Patent ID: 8234242

Claim:
A method, comprising: maintaining, via a processor, a single master catalog having a catalog alias and a plurality of user catalogs, wherein each user catalog of the plurality of user catalogs includes data sets and attributes of the data sets; storing, in a group table that is smaller in size than the plurality of user catalogs, data set names and corresponding indexes to the plurality of user catalogs, and pointing via the group table, the catalog alias of the single master catalog to the plurality of user catalogs, wherein the group table is stored in a cache; receiving, via the processor, an indication that a new data set is to be defined; determining, via the processor, a selected user catalog from the plurality of user catalogs, based on an amount of available space on each of the plurality of user catalogs and an amount of contention activity on each of the plurality of user catalogs, wherein the selected user catalog is suitable for including the new data set and attributes of the new data set; subsequent to determining the selected user catalog, inserting via the processor, in the group table, an entry that indicates a data set name corresponding to the new data set and an index to the selected catalog; and directing, by the catalog alias of the single master catalog, requests for any data sets to the group table, wherein: in response to determining that an attribute of a selected data set is to be modified, a selected user catalog of the plurality of user catalogs is updated with modifications to the attribute, wherein the selected user catalog includes the selected data set, and wherein any change to the group table is avoided while the plurality of user catalogs is updated; and the group table is updated only when one or more new datasets are defined or when one or more existing datasets are modified, wherein updating of the group table is performed in a relatively lesser amount of time in comparison to updates to the plurality of user catalogs.