This Db2 for z/OS News from the Lab blog entry was originally published on 2019-07-02.
By Florence Dubois and Paul McWilliams.
The Db2 for z/OS development SWAT team recommends using FlashCopy as a best practice for non-disruptive consistency checks with the Db2 CHECK INDEX, CHECK DATA, CHECK LOB SHRLVL CHANGE utilities. FlashCopy also offers interesting options to optimize the backup and recovery of your Db2 data with System-Level Backups (SLB) and FlashCopy Image Copies (FCIC). However, one of the common obstacles for using FlashCopy with Db2 utilities is missing RACF or equivalent authorizations.
In this post, we summarize the authorizations required for using FlashCopy with the various Db2 utility operations. This content is adapted from a portion of Florence’s SlideShare presentation “Db2 for z/OS and FlashCopy - Practical use cases (June 2019 Edition).” (Note: although a SlideShare subscription is required to download the presentation from this link, you can view the slides on the linked page without a subscription.)
- When the RACF FACILITY class is active and one of the profiles listed below is defined, the user ID submitting the Db2 utility must have READ access authority to use the indicated commands or keywords, as shown in the following tables.
| DFSMSdss COPY option |
Profile name |
Used for... |
| FASTREPLICATION |
STGADMIN.ADR.COPY.FLASHCPY |
CHECK, COPY, RECOVER with FlashCopy |
| FCTOPPRCPRIMARY |
STGADMIN.ADR.COPY.FCTOPPRC |
CHECK, COPY, RECOVER if using Remote Pair FlashCopy for PPRC |
| FCTOXRCPRIMARY |
STGADMIN.ADR.COPY.FCTOXRCP |
CHECK, COPY, RECOVER if using Remote Pair FlashCopy for XRC |
| BYPASSACS |
STGADMIN.ADR.COPY.BYPASSACS |
CHECK if using UTIL_TEMP_STORCLAS |
| DFSMShsm function |
Profile name |
Used for... |
| FRBACKUP |
STGADMIN.ARC.FB.cpname |
BACKUP SYSTEM |
| FRRECOV |
STGADMIN.ARC.FR.cpname |
RESTORE SYSTEM, RECOVER from SLB |
- When a Db2 utility calls the DFSMSdss COPY command, the COPY command is executed with the authority of the utility batch address space. That means the user ID that invokes the Db2 utility must have at least the access levels for the source and target data sets shown in the following table.
| Utility operation |
READ access (source data set) |
ALTER access (target data set) |
| COPY FLASHCOPY YES ... CONSISTENT |
Db2 VSAM table space and index space data sets |
FCIC data set |
| CHECK … SHRLVL CHANGE |
Db2 VSAM table space and index space data sets |
Shadow data set |
| RECOVER from FCIC |
FCIC data set |
Db2 VSAM table space and index space data sets |
For COPY FLASHCOPY CONSISTENT, the user ID running the DBM1 address space must have at least UPDATE access level on the FCIC dataset (to allow changes during LOGAPPLY phase).
Special thanks to Claus E. Mikkelsen, whose GSE Nordic Region Conference 2019 presentation “FlashCopy Db2” inspired us to write this post.
Florence Dubois is a Db2 for z/OS development SWAT team member, and Paul McWilliams is an information Developer for Db2 for z/OS.
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