BACKUPDEVICECATEGORY: Specifying where backup versions reside

Explanation: BACKUPDEVICECATEGORY is an optional subparameter of the PRIMARY parameter specifying the type of device that receives the backup versions of the data sets when DFSMShsm backs up the primary volume. The parameters of the BACKUPDEVICECATEGORY parameter are explained:
TAPE
specifies that the backup version of a data set on the primary volume resides on a tape daily backup volume.
DASD
specifies that the backup version of a data set on the primary volume resides on a DASD daily backup volume.
NONE
specifies that DFSMShsm selects the first available, nonfull tape or DASD daily backup volume where the backup version of a data set resides.
Defaults: If you are adding a primary volume to DFSMShsm and do not specify BACKUPDEVICECATEGORY, the default is NONE. If you are changing the attributes of a volume and do not specify BACKUPDEVICECATEGORY, the previous backup device category remains in effect.
Note:
  1. If you change the backup device category for a volume with a subsequent ADDVOL command, DFSMShsm could fail an undirected recall of a migrated data set when the LIKE subparameter of the SETSYS RECALL command is in effect. With the LIKE subparameter specified on the SETSYS RECALL command, DFSMShsm automatically recalls a data set to a volume only if that volume has the same backup device category as the primary volume that the data set used to be on. Therefore, if DFSMShsm cannot find a primary volume with the same backup device category as the original primary volume, DFSMShsm cannot automatically recall the migrated data set. To avoid this problem, you can specify the UNLIKE subparameter with the SETSYS RECALL command.
  2. In a multiple-DFSMShsm-host environment, you can add the same volume to different DFSMShsm hosts. When you do that, the backup device category for that volume should be the same in all DFSMShsm hosts or the last one specified with the ADDVOL command is the one in effect.