What does 'MGMTCLASS' of a dataset describe?

Question

While allocating a dataset, What does MGMTCLASS of a dataset describe? To my knowledge it gives the retention and expiration period that it is gonna reside on disk and the possible values I have observed are BKUP35, NOBKNLIM etc. What are these stand for and what else are the possible value for this parameter? Hope I put my question exactly, please lemme know if i missed something...

Addendum: Can i ask another question here. How often does a dataset is set to be backed up? I know it's specific to installation of SMS, but do we have something related to MGMTCLASS. Say dataset will be backed up when it stays some % of time specified on MGMTCLASS like that.. am I clear?

Answer 1

On IBM z/os mainframes, the MGMTCLAS values are defined by your systems management. Each installation may have different values. You will have to ask your site management for the values they have defined for your environment.

MGMTCLAS is given when defining a new dataset on a system where the Storage Management System (SMS) feature is installed. SMS uses the assigned MGMTCLAS to guide various aspects of dataset management. Typical usages are:

• Manage migration of inactive datasets to archival storage
• Set the backup frequency
• Determine how often to compress partitioned datasets
• To delete datasets where the retention period has expired
• To release unused space in a dataset
• To enable cost accounting on datasets