M THE DAILY INSIGHT
// updates

What is control interval in VSAM?

By Olivia House

What is control interval in VSAM?

Control Intervals (CI) in VSAM are equivalent to blocks for non-VSAM data sets. In non-VSAM methods, the unit of data is defined by the block. VSAM works with logical data area which is known as Control Intervals. Control Intervals are the smallest unit of transfer between a disk and the operating system.

What is a control interval?

A control interval is the unit of information that VSAM transfers between the storage device and the processor. One CI can be made of one or more physical blocks of DASD. It contains information about the length of data in the CI and the amount and location of free space.

What is the minimum size of control interval?

7 bytes
Because the minimum amount of control information in a control interval is 7 bytes, a control interval is normally at least 7 bytes larger than the largest record in the component. For compressed data sets, a control interval is at least 10 bytes larger than the largest record after it is compressed.

What is the difference between control interval and control area?

The one similarity between Control Interval and Control Area is the way of filling them. Both follow the same steps to fill in these with data….Differentiate between Control Interval (CI) and Control Area (CA).

Control IntervalControl Area
It is the smallest unit for datasetsCA is a group of control intervals.

What is control interval split?

Control Interval Splits. Some control interval splits involve data being moved to two new control intervals, and control area splits normally involve many control intervals’ contents being moved. In these cases, VSAM exits to the JRNAD routine for each separate movement of data to a new control interval.

What is alternative index in VSAM?

An alternate index is a separate, additional index structure that enables you to access records in a KSDS VSAM data source based on a key other than the data source primary key.

How do I Reorg a VSAM file?

To REORGANIZE an individual file, code one REORGANIZE VSAM_IN command and its related keywords in the SYSIN data set. You can include multiple REORGANIZE VSAM_IN commands to reorganize multiple individual VSAM files.

How does VSAM define AIX?

Define AIX command is used to define Alternate Index and specify parameter attributes for its components. NAME specifies the name of Alternate Index. RELATE specifies the name of the VSAM cluster for which the alternate index is created.

What is spanned records in VSAM?

In VSAM, you do not need to break apart or reformat such records because you can specify spanned records when you define a data set. The SPANNED parameter permits a record to extend across or span control interval boundaries.

Which type of VSAM datasets has no imbedded control information in its CI?

Linear datasets does not contain RDF’s and CIDF’s as it does not have any control information embedded in its CI. Data that can be accessed as byte-addressable strings in virtual storage in Linear datasets.

Why do we use AIX in VSAM?

What is a cluster in VSAM?

A VSAM cluster is a logical definition for a VSAM data set and has one or two components: The data component of a VSAM cluster contains the data records. The index component of a VSAM key-sequenced cluster consists of the index records.