New Append to Media Option

In 5770-BR1 7.3 and later, BRMS append volume selection has been enhanced to select volumes of the same media policy when APPEND *YES is used for a backup operation.  The purpose of this new volume selection algorithm is to provide a way to maintain the same retention period for a volume set when appending backups using the same media policy.  Prior to this enhancement, the only way to ensure the append volume had the same retention was to set up a media class with only one ACTIVE volume specific to the media class associated with the media policy to be used for the control group or SAVxxxBRM command.

Example using media policies set with different daily retention values:

Set up individual control groups using each of the different media policies.  The expectation is that each control group is specific to an individual media policy, and the media policy will not be changed.

• Each of these individual control groups (when appending), will use a volume with the same media policy retention. It should keep like retention saves on a similar volume set.

• The expiration date on the volume will keep move forward if the same volume is used again at a later date.

To Enable

In 5770-BR1 7.3 and 5770-BR1 7.4 run one of the following commands:

CALL QBRM/Q1AOLD PARM('SETUPFUN  ' '*SET    ' 'Q1AAPPEND' '*JOB')    - set up to for current job only

CALL QBRM/Q1AOLD PARM('SETUPFUN  ' '*SET    ' 'Q1AAPPEND' '*SYS')    - set up to affect all jobs

In 5770-BR2 7.4, 5770-BR2 7.5, and 5770-BR1 7.5 run the following command:

SETFCNBRM ACTION(*ADD) FUNCTION(NEWAPPEND) SCOPE(*SYS)

NOTE: The SCOPE parameter also supports *JOB to only affect the current signed on job. 

To Remove:

In 5770-BR1 7.3 and 5770-BR1 7.4 run one of the following commands:

CALL QBRM/Q1AOLD PARM('SETUPFUN  ' '*REMOVE ' 'Q1AAPPEND' '*JOB')  - remove for current job only

CALL QBRM/Q1AOLD PARM('SETUPFUN  ' '*REMOVE ' 'Q1AAPPEND' '*SYS') - remove for all jobs

In 5770-BR2 and 5770-BR1 7.5 run the following command:

SETFCNBRM ACTION(*REMOVE) FUNCTION(NEWAPPEND) SCOPE(*SYS)

NOTE: The SCOPE parameter also supports *JOB to only affect the current signed on job. 

To check what is setup:

In 5770-BR1 7.3 and 5770-BR1 7.4 run one of the following commands:

CALL QBRM/Q1AOLD PARM('SETUPFUN' '*DISPLAY' 'Q1AAPPEND')

In releases 5770-BR2 7.4, 5770-BR2 7.5, and 5770-BR1 7.5 and later:

DSPFCNBRM FUNCTION(*ALL)  then press F10 to see the detailed results.

NOTE: In releases IBM i 7.3 and later, the following 5770-BR1 PTFs or their superseding PTFs are required: 

• 7.3 SI77381

• 7.4 SI77382