You can set the EDGRMMxx parmlib member OPTION VRSMIN operand to control how many vital record specifications you want as the minimum for your installation. Also, you can control what DFSMSrmm does when you do not have enough vital record specifications defined. Using the operand default values, if you have not defined the minimum of one vital record specification, DFSMSrmm issues message EDG2229I, and DFSMSrmm inventory management stops.

You can define system-wide retention policies for all data sets not covered by other vital record specifications. If you have no other vital record specifications, define a single vital record specification with a data set name mask of '**' to establish a system-wide default. When no other vital record specifications match more specifically, then DFSMSrmm uses the '**' vital record specification to manage the data set.

RMM ADDVRS DSNAME('**') WHILECATALOG NOGDG

DFSMSrmm can match two vital record specifications to a data set. If you define a vital record specification with the '**' data set name mask, DFSMSrmm only uses one vital record specification to retain the data set. If you define a vital record specification with the '*.**' data set name mask, DFSMSrmm treats the vital record specification with the '*.**' data set name mask as the primary vital record specification and looks for a secondary vital record specification. If you use vital record specification management values, only the '**' data set name mask can be used to specify system-wide default retention values.

NOGDG is the default. If you specify NOGDG on '**' or '*.**' vital record specifications, DFSMSrmm retains all data sets including generation data sets that do not match any other vital record specification. If you want to define a vital record specification that retains all GDGs, you can use the DFSMSrmm pseudo-GDG mask described in Pseudo-GDG data set names.