Recovery Knowledge

Recovery Knowledge an IBM Business Partner develops, supports, and markets three software products.  

All three products simplifies and automates the DB2 z/OS recovery process.

1. Health Check Interface for DB2

2. Listdef Manager for DB2

3. GENDB2  

All software products run on z/OS.

             Health Check Interface for DB2

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 General Information

A DB2 Health Check is a great way to evaluate and address recovery issues and to ensure your tablespaces are in an optimal recovery condition.

The Health Check Interface for DB2 software product will produce reports both online and batch that will supply both the DB2 DBA and DB2 System organizations with information about the recovery resources available for recovery of a specified DB2.  The online feature provides the customer with Action Options that may be used to automate the recovery process of the DB2 resources.  See below for available Action Options.

Reports Available:

1. Archive Logs shipped to Disaster Recovery (DR) Site.
2. Image Copies shipped to Disaster Recovery (DR) Site.
3. Recoveries of Tablespaces already executed (Type: Forward, TOCOPY, TORBA with RBA number and timestamp, and userid who submitted recovery jobs.
4. Tablespace Activities (Image Copies, Recoveries, Load, Quiesce, ETC)
5. Tablespaces in RESTRICT and or ADVISORY Status all on one screen.
6. Tablespaces in Pending Status.
7. Tables in Pending Status.

Action Options on DB2 recovery resources online feature include:

AC  - Activity of an objects.  Copy, Recovery, Load, Quiesce, Reorg, Alter,

         Creation, ETC., all information with timestamp and userid.  

RT - Generate TORBA recovery for all Tablespaces quiesced with this

        Tablespace.

TS - Generate TORBA recovery for a Tablespace Set.

TR - Generate TORBA recovery for all Tablespaces in a database.

TT - Generate TOCOPY recovery for a Tablespace Set.

TC - Generate TOCOPY recovery for all Tablespaces in a database.

QA - Generate Quiesce for all Tablespaces in a database.

IA  - Generate Image Copy for all Tablespaces in a database.

LD - Generate recovery job using Listdef (forward and/or TORBA using the

        System Wide Quiesce RBA for Disaster Recovery (DR) or On-site 

        recovery.

    I - Generate Image Copy of a single Tablespace.

   S -  Select an entry to get detail information of the entry.

   F -  Generate Forward recovery of a single Tabelspace.  ICTYPE F only

UT - Utility panels – If GENDB2 is installed. 

Health Check Interface for DB2 generation of these jobs requires no typing of Database or Tablespace names.  All Action Options on DB2 recovery resources are pick and chose.  A DB2 DBA novice can perform the recovery process.  A DB2 DBA guru is not required.

Less typing equals less errors and faster recovery of DB2 resources.

The DB2 Health Check Interface software product will interface with the GENDB2 Software product or run standalone.

Listdef Manager for DB2 

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Good News: A customer may obtain a free copy of the Listdef Manager for DB2 with the purchase of any of the other software products.  The customer only pay the yearly maintenance fee after the first year.

General Information 

Listdef Manager for DB2 automates the LISTDEF (Grouping of DB2 Objects) and TEMPLATE (Dynamic Allocation) features of DB2 z/OS.  The software product stores all listdef, template and group entries in DB2 tables for better security, management and automation.   The management of these entries (add, change, delete and view) are all Panel driven.  The DB2 DBA and DB2 System organizations use this process to automate the generation of DB2 utilities including the recovery process.

The Automation of Listdef feature includes:

1. Recover

• Forward
• TORBA using Archive Log Quiesce command  RBA(Nice for DR)
• TORBA using group Quiesce RBA

2.  Rebuild Index

3.  Check Index

4.  Copy

5.  Copytocopy

6.  Mergecopy

7.  Modify Recovery

8.  Modify Statistics

9.  Quiesce

10. Reorg

11. Report

12. Runstats Tablespace

13. Runstats Index

14. Misc (several utilities together)

The Automation of Template feature includes:

1.  Copy

2.  Copytocopy

3.  Mergecopy

4.  Reorg

Production Status:  Customer may generate Listdef jobs to be implemented into production status.  Once the Listdef jobs are in production status the customer may update the Listdef, Template, and Group entries online without interfering with the production jobs.  This process eliminates the need of paper work and management signatures when updating these entries.

Listdef Manager for DB2 generation of DB2 utilities jobs requires very little typing other than the DB2ID.  Most options are pick and chose with defaults.  A DB2 DBA novice can perform the process.  A DB2 DBA guru is not required.  Less typing equals less errors and faster execution of DB2 utilities as well as recovery of DB2 resources.

GENDB2 

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General Information 

The GENDB2 software product simplifies and automates the DB2 z/OS recovery process. This software will benefit both the DB2 DBA and DB2 system programmers sections. GENDB2 will also automate many of the DB2 DBAs daily functions such as, DSN1COPY - Using Image Copies to copy tablespaces from one DB2 to another. Automated generation of JCL and Control cards for DBID, PSIB, and OBIDs. Automating the UNLOAD/LOAD process using an EXCLUDE table so the customer may exclude tables from the load process, and many recovery type DBA functions Onsite/Offsite. 

