As your business expands, so do your needs for storage to hold your applications and data, and the costs of managing that storage. Storage costs include more than the price of the hardware, with the highest cost being the people needed to perform storage management tasks. Additionally, you must pay for people to install, monitor, and operate your storage hardware devices, for electrical power to keep each piece of storage hardware cool and running, and for floor space to house them. Removable media, such as optical and tape storage, cost less per gigabyte than online storage. However, removable media requires additional time and resources to locate, retrieve, and mount.

Business systems need to be available continuously, efficient, easy to use, and secure from unauthorized users. System outages can be costly because users cannot access the system and data loss might result. As businesses grow, the systems tend to become extremely complicated and difficult to maintain, which results in lost productivity and time spent troubleshooting problems.

DFSMS elements, together with IBM® hardware products, and your installation-specific requirements for data and resource management comprise the key to system-managed storage in a z/OS environment. The elements of DFSMS automate and centralize storage management, based on policies your installation defines for availability, performance, space, and security. The Interactive Storage Management Facility (ISMF) provides the user interface for defining and maintaining these policies, while the Storage Management Subsystem (SMS) governs the system.

DFSMS provides functions that reduce the occurrence of system outages, and enhance disaster recovery capabilities and system security. DFSMS also improves your business efficiency by providing better system performance and throughput, and usability enhancements that increase storage administrator productivity.