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Status Under review
Workspace z/OS
Categories BCP_XCF/XES
Created by Guest
Created on Oct 21, 2025

Implenent allocation strategies for CFRM structures as alternative to the preflist

In the definition of CFRM structures, the preflist statement must be individually coded for each structure. As the environment grows, the number of structures can increase rapidly, making it challenging and error-prone to ensure that the preflist remains in the desired state for every single structure.

Typically, the number of preflist combinations is limited and often follows a specific allocation strategy, such as alternating between data centers (e.g., "CF Datacenter 1, CF Datacenter 2, Other CF Datacenter 1, Other CF Datacenter 2") or prioritizing the same site first (e.g., "CF Datacenter 1, Other CF Datacenter 1, CF Datacenter 2, Other CF Datacenter 2").

The Idea is to define allocation strategies with CF orders at the top of the CFRM policy and reference the desired strategy directly within structure statements instead of using the preflist statement. This approach would improve clarity by using self-explanatory strategy names to convey the intent behind the chosen preflist.

Additionally, the ability to rebuild specific structures using an existing allocation strategy—without the need to create a new CFRM policy—would simplify structure management in a dynamic sysplex environment. The allocation strategy could be activated using the command:
SETXCF START,RB,STR=strname,ALLOCSTRATEGY=strategyname.

Idea priority Low