Review the information in this topic if you have decided to use the VRSEL retention method for any of your volumes and data sets. Vital record specifications are used only for retention and movement of volumes that are managed by the VRSEL retention method and data sets on these volumes that are not excluded from VRSEL processing.

Use vital record specifications to set policies for retaining and moving all removable media managed by the VRSEL retention method. . You can also use vital record specifications for moving data sets and volumes for disaster recovery and vital records within the removable media library and among your storage locations. Use DFSMSrmm inventory management to process the retention and movement policies specified in vital record specifications.

You can change vital record specifications to extend the retention period for a data set or volume or to change storage location information. You can also delete a vital record specification. If you change or delete a vital record specification, any currently scheduled moves completed before any new ones can take effect or the volume can be released.

You can control the way DFSMSrmm retains and moves volumes that are managed by the VRSEL retention method and data set on these volumes that are not excluded from VRSEL processing by defining these DFSMSrmm parmlib member EDGRMMxx OPTION operands.

• Use the DFSMSrmm parmlib OPTION VRSCHANGE operand to force running trial run vital record processing when you have made changes to vital record specifications. You must allocate an ACTIVITY file when you run trial run processing. The ACTIVITY file contains detailed information about the changes made during vital record processing. Examine the ACTIVITY file to determine if the vital record specification changes you made are correct. See the z/OS DFSMSrmm Reporting for a sample you can use to create the ACTIVITY report.
• Use the DFSMSrmm parmlib OPTION VRSMIN operand to set the minimum number of vital record specifications that you must define for you to run inventory management vital record processing. See Defining the minimum required policy for information about defining the minimum vital record specification.
• Use the DFSMSrmm parmlib OPTION VRSDROP to establish your normal expectations for numbers or percentage of volumes being removed from VRS retention.
• Use the DFSMSrmm parmlib OPTION VRSRETAIN to establish your normal expectations of the numbers or percentages of newly assigned volumes to be retained by vital record specifications.
• Use the DFSMSrmm parmlib OPTION EXPDTDROP to establish your normal expectations for the numbers or percentages of volumes dropped from expiration date retention.
• Use the DFSMSrmm OPTION RETAINBY operand or the OPTION MOVEBY operand to retain volumes or move volumes as sets or individually. See Retaining and moving volumes as sets or individually .
• See What vital records selection processing you can specify for more information about vital record processing.

See the z/OS DFSMSrmm Implementation and Customization Guide for information about DFSMSrmm inventory management and the DFSMSrmm parmlib OPTION command operands.