Q&A


T-REX is the newest, most comprehensive catalog management, VSAM cluster, and TMC synchronization tool on the market. It helps you ensure the health of your catalogs and TMC in five key areas: maintenance, diagnostics, reporting, backup and recovery, plus SMF management. This one tool, as a complement to IBM's Access Method Services, provides you with all of the utilities you need to simplify management of your catalogs and tape subsystem, while providing the critical backup and recovery capabilities that are required to protect your data in the event of minor problems or major disasters. T-REX supports all VSAM clusters - KSDS, ESDS, RRDS, VRRDS and LINEAR. T-REX provides the user with a facility to aid in the drive towards continuous availability with the capability to REORG a catalog while it is OPEN.

T-REX includes an extensive collection of facilities that allow you to:

  • REORG any catalog even if that catalog is OPEN and allocated to CAS on any number of shared systems.
  • Diagnose discrepancies between system catalogs and your TMC. Diagnostics can be run using your TMC as the source against your system catalogs, and using your system catalogs as the source against your TMC.
  • Utilize EXPORT and IMPORT commands capable of repairing many structural defects for ICF catalogs, VVDSs and VSAM clusters;
  • Audits and reports on the BCDS, MCDS, and OCDS
  • Performs CDS record validation
  • Use names, characteristics, attributes, or volume serial numbers as selection criteria to report on data set information;
  • Perform catalog repair and recovery using a variety of methods allowing you to respond to different types of failures;
  • List, delete, or modify data within the catalog environment at the record or control interval level for both data or index components;
  • Make use of SMF data to quickly recover using BCS or VVDS backup copies;
  • Use diagnostic and repair facilities to detect and resolve inconsistencies in the catalog environment.
  • T-REX provides powerful generic selection criteria to minimize the amount of effort required to manage and maintain your catalog environment.
  • Analyze BCS and VVDS objects to determine optimum specifications (this feature is sold as a separate product by other vendors).
  • Relabel DASD volumes containing catalogs, VSAM and nonVSAM data sets. Catalog entries pointing to data sets on the volume are automatically updated. Multiple catalogs are processed concurrently as separate subtasks.
  • Copy all or partial catalog entries from one BCS to another with full VVDS integrity.
  • For disaster recovery scenarios, T-REX provides unmatched flexibility. Using the DRIMPORT (Disaster Recovery IMPORT) process, you can selectively restore entries to your catalogs. This process should eliminate any need for time consuming catalog scrubbing utilities. However, should ever have the need to scrub, T-REX provides the fastest scrubbing utility on the market today. Powerful subtasking capabilities allow T-REX to scrub numerous catalogs simultaneously without the need to generate IDCAMS control statements. No product on the market can match the speed of T-REX.

What are the primary challenges that T-REX addresses?

T-REX addresses five primary challenges faced by data centers today, including:

  • The need to recover efficiently and quickly from catalog problems;
  • The need to maintain a healthy catalog environment in the face of changing business demands such as the ability to migrate to new technologies, like 36 track tape devices;
  • The need to swiftly and cogently retrieve and report information about your catalog environment, including the data managed in the catalog environment;
  • The need to monitor your catalog environment in a way that is effortless enough to promote comprehensive diagnostic practices.
  • The drive towards continuous availability.

What are the primary benefits of T-REX maintenance and diagnostic facilities?

T-REX allows you to perform regularly scheduled catalog maintenance quickly and easily, simplifying your day-to-day catalog management tasks. It gives you the ability to quickly and easily migrate to 36 track tape devices, scratch orphaned data set components, manage SMF data related to the ICF environment, and ensure your system catalogs are in sync with your TMC.. With T-REX, BCS and VVDS reorganization is simple. Structural, logical, and relational problems in the catalog environment can be quickly identified and corrected before they affect system availability. T-REX's generic name and volser selection capabilities allow you to perform diagnostics and maintenance on multiple catalogs and VVDSS, eliminating the need to update job streams with explicit names in an effort to keep pace with changing environments.


What are the primary benefits of T-REX backup and recovery facilities?

