To use the VRSEL retention method to manage DFSMShsm tapes, you must define movement and retention policies with vital record specifications by specifying data set names or volume serial numbers. To define vital record specifications, use the RMM ADDVRS subcommand. See z/OS DFSMSrmm Managing and Using Removable Media for information about the RMM ADDVRS subcommand and the operands you can specify.

As shown in the examples that follow, you can specify data set name masks in vital record specifications to manage migration, backup, dumps, TAPECOPY, DUPLEX tape feature, tapes written by ABARS, ABARS accompany tapes, and control data set version backups. You can tailor the examples to define policies for your DFSMShsm tapes. As you gain more experience defining vital record specifications, you will see that there might be several ways to define the retention and movement policies you desire.

The examples use the current DFSMShsm data set naming formats. Some old name formats were in use prior to APAR OY20664. APAR OY20664 required you to use PATCH commands to use the new format. The new format is standard in DFSMShsm. If you have occurrences of the old naming formats, you might need to define vital record specifications that use both naming formats. Delete the vital record specifications with the old naming format once the old names no longer exist. See z/OS DFSMShsm Implementation and Customization Guide for current DFSMShsm data set naming formats.