Defining a tape device as automatically switchable

Use the following form of the VARY command to change the automatically switchable characteristic (or the AUTOSWITCH attribute) of a tape device. The setting does not persist beyond the duration of the IPL.

VARY AUTOSWITCH is not valid for tape devices that are:
 
V {(devspec[,devspec]...)},{[AUTOSWITCH|AS][,ON|OFF]}
devspec
devspec is one of the following:
[/]devnum
The device is not assign capable.
lowdevnum-highdevnum
lowdevnum is the lower bound of a range of device numbers. highdevnum is the upper bound of the range.

A device number is 3 or 4 hexadecimal digits.

AUTOSWITCH or AS
The system is to turn on or off the AUTOSWITCH attribute of the tape device or range of tape devices you specified.
If you specify the VARY AUTOSWITCH command for a tape device that is online or managed by JES3, the system alerts you to the error.
  • If you specify a list of devices (for example, VARY (281,2822,283),AS,ON), the system returns a message for each device that is not valid.
  • If you specify a range of devices (for example, VARY (281-283),AS,ON), you receive a DISPLAY command response that lists the status (including the AUTOSWITCH status) for devices in the specified range.

For more information about automatically switchable tape devices, see z/OS MVS Setting Up a Sysplex.

ON
The system is to turn on the AUTOSWITCH attribute for the device or devices you specified.
OFF
The system is to turn off the AUTOSWITCH attribute for the device or devices you specified.

Example 1:

To turn on the AUTOSWITCH attribute for tape devices 282, 283, and 287, enter:
VARY (282,283,287),AS,ON