Protecting data sets that have single-qualifier data set names

If some of the data sets in your installation have names that consist of a single qualifier, you can still RACF-protect those data sets. To get RACF® protection for single-qualifier names, issue the SETROPTS command with the PREFIX operand. This command defines a high-level qualifier to be used as a prefix for single-qualifier names and activates the facility. Then, when RACF processes requests for the data set, RACF internally modifies single-qualifier names by adding the prefix, making the data set names acceptable to RACF routines.

In subsequent references to the profile, all RACF commands and the RACF report writer expect to see the prefix followed by a period and the single-level data set name. All SMF log records and all messages from RACF contain the RACF-modified version of the data set name.

Important: If you do not issue the SETROPTS command with the PREFIX operand, a system ABEND occurs when a user attempts to create a data set with a single-qualifier name. This abend occurs only when creating a discrete profile as part of data set allocation.

Note: The real data set names option (specified by the REALDSN operand on the SETROPTS command) applies only to name conversions made by the naming conventions table or installation exit routines. This option has no effect on single-qualifier data set names (unless they have been modified by the naming conventions table or an exit routine), whose "real data set names" continue to be the prefixed ones.

For more information on specifying the prefix, see Protecting data sets with single-qualifier names (PREFIX option).