The note pad catalog is used by the XCF Note Pad Services to manage all note pads in the sysplex. If the note pad catalog structure fails, XCF deems all note pads to have failed. Therefore it is important to consider the availability of the note pad catalog structure when defining the structure in the CFRM policy.

XCF does not support user-managed rebuild or user-managed duplexing rebuild for the note pad catalog structure. To increase the availability of the note pad catalog and to avoid a single point of failure, IBM® strongly suggests enabling system-managed duplexing for the note pad catalog structure. The note pad catalog structure is only accessed when a major change is made to a note pad (such as note pad creation or deletion), and duplexing the catalog structure does not impact the performance of normal note manipulation requests.

Connectivity should also be considered when defining the coupling facility preference list for the note pad catalog structure. A system must have connectivity to the catalog structure for programs residing on that system to use note pads.

Structure alter is supported for the note pad catalog structure. IBM suggests allowing system-initiated alters (ALLOWAUTOALTER(YES)) for the catalog structure, so the system can automatically manage the space utilization of the coupling facility in which the catalog structure resides.