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IBM Tivoli Storage Manager for UNIX: Backup-Archive Clients Installation and User's Guide


Chapter 4. Backing up your data

Use Tivoli Storage Manager to maintain a set of backup versions of your file system or raw logical volumes on your workstation. You can recover these older file versions in the event your current files are lost or damaged. This chapter covers different ways to back up files, how to restore these files, and the difference between backing up and archiving files.

All client backup procedures in this chapter also apply to the Web client, except the following:

See Starting a Web client session for information on starting the Web client.

The following table identifies tasks described in this chapter:

Table 24. Backup: Primary tasks

Task Page
Planning your backups "Planning your backups"
Pre-backup considerations "Pre-backup considerations"
Performing an incremental, selective, or incremental-by-date backup "Performing an incremental, selective, or incremental-by-date backup"
Group backup: Backing up files from one or more file spaces "Group backup: Backing up files from one or more file spaces"
Performing an image backup "Performing an image backup"
Backing up NAS file systems "Backing up NAS file systems"
Backing up the WebSphere Application Server (WAS) "Backing up the WebSphere Application Server (WAS)"

Planning your backups

If you are a first-time user, or if you only back up files occasionally, you may wish to use Table 25 as a checklist of preliminary steps to consider before performing a backup.

Table 25. Planning your backups



___ Decide whether you want to back up files or archive them. See Do you want to back up or archive files? for more information.
___ See Pre-backup considerations for important considerations before you back up your files and directories.
___ Do you need to exclude files from backup services? See Using an include-exclude options list to control processing for more information.
___ Decide what type of backup you want according to your needs. See the following sections for more information:
___ If you are performing an image backup, ensure that you have accounted for unique considerations. See Performing an image backup for more information.
___ For further backup considerations, see Backup: Additional considerations.

Do you want to back up or archive files?

When the backup-archive client backs up or archives a file, it sends a copy of the file and its associated attributes to the server; however, backups and archives have different goals.

Backups protect against file damage or loss that could occur through accidental deletion, corruption, disk crashes, and so forth. The server maintains one or more backup versions for each file that you back up. Older versions are deleted as newer versions are made. The number of backup versions the server maintains is set by your administrator.

Note: If you frequently create archives for the same data, consider using instant archives (backup sets) instead. Frequent archive operations can create a large amount of metadata in the server database increasing database growth and decreasing performance for operations such as expiration. See Restoring data from a backup set for more information on how backup sets can be generated and restored.

Archive copies are saved for long-term storage. Your administrator can limit how long archive copies are kept. The server can store an unlimited number of archive versions of a file. Archives are useful if you need to go back to a particular version of your files, or you want to delete a file from your workstation and retrieve it at a later time, if necessary. For example, you might need to save spreadsheets for tax purposes, but because you are not using them, you do not want to leave them on your workstation. See Chapter 6, Archiving and retrieving your data for more information about archiving and retrieving files.

Use backups to protect against unforeseen damage to your files, and use archives for long-term retention of your files.


Pre-backup considerations

Incremental backup performance suffers if the workstation has a low amount of memory available before starting the backup. If your workstation is memory constrained, specify the memoryefficientbackup yes option in your client options file (dsm.opt). This reduces memory consumption but increases backup time. Tivoli Storage Manager analyzes only one directory at a time for backup consideration. If performance remains poor, check your communication buffer settings and the communication link between your workstation and the server. If your workstation is not memory constrained, setting the memoryefficientbackup option to yes will degrade your backup performance.

LAN-free data movement

AIX, HP-UX, Linux86, Linux pSeries, Linux iSeries, and Solaris clients support LAN-free data movement, which shifts the movement of client data from the communications network to a storage area network (SAN). This decreases the load on the Tivoli Storage Manager server.

The SAN provides a path that allows you to back up, restore, archive, and retrieve data to and from a SAN-attached storage device. Client data moves over the SAN to the storage device via the Tivoli Storage Manager Storage Agent. The Tivoli Storage Manager Storage Agent must be installed on the same system as the client.

LAN-free prerequisites

To enable LAN-free support, you must install and configure the Tivoli Storage Manager Managed System for SAN Storage Agent on the client workstation. For more information, refer to the following publications:

LAN-free options

After installing and configuring the Tivoli Storage Manager Managed System for SAN feature on the client workstation, you can use the following options to enable LAN-free data movement:

enablelanfree
Specifies whether to enable an available LAN-free path to SAN-attached storage device. See Enablelanfree for more information.

lanfreecommmethod
Specifies a communication protocol between the client and the Storage Agent. See Lanfreecommmethod for more information.

lanfreetcpport
Specifies the TCP/IP port number where the Storage Agent is listening. See Lanfreetcpport for more information.

lanfreeshmport
Specifies the Shared Memory port number where the Storage Agent is listening. See Lanfreeshmport for more information.

Using an include-exclude options list to control processing

There may be files in your file systems that you do not want to back up. These files may be core files, local caches of network file systems, operating system or application files that could be easily recovered by reinstalling the program, or any other files that you could easily rebuild.

An Authorized User on your workstation can use the exclude and include options in your include-exclude options list to specify which files to exclude from backup processing.

Use the include and exclude options in the client system options file (dsm.sys) to define which files to include or exclude from incremental or selective backup processing. A file is eligible for backup unless excluded by an exclude option. It is not necessary to use an include option to include specific files for backup unless those files are in a directory containing other files you want to exclude.

For more information on creating an include-exclude options file, see Creating an include-exclude list (optional root user or authorized user task).

Encrypting data during backup or archive operation

You can encrypt the data that is sent to the server during a backup or archive operation using standard DES 56-bit encryption. If you use the DES 56-bit encryption feature to encrypt your data during backup or archive, you must have the encryption key to restore or retrieve the data. If the encryption key is not available on the client machine (via the encryptkey option) and you forgot the encryption key, then the data cannot be restored or retrieved under any circumstances.

Use the include.encrypt and exclude.encrypt options to select files for encryption processing. By default, files are not encrypted unless they are explicitly included using the include.encrypt option. For more information about the exclude.encrypt option, see Exclude options. For more information about the include.encrypt option, see Include options.

To encrypt file data, you must select an encryption key password, which Tivoli Storage Manager uses to generate the encryption key for encrypting and decrypting the file data. Store the encryption key password for later use. You can specify whether to save the encryption key password in a file named TSM.PWD by using the encryptkey option. While restoring the encrypted file, Tivoli Storage Manager will prompt you for the key password to decrypt the file in the following cases:

For more information about this option, see Encryptkey.

