backup failed with insufficient space/No reclamation/No Move works (VTL)

cosmic

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PREDATAR Control23

Hello TSM Admins and all,

I'm a linux admin and new to TSM, except from some notions I know very little about tape and space managament in TSM.

I have two stgpool (each in a separate VTL Lib), one is the next of the first, and have failed backup with error:

ANR2111W RECLAIM STGPOOL: There is no data to process for MCLEBS_VTL_BACK. (SESSION: 23981)
ANR2034E SELECT: No match found using this criteria. (SESSION: 23980)
ANR1086E Space reclamation is ended for volume 000363L3. There is insufficient space in storage pool. (PROCESS: 3836)
ANR1893E Process 3836 for SPACE RECLAMATION completed with a completion state of FAILURE. (PROCESS: 3836)
ANR1086E Space reclamation is ended for volume 000396L3. There is insufficient space in storage pool. (PROCESS: 3837)
ANR1893E Process 3837 for SPACE RECLAMATION completed with a completion state of FAILURE. (PROCESS: 3837)
ANR2111W RECLAIM STGPOOL: There is no data to process for MCLEBS_VTL_BACK. (SESSION: 23981)
ANR1405W Scratch volume mount request denied - no scratch volume available. (PROCESS: 3835)
ANR1086E Space reclamation is ended for volume 000130L3. There is insufficient space in storage pool. (PROCESS: 3835)
ANR1893E Process 3835 for SPACE RECLAMATION completed with a completion state of FAILURE. (PROCESS: 3835)


The primary stgpool has two empty volumes and show 0 in capacity colomun (in GUI). I couldn't do any reclamation or a move of data to the next pool. I don't know why it's not using those empty volumes!!!

I have many scratch volumes in both of the VTL used by the stgpools, the primary pool has maxscratsch volume=6 and used ones=4, the next stgpool has 20 and used 20.

I don't know how I will approach this problem. yesterday I executed a reclaim stgpool nexpool and was succesful, and thought tsm will use the next stgpool to copy dat from the primary stgpool to the next. No reclamation works in both stgpool, it fails with:

ANR2111W RECLAIM STGPOOL: There is no data to process for
mystgpool.
ANS8001I Return code 11.

Any help please? I just need hints to how I should approach this problem.
Thank you in advance,

PS: I'm using TSM 6
 
PREDATAR Control23

Even if you have scratch tapes in the library, whether VTL or non-VTL, it does not necessarilty mean that TSM will use it IF the maxscratch parameter is NOT set correctly. If the value is too low, then TSM will not pickup any tape since it has reached the limit.

Do a 'q stgpool <whatever_stgpool_name> f=d' and look to what the "Maximum scratch ..." value is set at. Ideally this should be a big number. I set mine at 99999. See 'help update stgpool' to find out how to set this value.

As for no data to process during reclamation, this simply means that data location and count is optimal. This is normal.
 
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PREDATAR Control23

Thank you moon-Buddy.

Actually the maxscratsch was set to 6 but only 4 was used, I don't know why TSM didn"t import scratch volume from the Library although scratch volumes was available. In contrary TSM did it for the next stgpool when I increased the maxscratch.

Is there any condition in TSM so an stgpool will use scratsch volume from a Library??

Here is what I did to resolve my problem. I forced adding a new scratch volume from the vtl Library to the stgpool, without increasing the maxscratsch.
Then I moved many volumes internally. I hop my backup won't fail this night!!

Have a nice time,
 
PREDATAR Control23

You really need to adjust that max scratch value - 6 is WAY TOOOOOO LOW!

If you don't, you will hit another wall and keep on scratching your head when it supposed to be scratching the tapes! LOL!

This is more than 18 years of TSM experience talking...
 
PREDATAR Control23

Listen to moon-buddy. The ONLY time you would want to use a maxscratch is if you have 2 pools, one for critical backups and one for not so critical. You could put a maxscratch on the less critical one to make sure there are scratches left for the critical.

Ideally, you want the maxscratch to be ridiculously high, and make sure you have plenty of scratch. That way TSM functions happily and you don't need to do a bunch of manual work and head scratching like you are doing now.
 
PREDATAR Control23

Thank you TSM admins, I will increase Maxscratch. And yes I have two VTL, one for crtitical backup and other for non-critical backup.

What I couldn't understant is that the first stgpool didn't hit the maxscratsch volume threshold, it was 6, it was using 4 and taking no scratsch volume from the VTL !!! it also has many volume with status=empty but doesn't seem to be using them. Do you have any idea??

Have a nice weekend,
 
PREDATAR Control23

What I couldn't understant is that the first stgpool didn't hit the maxscratsch volume threshold, it was 6, it was using 4 and taking no scratsch volume from the VTL !!!
When you start a client backup and/or a process, volumes can become reserved (you can't track these). So if 2 volumes are reserved and a 3rd one is being requested, it would fail on the 3rd one.

it also has many volume with status=empty but doesn't seem to be using them. Do you have any idea??
Read this, it explains how TSM selects which volumes to write on: https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSGSG7_7.1.1/com.ibm.itsm.srv.doc/c_colloc_disabled.html
 
PREDATAR Control23

And yes I have two VTL, one for crtitical backup and other for non-critical backup.
Each VTL has it's own scratch, so not an issue. Maxscratch only beneficial when 2 storage pool in a single library, and you want to make sure one never runs out of scratch.
 
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