Storage administrator
The person who manages the mainframe's disk and tape storage: where datasets go, how they are backed up and how much space is free.
Also written storage admin, storage management, DASD administrator
A storage administrator looks after the mainframe's storage: disk, tape and the software that manages them. Their job is to make sure there is always enough space, that data is in the right place, and that it can be recovered.
They write and maintain the SMS rules that decide where new datasets go and how they are treated. They set up DFSMShsm, so that unused data is migrated and important data is backed up. They manage catalogs, keep track of how full the storage pools are, and plan for growth with new disk or tape capacity. They also take part in disaster recovery, making sure data is copied to the second site.
When a job fails because there is no space, or a dataset has been migrated or deleted unexpectedly, the storage team is who to ask. They will usually look at the dataset's SMS classes and the history of what HSM did with it.
The role sits between system programming and operations, and at smaller sites it is often part of one of them.
Where can I learn this hands-on?
Right here, at ZedBank. You take a junior job at a simulated bank and learn each part of the work by doing it, with Zed beside you. There's nothing to install.
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- SMSThe Storage Management Subsystem: the z/OS feature that decides where new datasets go and how they are backed up, kept and deleted, using rules the site writes.
- DFSMShsmThe z/OS storage manager that moves datasets you have not used for a while to cheaper storage, and brings them back when you need them.
- DFSMSdssDFSMS data set services: the z/OS program for copying, moving, backing up and restoring datasets and whole volumes.
- DASDDirect access storage device, the mainframe term for disk storage.
- CatalogThe system's index of where datasets live, so you can refer to a dataset by name without knowing which disk it is on.
- FlashCopyA feature of mainframe disk systems that makes an almost instant copy of a dataset or volume, as it was at one moment.