If you use the VRSEL retention method, you must define retention and movement policies to DFSMSrmm. These policies are known as vital record specifications. You use them to specify how long and where you want to keep data sets or volumes. You also use them to define how volumes are to be moved among the libraries DFSMSrmm supports and to define the storage locations for vital records and disaster recovery purposes.

Use vital record specifications to control retention requirements for production data in accordance with the service level agreement and known requirements. Use COUNT(0) to specify that a vital record specification is not to retain a data set.

Use the DFSMSrmm parmlib member EDGRMMxx to set expiration and retention defaults for your installation. When users are allowed to specify expiration and retention period to override vital record specifications, use the parmlib OPTION MAXRETPD operand to set a maximum retention period for your installation. See Using the parmlib member EDGRMMxx for information.

You can define policies, or vital record specifications, for data sets and volumes. You can also define name vital record specifications to provide retention information for data sets and volumes that must be moved through multiple locations before they expire.