How you request BWO

You can define files as eligible for BWO in one of two ways.

About this task

The method that you can use to define files as eligible for BWO depends on the mode in which the files are accessed.

Do not define BWO for the CICSPlex® SM data repository using the IDCAMS DEFINE CLUSTER definition within the ICF catalog because performance is degraded. See Defining a forward recovery log for the data repository for information on taking backups of the CICSPlex SM data repository.

Procedure

Decide which method you want to use for data sets:
  • If your data set is accessed in RLS mode, you must define the BWO option in the ICF catalog. Defining BWO in the ICF catalog requires DFSMS 1.3.
  • If your data set is accessed only in non-RLS mode, you can define the BWO option in either the ICF catalog or the CICS file definition.
Defining BWO in the ICF catalog requires DFSMS 1.3. For data sets that are accessed in RLS mode, the BWO option must be defined in the ICF catalog. Recovery attributes for data sets that are accessed only in non-RLS mode can be defined either in the ICF catalog or in the CICS FILE resource. If BWO is defined in the ICF catalog definition, by default it overrides any BWO option defined in the FILE resource. To force CICS to use the FILE resource attributes instead of the catalog recovery options, set the NONRLSRECOV system initialization parameter to FILEDEF.