Required Parameters

USERCATALOG|MASTERCATALOG

Specifies that a catalog is to be defined.

USERCATALOG: specifies that a user catalog is to be defined. USERCATALOG is followed by the parameters specified for the catalog as a whole. For information about using an alias to identify a user catalog, see z/OS DFSMS Managing Catalogs. The update or higher RACF® authority to the master catalog is required.
Abbreviation: UCAT
MASTERCATALOG: This keyword parameter is provided for coexistence with OS/VS1. Processing is identical for the MASTERCATALOG and USERCATALOG parameters. When you specify MASTERCATALOG, a user catalog is created. You can, however, establish a user catalog as a master catalog at IPL time. See z/OS DFSMS Managing Catalogs for a description of this procedure.
Abbreviation: MCAT

NAME(entryname)

Specifies the name of the catalog being defined.

CYLINDERS(primary[ secondary])|

Abbreviation: CYL

KILOBYTES(primary[ secondary])

Abbreviation: KB

MEGABYTES(primary[ secondary]

Abbreviation: MB

RECORDS(primary[ secondary]

Abbreviation: REC

TRACKS(primary[ secondary])

Abbreviation: TRK

Specifies the amount of space to be allocated from the volume's available space. You can specify the amount of space as a parameter of USERCATALOG, as a parameter of USERCATALOG and DATA, or as a parameter of USERCATALOG, DATA and INDEX.

This parameter is optional if the cluster is managed by SMS. If it is specified for an SMS-managed cluster, it will override the DATACLASS space specification. If it is not specified for an SMS-managed cluster, it can be modeled or defaulted by SMS. If it cannot be determined, the DEFINE will be unsuccessful.

If you specify KILOBYTES or MEGABYTES, the amount of space allocated is the minimum number of tracks or cylinders required to contain the specified number of kilobytes or megabytes. The maximum space can be specified with unit of KILOBYTES or MEGABYTES is 16,777,215. If the amount requested exceeds this value, you should specify a larger allocation unit.

To maintain device independence, do not specify the TRACKS or CYLINDERS parameters. If TRACKS or CYLINDERS is specified for an SMS-managed user catalog, space is allocated on the volumes selected by SMS in units equivalent to the device default geometry.

z/OS DFSMS Managing Catalogs describes how space allocation differs depending on the parameters you specify. It also provides information about estimating the amount of space to be specified for a catalog. On an extended address volume (EAV), a catalog will be allocated only in track-managed space.

primary[ secondary]: Specifies the size of the primary and secondary extents to be allocated. After the primary extent is filled, the space can expand to include a maximum of 122 additional secondary extents if you have specified a secondary allocation amount. Secondary allocation should be specified in case the catalog has to be extended. If you specify a secondary space allocation greater than 4.0 gigabytes, the value is reset to the maximum value for that DASD device.

Exception: The abbreviations CYL, CYLINDER, REC, and RECORD are acceptable to access method services but cannot be used in TSO because the abbreviations do not have enough initial letters to make the keyword unique.

VOLUME(volser)

Specifies the volume that is to contain the catalog. VOLUME must be specified as a parameter of USERCATALOG, unless:

You specify the MODEL parameter, or
The data set is managed by SMS.

If the data set is SMS-managed, you should not request specific volume serial numbers with the VOLUME parameter. The ACS routines will assign the data set to a storage class containing attributes such as VOLUME and UNIT. You can allocate your data set to a specific volume serial number only if your storage administrator has selected GUARANTEED SPACE=YES in the storage class assigned to the data set. Only then can you specify volume serial numbers that will override the volume serial numbers used by SMS. However, if space is not available on the volumes with the serial numbers you specified, your request will be unsuccessful. See z/OS DFSMSdfp Storage Administration for information about SMS volume selection.

You can choose to let SMS assign specific volume serial numbers to an SMS-managed data set by coding an * for each volume serial. SMS then determines the volume serial. If you omit volser, you get one volume.

If you designate both user-specified and SMS-specified volume serial numbers for an SMS-managed data set, the user-specified volume serials numbers (volsers) must be requested first in the command syntax. Catalogs can only reside on one volume.

The VOLUME parameter interacts with other DEFINE CATALOG parameters. Ensure that the volume you specify for the catalog is consistent with the catalog's other attributes:

CYLINDERS, RECORDS, TRACKS: The volume contains enough unallocated space to satisfy the catalog's primary space requirement. Space on the volume might already be allocated to non-VSAM data sets and system data sets.
FILE: The volume information supplied with the DD statement is consistent with the information specified for the catalog and its components.

Abbreviation: VOL