Good questions Gil,
I too have a similar TSM environment and have similar questions.
I have fiddled around a little with backupsets to see how they might
be used in our environment. One of the first things I noticed was that to
make a backupset, it took about an hour to just do a simple 30,000 file '/'
filesystem on an AIX host. It kept stopping for long periods of time with no
indication as to what it was doing. I suspect that it was
mounting/dismounting tapes, but the process gives no indication as to what
tape/tapes it's mounting (like you typically see on processes that use
tapes, i.e. reclamations, migrations, backup storagepools). In general, it
felt like a piece of the TSM server that was written by a different group
and did not behave as the typical process seem to.
Let me see what I can contribute to your questions:
1. My testing of backupsets leads me to believe that there is no way to get
an individual listing of files because it is saved in the TSM server
database as 1 object. You can get a "stream of thought" type of output of
what is on a backupset with a 'q backupsetcontents...' command on the
server, but it is rather useless. You are able to restore an individual file
or group of files with various '*'s on a 'restore backupset...' command on
the client, but it is not very practical if you don't know the exact file or
directory you need.(typical with an end-user restore where they are not sure
of the filename or where they put it).
In our testing, the only practical way to hunt through a backupset
for is to restore it somewhere else and search through it. It's really not
set up for the restoration of individual files, but to restore a whole
filesystem or box to a point in time.
2. Yes, you should be able to define the dat tape drive to the TSM server as
another device and then use it just to generate backupsets. Should just be a
'define library...','define device...' & 'define drive...' command on the
server.
3. I too am curious about a CD burner on an AIX host. I haven't looked into
it very much, but I haven't heard of one.
Ben Bullock
UNIX Systems Manager
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Gill, Geoffrey L. [mailto:GEOFFREY.L.GILL AT SAIC DOT COM]
> Sent: Tuesday, March 06, 2001 8:56 AM
> To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
> Subject: Backupsets
>
>
> Hi All,
>
> Backupsets is the subject today. Questions and problems to be
> a bit more
> specific. A few weeks ago I created a backupset that was to
> be around for 5
> days. To date the backupset looks like it's still around. All
> attempts to
> query it or delete the volume have failed and I'm wondering
> if anyone has a
> clue as to what the problem is....
>
> 3494LIB U00866 Private BackupSet
>
> The second issue(s) is still backupsets.
>
> 1. If I create a backup set on dat and bring it to a node I
> am supposed to
> be able to read it and restore it. The question is can I just
> restore a
> single file or some semblance of multiple files. I haven't
> been able to view
> anything with the GUI except the backupset info itself. How
> can I view the
> directory structure to pick and choose the files to restore?
>
> 2. My environment is AIX 4.3.3 with TSM 4.1.2. The TSM server
> has a dat
> drive internal to the server which is rmt2. The 3494 has 4
> 3590 drives;
> rmt0,1,3,4. I'd like to know if I can define this dat drive
> within TSM and
> use it to create a backupsets only. I'd also like to know if
> it is possible
> to connect an external autoloader dat unit for the same process. If
> backupsets turn out to be an option to implement I wouldn't
> want to use the
> 3590's since nodes don't have them.
>
> 3. I noticed the post recently that talks about putting
> backupsets on CD. I
> have never heard of a cd-writer/rewriter on an AIX box, which
> doesn't mean
> it's not possible. I'm wondering if anyone has a solution for creating
> backupsets on an environment similar to mine, or any other
> for that matter,
> that can create backupsets on cd's.
>
> Thanks all in advance for the help.
>
> Geoff Gill
> NT Systems Support Engineer
> SAIC
> Computer Systems Group
> E-Mail: gillg AT saic DOT com
> Phone: (858) 826-4062
> Pager: (888) 997-9614
>
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