BACKUPDEVICECATEGORY: Specifying where the backup versions reside

Explanation: BACKUPDEVICECATEGORY is an optional parameter of PRIMARY and VOLUME specifying the type of device, tape or DASD, that receives the backup versions of the data sets when they are backed up. When using the BACKUPDEVICECATEGORY parameter, one of the following subparameters must be specified:

Subparameter	Explanation
TAPE	BACKUPDEVICECATEGORY(TAPE) specifies that the backup versions of the data sets on the volume reside on a tape daily backup volume when the data sets are backed up.
DASD	BACKUPDEVICECATEGORY(DASD) specifies that the backup versions of the data sets on the volume reside on a DASD daily backup volume when the data sets are backed up.

Defaults: If you do not specify BACKUPDEVICECATEGORY and the volume has been added with the ADDVOL command, the default is the backup device category specified in the ADDVOL command.

Note:

When you specify BACKUPDEVICECATEGORY, you can specify either TAPE or DASD, but not both.
The BACKUPDEVICECATEGORY parameter does not apply when you specify the DUMP parameter.
The BACKUPDEVICECATEGORY parameter will override the UNIT parameter when the specified backup device category does not match the specified unit type. For example, if the specified backup device category is DASD and the specified unit type is 3490 (tape) the volumes will be backed up to DASD.
If you are attempting to backup to tape, ensure that you have previously issued the SETSYS CDSVERSIONBACKUP (BACKUPDEVICECATEGORY(TAPE (UNITNAME(unit))) command to properly configure the CDSVERSIONBACKUP parameter table.