Utility recording forms for IMS utilities

How much manual record keeping is necessary for IMS utilities depends on your use of DBRC. If you have registered all your databases with DBRC, DBRC records the execution of the recovery-related utilities in the RECON data set. By listing the RECON data set (LIST.RECON command or DSPAPI FUNC=QUERY API request) at regular intervals, you can easily maintain records of utility executions.

If you have not registered all your databases with DBRC, you should design forms for recording execution of the following utilities:

You also need to record the execution of batch database reorganizations. A database cannot be backed out to a point earlier than its latest batch reorganization. Nor can a forward recovery be done from an image copy preceding the latest batch reorganization. Thus, a knowledge of recent reorganizations is important when recovering a database.

The following graphics are sample forms for different utilities. These forms assume that changes for all databases are accumulated together. The first graphic shows the input log data sets, and the output change accumulation data sets.

Figure 1. Sample form: running of the Database Change Accumulation utility
This figure illustrates a sample form for keeping database change records. It includes information on running the changes, purging, as well as the data sets involved.
Figure 2. Sample form: running of the Image Copy utility
This figure illustrates a sample form for keeping information on image copy activity by database and data set. It includes information on creation of the copy, the time of creation, data set, and volume serial.

These forms are only samples. Use them as templates to design forms that suit your installation's procedures.