T-REX is the latest, most up-to-date tool available for the reliable backup and recovery of your catalog environment. T-REX gives you the flexibility to recover catalogs in several different ways according to what the situation dictates. Minor errors may only require back up and rebuild of the current contents of the catalog to repair the error. (Some utilities use the catalog index in the backup process and these themselves, are a very common type of error - often causing the backup to fail), T-REX uses the EXPORT command to back up individual data components, resulting in the most reliable form of backup. In the most severe cases users may need to perform a forward recovery using SMF data and a previous backup copy.

REORG while OPEN provides the user with a facility to reorganize a catalog without the need to pause online systems or halt batch processing. A catalog can be allocated and OPEN to CAS on any number of shared systems. T-REX ensures total data integrity during the REORG process.


How does T-REX stack up against the competition?

T-REX comes from the original developers of Softworks' Catalog Solution. It is the latest product incorporating many years of experience in this particular field. It is faster and more capable than anything else available today. Much of the performance incorporated into T-REX comes from developers of Softworks' Performance Solution. This development team has an average of over 20 years in the performance field. No other vendor can tout such proven experience. This combined experience in catalog administration and performance has lead to unparalleled features combined with unparalleled speed.

T-REX also offers these unique features and functions:

  • REORG catalogs even while OPEN.
  • Ability to diagnose synchronization issues between your TMC and system catalogs. Supported Tape Management Systems include:
    • CA1
    • Control-T
    • RMM
    • TLMS
    • ZARA
  • Provides the capability of VVDS backup and rebuild;
  • Automatically fixes or generates control cards from its diagnostic routines that can fix the errors it detects;
  • Performs high-speed device conversion at the catalog level rather than the entry level;
  • Significantly increases the efficiency of your disaster recovery effort by removing the need for any catalog scrubbing procedures, dramatically reducing recovery time;
  • Should you need to perform catalog scrubbing, T-REX can perform it for you in lightning speed. T-REX is the only product on the market to offer the ability to quickly scrub multiple catalogs simultaneously. Benchmarks have shown T-REX to be exponentially faster than any product on the market today.
  • Provides System Access Facility (SAF) security that allows you to restrict access to the most powerful T-REX functions to designated staff members;
  • Provides flexible generic name and VOLSER specification capabilities.

What operating environment does T-REX run in?

T-REX runs on all z/OS, OS/390 and MVS/ESA operating systems.


What are T-REX's functions?

T-REX has many commands that complement IBM's Access Method Services (AMS). T-REX extends AMS to support VSAM clusters (KSDS, ESDS, RRDS, VRRDS and LINEAR), BCS and VVDSs. T-REX functions include:

