Check Control‑M/
Tape
Operation Mode

The CTTINIT procedure (with MODE=CHECK specified) checks whether Control‑M/Tape is active, and whether Dynamic Dataset Stacking is operational. This step also checks the expiration date of the Control‑M/Tape password.

Rule Refresh

The CTTINIT procedure can be invoked with the MODE parameter set to RELOAD to refresh the Control‑M/Tape active rules. The user must consider whether to include this step in the New Day procedure. You must take the following considerations into account:

1. Rules are automatically refreshed when Control‑M/Tape is initialized (usually when an IPL is performed). If a rule definition is changed (in the Definition Library), the modified definition takes effect only when the next IPL is performed (monthly, weekly, and so on).
2. The retention management and vault management utilities optionally load rules from the library as their first step. In this case, all subsequent retention and vault decisions are based on refreshed rules.

   Although these utilities may operate with new, refreshed rules, the Control‑M/Tape real‑time environment continues to use the older, original rules in memory.

   To avoid confusion over which rule definitions are being accessed, the user can implement the Rule Refresh option at any time. Because of this situation, a rule refresh step is usually performed as the first step of the New Day Procedure.

3. The Control‑M/Tape Rule Scheduling facility (enabled by specifying Scheduling parameters while defining rules) allows you to define when rules must be activated based on calendars and scheduling criteria. For example, this allows you to specify a different retention period for the same dataset when that dataset is created on weekdays and weekends.

Retention Management

The CTTRTM utility scans the Media Database and determines which volumes or datasets have expired. These volumes are marked as scratch volumes in the Control‑M/Tape Media Database. This utility can also produce various reports concerning the current status of scratch volumes in the Media Database.

Vault Management

The CTTVTM utility determines which volumes must be moved, and where to move them. This utility can also produce a distribution report.

Maintain Stacking Database

The CTTSTK utility updates the Stacking database with new statistics collected on each dataset. This utility uses data from the Trace file.

Media Database and Trace Backup

This backup consists of the following steps:

1. Writing a Started Media Database Backup record to the Trace file.
2. Backing up the Media Database data file and the Trace file using any standard backup utility. In the supplied job, the IEBGENER utility is used for the trace backup, and the ADRDSSU utility is used for the Media Database backup.
3. Writing an Ended Media Database Backup record to the Trace file.

This backup can be used if a Media Database restore is required. For further information see Repository Backup and Recovery.

Check Media Database Integrity

The CTTIDB utility is run to check the Media Database for logical integrity errors. For more information, see the CTTIDB utility in the INCONTROL for z/OS Utilities Guide.