File system and ACL support

Special file systems contain dynamic information generated by the operating system; they contain no data or files. The UNIX client ignores special file systems and their contents. Special file systems include the following:

Tivoli Storage Manager provides ACL support for the client file systems in Table 26.

Table 26. Supported file systems and ACL support

Platform File System ACL Support
AIX jfs
gpfs
JFS2
VxFS
IBM TotalStorage SAN File Systems (AIX 5.1 only)
yes
yes
yes
yes
no
HP-UX hfs
VxFS (JFS Veritas)
yes
yes (V3.3.Layout 4)
Linux86, Linux IA64
Linux iSeries
Linux pSeries
xfs
ext2
ext3
jfs
reiserfs
gpfs
yes
yes
yes
no
no
yes (Linux86 only)
Linux/390 ext2
ext3
reiserfs
yes
yes
no
OS/390 UNIX hfs
zfs
no
yes
Solaris ufs
VxFS
QFS
yes
yes
no

Notes:

  1. The standalone package LSCqfs 3.5.0 is the only supported version of QFS. In addition, the following restrictions also apply to the QFS file system:

  2. Incremental, selective, filelist back up, archive, restore, and retrieve processing of the Veritas file system and its ACLs on AIX are supported. Restore of a Veritas volume on a Logical Volume Manager volume and vice-versa is allowed provided both have the same file system type. The ACL information might be lost when performing cross file system type restores.

Attention: If you are running GPFS for AIX or GPFS for Linux86 in a multi-node cluster, and all nodes share a mounted GPFS file system, Tivoli Storage Manager processes this file system as a local file system. Tivoli Storage Manager backs up the file system on each node during an incremental backup. To avoid this, you can do one of the following:

Maximum file size for operations

Table 27 specifies the maximum file sizes for the native file systems on Tivoli Storage Manager UNIX client platforms.

Note: The maximum file size depends on the type of a file system. The Tivoli Storage Manager client does not check any file size limit during backup, archive, restore, or retrieve operations. As long as the file system allows creation of the file, the Tivoli Storage Manager client will back up or archive the file.

Table 27. Maximum file size

Platform Max file size (in bytes)
AIX 4.3.3 (JFS) 68,589,453,312 (64GB)
AIX 4.3.3 (GPFS) 109,951,162,777,600 (100 TB)
AIX 5.1 and 5.2 (JFS2) 1,099,511,627,264 (1TB - 512)
HP-UX 1,099,511,627,775 (1TB-1)
All Linux clients 9,223,372,036,854,775,807 (8EB-1)
OS/390 UNIX 4,294,967,295 (4GB)
Solaris 1,099,511,627,775 (1TB-1)

Performing an incremental, selective, or incremental-by-date backup

Your administrator might have set up schedules to automatically back up files on your workstation. See Chapter 7, Automating tasks for information on checking and running the schedules available to you. The following sections discuss how to back up files without using a schedule.

There are two types of incremental backup: full incremental and partial incremental.

Full and partial incremental backup

If you select entire file systems, you are performing a full incremental backup. If you select a directory tree or individual files, you are performing a partial incremental backup.

The first time you run a full incremental backup, Tivoli Storage Manager backs up all the files and directories on the file systems you specify. This process can take a long time if there are a large number of files, or one or more very large files. Subsequent full incremental backups will only back up new and changed files. This allows the backup server to maintain current versions of your files, without having to waste time or space by backing up files that already exist in server storage.

Depending on your storage management policies, the server may keep more than one version of your files in storage. The most recently backed up files are active backup versions. Older copies of your backed up files are inactive versions. However, if you delete a file from your workstation, the next full incremental backup will cause the active backup version of the file to become inactive. If you need to restore a file you have deleted, and if a full incremental backup has been run since you deleted the file, then you will need to restore an inactive version of the file (assuming that a version still exists on the server). The number of inactive versions maintained by the server and how long they are retained is governed by the management policies defined by your server administrator. The purpose of the active versions is to represent which files existed on your file system at the time of the backup. See Chapter 8, Understanding storage management policies for more information about storage management policies.

To perform a full or partial incremental backup using the client GUI, select the Incremental (complete) option from the type of backup pull-down menu on the backup window or use the incremental command in the command line interface. Specify file systems, directory trees, or individual files to include in the backup.

During an incremental backup, the client queries the server to determine the exact state of your files since the last incremental backup. The client uses this information to:

Attention: Each directory is also backed up if it has not yet been backed up, or if its permissions or time stamp have changed since the last time it was backed up.

You can use the preservelastaccessdate option during a backup or archive operation to specify whether to reset the last access date to its original value following a backup or archive operation. By default, the Tivoli Storage Manager client will not reset the last access date of any backed up or archived files to their original value prior to the backup or archive operation. See Preservelastaccessdate for more information.

Directories are counted in the number of objects backed up. To exclude directories and their contents from backup, use the exclude.dir option. For more about exclude.dir, see Exclude options.

Understanding which files are backed up

When you request a backup, Tivoli Storage Manager backs up a file if all of the following requirements are met:

Incremental-by-date backup

For a file system to be eligible for incremental-by-date backups, you must have performed at least one full incremental backup of that file system. Running an incremental backup of only a directory branch or individual file will not make the file system eligible for incremental-by-date backups.

To perform an incremental-by-date backup using the GUI, select the Incremental (date only) option from the type of backup pull-down menu or use the incrbydate option with the incremental command.

The client backs up only those files whose modification date and time is later than the date and time of the last incremental backup of the file system on which the file resides. Files added by the client after the last incremental backup, but with a modification date earlier than the last incremental backup, are not backed up.

Files that were renamed after the last incremental backup, but otherwise remain unchanged, will not be backed up. Renaming a file does not change the modification date and time of the file. However, renaming a file does change the modification date of the directory in which it is located. In this case, the directory is backed up, but not the files it contains.

If you run an incremental-by-date backup of the whole file system, the server updates the date and time of the last incremental backup. If you perform an incremental-by-date backup on only part of a file system, the server does not update the date of the last full incremental backup. In this case, the next incremental-by-date backup will back up these files again.

