Inspecting the Encryption Parameters and Attributes

This section shows where to see how Adabas Encryption is working.

Is Adabas running with encryption support?

  • Look into the DDPRINT protocol dataset of the Adabas nucleus or utility in question and check whether it contains ADARUN parameter ENCRYPTION=YES.

  • Alternatively, for the Adabas nucleus, navigate to the Display Installed Products screen in the Adabas Online System (via option ‘A’ from the main menu and then option ‘I’ from the Session Monitoring menu) and check the ‘Encryption’ setting on the right-hand side.

Is my sequential Adabas input/output dataset encrypted?

  • Note:
    Just browsing through a sequential dataset does not show whether it is encrypted. If it is encrypted, DFSMS will decrypt it on the fly and show the plaintext data.

  • Look into the catalog entry of the dataset using TSO or IDCAMS LISTCAT ENTRIES(‘dataset-name’) ALL and check the ‘ENCRYPTIONDATA’ section.

Is my Adabas container dataset encrypted?

  • Look into the DDPRINT protocol dataset of the Adabas nucleus or a utility that uses the container dataset and check the ADAI64 message for the dataset. If the dataset is encrypted, this message includes a third line saying that the ‘File dd-name’ or ‘Dataset dataset-name’ is encrypted.

  • If you try to browse an encrypted Adabas container dataset like a sequential dataset, DFSMS will raise system abend 213-99. This can be taken as an indication that the dataset is encrypted.

  • As a more regular way, look into the catalog entry of the dataset using TSO or IDCAMS LISTCAT ENTRIES(‘dataset-name’) ALL and check the ‘ENCRYPTIONDATA’ section.

How can I see what data is actually stored on disk in my encrypted dataset?

  • Determine the cylinder/track location of the dataset on disk and use the DFSMSdss PRINT DATASET or PRINT TRACKS functions to print its unaltered contents. For an encrypted dataset, expect to see random data without any discernible structure.