Chapter 18. DEFINE PATH
The DEFINE PATH command defines a path directly over a base cluster or over an alternate index and its related base cluster. The syntax of the DEFINE PATH command is:
Command
DEFINE
Parameters
PATH
(NAME(
entryname)
PATHENTRY(
entryname)
[MODEL(
entryname[ catname])]
[OWNER(
ownerid)]
[RECATALOG|NORECATALOG]
[TO(
date)|FOR(days)]
[UPDATE|NOUPDATE])
[CATALOG(
catname)]
DEFINE can be abbreviated: DEF
DEFINE PATH Parameters
The DEFINE PATH command uses the following parameters.
Required Parameters
PATH
specifies that a path is to be defined or that a path entry is to be recataloged.
NAME(entryname) specifies the path's name.
PATHENTRY(entryname) when the path consists of an alternate index and its base clusters, entryname identifies the alternate index entry. When the path is opened to process data records, both the alternate index and the base cluster are opened.
When the path consists of a cluster without an alternate index, entryname identifies the cluster. You can define the path as though it were an alias for the cluster. This allows you to specify no-update access to the cluster, so that the upgrade set will not be required or updated when the cluster is opened (provided the open does not cause sharing of a control block structure specifying UPDATE). You can also establish protection attributes for the alternate name, separate from the protection attributes of the cluster.
Entry name must not identify a VVDS.
Abbreviation:
PENT
Optional Parameters
CATALOG(catname) identifies the catalog that contains the entry of the cluster or alternate index
© Copyright IBM Corp. 1973, 2017
205
DEFINE PATH
named in the PATHENTRY parameter. See “Catalog Selection Order for
DEFINE” on page 10 for the order in which a catalog is selected if the catalog's
name is not specified.
catname/alias
Names the catalog or an alias that can be resolved to a catalog. For example, if alias ABCD relates to catalog SYS1.USERCAT, then specifying either ABCD or SYS1.USERCAT will cause the PATH to be defined in
SYS1.USERCAT.
Abbreviation:
CAT
If the catalog's volume is physically mounted, it is dynamically allocated.
Mount the volume as permanently resident or reserved.
MODEL(entryname[ catname])
Specifies an existing path entry that is to be used as a model for the path being defined. You can use some attributes of the model and override others by explicitly specifying them in the definition of the path. When you do not want to add or change any attributes, you specify only the entry type (PATH), the path's name, its alternate index's or cluster's name, and the model entry's name.
See “Understanding the Order of Assigned Data Set Attributes” on page 13 for
more information about the order in which the system selects an attribute.
entryname
names the entry to be used as a model. The entryname must name a path entry.
catname
names the model entry's catalog.
If the catalog's volume is physically mounted, it is dynamically allocated.
The volume must be mounted as permanently resident or reserved. See
“Catalog Selection Order for DEFINE” on page 10 for information about
the order in which a catalog is selected when the catalog's name is not specified. Unless you have RACF authorization to the directed catalog facility, you should not specify catalog names for SMS-managed data sets.
For TSO users, if the owner is not identified with the OWNER parameter, the TSO user's userid becomes the ownerid.
OWNER(ownerid) specifies the identification of the path's owner.
RECATALOG|NORECATALOG
specifies whether a path entry is to be created for the first time or recataloged.
RECATALOG
specifies that a path entry is to be recataloged. This requires that the
NAME and PATHENTRY parameters be specified as they were when the path was originally defined.
If ATTEMPTS, AUTHORIZATION, CATALOG, CODE, MODEL, OWNER or UPDATE|NOUPDATE parameters were specified during the original define, they must be respecified with RECATALOG to restore their original values; otherwise, their default values are used.
Abbreviations:
RCTLG
NORECATALOG
specifies that a new path entry is to be created in a catalog.
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z/OS DFSMS Access Method Services Commands
DEFINE PATH
Abbreviation:
NRCTLG
TO(date)|FOR(days) specifies the retention period for the path. The path is not automatically deleted when the expiration date is reached. When a retention period is not specified, the path can be deleted at any time. The MANAGEMENTCLASS maximum retention period, if specified, limits the retention period specified by this parameter for SMS-managed data sets.
TO(date)
Specifies the earliest date that a command without the PURGE parameter can delete the path. Specify the expiration date in the form yyyyddd, where
yyyy is a four-digit year (to a maximum of 2155) and ddd is the three-digit day of the year from 001 through 365 (for non-leap years) or 366 (for leap years).
The following four values are "never-expire" dates: 99365, 99366, 1999365, and 1999366. Specifying a "never-expire" date means that the PURGE parameter will always be required to delete the path. For related information, see the "EXPDT Parameter" section of z/OS MVS JCL Reference.
Note:
1.
Any dates with two-digit years (other than 99365 or 99366) will be treated as pre-2000 dates. (See note 2.)
2.
Specifying the current date or a prior date as the expiration date will make the path immediately eligible for deletion.
FOR(days) specifies the number of days to keep the path. The maximum number is
93000. If the number is 0 through 92999 (except for 9999), the entry is retained for the number of days indicated. If the number is either 9999 or
93000, the entry is retained indefinitely. There is a hardware imposed expiration date of 2155.
UPDATE|NOUPDATE
specifies whether the base cluster's upgrade set is to be allocated when the path is opened for processing.
The upgrade set is a group of alternate indexes associated with the base cluster. The alternate indexes are opened whenever the base cluster is opened.
UPDATE
specifies that, when records in the base cluster are modified or deleted, or when records are added to the base cluster, each alternate index in the base cluster's upgrade set is modified to reflect the change in the cluster's data, just as a key-sequenced cluster's index is modified each time the cluster's data changes.
Abbreviation:
UPD
NOUPDATE
specifies that, when opening the path, the path's base cluster is to be allocated and the base cluster's upgrade set is not to be allocated.
You can specify the NOUPDATE attribute for the path even though the
UPGRADE attribute is set for one of the base cluster's alternate indexes.
When a path points to a base cluster that has a large upgrade set (that is, many alternate indexes are associated with the base cluster), and the path
Chapter 18. DEFINE PATH
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