Comparing full incremental, partial incremental, and incremental-by-date backups

Full incremental, partial incremental, and incremental-by-date all back up new and changed files. An incremental-by-date backup takes less time to process than a full incremental backup and requires less memory. An incremental-by-date backup might not place exactly the same backup files into server storage because the incremental-by-date backup:

Selective backup

Use a selective backup when you want to back up specific files or directories regardless of whether a current copy of those files exists on the server. Incremental backups are generally part of an automated system to back up entire file systems. In contrast, selective backups allow you to manually select a set of files to back up regardless of whether they have changed since your last incremental backup.

To perform a selective backup using the client GUI, see Backing up data using the GUI for more information. Use the selective command to perform a selective backup from the client command line. See Selective for more information.

Unlike incremental backups, a selective backup:

Saving access permissions

When you back up your files, Tivoli Storage Manager also saves standard UNIX access permissions assigned to the files. Depending on your operating system, it also saves extended permissions. For example, for files on an AIX workstation, Tivoli Storage Manager saves access control lists.

Note: It is possible for an Authorized User to back up files for another user, but this should not cause ownership conflicts. The backup server will properly record that the file belongs to the original owner. The Authorized User does not need to grant the other user access to the backup versions.

Setting a virtual mount point

If you are an Authorized User and you want to back up files beginning with a specific directory within a file system, you can define that directory as a virtual mount point (see Virtualmountpoint).

Defining a virtual mount point within a file system provides a direct path to the files you want to back up, thus saving processing time. It is more efficient than defining the file system with the domain option and then using an exclude option to exclude the files you do not want to back up. It also allows you to store backups and archives for specific directories in separate storage file spaces.

Backing up data using the GUI

You can back up specific files, entire directories, or entire file systems from the directory tree. You can locate the files you want to back up by searching or filtering. Filtering displays only the files matching the filter criteria for your backup. Use the Tivoli Storage Manager client GUI to back up your data as follows:

  1. Click Backup in the Tivoli Storage Manager window. The Backup window appears.
  2. Expand the directory tree if necessary. Click on the selection boxes next to the object or objects you want to back up. To search or filter files, click the Search icon on the tool bar.

      To search:

    1. Enter your search criteria in the Find Files (Backup) window.
    2. Click the Search button. The Matching Files (Backup) window appears.
    3. Click the selection boxes next to the files you want to back up and close the Matching Files (Backup) window.

      To filter:

    1. Enter your filter criteria in the Find Files (Backup) window.
    2. Click the Filter button. The Backup window displays the filtered files.
    3. Click the selection boxes next to the filtered files or directories you want to back up.
  3. Select one of the following backup types from the pull-down menu:
  4. Click Backup. The Backup Task List window displays the backup processing status.

Considerations:

Backing up data using the command line

You can use the incremental or selective commands to perform backups. Table 28 shows examples of using these commands to perform different tasks. See Incremental and Selective for more information about these commands.


Table 28. Command line backup examples

Task Command Considerations
Incremental backups
Perform an incremental backup of your client domain.
dsmc incremental See Incremental for more information about the incremental command. See Full and partial incremental backup for detailed information about incremental backups.
Back up the /fs1 and /fs2 file systems in addition to the /home, /usr, and /datasave file systems defined in your client domain. dsmc incremental -domain="/fs1 /fs2" See Domain for more information about the domain option.
Back up all local file systems defined in your client domain except for the /home file system.
dsmc incremental -domain="all-local -/home" You cannot use the (-) operator in front of the domain keyword all-local. See Domain for more information.
Back up only the /fs1 and /fs2 file systems. dsmc incremental /fs1 /fs2 None
Back up all files in the /home directory and all its subdirectories. dsmc incremental /home/ -subdir=yes See Subdir for more information about the subdir option.
Assuming that you initiated a snapshot of the /usr file system and mounted the snapshot as /snapshot/day1, run an incremental backup of all files and directories under the local snapshot and manage them on the Tivoli Storage Manager server under the file space name /usr. dsmc incremental /usr -snapshotroot=/snapshot/day1 Tivoli Storage Manager considers the snapshotroot value as a file space name. See Snapshotroot for more information.
Incremental-by-date backup
Perform an incremental-by-date backup of your default client domain.
dsmc incremental -incrbydate Use the incrbydate option with the incremental command to back up new and changed files with a modification date later than the last incremental backup stored at the server. See Incrbydate for more information about the incrbydate option.
Selective backups
Back up all files in the /home/proj directory.
dsmc selective /home/proj/ Use the selective command to back up specific files or directories regardless of whether they have changed since your last incremental backup. You can use wildcards to back up multiple files at once. See Selective for more information about the selective command.
Back up all files in the the /home/proj directory and all its subdirectories. dsmc selective /home/proj/ -subdir=yes If you specify -subdir=yes when backing up a specific path and file, Tivoli Storage Manager recursively backs up all subdirectories under that path, and any instances of the specified file that exist under any of those subdirectories.

If a subdirectory is a mounted file system, Tivoli Storage Manager does not back up the files in that subdirectory when you use the subdir=yes option. See Subdir for more information about the subdir option.

Back up the /home/dir1/h1.doc and /home/dir1/test.doc files. dsmc selective /home/dir1/h1.doc /home/dir1/test.doc If you specify the removeoperandlimit option with the incremental or selective commands, the 20-operand limit is not enforced and is restricted only by available resources or other operating system limits. This allows you to specify more than 20 files on a single command. See Removeoperandlimit for more information about this option.
Back up a list of files in the /home/filelist.txt file. selective -filelist=/home/filelist.txt Use the filelist option to process a list of files. See Filelist for more information.
Assuming that you initiated a snapshot of the /usr file system and mounted the snapshot as /snapshot/day1, run a selective backup of the /usr/dir1/sub1 directory tree from the local snapshot and manage it on the Tivoli Storage Manager server under the file space name /usr. dsmc selective /usr/dir1/sub1/ -subdir=yes -snapshotroot=/snapshot/day1 Tivoli Storage Manager considers the snapshotroot value as a file space name. See Snapshotroot for more information.

Group backup: Backing up files from one or more file spaces

You can use the backup group command to create and back up a group containing a list of files from one or more file space origins to a virtual file space on the Tivoli Storage Manager server. See Backup Group for more information.

A group backup allows you to create a consistent point-in-time backup of a group of files that is managed as a single logical entity:

A group backup can be added to a backup set. See Restoring data from a backup set for more information about backup sets.

