Full or incremental image copy

In general, creating a new full image copy is recommended. The reasons for this recommendation are as follows:

• A new full image copy creates a new recovery point.
• The additional time that it takes to create a new full image copy does not have any adverse effect on the access to the table space. The only concurrency implication is the access to SYSIBM.SYSCOPY.
• The range of log records that are to be applied by RECOVER is the same for both the new full image copy and the merged incremental image copy.
• Assuming that the copies are on tape, only one tape drive is required for image copies during a RECOVER.

If NEWCOPY is YES, the utility inserts an entry for the new full image copy into the SYSIBM.SYSCOPY catalog table.

If NEWCOPY is NO, the utility:

• Replaces the SYSCOPY records of the incremental image copies that were merged with an entry for the new incremental image copy
• Deletes all SYSCOPY records of the incremental image copies that have been merged.

In either case, if any of the input data sets might not be allocated, or you did not specify a temporary work data set (WORKDDN), the utility performs a partial merge.

For large table spaces, consider using MERGECOPY to create full image copies.

Use MERGECOPY NEWCOPY YES immediately after each incremental image copy. When you use this option, dates become a valid criterion for deletion of image copy data sets and archive logs. A minimum number of tape drives are allocated for MERGECOPY and RECOVER execution.