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Copy any mainframe file with few constraints

PostPosted: Tue Jan 18, 2011 6:44 pm
by KumaranK
How to copy a file without changing the creation date?

Re: Copy any mainframe file with few constraints

PostPosted: Tue Jan 18, 2011 7:40 pm
by Robert Sample
IEBGENER, IEBCOPY, ADRDSSU, ...

Pretty much anything will copy a data set without changing the creation date of the source file.

Re: Copy any mainframe file with few constraints

PostPosted: Tue Jan 18, 2011 8:27 pm
by steve-myers
Mr. Sample is correct. You only change the creation date of a dataset by deleting and reallocating the dataset.

Do not use the term "file" when referring to a mainframe dataset. A mainframe "file" exists only on magnetic tape.

Re: Copy any mainframe file with few constraints

PostPosted: Wed Jan 19, 2011 1:54 am
by dick scherrer
Hello and welcome to the forum,

How to copy a file without changing the creation date?
Does this imply that you experienced the creation date changing?

As mentioned, the creation date of the input file does not change. . .

Is someone trying to hide that there were later modificatons to the data? This would be a reason for termination in some organizations. . .

Re: Copy any mainframe file with few constraints

PostPosted: Wed Jan 19, 2011 1:58 am
by MrSpock
I read this topic as not changing the creation date of the NEW dataset from what the original was.

Re: Copy any mainframe file with few constraints

PostPosted: Wed Jan 19, 2011 2:26 am
by NicC
I read this topic as not changing the creation date of the NEW dataset from what the original was.

in which case copy it on the day it was created!

Re: Copy any mainframe file with few constraints

PostPosted: Wed Jan 19, 2011 2:27 am
by dick scherrer
Hi Spock,

I read this topic as not changing the creation date of the NEW dataset from what the original was.
Yup, which is a problem as the organization needs to know the file was modified later. . . (At least places i've supported do).

Might do more than just raise a few eyebrows during an audit as well. . . :shock:

d

Re: Copy any mainframe file with few constraints

PostPosted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 10:47 pm
by steve-myers
After thinking about this for a while, I realized the real question might be, "Can I falsify the creation date of a dataset?" The answer is there is a partially documented method to allocate a dataset with a "false" creation date. This method actually goes back to OS/360 and was used by IEHMOVE and is now also used by DFHSM when it restores a dataset from migration or backup. Once the dataset has been allocated there is no method to alter its creation date.

If the real question is, "Can I obtain the modification date (and perhaps time, too)?", the answer is this is not a dataset attribute stored with the dataset, so you can get it from analyzing SMF data, but not from analyzing the VTOC. You do have DS1DSCHA in DS1DSIND to indicate a dataset has been altered, but that's far from a date.