You can perform a full or differential backup using the mode option. See Backup Group and Mode for more information.

For example, to perform a full backup of all the files in the /home/dir1/filelist1 file to the virtual file space /virtfs containing the group leader /home/group1 file, enter:

dsmc backup group -filelist=/home/dir1/filelist1 -groupname=group1 -virtualfsname=
/virtfs -mode=full

Associating a local snapshot with a server file space

Use the snapshotroot option with the incremental and selective commands in conjunction with a third-party application that provides a snapshot of a logical volume, to associate the data on the local snapshot with the real file space data that is stored on the Tivoli Storage Manager server. The snapshotroot option does not provide any facilities to take a volume snapshot, only to manage data created by a volume snapshot. See Snapshotroot for more information.


Performing an image backup

Root User

From your local workstation, you can back up a logical volume as a single object (image backup) on your system.

An image backup provides the following benefits:

The traditional static image backup prevents write access to the volume by other system applications during the operation. Use the imagetype=dynamic option to back up the volume as is without remounting it read-only. Corruption of the backup can occur if applications write to the volume while the backup is in progress. In this case, run fsck after a restore. This option replaces the dependency on the copy serialization value in the management class to perform an image backup.

For Linux86 and Linux IA64 only: By default, Tivoli Storage Manager performs a snapshot image backup of file systems residing on a logical volume created by the Linux Logical Volume Manager, during which the volume is available to other system applications.

You can use the imagetype option with the backup image command or the include.image option to specify whether to perform a static, dynamic, or snapshot image backup. See Imagetype for more information.

Before you perform an image backup

Before you perform an image backup, consider the following:

Volume device type support for an image backup

The following table lists devices supported by the backup image command. A raw device might be a disk slice, a partition, or a logical volume.

Table 29. Volume device type support for an image backup

Logical volume manager Raw device types Sample device name Backup image command support
AIX Logical Volume Mgr Logical Volumes /dev/lv00 AIX
Sun Solstice Volume Mgr Meta Devices /dev/md/dsk/dl Solaris
Veritas Volume Mgr Logical Volumes
/dev/vx/dsk/rootg/vol01
/dev/vg00/lvol01
/dev/vx/rootdg/vol01
Solaris
HP-UX
AIX
Raw Disk Partitions /dev/hda1, /dev/sda3 Linux86, Linux IA64,
Linux iSeries
Linux pSeries
Linux Logical Volume Mgr Logical Volumes /dev/myvolgroup/
myvolume
Linux86, Linux IA64,
Linux iSeries
Linux pSeries
Raw Disk Disk Slices /dev/dsk/c0tld0s0 Solaris

The client must support the raw device type on the specific platform in order to perform an image backup of a raw device. If you want to perform an image backup for a file system mounted on a raw device, the raw device must be supported. Remember to specify raw devices by their block device name.

Notes:

  1. |For the Linux clients, image backup is only supported on partitions |with id 0x83 or logical volumes created with the Linux Logical Volume |Manager. Backing up other partitions, such as extended partitions that |contain mounted file systems or database data, may produce inconsistent backup |data if the data changes during the image backup operation.

  2. On HP-UX, raw logical volume backup does not support devices other than logical volumes, such as /dev/dsk/c0t0d1. Logical volume devices usually take the form /dev/vgXY/lvolAB. A volume group must begin with vg to be correctly detected.

  3. You should not back up disk slices containing cylinder 0 on Solaris because the volume table of contents (VTOC) will be overwritten after a restore.

  4. For AIX JFS clients, when doing image backup directly to tape, the resourceutilization option value cannot exceed the value of the MAXNUMMP on the server for that node. If it does, the backup can fail with an Unknown System Error message.

  5. For AIX, HP-UX, and Solaris: You can perform image operations on volumes created using Veritas Volume Manager. Tivoli Storage Manager will initially support static (default) and dynamic image type for backup.

Utilizing image backup to perform file system incremental backup

There are two methods of utilizing image backups to perform efficient incremental backups of your file system. These backup methods allow you to perform point-in-time restore of your file systems and improve backup and restore performance. You can perform the backup only on formatted volumes; not on raw logical volumes. You can use one of the following methods to perform image backups of volumes with mounted file systems.

Method 1: Using image backup with file system incremental

  1. Perform a full incremental backup of the file system (See Backing up data using the GUI for instructions). This establishes a baseline for future incremental backups.
  2. Perform an image backup of the same file system to make image restores possible. See Performing an image backup using the GUI for instructions.
  3. Perform incremental backups of the file system periodically to ensure that the server records additions and deletions accurately.
  4. Perform an image backup periodically to ensure faster restore.
  5. Restore your data by performing an incremental restore (See Peforming an image restore using the GUI for instructions). Ensure that you select the Image plus incremental directories and files and Delete inactive files from local options in the Restore Options window before beginning the restore. During the restore, the client does the following:

Method 2: Using image backup with incremental-by-date image backup

  1. Perform an image backup of the file system. See Performing an image backup using the GUI for instructions.
  2. Perform an incremental-by-date image backup of the file system (See Performing an image backup using the GUI for instructions). This sends only those files that were added or changed since the last image backup to the server.
  3. Periodically, perform full image backups (See Performing an image backup using the GUI for instructions).
  4. Restore your volume by performing an incremental restore (See Peforming an image restore using the GUI for instructions). Ensure that you select the Image plus incremental directories and files option in the Restore Options window before beginning the restore. This will first restore the most recent image and will then restore all the incremental backups performed since that date.
Note:
You should perform full image backups periodically in the following cases: This will improve restore time because fewer changes are applied from incrementals.

The following restrictions apply when using method 2:

Comparing methods 1 and 2

To help you decide which method is appropriate for your environment, Table 30 is a comparison of methods 1 and 2.

Table 30. Comparing incremental image backup methods

Method 1: Using image backup with file system incremental Method 2: Using image backup with incremental-by-date image backup
Files are expired on the server when they are deleted from the file system. On restore, you have the option to delete files which are expired on server from image. Files are not expired on server. After the image incremental restore completes, all files deleted on the file system after the image backup will be present after the restore. If file systems are running at or near capacity, an out-of-space condition could result.
Incremental backup time is the same as regular incremental backups. Incremental image backup is faster because the client does not query the server for each file that is copied.
Restore is much faster compared to a full incremental file system restore. Restore is much faster compared to a full incremental file system restore.
Directories deleted from the file system after the last image backup are not expired. Directories and files deleted from the file system after the last full image backup are not expired.