  • ANALYZE selects and prints detailed information for BCSs and VVDSs. Logical and physical information for BCSs are collected and displayed. Each record type found in the BCS is not only tallied and displayed, but the longest record is identified and the true average record size is displayed. All connected catalogs can be analyzed in one command. The output can then be sorted by numerous fields. Information for VVDSs include includes catalogs within the VVCR/VVCN chain as well as space map details.
  • AUDIT command validates the three control data sets that HSM uses the BCDS, the MCDS and the OCDS. The OBJECT keyword is used to select the control data set that will be processed. MIGRATE refers to the MCDS, BACKUP refers to the BCDS and TTOC refers to the OCDS. The FOCUS keyword further qualifies the starting point/direction that auditing undertakes. Validation of migrated entries references records in the BCS, MCDS, BCDS and OCDS. Backup and tape validation references records in the three control data sets, no BCS interrogation is performed.
  • DELETE removes records and control intervals from VSAM clusters, and BCS and VVDS catalog components.
  • DIAGNOSE dynamically invokes IBM's Access Method Services DIAGNOSE BCS to VVDS and/or VVDS to BCS facilities in a single or multitasking environment.
  • DRIMPORT restores full or partial BCS components by key or record type. Generation data groups can be reinitialized and set to empty before utilizing another data mover to restore critical data sets at a disaster recovery site. BCS records can be included/excluded by devicetype, DSN, recordtype, and volser. DRIMPORT can even select generations of a GDG by devicetype and volser. This enables the user to restore just their tape subsystem, for example.
  • DUMP provides "logical" backup capabilities for VSAM clusters.
  • EXAMINE dynamically invokes IBM's Access Method Services EXAMINE facilities for keyed VSAM data sets (KSDS and VRRDS) and a BCS in a single or multitasking environment.
  • EXPORT takes a raw dump of VSAM data sets, and the BCS and VVDS components of an ICF catalog. All VSAM data types are supported. Backups can be performed in a single or multitasking environment.
  • ICFRU applies SMF updates to the backup of a BCS component of an Integrated Catalog Facility to recover a back-leveled catalog.
  • IMPORT restores VSAM data sets, and BCS and VVDS components of an ICF catalog is a single or multitasking environment.
  • INTEGRITYCHECK checks and corrects discrepancies in the ICF catalog environment. Each diagnostic can be run in a single or multitasking mode.
  • LISTCAT selects and displays catalog entries.
  • MODIFY is used to change attributes in BCS and VVDS records. Special selection criteria exist to optimize VSAM datasets for sequential processing. This can speed many of your batch processes.
  • PRINT displays the contents of VSAM data sets, and BCS and VVDS catalog components.
  • REFORMAT changes the volume label on a DASD device, interfaces with the Catalog Address Space (CAS) and multitasks the modification of the old volume reference in all related catalogs to the new volser.
  • REORG allows the user to quickly reorganize any catalog. Catalogs can be OPEN and allocated to CAS on any number of shared systems. No longer much online systems be paused to reorganize a catalog.
  • REPRO moves or copies catalog records from one or more BCS's to another.
  • RESTORE is used to reload selected VSAM data sets. Alternate Index and Path relationships can automatically be established.
  • SCRUB provides high speed multitasking catalog synchronization capabilities for Disaster Recovery environments.
  • TAPEAUDIT contains robotic/virtual tape library validation and synchronization capabilities.
  • TAPEREPORT generates "Tape Media Space Utilization", "Tape Media Detail", "Tape Media Summary", and "Billing Summary" reports.
  • ZAP updates records in VSAM clusters, and BCS and VVDS catalog components.

How does T-REX work?

T-REX is an MVS batch facility that can single-thread or multitask many of its commands. Many of the functions are executing in parallel while IDCAMS and other competing products are processing one entry at a time. This means that much more work is accomplished in a smaller window. T-REX was written as a 21st century product, exploiting the newest features of z/OS.

If you have a vendor product that supports VSAM clusters and ICF catalogs, ask them if they run under z/OS without any changes, or do they support and use the 64 bit instruction set and the latest operating system features? The answer is likely NO. T-REX does not rely on old technology, journals or temporary works files. It swiftly addresses critical VSAM and catalog tasks in the shortest amount of time with unprecedented integrity. T-REX is not just another catalog recovery product. It has superior catalog recovery functionality that surpasses any competitor, plus enhanced IDCAMS functionality that supports all types of VSAM clusters (KSDS, ESDS, LINEAR, RRDS and VRRDS) and catalog components (BCS and VVDS).


Why is T-REX better than the competition?

T-REX provides:

  1. REORG in place is one step, does not terminate from insufficient repair capability, and maintains absolute data integrity.
  2. Full Object Support - Support all types of clusters (KSDS, ESDS, LINEAR, RRDS and VRRDS), and catalog components (BCS and VVDS).
  3. Multitasking Backups - Why process a VSAM object (cluster, BCS or VVDS) one entry at a time when you can simultaneously process many objects. The elapsed backup time is significantly reduced.
  4. Other vendors are just now offering subtasking capabilities for their backup. T-REX can not only subtask your backups, but it can subtask the IMPORT and ALL major catalog diagnostics.
  5. While other vendors make the user specify how many subtasks to create, T-REX dynamically determines the optimal performance criteria. This removes the responsibility of the user knowing what value(s) are optimal. These values can change drastically depending upon the system you are running. This responsibility is squarely placed on T-REX, where we at Dino-Software feel it should be. As you change systems, or upgrade systems, T-REX automatically adjusts.
  6. Backup Integrity - Bypasses the index of keyed objects (KSDS, VRRDS and BCSs) to obtain a complete backup.
  7. Superior Diagnostics - We interrogate the entire scope in one pass (BCS, VVDS and VTOC). There is no need to interrogate these objects separately.  T-REX is the only product on the market to support multitasking when diagnosing your BCSs, VVDSs, and VTOC.  Why diagnose one catalog at a time, or one volume at a time when you can process 16+ simultaneously?
  8. Multivolume Support - Full support for the recataloging of multi-volume VSAM and nonVSAM catalog entries.
  9. AUTOFIX Capabilities - Provides the dynamic creation and removal of catalog entries to correct catalog discrepancies. Corrective control cards are generated if AUTOFIX is not requested.
  10. Full Coupling Facility Support in a SYSPLEX environment - T-REX honors and maintains VVDS integrity when updates are made to a VVDS that resides in the Coupling Facility. T-REX communicates directly with the coupling facility to ensure data integrity.
  11. Backup Flexibility - You can backup an object (cluster, BCS or VVDS) to an unlimited number of backup files with one pass of the object. You are not limited to one or two backup files.
  12. Dynamic Cluster, BCS and VVDS Redefinition - During IMPORT and DRIMPORT, objects can be dynamically redefined or replaced before they are populated with records. Object attributes can also be dynamically modified data control interval size, index control interval size, maximum logical record length, and the +/- percentage adjustment of the current space allocation.
  13. Disaster Recovery Support - Dynamically recreate and restore your catalog environment at a disaster recovery site with one command. You also have the option of redefining your catalog environment with the same or modified attributes without restoring catalog entries. GDG bases can optionally be restored as "empty". This allows you to quickly restore your established catalog structure and use another data mover (DF/DSS, FDR, etc.) to restore individual data sets. You also have the option of restoring selected catalog object types (VSAM, nonVSAM, GDG, UCAT, etc.) while maintaining object relationships. You also have the option to restore catalog entries by volume and/or devicetype.  You can restore all entries defined to TAPE', for example.
  14. Object Modification - Supports VER/REP capabilities for all object types, cluster, BCS and VVDS.
  15. Attribute Modification - Quickly and easily modify or remove BCS names in VVDSs, change the device type and/or volume for BCS entries, and alter generation data group (GDG) attributes.
  16. Enhanced LISTCAT - LISTCAT style format with "real world" selection capabilities.
  17. Superior Documentation - PDF manual contains complete AMS/E documentation with numerous examples and bookmarks.
  18. 64 Bit Processing.
  19. DASD / VTOC reporting. 
  20. Auditing.  T-REX can AUDIT your ICF catalog/TMC relationship.  Supported TMCs are: RMM, CONTROL-T, CA1, TLMS, and ZARA.

When should you consider implementing T-REX?

ICF catalogs are absolutely critical to successful data access. Today's ICF catalog environment is growing in size and complexity and it's imperative that you have a comprehensive tool available for day-to-day catalog management, and backup and recovery. Without T-REX data is at risk, may not be accessible or could be lost. If your MVS facility uses VSAM at all, T-REX is an integral product that should be a part of your data centers required tools.

If your company is striving for continuous availability of your system, then the ability to reorganize your catalogs without pausing batch and online systems, is also a requirement.


How is T-REX controlled?

T-REX is a batch utility that provides flexible cluster, BCS, VVDS and volume selection capabilities. ISPF panels are available and each command is supported thru ISPF.


How much manpower is required to install and maintain T-REX?

Installation of T-REX is simple and requires no system hooks, SVCs or other modifications. The product contains three installation files, AMSELOAD, AMSEISPF, and AMSESAMP; and a PDF version of the users guide. The following five steps are required to install the product and usually take only a few minutes:

STEP 1 Copy the installation file from your PC to the mainframe.
STEP 2 XMIT all three installation files to unload them to PDS data sets.
STEP 3 Update the installation code table.
STEP 4 APF Authorize the load library.
STEP 5 Review the manual and try some of the numerous sample jobs referenced in Appendix B and Appendix C of the users guide.


Are there special considerations for T-REX under Parallel Sysplex?

No, there are no special considerations. We fully exploit the Coupling Facility to maintain VVDS integrity. If the tool you are currently using modifies the VVDS solely by opening it as a data set, Coupling Facility Integrity is not maintained. VVDS updates are staged in the Coupling Facility. Updates done outside of Catalog Management are not honored or supported. IBM has made this perfectly clear at different SHARE presentations. You may have a catalog catastrophe waiting to happen.