Save and restore considerations for signed objects

Learn how signed objects affect how you perform save and restore tasks for your system.

There are several system values that can affect restore operations for your system. Only one of these system values, the verify object signatures during restore (QVFYOBJRST) system value, determines how the system handles signed objects when restoring them. The setting that you choose for this system value lets you determine how the restore process handles verification of objects without signatures or with signatures that are not valid.

Some save and restore commands affect signed objects or determine how your system handles signed and unsigned objects during save and restore operations. You need to be aware of these commands and their affect on signed objects so that you can better manage your system and to avoid potential problems that may occur.

These commands can verify signatures on objects during save and restore operations:
These commands allow you to save and restore certificate stores; certificate stores are security-sensitive objects that contain the certificates that you use to sign objects and verify signatures:
Some save commands, depending on the parameter values that you use, may lose the signature from an object on the save media, thereby negating the security that the signature provides. For example, any save operation that refers to a command (*CMD) object with a target release before V5R2M0 causes the commands to be saved without signatures. Removing the signature might cause problems with the objects affected. At the very least, you will no longer be able to verify the source of the object as a trusted one and will not be able to verify the signature to detect changes to the object. Use these commands only on those signed objects that you have created (as opposed to signed objects that you obtain from others such as IBM® or vendors).
Note: To verify whether a Save command lost an object's signature, you must restore the object into a different library than the one from which you saved it (for example, QTEMP). You can then use the DSPOBJD command to determine if the object on the save media lost its signature.

You need to be aware of this potential for the following specific save commands, as well as for save commands in general:

Related concepts
System values and commands that affect signed objects