Performing an image backup using the GUI

When you perform an image backup using the client GUI Image Backup option, Tivoli Storage Manager honors the image type setting of the include.image or imagetype options in your client system options file (dsm.sys). If you set the image type to snapshot, the client performs a snapshot image backup of file systems residing on a logical volume created by the Linux Logical Volume Manager, during which the volume is available to other system applications. If you set the image type to static, the client will unmount and remount the volume as read-only, so that no other applications can access it. If you do not specify either of these options, the client performs a snapshot image backup.

For the AIX, HP-UX, and Solaris clients, selecting the Image Backup option performs a static or dynamic image backup depending on the image type setting of the include.image or imagetype options in your client system options file (dsm.sys). If the image type is set to static, the client will unmount and remount the volume as read-only, so that no other applications can access it. If the image type is set to dynamic, the client performs the image backup without making the file system read-only during the backup. If you do not specify either of these options, the client performs a static image backup.

To create an image backup of your file system or raw logical volume, perform the following steps:

  1. Click on the Backup button in the Tivoli Storage Manager main window. The Backup window appears.
  2. Expand the directory tree and select the objects you want to back up. To back up a raw logical volume, locate and expand the RAW directory tree object.
  3. Click Backup. The Backup Task List window displays the backup processing status. The Backup Report window displays a detailed status report.

Considerations

Performing an image backup using the command line

Use the backup image and restore image commands to perform image backup and restore operations on a single volume. See Backup Image and Restore Image for more information.

You can use the imagetype option with the backup image command or the include.image option in your dsm.sys file or on the command line to specify whether to perform a static, dynamic, or snapshot image backup. See Imagetype for more information.

Use the mode option with the backup image command to perform an incremental-by-date image backup that backs up only new and changed files after the last full image backup. However, this only backs up files with a changed date, not files with changed permissions. See Mode for more information.


Backing up NAS file systems

Through support of Network Data Management Protocol (NDMP), Tivoli Storage Manager Windows, AIX, and Solaris servers can efficiently back up and restore network attached storage (NAS) file system images to automated tape drives or libraries that are locally attached to Network Appliance and EMC Celerra NAS file servers. NDMP support is available only on IBM Tivoli Storage Manager Extended Edition. See NDMP support requirements (Extended Edition only) for NDMP support requirements.

For information on how to configure NDMP support on the Tivoli Storage Manager server, see the following publications:

After configuring NDMP support, the server connects to the NAS device and uses NDMP to initiate, control, and monitor each backup and restore operation. The NAS device performs outboard data transfer to and from the NAS file system to a locally attached library.

The benefits of performing backups using NDMP include the following:

The following support is provided:

The following functions are not supported:

Backing up NAS file systems using the Web client GUI

For information on how to install and configure the Web client, see Configuring the Web client.

For both the Web client GUI and the command line client, you must specify passwordaccess=generate (which is a current Web client restriction for the client node) and the authentication=on must be specified at the server. You are always prompted for a user ID and password. To display NAS nodes and perform NAS functions, you must enter an authorized administrative user ID and password. The authorized administrative user ID should have at least client owner authority over both the NAS node and the client workstation node they are using either from command line or from the web.

You can use the toc option with the include.fs.nas option in your client system options file (dsm.sys) to specify whether Tivoli Storage Manager saves Table of Contents (TOC) information for each file system backup. See Toc for more information. If you save TOC information, you can use Tivoli Storage Manager Web client to examine the entire file system tree and select files and directories to restore. Creation of a TOC requires that you define the TOCDESTINATION attribute in the backup copy group for the management class to which this backup image is bound. Note that TOC creation requires additional processing, network resources, storage pool space, and possibly a mount point during the backup operation.

To back up NAS file systems using the Web client GUI:

  1. Click Backup from the main window. The Backup window displays.
  2. Expand the directory tree if necessary.

    Notes:

    1. The root node called Nodes is not selectable. This node only appears if a NAS plug-in is present on the client machine.
    2. NAS nodes display on the same level as the client workstation node. Only nodes for which the administrator has authority appear.
    3. You can expand NAS nodes to reveal file spaces, but no further expansion is available (no file names).
  3. Click the selection boxes next to the nodes or file systems you want to back up.
  4. Click the type of backup you want to perform in the backup type pull-down menu. The NAS backup type list is active only when you first select NAS backup objects. Full backup backs up the entire file system. Differential backs up the changes since the most recent full backup.
  5. Click Backup. The NAS Backup Task List window displays the backup processing status and progress bar. The number next to the progress bar indicates the number of bytes backed up so far. After the backup completes, the NAS Backup Report window displays processing details, including the actual size of the backup including the total bytes backed up.
    Note:
    If it is necessary to close the Web browser session, current NAS operations will continue after disconnect. You can use the Dismiss button on the NAS Backup Task List window to quit monitoring processing without ending the current operation.
  6. (Optional) To monitor processing of an operation from the GUI main window, open the Actions menu and select TSM Activities. During a backup, the status bar indicates processing status. A percentage estimate does not display for differential backups.

Considerations:

To restore NAS file system images using the Web client GUI, see Restoring NAS file systems.

Backing up NAS file systems using the command line

Table 31 lists the commands and options you can use to back up NAS file system images from the command line.

