To use IEBCOPY, see the following characteristics, rules, and restrictions:

• IEBCOPY does support VIO (virtual I/O) data sets.
• IEBCOPY uses the EXCP access method. Therefore:
  • Some common DCB parameters such as BUFNO are ignored.
• Starting in z/OS V1R13, IEBCOPY is no longer APF-authorized.
• IEBCOPY must not be loaded in supervisor state or in protection key zero. It is an application program that does not use the special system interfaces assumed for the system kernel running in supervisor state or in protection key zero.
• Variable spanned format record (VS or VBS) are not supported for a partitioned data set.
• Shared or in use data sets should not be compressed in place or updated unless the subject data set is made nonsharable. See Sharing data sets.
• When a PDSE is involved and only a small amount of virtual storage is available to the PDSE processing routines, then messages about the shortage might only appear on the console and not in the SYSPRINT data set.
• Load modules having the downward compatible (DC) linkage editor attribute will be reblocked to a maximum block size of 1024 (1K) when encountered during COPYMOD processing, regardless of the number specified on the MINBLK and MAXBLK parameters.
• Reblocking cannot be performed if either the input or the output data set has:
  • undefined format records
  • keyed records
  • track overflow records
  • note lists or user TTRNs
  or if compress-in-place is specified. (Load modules, with undefined record formats and note lists, may be reblocked using the COPYMOD statement.)
• The compress-in-place function cannot be performed for the following:
  • Unload data sets
  • Data sets with track overflow records
  • Data sets with keyed records
  • Unmovable data sets
  • PDSEs (request is ignored).

• PDSEs cannot contain members with note lists, keys, or track overflow. You cannot mix load modules and nonload modules in the same PDSE.
• Using OPTCD=W for any DASD could dramatically slow down a COPY operation. OPTCD is in the data set label, and therefore can be active when OPTCD is not coded on the DD statement.
• OPTCD=W will only be honored when coded in the JCL. OPTCD=W, if present in the data set label, will be deleted from the label.

• COPYMOD size limits
  • The load modules used as input cannot have more than 60 CSECTS in a single textblock.
  • Overlay load modules cannot have more than 255 segments.
• IEBCOPY user TTR limits
  • There are up to three user TTRN fields in the directory.
  • Only one of these fields may have n>0.
  • The maximum length of the note list record identified by the user TTRN with n>0 is 1291 bytes including any block and record descriptor word.
  • No TTRN fields in a note list record may have n>0.
• A load module from an unload data set cannot be reloaded into a PDSE as a program object. The load modules should be reloaded into a partitioned data set and then the partitioned data set should be copied to a PDSE to convert the unloaded load module into a program object.
• IEBCOPY size limits
  • The maximum number of renames allowed on all SELECT or EXCLUDE cards for one copy operation is (2 * max_trk) / 16, where "max_trk" is the cylinder length of the larger device used in the copy operation. For a 3380, this limit is about 5925. For a 3390 the limit is about 7050, and for a 9345, the limit is about 5800.
  • Do not use a PDSU block size smaller than the PDS block size +20.
  • SYSUT4 space must be a single contiguous extent.
• IEBCOPY specifies the REREAD or LEAVE parameters for the CLOSE macro. If you specify FREE=CLOSE in the JCL, the data set is not unallocated until the end of the job step, and informational message IEC988I is issued to indicate that the data sets are not unallocated during close.
• IEBCOPY can require significant amounts of virtual storage when the input data set (INDD) is a PDSE. The amount of private area extended virtual storage required when using a PDSE as the input data set is approximately one megabyte per two hundred PDSE members that are included. Since the PDSE copy or unload operation requires a sizable amount of private area extended virtual storage, large PDSE data set storage requirements could exceed the total amount of available private area storage.

  The actual amount of private area virtual storage available varies based on local system configuration and loading requirements. Some PDSE copy operations could fail because of excessive virtual storage requirements.

  Here are some estimates of storage requirements, for use as examples:

  • If an INDD PDSE includes 500,000 members:

    500,000 members/200 per megabyte = 2,500; 2,500 X 1 megabyte = 2.6+ gigabytes

  • If an INDD PDSE includes 300,000 members:

    300,000 members/200 per megabyte = 1,500; 1,500 X 1 megabyte = 1.5+ gigabytes