display function
  • Display DB2 image copy records from active DB2 subsystems

Aggregate LoadBalancer Functional Enhancements

• New Job and PROC members in product JCL library
  • BRMALB01 and BRMALBP
• New INI tokens for optional REXX step
  • ALBPGNM = IEFBR14
    REXXEXEC = BRMREXX1
    SYSEXEC = NULLFILE
• Control card option enhancements
  • DISTRIBUTE by size can now be specified in KB|MB|GB|TB
  • Support for mixed INPUT types (SDSs and AGGRs)
  • Unlimited number of INPUT/OUTPUT SDSs
  • Support for input SDSs in SDSL format
• INPUT SDS GDS name formats preserved in OUTPUT SDSs
  • Relative in, relative out
  • Absolute in, absolute out
• Tape dataset sizes used for distribution to output SDSs
  • Based on metadata from CA1 or RMM
  • Uses DFSMShsm MCDS data for ML2 dataset sizes
• EXTRACT records now contain dataset DCB attributes
  • Record size increased from 200 to 256 bytes
  • Sample REXX code changed to support new EXTRACT record format, LRECL and record mapping
• OUTPUT SDSs contain additional comments
  • SDS last updated date and time
  • INPUT source names (AGGRs and/or SDSs)
  • Dataset location (device type and VOLSER)
• All GDS names for a specific GDG are written to the same output SDS
  • Prevents GDS relativity errors during recovery
• Warning and error messages summarized in new output file DDNAME MSGSUMRY

Online Messages Restructured

• ISPF message display functions consolidated, enhanced and standardized
  • Message search using message ID masks

Health-check Utility Enhanced

• Analyze and validate All/Star and ABARS Manager database records
  • Identify and optionally correct mismatches
• Reconciliation report for cataloged ABARS backups and ABARS Manager inventory
  • Verify inventoried ABARS backups still exist
• Identify orphaned ABARS backups (not recorded in the IDS)
  • Potential cleanup opportunity

Product Libraries Restructured

• BRM prefix used for all member and program names
• New APPLEND and Aggregate LoadBalancer procedures BRMAPLEP and BRMALBP
• Installation using SMP/E only

Documentation Restructured

• New BRM User’s Guide
  • Contains ABM/ASAP/AST User’s Guides and Installation & Maintenance Guide
  • BRM V6.1 to V6.2 conversion section

Miscellaneous

• TMS user exit facility for unsupported TMS products
• BRMINI conversion program (V6.1 to V6.2) BRMINIC1

Initialization Parameters Restructured

• Selected BRMINI token names changed
  • Updated by BRMINI conversion program

New BRMINI tokens

:AST_DUMP_BACKUP_PROCESS_OPTIONS 
EXPIRE_BAD_RC
:AST_BACKUP_END_OPTIONS        
BKUPEND_REQUIRED 
BACKUP_CYCLES_TO_RETAIN
APPL_ONLY_BACKUPS
INCLUDE_HSM
INCLUDE_PHYSICAL
EXCLUDE_ACCOMPANY
EXCLUDE_ALLOCATE
BAD_BKUP_RC
NO_BKUP_FOUND_RC
CHANGED_SINCE_LAST_BKUP
:ASAP
EVALUATE_ALL_DATASETS_AS_CRITICAL  
DETAILED_COMMENTS_IN_SEL_DATASET
SDS_NAME_PREFIX
SDS_FORMAT
:PROCESS_OPTIONS 
ALBPGNM
REXXEXEC
SYSEXEC
DEFAULT
JOB1 = '//EDPTEPJ1 JOB (ACCT),'TEP',CLASS=A,MSGCLASS=X'
JOB2 = '//JCLLIB JCLLIB ORDER=(BKM0202.EDP.JCL)'       
JOB3 = '//*'                                           
JOB4 = '//*'                                           
SMF_RECTYPE = 255

Tokens renamed

:BRMSTSKD_OPTIONS
DAD_LOG 
DAD_AUTOSTART       
DAD_DSPC_BUFFERS     
DAD_PURGE_UNCATLG     
DAD_PURGE_AFTER_DAYS                
DAD_PURGE_START_TIME            
DAD_PURGE_SUSPEND                
DAD_MSGQUEUE
DAD_Overflow_DSN
DAD_Overflow_Parms    
:ASAP_RSP
RSP_LOG        
RSP_AutostarT         
RSP_Dspc_BufferS       
RSP_Use_U83_Exit                  
RSP_Use_UJI_Exit                  
RSP_SKIP_ALL_STARTEDTASKS                  
RSP_SKIP_ALL_TSOJOBS                       
RSP_JobFlat                 
RSP_MSGQueue                 
RSP_Overflow_DSN                 
RSP_Overflow_Parms
RSP_Delete_Detail_at_Applend

Summary

BRM’s ASAP feature continuously monitors application jobs to dynamically discover datasets critical to specific applications. The critical dataset list produced can be used as input to a data mover or for reporting.

BRM’s ABARS Manager feature enhances the functions of native DFSMShsm ABARS, provides easy access to the ABARS backup inventory and automatically builds both local and remote recovery jobs for complete application or selected dataset recoveries.

BRM’s All/Star feature continuously monitors backup jobs and maintains an inventory of dataset backups. All/Star reporting functions can be used to compare application critical dataset lists to the backup inventory, identify any missing or non-current backups and provide compliance reporting.

BRM’s CATSCRUB feature can be used to “condition” User Catalogs at the recovery site. CATSCRUB can compare User Catalog contents to DASD volume contents and build IDCAMS corrective action control cards for catalog cleanup.