hi,

When you run RMAN backup/restore RMAN looks for a library named libobk.so
which got installed when you install TDPO.  TDPO uses TSM API to connect
to TSM server to send/receive data.

> Does RMAN write directly to tape when it is doing a backup?

This depends on how you setup your policy for your TDPO node.  Think of
RMAN backups as data coming from another TSM node.  We recommend using a
different nodename other than the machine name for TDPO operations.


> Does anyone know where the RMAN backup pieces are on tape and the sizes
of the files?
Log on to TSM server through admin client and issue:

tsm: TSMSERV1> select * from backups where node_name='node name in
capitalized letters' AND filespace_name='/yourfs'
example:
tsm: TSMSERV1> select * from backups where node_name='TDPO' AND
filespace_name='/adsmorc'


Another command:
tsm: TSMSERV1> select * from contents where node_name='node name in
capitalized letters' AND filespace_name='/yourfs'

example:
tsm TSMSERV1> select * from contents where node_name='TDPO' AND
filespace_name='/adsmorc'


> Will Tivoli be able to reclaim tape space if the RMAN recovery catalog
is lost?

You should be more worried about reclaiming the tape space than how you
are going to restore/recover your databases if your RMAN catalog is lost.
:}

If you lost your RMAN catalog, you can rebuild another one, and
re-register your target database.  Your target control file has backup
piece information.  During the database registering process, these backup
piece information will be stored in RMAN catalog again.  There are two
ways to reclaim your tape:
1.  You can run RMAN delete command to delete the data from TSM server
through TDPO.
2.  Sometimes, you end up having more backup piece entries on the TSM
server than RMAN catalog.  TDPO 2.2 has a utility called tdposyn to
reclaim tape in this kind of situation.


All the information mentioned above except SQL statements are documented
in the TDPO 2.2 user manual.  You can find it at:
http://www.tivoli.com/support/public/Prodman/public_manuals/storage_mgr/admanual.htm#optional

regards,
Thiha


>Dear Friends:
>We are using Oracle 8.1.6 and Solaris 2.6 with TSM 4.1.1 (for AIX-RS/6000
with a 3575 tape library) and TDP. We use >RMAN to do the backups for our
Sun Solaris systems. We have the following questions for the experts
around the >world on the communication between RMAN and Tivoli.
>Does RMAN write directly to tape when it is doing a backup?
>Does anyone know where the RMAN backup pieces are on tape and the sizes
of the files?
>If it is Tivoli, is there a way to view this information?
>Will Tivoli be able to reclaim tape space if the RMAN recovery catalog is
lost?
>Does anyone know in more detail what TDP does besides let RMAN talk to
Tivoli?