These considerations apply only to non-SMS-managed volumes.
A DELVOL command for a volume is accepted at any time after initialization. However, use this command only when absolutely necessary. When you must delete a DFSMShsm primary volume that JES3 setup might have reserved for use, leave the volume online if possible. This allows jobs to run that have already been set up to use the deleted volume as one of a pool. If the required data set is actually on another primary volume or if the data set is still migrated, the job can complete successfully. The volume is not selected for subsequent automatic recall of a data set because the volume has been deleted from DFSMShsm.
Avoid the use of the DELVOL command unless you are certain that JES3 has not and will not associate or set up any migrated data sets for recall to the primary volume to be deleted. You cannot readily use the ADDVOL command to return the volume to DFSMShsm’s control because the ADDVOL command is processed only during initialization of DFSMShsm in a JES3 environment.
An inadvertently used DELVOL command could prevent a job from running. If a migrated data set is associated with five or fewer pool volumes and one of the volumes is deleted from DFSMShsm’s control, the recall is directed to one of the remaining four volumes.