Table 31. NAS options and commands

Option or command Definition Page
domain.nas Use the domain.nas option to specify the volumes to include in your default domain for NAS backups. Domain.nas
exclude.fs.nas Use the exclude.fs.nas option to exclude file systems on the NAS file server from an image backup when used with the backup nas command. This option is for AIX and Solaris clients only. Exclude options
include.fs.nas Use the include.fs.nas option to bind a management class to Network Attached Storage (NAS) file systems. You can also specify whether Tivoli Storage Manager saves Table of Contents (TOC) information during a NAS file system image backup, using the toc option with the include.fs.nas option in your client system options file (dsm.sys). See Toc for more information. This option is valid for AIX and Solaris clients only. Include options
query node Use the query node command to display all the nodes for which a particular administrative user ID has authority to perform operations. The authorized administrative user ID should have at least client owner authority over both the NAS node and the client workstation node they are using either from command line or from the web. Query Node
backup nas Use the backup nas command to create an image backup of one or more file systems that belong to a Network Attached Storage (NAS) file server. Backup NAS
toc Use the toc option with the backup nas command or the include.fs.nas option to specify whether Tivoli Storage Manager saves Table of Contents (TOC) information for each file system backup. Toc
monitor process Use the monitor process command to display current back up and restore processes for all NAS nodes for which an administrative user has authority. The administrative user can then select one process to monitor. Monitor Process
cancel process Use the cancel process command to display current back up and restore processes for all NAS nodes for which an administrative user has authority. From the display, the administrative user can select one process to cancel. Cancel Process
query backup Use the query backup command with the class option to display information about file system images backed up for a NAS file server. Query Backup
query filespace Use the query filespace command with the class option to display a list of file spaces belonging to a NAS node. Query Filespace
delete filespace Use the delete filespace command with the class option to display a list of file spaces belonging to a NAS node so that you may choose one to delete. Delete Filespace
Note:
When you initiate a NAS backup operation using the command line client, GUI client, or Web client the server starts a process to initiate, control, and monitor the operation. It may take several moments before you notice progress at the command line client interface because the server must perform mount and other necessary tasks before data movement occurs.

Backing up the WebSphere Application Server (WAS)

If you installed the Data Protection for WebSphere Application Server, you can use Tivoli Storage Manager to back up the Version 5.0 WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment Manager (contains setup, application files, and configuration information) or the Application Server (contains setup, application files, and configuration information) to the Tivoli Storage Manager server. You can use this information to recover a corrupted node application or an entire node (or nodes) in the event of an accident or disaster.

Data Protection for WebSphere Application Server is a separately priced and licensed product. See IBM Tivoli Storage Manager for Application Servers 5.2: Data Protection for WebSphere Application Server Installation and User's Guide, SC32-9075 for environment, installation, and configuration information.

Notes:

  1. Data Protection for WebSphere Application Server is only supported on a Tivoli Storage Manager Version 5.2 server and client.

  2. Data Protection for WebSphere Application Server is supported on AIX, Solaris, and Linux86 clients only.

Data Protection for WebSphere Application Server works in conjunction with the client to back up the following data:

Use the Tivoli Storage Manager command line client or the Web Client to backup and restore WAS data. The native Tivoli Storage Manager GUI does not support WAS backup and restore.

Notes:

  1. |If WAS security is enabled, user name and password validation for |Data Protection for WebSphere Application Server is required. If you do |not set the WAS password for the security, the backup will failover to an |offline backup. It is recommended to set the was security password to |perform consistent backups. Use the set waspassword command |to set the user name and password for each installation of WAS on your |machine. You only need to perform this task once, unless you change |your WAS user name or password. You can only perform this task on the |Tivoli Storage Manager command line. See Set Waspassword for more information.

  2. Ensure that the Application Server or Network Deployment Manager you want to back up is online and running, or the WAS backup operation will fail with the following error message:
    Failed to lock the WebSphere Configuration Repository:
    

Backing up WAS data using the Web client

To back up the Network Deployment Manager or the Application Server using the Tivoli Storage Manager Web client:

  1. Click Backup from the GUI main window. The Backup window appears.
  2. Expand the directory tree if necessary.
  3. Expand the WebSphere Application Server node to reveal the Application Server node and the Network Deployment Manager node.

    Notes:

    1. If only a single instance of WAS is present, the WebSphere Application Server tree displays only one object (<NODENAME>) under Application Server and one object (<NODENAME>) under Network Deployment Manager.

    2. If multiple instances of WAS are present, the WebSphere Application Server tree displays multiple instances of Application Server objects and Network Deployment Manager objects as <NODENAME>_<INSTANCENAME>
  4. Click the selection box next to the objects that you want to back up.
  5. Select the type of backup from the pull down menu:

    Full
    Backs up all the files in the selected WebSphere component (Application Server or Network Deployment Manager). This is the default.

    Differential
    Backs up only new and changed files in the selected WebSphere component since the last full backup. If you select Differential and an active full backup does not exist, the client will perform a full backup.
  6. Click Backup. The Backup Task List window displays the backup processing status. After the backup completes, the WAS Backup Report window displays processing details, including the actual size of the backup. If you want to re-access the Task List window after exiting and restarting the Web client, select TSM Activities -> Actions from the menu.

Considerations:

Backing up WAS data using the command line

Table 32 lists the commands and options you can use to back up WAS components.

Table 32. WAS options and commands

Option or command Definition Page
backup was Use the backup was command to back up the WebSphere Application Server (WAS) setup, application files, and configuration information to a group on the Tivoli Storage Manager server. Backup WAS
mode Use the mode option with the backup was command to specify whether perform a full or differential image backup of WebSphere Application Server (WAS) setup, application files, and configuration information. Mode
washome Use the washome option in your client user options file (dsm.opt) to specify an override base install path for the Application Server. Washome
wasndhome Use the wasndhome option in your client user options file (dsm.opt) to specify an override base install path for the Network Deployment Manager. Wasndhome
wasexphome Use the wasexphome option in your client user options file (dsm.opt) to back up the WebSphere Application Server-Express. Wasexphome
wastype Use the wastype option with the backup was, query was, or restore was commands to perform the operation on the WebSphere Application Server (WAS) Network Deployment Manager (contains setup, application files, and configuration information), the Application Server, or both. Wastype

See Restoring the WebSphere Application Server (WAS) for information about how to restore WAS backups using the command line and Web client.


Displaying backup processing status

During a backup, by default Tivoli Storage Manager displays the status of each file it attempts to back up. Tivoli Storage Manager reports the file's size, path, file name, total number of bytes transferred, and whether the backup attempt was successful. These also display in the dsmsched.log file for scheduled commands.

The Web client and backup-archive client GUI provide a Task List window that displays information about files during processing. When a task completes, a Backup Report window displays processing details. Click the Help button in the Backup Report window for context help.

