ETJ First Impression: T-REX 7.5
Dino-Software Introduces T-REX V7.5 Delivering Significant New Enhancements
By Denny Yost, ETJ Magazine (5-minute read)
Dino-Software continues to excel at taking on and easing the challenge of working with VSAM files and catalogs through its well-known and highly popular T-REX product. T-REX is a proven mainframe utility that analyzes, diagnoses, reorganizes, reports, backs up and repairs clusters while also assisting with the overall maintenance to ensure continuous operational capabilities of the ICF catalog components in a z/OS environment.
For many years, T-REX has aided in the monitoring and maintenance of catalog and cluster health to minimize this tedious and time-consuming task. T-REX provides invaluable assistance to those professionals tasked with ensuring the ICF environment and VSAM clusters perform with consistency, accuracy and reliability by delivering:
Introducing T-REX V7.5
An important, successful and popular software solution like T-REX must relentlessly continue to pursue perfection and stay competitive as changes to the IBM z/OS operating system and its many various components also advance. T-REX V7.5 continues the legacy of accomplishing this task and more. Let’s look at what has been added in T-REX V7.5.
z/OS 2.5 Day-One Support and More
Dino-Software has always kept T-REX current by supporting the latest z/OS operating system and T-REX V7.5 does this once again. Therefore, T-REX V7.5 provides day-one support for z/OS 2.5 making it easier for companies to migrate to the latest operating system release as early as they wish.
As in T-REX V7.4, Dino-Software made the necessary updates to its tape extension utility, RAPTOR, to support DFSMSrmm V2R5. This will be appreciated by storage administrators, systems programmers and application programmers who use the facilities provided by DFSMSrmm.
Three additional enhancements are included in T-REX V7.5 for z/OS 2.5 day-one support. These include support for IBM’s ICN 1723 and ICN 1725 — EXECUTABLE=YES (Getmain-Freemain-Storage, IARV64), verified EADSCB=OK is specified to prevent IBM’s EAV migration assistance tracker from flagging T-REX as needing changes to support EAV and sequential data set block sizes are now strategically set to optimal values when pervasive encryption is utilized.
REORG Expanded Capability
There are four new enhancements in T-REX V7.5 involving REORG. New REORG messaging provides a more clearly discernable alert, using both PRTFILE message and system console WTO when REORG fails to redefine the target basic catalog structure (BCS). When REORG detects either the NEWVOLUME or the original BCS DASD volume is not SMS enabled or is unavailable, REORG will now terminate (REORG will also now terminate if the NEWVOLUME is not online for a non-SMS managed volume). New keywords have also been added to allow validation of the DD statements and volumes used by REORG. Starting with T-REX V7.5, T-REX will now check the conditional disposition of the BACK* data set for DELETE if the VALIDATE_DD statement is specified. These are all great enhancements in T-REX V7.5 that will certainly be appreciated by many current and new customers. If that isn’t enough, there is more.
INTEGRITYCHECK Added Functionality
T-REX Access Method Services/Extended is a batch facility that complements and enhances IBM’s Access Method Services (IDCAMS) utility providing additional flexibility through keyword options and other functions. One of the functions provided by the T-REX Access Method Services/Extended is the INTEGRITYCHECK command. The INTEGRITYCHECK command is used to correct discrepancies found when using the IDCAMS EXAMINE feature plus a cross-reference of related catalog dependencies to aid in catalog recovery. Additional features include usercatalog alias validation and resynchronization, VVDS space map validation, and alias reorganization. Now with T-REX V7.5, INTEGRITYCHECK has added new FOCUS items for GDG processing for extension record validation, detecting idle GDGs and detecting and reporting various potential Generation Aging Table (GAT) issues. Another new capability is to use the command INTEGRITYCHECK OBJECT(CS) FOCUS(BCS) OFFLINE(ONLY) to generate DELETE NSCR cards only if the volume reference is found to be OFFLINE to the current system which is very handy indeed. One additional new command is the INTEGRITYCHECK OBJECT(ALIAS)_AGE(nnn) where the ALIAS_AGE optional keyword instructs INTEGRITYCHECK to retrieve each alias creation date and confirm the target alias is “older” than the ALIAS_AGE specification before enacting any attempt to delete the alias.
Enhanced RAPTOR Tape Support
The TAPEAUDIT command is used to gather and display information pertaining to data sets residing on tape that are not cataloged, tape data set catalog entries that no longer reside on tape, tape volume stored in robotic/virtual tape libraries and in vault locations and SMS managed tape data sets. Additional tape reporting is included with the TAPEREPORT command which details Tape Media Utilization, Tape Media Detail, Tape Media Status and Billing Summary. These are popular commands to say the least.
Several new capabilities have been added for T-REX V7.5. The TAPEAUDIT command for DFSMSrmm now uses the XREPTEXT file and eXtended (‘X’) records for processing. TAPEAUDIT no longer supports the REPTEXT file containing only Dataset (‘D’) and Volume (‘V’) records. TAPEAUDIT will now automatically generate an XREPTEXT file if one is not specified as input. TAPEAUDIT and TAPEREPORT commands now allow the user to restrict the scope of the command by adding a new FOCUS option. The user may optionally select from Active, Pending, Scratch, Initial Status, Unknown Status, Is Cataloged, Not Cataloged and Unknown Catalog state. The DAYS option has also been added to the GDGDRIFT report allowing the user to specify the number of days to use for determining if a GDG has been inactive.
Additional enhancements are also included in T-REX V7.5 that you should check-out! To learn more about T-REX V7.5, contact Dino-Software at 703-768-2610 or visit their website www.Dino-Software.com.