Many IT professionals use the end of year change freeze period to plan for the coming year. This quiet period is a good time to review your EOS 360 Archive and Maintenance processes. A quick review and some planning for any updates needed can yield benefits for efficiency and fewer issues for users.
I recommend as a best practice to run the EOS 360 Archive process daily. You should already have this process in place which consists of the following:
- Delete RINDX using the EOSMUT00 utility
- Followed by the A/R Cycle using the AREPUT00 utility
Review the logs of these jobs and the scheduling if you have them in place. Note successful completion, use of archive files, and how long the jobs run. Using this information, adjustments can be made in scheduling or to address allocation issues, so the archive process runs efficiently.
Remember that purging of Archives is separate from the Archive function. This is by design in EOS due to impacts of legal holds, or other hold activities for business data. I recommend running the Archive Purge utility on a regular basis for optimal management of storage allocated to EOS files, and to remain compliant with data retention requirements.
Sample JCL for the Purge can be found in the AMIPURGE member in the EOS Samplib provided with the product. If it has been a long time since running the Purge, update the input statement using the following to ensure the desired results:
- Use FDATE and TODATE to limit the range of days for the Purge job
- Use the keyword, MODE=SIMULATE which will simulate the purge and write an entry for every archive and report that would be purged when not in simulate mode.
In this way you can test on production archives and know what data will be purged. If it has been several months, or even years since running a purge, I also recommend running individual Purge jobs limiting date ranges to a few months at a time using the FDATE and TODATE. This allows you to manage processing to not flood storage with deletes and get current on expiration of data. You can then set up a regular schedule for the Purge process.
Another tip to keep EOS running smoothly is to occasionally do a REORG on the Spool(s). A Spool REORG will reorganize the directory of the Spool data set so it is optimized and can prevent delays in report and data capture processing and availability for users.
- Identify the last REORG date for a Spool;
- Access Spool Management option 7 (Facilities); then Option 1 (Spool Information)
- Note the date in the Last Reorganization field – if more than a year, consider a REORG
- Use the SPMUT00 utility and the label keyword REORG on the input statement.
Let me know what questions you have about EOS maintenance, or add your tips for keeping EOS 360 running smoothly in your environment.
#z/OS #Optimization #Output Management #Maintenance
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Craig Hilburn
Sr. Solutions Engineer
Rocket Software
St. Louis Metro MO
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