With DFSMSdss, you can restore an entire VSAM sphere (base cluster and all associated alternate index clusters and paths). The SPHERE keyword causes DFSMSdss to restore the entire VSAM sphere. If the dump was also taken with the SPHERE keyword specified, you need to specify the SPHERE keyword and the base cluster name to restore the base cluster and the other components.

When you restore a sphere to a preallocated target, all components (base clusters, alternate indexes, and paths) of the sphere must be preallocated. DFSMSdss does not restore a sphere if only some parts of the sphere are preallocated.

An example of the RESTORE command with the SPHERE keyword is:

RESTORE  -
        INDDNAME(TAPE)  -
        DATASET(INCLUDE(PARTS.VSAM1))  -
        SPHERE  -
        REPLACE  -
        PSWD(PARTS.VSAM1/MASTUPW1)