COPY

The COPY online utility creates copies of certain objects.

The COPY online utility creates up to five image copies, four sequential image copies, and one FlashCopy® image of any of the following objects:

Table space
Table space partition
Data set of a nonpartitioned table space
Index space
Index space partition

The two types of image copies are:

A full image copy, which is a copy of all pages in a table space, partition, data set, or index space.
An incremental image copy, which is a copy only of those data pages that have been modified since the last use of the COPY utility and system pages.

The RECOVER utility uses these copies when recovering a table space or index space to the most recent time or to a previous time. Copies can also be used by the MERGECOPY, COPYTOCOPY, and UNLOAD utilities.

You can copy a list of objects in parallel to improve performance. Specifying a list of objects along with the SHRLEVEL REFERENCE option creates a single recovery point for that list of objects. Specifying the PARALLEL keyword allows you to copy a list of objects in parallel, rather than serially.

To calculate the number of threads you need when you specify the PARALLEL keyword, use the formula (n * 2 + 1), where n is the number of objects that are to be processed in parallel, regardless of the total number of objects in the list. If you do not use the PARALLEL keyword, n is one and COPY uses three threads for a single-object COPY job.

Output

Output from the COPY utility consists of:

Up to four sequential data sets containing the image copy and one FlashCopy image copy.
Rows in the SYSIBM.SYSCOPY catalog table that describe the image copy data sets that are available to the RECOVER utility. Your installation is responsible for ensuring that these data sets are available if the RECOVER utility requests them.
If you specify the CHANGELIMIT option, a report on the change status of the table space.

The COPY-pending status is set off for table spaces if the copy was a full image copy. However, DB2® does not reset the COPY-pending status if you copy a single piece of a multi-piece linear data set. If you copy a single table space partition, DB2 resets the COPY-pending status only for the copied partition and not for the whole table space. DB2 resets the informational COPY-pending (ICOPY) status after you copy an index space or index. The COPY utility will reset ICOPY-pending status for not logged table spaces.

Authorization required

To execute this utility, you must use a privilege set that includes one of the following authorities:

IMAGCOPY privilege for the database
DBADM, DBCTRL, or DBMAINT authority for the database. If the object on which the utility operates is in an implicitly created database, DBADM authority on the implicitly created database or DSNDB04 is required.
System DBADM authority
SYSCTRL or SYSADM authority

An ID with installation SYSOPR authority can also execute COPY, but only on a table space in the DSNDB01 or DSNDB06 database.

If the CONCURRENT option is specified, the user ID that invokes the COPY utility must have the authority to execute the DFSMSdss DUMP command.

Start of change If either the FLASHCOPY YES or FLASHCOPY CONSISTENT option is specified, the user ID that invokes the COPY utility must have the authority to execute the DFSMSdss COPY command. End of change

Execution phases of COPY

The COPY utility operates in these phases:

UTILINIT: Performs initialization and setup.
REPORT: Reports for CHANGELIMIT option.
COPY: Creates copies.
If FLASHCOPY YES or FLASHCOPY CONSISTENT is specified, then the FlashCopy image copies are created in this phase. If FLASHCOPY is not specified, then sequential format image copies are created.
SEQCOPY: Creates additional sequential format image copies from a FlashCopy image copy when either FLASHCOPY YES or CONSISTENT is specified. The utility execution includes this phase only when both FlashCopy image copies and sequential format image copies are requested.
LOGAPPLY: Log apply identifies the most recent checkpoint for each member. All objects that are being copied will be updated to the same logpoint in order to prepare for backout processing.
If COPY SHRLEVEL CHANGE FLASHCOPY CONSISTENT is specified, log apply applies the updates to the FlashCopy image copy to ensure that all activity is reflected up to the point of consistency.
LOGCSR: Log apply is called to do the current status rebuild.
If COPY SHRLEVEL CHANGE FLASHCOPY CONSISTENT is specified, the LOGCSR phase identifies any uncommitted work to back out from the FlashCopy image copy.
LOGUNDO: Uncommitted work is backed out from the image copy in order to make it consistent.
If COPY SHRLEVEL CHANGE FLASHCOPY CONSISTENT is specified, the LOGUNDO phase backs out uncommitted work from the FlashCopy image copy.
UTILTERM: Performs cleanup.

