Steps for initializing sessions

Functionally, the data that you are dumping or copying is unavailable only long enough for DFSMSdss to initialize a SnapShot copy session. Initialization takes only a matter of seconds to complete successfully. The session initialization process is as follows:

1. Determine an appropriate time to start a backup of databases, and stop update activity to those databases.
2. Use DFSMSdss to perform a copy or dump of the data with SnapShot copy. You can use DFSMSdss directly from JCL or from an application through the DFSMSdss application interface.

Normal application activity resumes as soon as the SnapShot copy session initialization is complete.