On the backup-archive command line the name of each file displays after it is sent to the server. The progress indicator shows overall progress. Informational messages may display as follows:

Table 33. Client command line informational messages

Informational message Meaning
Directory--> Indicates the directory that you back up.
Normal File-->. Any file that is not a directory, symbolic link or special file.
Special File--> Special files define devices for the system or temporary files created by processes. There are three basic types of special files: FIFO (first-in, first-out), block, and character. FIFO files are also called pipes. Pipes are created by one process to temporarily allow communication with another process. These files cease to exist when the first process finishes. Block and character files define devices. Tivoli Storage Manager processes only device and named pipe special files. Socket special files are not processed.
Symbolic Link--> Indicates that Tivoli Storage Manager backs up a symbolic link.
Updating--> Indicates that only the file meta data is sent, if file attributes change and not the data itself.
Expiring--> Indicates an object (file or directory) on the server that no longer exists on the client is expired and made inactive on the server.
Total number of objects inspected: As indicated.
Total number of objects backed up: As indicated.
Total number of objects updated: These are files whose attributes, such as file owner or file permissions, have changed.
Total number of objects rebound: See Binding and rebinding management classes to files for more information.
Total number of objects deleted: This is a count of the objects deleted from the client workstation after being successfully backed up to the server. The count is zero for all backup commands.
Total number of objects expired: See Full and partial incremental backup for more information.
Total number of objects failed: Objects can fail for several reasons. Check the dsmerror.log for details.
Data transfer time: The total time to transfer data across the network. Transfer statistics may not match the file statistics if the operation was retried due to a communications failure or session loss. The transfer statistics display the bytes attempted to be transferred across all command attempts.
Network data transfer rate: The average rate at which the network transfers data between the client and the server. This is calculated by dividing the total number of bytes transferred by the time to transfer the data over the network. The time it takes to process objects is not included in the network transfer rate. Therefore, the network transfer rate is higher than the aggregate transfer rate.
Aggregate data transfer rate: The average rate at which Tivoli Storage Manager and the network transfer data between the client and the server. This is calculated by dividing the total number of bytes transferred by the time that elapses from the beginning to the end of the process. Both Tivoli Storage Manager processing and network time are included in the aggregate transfer rate. Therefore, the aggregate transfer rate is lower than the network transfer rate.

Note: On occasion, the aggregate data transfer rate may be higher than the network data transfer rate. This is because the backup-archive client can have multiple simultaneous sessions with the backup server. If you set the resourceutilization option, Tivoli Storage Manager attempts to improve performance and load balancing by using multiple sessions when it backs up a file space or other set of files. When multiple sessions are open during backup, the data transfer time represents the sum of the times reported by all sessions. In this case, aggregate data transfer time is incorrectly reported as higher. However, when running with a single session, the aggregate data transfer rate should always be reported as lower than the network data transfer rate.

Objects compressed by: Specifies the percentage of data sent over the network divided by the original size of the file on disk. For example, if the net data-bytes are 10K and the file is 100K, then Objects compressed by: == (1 - (10240/102400)) x 100 == 90%.
Elapsed processing time: The active processing time to complete a command. This is calculated by subtracting the starting time of a command process from the ending time of the completed command process.
Total number of bytes transferred: As indicated.
LanFree bytes transferred: The total number of data bytes transferred during a lan-free operation. If the enablelanfree option is set to no, this line will not appear.

Backup: Additional considerations

This section includes topics related to incremental and selective backups. You do not need to understand this information to use Tivoli Storage Manager for basic work.

Understanding how files are stored

When you back up and archive files, Tivoli Storage Manager stores the backups and archives in a file space in storage that has the same name as the file system or virtual mount point from which the files originated.

For example, if you have a file system named /home, and you back up a file named doc1 in the /home/monnett directory, Tivoli Storage Manager stores the file in a file space named /home. If an Authorized User later defines /home/monnett as a virtual mount point, any files you back up from the /home/monnett directory, such as doc2, are stored in a file space named /home/monnett. If you enter this command:

  dsmc query backup "/home/monnett/*"

Tivoli Storage Manager looks for files in the /home/monnett file space. It always looks for a file in the file space with the longest name that matches the file specification you include in a command. It locates the file named doc2 that was backed up after the virtual mount point was defined. However, it does not locate the file named doc1 because that file was backed up before the virtual mount point was defined and the backup was stored in the /home file space.

To list or restore the doc1 file using a command, you must explicitly specify the file space name by enclosing it in braces. For example:

   dsmc query backup "{/home}/monnett/*"
   dsmc restore {/home}/monnett/doc1

If the authorized user subsequently removes the /home/monnett virtual mount point, and you then back up additional files in the /home/monnett directory, the backups are once again stored in the /home file space. For example, if you now back up a file named doc3 in the /home/monnett directory, it is stored in the /home file space. It is not stored in the existing /home/monnett file space.

However, because the /home/monnett file space already exists, when you try to query or restore the doc3 file, Tivoli Storage Manager looks for the file in the /home/monnett file space unless you specify the correct file space name. For example:

   dsmc query backup "{/home}/monnett/*"
   dsmc restore {/home}/monnett/doc2

Note: You must explicitly specify the file space name only when there can be more than one resolution to the file specification.

For example, if the following file spaces exist in storage:

   /home
   /home/monnett
   /home/monnett/project1
   /home/monnett/project1/planning

then enter:

   dsmc query backup "/home/monnett/project1/planning/*"

Tivoli Storage Manager looks for files only in the /home/monnett/project1/planning file space, even if one or more of the other file spaces contains a path with the same name. But, when you enter one of the following:

   dsmc query backup "{/home}/monnett/project1/planning/*"
   dsmc query backup "{/home/monnett}/project1/planning/*"
   dsmc query backup "{/home/monnett/project1}/planning/*"

Tivoli Storage Manager looks for files only in the /home file space, the /home/monnett file space, or the /home/monnett/project1 file space, depending on which form you use.

How special file systems are handled

Special file systems contain dynamic information generated by the operating system; they contain no data or files. The Tivoli Storage Manager client ignores special file systems and their contents. Special file systems include the following:

Understanding how files are managed

Tivoli Storage Manager uses management classes to determine how to manage your backups on the server. Every time you back up a file, the file is assigned a management class. The management class used is either a default selected for you, or one assigned to the file by an Authorized User with an include option in the include-exclude options list. The selected management class must contain a backup copy group in order for the file to be backed up.

Select Utilities -> View Policy Information from the native or Web client GUI to view the backup policies defined by the Tivoli Storage Manager server for your client node. See Chapter 8, Understanding storage management policies for more information on management classes, how an Authorized User assigns management classes to files, and storage management policies.