Syntax and options of the COPY control statement
The COPY utility control statement, with its multiple options, defines the function that the utility job performs.
Before running COPY
Certain activities might be required before you run the COPY utility, depending on your situation.
Full image copies
You can make full image copies of a variety of data objects. Data objects include table spaces, table space partitions, data sets of nonpartitioned table spaces, index spaces, and index space partitions.
Incremental image copies
An incremental image copy is a copy of the pages that have been changed since the last full or incremental image copy.
Multiple image copies
In a single COPY job, you can create up to five exact copies of various data objects. Data objects include table spaces, table space partitions, data sets of a nonpartitioned table space, index spaces, and index space partitions.
FlashCopy image copies
You can configure certain utilities to create image copies by using the FlashCopy function that is provided by z/OS® DFSMS and the IBM® TotalStorage ESS storage subsystems. FlashCopy can reduce both the unavailability of data during the copy operation and the amount of time that is required for backup and recovery operations.
Copies of lists of objects
Within a single COPY control statement, the COPY utility allows you to process a list that contains any of the following objects: table space, table space partition, data set of a nonpartitioned table space, index space, and index space partition.
Using more than one COPY statement
You can use more than one control statement for COPY in one DB2 utility job step.
Copying partitions or data sets simultaneously
To potentially improve the performance of the COPY utility, copy partitions or data sets at the same time.
Copies of partition-by-growth table spaces
An image copy at the table space level with SHRLEVEL(CHANGE) will not contain any new partitions that are added by SQL INSERT operations after the image copy began. The newly added partitions can be recovered by using the DB2 logs.
Copies of XML table spaces
The COPY utility supports full and incremental image copies for XML table spaces. The COPY utility options SHRLEVEL REFERENCE, SHRLEVEL CHANGE, CONCURRENT, and FLASHCOPY are also supported for XML table spaces.
Copying catalog and directory objects
Use the DSNTIJIC installation job to create backup copies of catalog and directory objects.
Make copies of XML schema repository objects
Although the XML schema repository is not part of the DB2 catalog, you need to create backup copies of XML schema repository table spaces when you back up catalog objects.
Copies of Indexes
If you copy a COPY YES index of a table space that has the NOT LOGGED attribute, copy the indexes and table spaces together. Copying the indexes and table spaces together ensures that the indexes and the table space have the same recoverable point.
Using DFSMSdss concurrent copy
You might be able to gain improved availability by using the concurrent copy function of the DFSMSdss component of the Data Facility Storage Management Subsystem (DFSMS). To complete recovery, you can subsequently run the DB2 RECOVER utility to restore those image copies and apply the necessary log records to them.
Specifying conditional image copies
Use the CHANGELIMIT option of the COPY utility to specify conditional image copies. You can use it to get a report of image copy information about a table space, or you can let DB2 decide whether to take an image copy based on this information.
Preparing for recovery by using the COPY utility
To prepare for recovery, you can use the COPY utility to create copies and establish points of recovery.
Improving performance
You can improve the performance of the COPY utility by taking certain actions.
Generation data group definitions for the COPY utility
Use generation data groups to hold image copies. Use of generation data groups offers the benefit of automating the allocation of data set names and the deletion of the oldest data set.
Using DB2 with DFSMS products
You can use DB2 with DFSMS products.
Image copies on tape
Do not combine a full image copy and incremental image copies for the same table space on one tape volume. If you do, the RECOVER TABLESPACE utility cannot allocate the incremental image copies.
Termination of COPY
You can terminate the COPY utility.
Restart of COPY
You can restart the COPY utility.
Sample COPY control statements
Use the sample control statements as models for developing your own COPY control statements.

Parent topic: DB2 online utilities

Related concepts:

How to use inline copy with REORG TABLESPACE

Related tasks:

How to use inline COPY with LOAD