With SAM striping, data I/O is done in parallel to improve performance. For a file with 16 stripes, data is simultaneously processed on the first track of the allocated space in each of the 16 volumes. This allows for quick access to all the information.

The z/OS NFS server can support data set striping through the use of data class and storage class attributes that define extended format data sets. The z/OS NFS server can exploit the performance of extended format data sets by reading multiple blocks at a time when reading ahead.

For more information about striped files, see z/OS DFSMS Using Data Sets.