The disaster recovery feature automates the creation of Job JCL and control cards to recover DB2 resources. Without the user's assistance, the tool will create the Utility Job JCL, RBAs/LRSNs and control cards to:
1. Recover BSDS from latest Archive tape
2. Register the latest archive log in BSDS
3. Delete/Newlog entries for Active Logs in bsds
4. Delete/Newlog entries for Archive Logs to replace copied archives in BSDS
5. STARTRBA for the DSN1LOGP utility
6. CRCR Crestart ENDRBA/ENDLRSN for disaster recovery restart in BSDS
7. Recovery Cat/Dir Tablespaces (Forward,TORBA) with/without LOGONLY is automated
8. Recover User Tablespaces (Forward,TOCOPY,TORBA) with/without LOGONLY is automated.
9. Recover SAP Tablespace or any Tablespace Groups in Multiple Databases (Forward) and (TORBA) using Archive Log Mode(Quiesce) RBA System Wide consistency BSDS, Active Logs, Cat/Dir, User Tablespaces, and all DB2 resources recoveries are simplified and automated off-site as well as on-site

Disaster Recovery Archive Log Copy Recording:                                             This feature enables users to automatically record archive log copy input and output data. At the DR site, the Delete/Newlog control cards, with the new archive dsnames and correct RBAs/LRSNs is automated to replace the BSDS information. Archive log copy tape to disk is also automated for faster tablespace recoveries

Local and Off-site Disaster Recovery:  Supported

IDCAMS Automation Feature:  The IDCAMS automation feature automates the creation of all DB2 VSAM datasets for DB2 Catalog and Directory Tablespaces, User Application Tablespaces, Active Logs, and BSDS. Space allocation for these DB2 resources is included. Time and resources at the Local Site will be better utilized by eliminating the need for Disk Pack Dump of these resources. Time and resources at the DR Site will also be saved by eliminating the need for Disk Pack Restore. The Delete/Define of these DB2 resources is panel-driven.

Feature to allow the customer to display GENDB2 tables regarding Disaster Recovery:                                                                                                                     A. The Archive Log Copy recording information (Original and Copied volume serial number, and data set names (BSDS and Archive) with TIMESTAMP.
B. Start/End RBA and LRSN for latest Archive Log Registration.
C. Conditional Restart CRestart
D. Start RBA for DSN1LOGP

Single Tape Mounting Feature: Supported

Datasharing: Supported

SMS supported: Supported

Recovery and Grouping of any DB2 Tablespaces:  Supported

Dropped Tablespace Recovery Feature: Supported

DSN1COPY – Using Image Copies: Supported

DB2 Data Cloning Feature:   Unload/Load - Copy all tables in a database from a DB2 to another DB2 with options to include an (exclude list to exclude certain tables) and (change) the creator of the tables. RESTART ABILITY: In order to save rerun time the ability to restart the load process at any step in case of a failure. REFRESH ABILITY: The ability to use the same input (data and control cards) to load and reload to different DB2 or same DB2 over and over using the same input resources. Nice feature for testing applications and migrating Tables from PROD to TEST in both directions. Customer may save/retrieve Unload/Load information parameters for later use without retyping. Save time while eliminating typing errors.

UNLOAD/LOAD:  The unloaded information tables and control cards is now stored in DB2 tables allowing the customer to retrieve and load tables as far back as the first unload using the GENDB2 software.

PRODUCTION STATUS:  The customer may now implement the UNLOAD and LOAD GENDB2 generated jobs into production status.

Complete Database Automation Feature:  Complete database automation allows the user to create Recover (Forward, TOCOPY, TORBA), Check, Image Copy, Reorg, Quiesce, Modify, Repair, and Report, jobs from a SINGLE panel for ALL Tablespaces and Indexes in a specified database. 

On-site Recovery:  On-site recovery simplifies and automates the generation of the recovery Job JCL and CNTL statement for all DB2 resources at on-site as well as off-site environments. This tool will display each of the different recovery points of a Tablespace by RBA, Image Copy, Timestamp, Tocopy, etc. as selected by the user using an ISPF Dialog Manager panel. This method eliminates the guesswork from recovery of your User Tablespaces, BSDS, Active Logs, Cat/Dir, etc. as well as the possibility of typing errors. To further ensure accuracy, the recovery of the BSDS and active logs is based on Error Messages issued by the DB2 system. This tool is as close to the one-button approach as is possible.

History Recording Feature:  A history recording feature has been placed on the recovery of your user tablespaces, which is useful for determining what recoveries were previously executed on a tablespace (Forward/Tocopy/Torba with RBA number). All history records contain a timestamp and the user ID of each user submitting a recovery job.

Security Feature:  A security feature allows the user to restrict the use of some features of the tool by user ID’s. Some user ID’s are authorized to recover only user tablespaces while others are allowed to recover only BSDS, or Active Logs, or any combination of the features.

Customization:  Open architecture allows the user to customize recovery jobs by identifying all variable names in ISPF tables, skeleton members, and column names in GENDB2 DB2 tables.

You may request a free trial of all three (3) software products at no cost.