Separating the Spool Files From the Main Catalog File

By default, spool files are placed in the same folder as the catalog.dat file. You can take one of the approaches outlined below to enable the use of the spool files and the catalog from different locations:

Using FHRedir and an allocation override rule

You can use the File Handling Redirector (FHRedir) module in combination with an allocation override rule to send the casspool control files and the spool datasets to a different Fileshare server from the one where the main catalog is stored.

There are different locations in FHRedir for the catalog and the spool files:

/f C:\ES_ERRORS\FAST_CAT_FS\CATALOG.DAT /s CATSERVER
/f C:\ES_ERRORS\FAST_CAT_FS\SMS.DAT /s CATSERVER

/f C:\ES_ERRORS\FAST_CAT_FS\SPLDSN.dat /s SPOOLSERVER 
/f C:\ES_ERRORS\FAST_CAT_FS\SPLJOB.dat /s SPOOLSERVER 
/f C:\ES_ERRORS\FAST_CAT_FS\SPLMSG.dat /s SPOOLSERVER 
/f C:\ES_ERRORS\FAST_CAT_FS\SPLSUB.dat /s SPOOLSERVER 
/f C:\ES_ERRORS\FAST_CAT_FS\SPLOUT.dat /s SPOOLSERVER

In order to send the spool files to the same Fileshare server as the spool control files and store all these files together, create and apply the following allocation override rule:

# RECORDTYPE = S 

RULE:
	- CONDITION:	RECORDTYPE
	  VALUE:		S
	SUBDIRECTORY:	$$SPOOLSERVER\SPOOL\
---

Using the MVSSPOOLDIR environment variable

You can use the MVSSPOOLDIR environment variable to specify the location of all spool control files. If you set this variable to a value that contains the name of a Fileshare server (for example, $$SPOOLSERVER), you do not need to specify the FHRedir settings mentioned in the previous approach because all control files would be directed to the Fileshare server.

Using multiple catalogs and allocation override rules

You can use multiple catalogs in combination with some allocation override rules to direct all spool files to a separate location which could be a Fileshare server. See Multiple Catalog Support for more details.

Example

The following example shows how to use environment variables to separate the spool files from the main catalog file:

MFSYSCAT=$$CATSERVER\CATALOG.DAT
Specifies the main catalog.
MVSSPOOLDIR=$$SPOOLSERVER
Directs the spool control files to the SPOOLSERVER.
MFALLOC_LOC=%CD%\DATA
Specifies the main data file location.
MFUSERCAT_LOC=%CD%\SMS.DAT;$$SPOOLSERVER\CATALOG.DAT;%CD%\LOCAL_CATALOG\CATALOG.DAT
Specifies the different catalog files to use.
MFUSERCAT_NODE=SYSMFE1;MVSSPOOL;MFITEST
Specifies which datasets to use the catalogs for.
ES_ALLOC_OVERRIDE=%CD%\Allocation.cfg
Specifies the allocation override rules that direct the files to different locations.