Mainframe, MVS and zOS Discussion

Hi,

I was asked to write the statements to copy a given PDS to another PDS, which I could not reply. Based on some research I think IEBCOPY can be used for this.

Is this correct? Please advise.

2nd question I have it why would in a practical world I would ever need to copy one PDS to other, other than taking a back-up of my own PDS? Is there any other use case?

That's correct - IEBCOPY can be used to copy PDS. IEBCOPY is a data set utility that is used to copy or merge members between one or more partitioned data sets, or partitioned data sets extended (PDSEs), in full or in part.
There are many situations when you'd want to COPY a given PDS(e) to another. One example, as you said is taking back-up. The ISPF copy options (option 3.3, among others) uses IEBCOPY "under the covers." Moving a PDS or PDSE from one volume to another is easily done with IEBCOPY as well.

Yes, IEBCOPY can be used for PDS copy. But I use ISPF 3.3 more often.

If you are still using PDS you could run out of directory blocks when adding members to the PDS. If this happens, and you don't have a recovery utility like PDS86, you will have no choice but to copy the PDS to a new PDS with a larger directory. PDSE don't run out of directory blocks, so one common use of IEBCOPY is to copy PDS to PDSE.

Robert Sample wrote: Tue Jan 17, 2023 12:50 am If you are still using PDS you could run out of directory blocks when adding members to the PDS. If this happens, and you don't have a recovery utility like PDS86, you will have no choice but to copy the PDS to a new PDS with a larger directory. PDSE don't run out of directory blocks, so one common use of IEBCOPY is to copy PDS to PDSE.

I am at a company where they still use a lot of PDS for libraries. It's an old compnay. Are PDS not good enough?

PDS are still a perfectly acceptable way to access members in a data set. However, PDSE was developed by IBM to overcome the limitations of PDS -- such as the requirement to compress the PDS to recover space when members are updated, and the pre-allocated directory. I haven't heard of any push by IBM to remove PDS so it will continue to be supported for the foreseeable future.

Thanks everyone for participating. This discussion really helps me.

Are there more situation for this:

2nd question I have it why would in a practical world I would ever need to copy one PDS to other, other than taking a back-up of my own PDS? Is there any other use case?

RaGa wrote: Mon Jan 16, 2023 11:28 pm Yes, IEBCOPY can be used for PDS copy. But I use ISPF 3.3 more often.

Does 3.3 alos calls IEBCOPY?