Archived data sets are data sets created to remove data from active status. This data is placed on alternate storage media because it is not currently being used but may be used in the future. Archived data sets are usually used for long-term retention.

You can use DFSMSdss to archive data sets by periodically filtering on last-referenced date and then dumping and deleting data sets that have not been referenced for long periods of time. This frees space for data that is being accessed more frequently and requires the faster access time of DASD. Because archived data sets might not be recovered for a long time, they should be dumped logically so they can be restored to unlike devices.

For example, the following logical DUMP command results in the archiving of all data sets in management class MCNAME1 that have not been referred to since April 10, 1999:

DUMP  -
     DATASET(BY((REFDT LT 99100)(MGMTCLAS EQ MCNAME1))) -
     OUTDDNAME(TAPE1)  -
     DELETE  -
     COMPRESS  -
     PURGE