Importing and Exporting a Catalog: import export utility

The catalog import-export utility is supplied to make it easier to work with the contents of a catalog. You can use the catalog import export utility to:

Extract the contents of the system catalog to an XML file
Import a system catalog from a source XML file
Extract and/or update individual catalog records

Note:

This utility is intended as a tool for use during migrations. It is definitely NOT recommended that you use it for editing the catalog data for live systems. The recommended way of manipulating catalog entries is via JCL, where consistency can be guaranteed. For bulk changes to the PC-DSN field, MVSPCRN is recommended.

Use caution when performing catalog updates. Setting inconsistent field values will cause errors.

Setting the MFSYSCAT environment variable

In order to use the catalog import export utility, you need to set the MFSYSCAT environment variable to the catalog path and filename. For example:

set MFSYSCAT=c:\test\project\catalog.dat

Invoking the catalog import export utility from the command line

The utility can be invoked from the command line or by calling it from another program. Use the syntax:

Call MVSP0033 using ws-command-line

In the command above, ws-command-line is a command with the syntax and parameters described below.

Syntax

MFCATXML FUNC(xxxx) INFILE(filename) 
OUTFILE(filename) KEY(xxxx)

The function's operation, and the parameters that you use, varies depending on the value of the FUNC parameter.

Export entire catalog: Func = EXP

Exports the entire catalog to an XML file.

OUTFILE

The name of the file to hold the exported data.

Import a catalog: Func = IMP

Imports a catalog from an XML file.

INFILE

The name of the file with the catalog data to be imported.

Export specific catlalog records: Func = GU

Reads details for specified catalog records and writes them to a file.

`INFILE(filename)`	The catalog entries for all the MVS DATASET names found in the XML document `filename` are retrieved
`KEY(datasetname)`	The record for the single MVS dataset name in the `datasetname` parameter is retrieved
`KEY(@filename)`	The records for all the MVS dataset name in the `filename` parameter are retrieved. `filename` must be a text file with each successive dataset on a new line.
`OUTFILE(filename)`	The output file for the catalog records.

Insert records into a catalog: Func = ISRT

Reads catalog record details from INFILE and inserts these catalog records.

INFILE(filename)

The name of the XML file with the catalog data to be inserted.

Replace existing catalog records: Func = REPL

Reads catalog record details from INFILE and replaces corresponding existing catalog records.

INFILE(filename)

The name of the XML file with the catalog data to be replaced.

Delete catalog records: Func = DLET

Deletes catalog records.

`INFILE(filename)`	Deletes catalog entries for all the MVS DATASET names found in `filename`.
`KEY (datasetname)`	Deletes the record for the single dataset name set defined in `datasetname.`
`KEY(@filename)`	Deletes all of the catalog records for all the MVS dataset names listed in `filename`. This file must be a text file with each successive dataset on a new line.

Examples

The following command creates the OUT.XML XML file that contains all of the data held in the catalog identified in the MFSYSCAT environment variable.

MFCATXML FUNC(EXP) OUTFILE(OUT.XML)

The resulting XML file can be edited and then imported using the following command:

MFCATXML FUNC(IMP) INFILE(OUT.XML)

Comments

When exporting large catalog files (>100,000 records), the export process spreads the contents over multiple XML files, to avoid memory problems. After the first file, subsequent files are appended with 001, 002, 003, etc. When importing one of these large catalog files, you must remember to run the import on each generated .xml file.

To set the threshold at which an additional .xml file is generated on export, set the MF_MVSP0034_LIMIT environment variable to the required threshold (number of records). The default is set to 100,000 records.