Understanding how symbolic links are handled

A UNIX symbolic link is a file that contains a pointer to another file or directory. Tivoli Storage Manager handles symbolic links differently than it does regular files and directories. In some operations, such as a backup, only the path information that the symbolic link contains is backed up. In other operations, such as archive, the file to which the symbolic link points is archived, but under the name of the symbolic link. For more information on how symbolic links are handled during an archive operation, see Archsymlinkasfile.

Incremental backup
-- When you run an incremental backup, Tivoli Storage Manager backs up only the path information to a file or directory to which a symbolic link points. The contents of the file or the contents of files in the directory are not backed up.

Selective backup
-- When you run a selective backup on a symbolic link that points to a file, Tivoli Storage Manager backs up only the path information to that file. The contents of the file are not backed up.

Restore
-- When you restore a symbolic link that originally pointed to a file, the symbolic link is restored, whether or not the file it points to still exists. If you restore a symbolic link that originally pointed to a directory:

The following table shows symbolic link backup and restore functions along with the action taken:

Table 34. Symbolic link management table for backup and restore

Function Action taken
Selective backup of a file. Backs up the symbolic link only, the file is not backed up.
Selective backup of a directory. Backs up the directory only, the symbolic link is not backed up.
Incremental backup with subdir=no. Backs up the symbolic links only, files and directories pointed to are not backed up.
Incremental backup with subdir=yes. Backs up the symbolic links and directories and files they point to.
Restore a symbolic link that points to a file. The symbolic link is restored, regardless of whether the file the symbolic link points to still exists.
Restore a symbolic link that points to a directory. The symbolic link is restored, regardless of whether the directory the symbolic link points to still exists.
Restore a symbolic link that points to a directory with subdir=yes, the directory still exists. The symbolic link and files in the directory and subdirectories are restored.
Restore a symbolic link that points to a directory with subdir=yes, the directory and symbolic link no longer exist. A directory is created in the directory in which the symbolic link resides and all files and subdirectories are restored to that directory; the symbolic link name is used as the new directory name.

Understanding how hard links are handled

When you back up files that are hard-linked, Tivoli Storage Manager backs up each instance of the linked file. For example, if you back up two files that are hard-linked, Tivoli Storage Manager will back up the file data twice.

When you restore hard-linked files, Tivoli Storage Manager attempts to reestablish the links. For example, if you had a hard-linked pair of files, and only one of the hard-linked files is on your workstation, when you restore both files, they will be hard-linked. The one exception to this procedure occurs if you back up two files that are hard-linked and then break the connection between them on your workstation. If you restore the two files from the server, Tivoli Storage Manager will respect the current file system and not restore the hard link.

If you do not back up and restore all files that are hard-linked at the same time, problems will occur. To ensure that hard-linked files remain synchronized, back up all hard links at the same time and restore those same files together.

Understanding how NFS hard and soft mounts are handled

When Tivoli Storage Manager connects a backup-archive client to an NFS file system, you can use either a hard mount or a soft mount. Tivoli Storage Manager uses the nfstimeout option setting to determine how long to wait for an NFS system call to respond before timing out; this applies to hard and soft mounts. The default is 0 seconds. This means that Tivoli Storage Manager uses the default behavior of NFS system calls.

You should be aware of the consequences of hard and soft mounts if the mount becomes stale (for example, if the server for the file system is not available).

Hard mount
-- If the NFS file system is hard mounted, the NFS daemons will try repeatedly to contact the server. The NFS daemon retries will not time out, will affect system performance, and you cannot interrupt them, but control will return to Tivoli Storage Manager when the nfstimeout value is reached.

Soft mount
-- If the NFS file system is soft mounted, NFS will try repeatedly to contact the server until either:

When one of these events occurs, control returns to the calling program.

Note:
On Solaris and HP-UX, the nfstimeout option can fail if the NFS mount is hard. If a hang occurs, deactivate the nfstimeout option and mount the NFS file system soft mounted, as follows:
mount -o soft,timeo=5,retry=5 machine:/filesystem /mountpoint

The parameters are defined as follows:

soft
Generates a soft mount of the NFS file system. If an error occurs, the stat() function returns with an error if the option hard is used, stat() never returns until the file system is available.

timeo=n
Sets the time out for a soft mount error to n seconds

retry=n
Set the internal retries and the mount retries to n, the default is 10000.

Backing up opened files

Tivoli Storage Manager looks for files that have changed between the start and the completion of the file's backup. Some files on your system may be in use, or open, when you try to back them up. Because an open file may change, a backup action might not reflect the correct contents of the file at a given time.

Consider if a file is important. Can you build the file again? If the file is not important, you may not want to back up the file. Or, if the file is important, a root user on your workstation can ensure the file is closed before back up.

If your backups run on a schedule, a root user can use the preschedulecmd option to enter a command to close the file. For example, if the open file is a database, use the database's quiesce command to shut down the database. A root user can use the postschedulecmd option to restart the application that uses the file after the backup completes. If you are not using a schedule for the backup, ensure that you close the application that uses the file before you start the backup.

Tivoli Storage Manager can back up the file even if it is open and gets changed during the backup. This is only useful if the file will be usable even if it changes during backup. To back up these files, assign the files a management class with the serialization dynamic or shared dynamic. See Selecting a management class for files and Displaying information about management classes and copy groups for information.

Using wildcard characters

You can use the operating system's wildcard characters in file specifications with Tivoli Storage Manager. These characters let you select groups of files that have similar names.

In a command, wildcard characters can only be used in the file name or extension. They cannot be used to specify destination files, file systems, or directories. When using wildcard characters in non-loop mode, as in

dsmc sel "/home/ledger.*"

enclose the parameter containing the asterisk in quotes to ensure the system does not interpret the wildcard character and produce unexpected results. Wildcard character information is covered in the following table.

* (Asterisk) Zero or more characters that match all files:
*.cpp With a cpp extension
hm*.* Starting with hm, regardless of extension
hm* Starting with hm, whether an extension exists or not
*h*.* With an h somewhere in the file name, regardless of extension

? (Question mark) One character that matches all files with:
?.cpp The extension cpp with one, and only one, character in the file name
hm?.cpp Three-character names beginning with hm and that have the cpp extension

* ? (Asterisk and question mark) Asterisk and question mark combinations matching:
??hm.* All four-character file names ending in hm., no matter what extension they have

In a path name for a file specification, you cannot specify a directory whose name contains an asterisk (*) or a question mark (?). Tivoli Storage Manager will recognize those characters only as wildcard characters.


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