Generation Data Sets – Unique, Useful… Understandable?

z/OS systems use a variety of specialized file types that can look unusual to those new to the mainframe. From partitioned datasets to VSAM files, these formats play a unique role in managing data. Even seemingly ordinary sequential files behave differently in z/OS, and one of the most powerful examples is the Generation Data Group (GDG).

In this webinar, we’ explore GDGs and their associated Generation Data Sets (GDSs)—why they matter, how they’re structured, and the role they play in mission-critical environments. With a history predating DFSMS, GDGs often house an organization’s most important files across both disk and tape. We’ll break down how GDGs are created, their key attributes, and how applications make use of them, giving you the knowledge to confidently manage one of z/OS’s most enduring and essential dataset types.