Virtual Storage Access Method (VSAM)

State whether True or False:

1. All VSAM data sets reside on DASD devices. (T)

2. Whenever a record is retrieved from DASD, the entire CA containing it is read into VSAM buffer. (F)

3. A LDS has no control information embedded in its CIs. (T)

4. In an RRDS, the position of a data record can be changed. (F)

5. Records from an ESDS can either be accessed sequentially or by RBA. (T)

6. Deletions and updating of records is possible in ESDS. (F)

7. Spanned records can only be used in ESDS or KSDS. (T)

8. Spanned records are records larger than CA size. (F)

9. A CI that contains the record segment of a spanned record contains no other data. (T)

10. Spanned records must be accessed in LOCATE mode. (F)

11. A KSDS has both data and index components. (T)

12. A newly inserted record is always added at the end of a KSDS. (F)

13. A new index entry is inserted in the sequence set record corresponding to a CI split. (T)

14. IMBED places the sequence set CI for a data control area within the control area. (T)

15. VSAM control intervals containing data records have at least one RDF and one CIDF.(T)

16. Control area sizes vary by device type. (F)

17. Control interval sizes vary by device type. (T)

18. For a KSDS, the larger the data CA size, the smaller the number of index CIs. (F)

19. We cannot access variable-length blocked records in VSAM. (F)

20. MCAT contains pointers to system data sets and user catalogs. (T)

21. While creating VSAM data sets, provision of component names is a must. (F)

22. JOBCAT identifies a default catalog for a single job step. (F)

23. There is a one-to-one correspondence between BCSs and VVDSs. (F)

24. The need for JOBCAT/STEPCAT statements has been replaced by the ALIAS. (T)

25. Aliases are limited to the first segment of the component name. (F)

26. The cluster name is required when defining VSAM cluster using DEFINE CLUSTER command. (T)

27. Any parameters in coded for the cluster in DEFINE CLUSTER will also apply to the data and index components. (T)

28. If the space allocation is coded at cluster level in DEFINE CLUSTER, the space is divided between data and index. (T)

29. If the specified CISZ is not valid in DEFINE CLUSTER, VSAM increases the number to the next valid CISZ. (T)

30. All the parameters for LISTCAT command are required. (F)

31. A data component name will be generated by AMS if it is not explicitly coded. (T)

32. DEFINE CLUSTER for a KSDS will generate cluster, data and index information even if only cluster information is specified. (T)

33. The candidate volume is not used when data set is initially loaded. (T)

34. Suppose TEST.DATASET is a KSDS. The following statement will print cluster information only:

35. LISTCAT ENTRIES (TEST.DATASET) ALL (F)

36. REPRO copies or merges an alternate index as an ESDS. (F)

37. A PRINT command prints only VSAM data sets. (F)

38. A KSDS can be printed only in key order. (F)

39. A RRDS is printed in relative record number sequence. (T)

40. The default print format is CHARACTER. (F)

41. Generic keys can be specified in PRINT FROMKEY and TOKEY. (T)

42. REPRO will stop processing records when a total of four physical I/O errors occur while writing to the

output data set. (F)

43. REPRO REUSE against a non-empty target data set defined with NOREUSE will reset the target data set. (F)

44. In altering a KSDS, BUFND and BUFNI can be specified instead of BUFFERSPACE.(F)

45. ALTER REMOVEVOLUMES will not remove the volume if the data set currently has data on the volume. (T)

46. ALTER can be used to change ESDS to LDS. (T)

47. ALTER NULLIFY can be used to nullify all passwords, except the master. (F)

48. ALTER modifies the cataloged attributes of a VSAM data set. (T)

49. Generic names can be used to rename a group of objects or to alter an attribute of a group of objects. (T)

50. Data Class specifications override the appropriate JCL parameters. (F)

51. Not all attributes can be specified through JCL. (T)

52. VSAM data can be read by logical record or by control interval access. (T)

53. OPEN causes VSAM to verify that the processing options match the cluster type. (T)

54. COBOL does not support skip-sequential processing. (T)

55. COBOL supports RBA addressing and backward processing. (F)

56. VS COBOL II supports skip-processing. (F)

57. Non-spanned records may be accessed in either MOVE or LOCATE mode. (T)

58. The ISAM interface program allows VSAM programs to access ISAM data sets. (F)

59. Cross system sharing is either between multiple systems or multiple virtual machines.(T)

60. Software end-of-file is a CI containing all zeroes excluding CIDF. (F)

61. VERIFY can be used for empty data sets. (F)

62. Catalog password protection is required for data set password checking. (T)

63. To ensure read integrity the application program must code ENQ/DEQ. (T)

64. For a data set with SHAREOPTIONS(4 3), CA splits are not allowed. (F)

65. The default for DELETE CLUSTER is NOERASE. (T)

66. If a cluster has VSAM password protection, the cluster MUST have a master password. (T)

67. The high-level index set record is maintained in the buffer if more than one index buffer (per string ) is provided. (T)

68. VSAM allocates index buffers for all cluster types, even if the buffers are never used.(T)

69. BUFND and BUFNI are preferable to BUFFERSPACE. (T)

70. STRNO is used for sharing data sets across regions. (T)

71. Data buffers and control blocks are allocated below 16M by default. (T)

72. Large control intervals decrease virtual storage requirement for buffers. (F)

73. Buffer space specified at ACB overrides the defined value, if the ACB value is more. (F)

74. The default for DEFINE CLUSTER is ERASE. (F)

75. A large percentage of unused CI free space causes additional I/Os when accessing the data set sequentially. (T) Sequential processing does not use CI free space beyond the free space threshold. (T)

76. The larger the free space, the more are the levels of index. (T)

77. Improved CI (ICI) access is available for logical record processing as well as CNV processing. (F)

78. Processing a large data set with multiple extents in DIR mode performs approximately as well as processing a large single extent data set in DIR mode. (F)

79. IMBED replicates the sequence set CI associated with a data CA on the first track of data CA.

80. REPLICATE imbeds the index set within the data component. (F)

81. In a multiple volume data set the first allocation of space on a volume is always a primary allocation. (T)

82. Index key compression can be suppressed with the NOCOMPRESS parameter. (F)

83. For sequential processing larger data CIs are desirable. (T)

84. Key compression applies to the keys of both index and data components. (F)

85. Multiple alternate indexes may be defined over a base cluster. (T)

86. Alternate indexes are spanned record data sets. (T)

87. The size of an alternate index is about the same size of its base cluster. (F)

88. AIX records may be longer than specified in the DEFINE AIX maximum record size.(T)

89. A path is required so that an application program can specify base cluster keys and retrieve alternate index records. (T)

90. Base cluster must be empty for BLDINDEX. (F)

91. Upgrade is done only for non-empty alternate indexes. (T)

92. After reorganizing a KSDS, the physical sequence of data is same as the logical sequence of data. (T)

93. Index component is however not reconstructed, after the reorganization of a KSDS. (F)

94. EXPORT extracts catalog information and creates a copy of the data records. (T)

95. Records larger than 32760 cause EXPORT in CIMODE to terminate with an error. (F)

96. CIMODE is the default for EXPORT of an LDS. (T)

97. The base cluster must be imported before the alternate indexes. (T)

98. The base cluster must be exported before the alternate indexes (F)

99. DFDSS can be used to reorganize a KSDS. (T)

100. If the HIGH-USED-RBA of the IMPORT OUTDATASET parameter is zero, then VSAM deletes and redefines the OUTDATASET before the IMPORT operation. (F)

101. ISMF can be used to create a DFHSM batch job stream. (T)

102. Data Set List line operator commands may effect more than one data set. (T)