Backup-Archive GUI Client won't Start, TSM Services Absent after Install

[iloveemmi]

Good Morning (where applicable) everyone!
My name is Richard and I am a new Network Admin, previously a home-user PC Tech. This whole world is quite new and exciting for me, so be patient as I awkwardly stumble through this post.

We have a domain infrastructure with the two primary domains hanging from an empty root. The two applicable domains are "Properties" and "SC". I and the tape-backup system are located in "SC", the file server (2008r2 x64, 2.8ghz dual core, 2gb RAM, plenty of HDD space) that we wish to install the client on is located in "Properties" which is located on a WAN, via VPN, over a reasonable home-grade broadband connection (location is remote). This file server is a very simple machine and does not host SQL or anything else exotic.

The Client Node has been created and Scheduled in the Integrated Solutions Console.

I load the installer as an admin (5.5.3.3-TIV-TS-MBAC-WindX64). The installer seems to progress normally; however, after the process is completed without errors I am annoyed to discover that when I double click Backup-Archive GUI in the start menu nothing seems to happen. When I load task manager I do see that dsm.exe is in memory. I check the services console and discover no TSM services exist. I open the path C:\Program Files\Tivoli\TSM\baclient and notice that dsmerror is present but dsmsched is missing.

I have attempted to remove and re-install several times.
On the advice of this article, http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infoc...ibm.itsmm.doc_5.3.3/update/cli_diag_tips.html, I checked the windows system logs for applicable errors, nothing seemed relevant and there were no errors or warnings at the applicable times. A few of the other bits of advice in that article have not been implemented because I could not determine applicability or determine how to perform the tasks described.

One final note: For some reason the dsm.opt file had gotten very large, I could not determine why so many entries (and some duplicate entries which dsmerror warned me about) were occurring. Was re-installing somehow appending data to the existing data in dsm.opt?

I hope this is sufficient information, I will try and vigilantly check this post today to supply more data as required.
Thanks in advance very much for any assistance you can provide.
-Ricky

 

[moon-buddy]

Since you are new to TSM - welcome to the forum and TSM's 'simple-complexities'.

Questions:

1. Have you registered the node to the TSM server so you can back it up?
2. Did you define the TSM services on the node? The dsmsched.log will only appear if you have a defined Schedule service, and that the schedule exist on the TSM server
3. Have you defined Domains and Policies?

This link might help you: http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v1r1/index.jsp

Good luck

 

[iloveemmi]

I will endeavor to answer these questions as best I can:
1. If I am following correctly I was unable to get far enough in the process to register the node. I created a node in the Integrated Solutions Console in anticipation of this install, and that node shows as missing every day. That said, I have not defined the node on the client side. In other words, I am unable to open the GUI to continue through the wizards where I would normally go about defining these things. Does that answer the question?
2. I did not define TSM Services on the client because I was unable to open the program in order to access the wizards where I would normally perform this operation.
3. I have fully configured the node on the Integrated Solutions Console adding it to a schedule and placed it in "WAN Domain" where all our properties file servers go (we have many related units that seem to be working fine).

Thank you very much for your assistance! I am really enjoying learning about all these systems and TSM is one of the more interesting ones.

EDIT: And thanks for the document, there is a lot of good information here! As of yet I haven't found the answer to my question, but I will keep looking.

 

[moon-buddy]

It seems that the registration was OK in the TSM server via the ISC - that is fine.

Next look at the dsm.opt file. Do you see a line saying 'TCPSERVERADDRESS <TSM_Server_name or IP_Address>'? If yes, the node should connect, open the TSM BA GUI. If the dsm.opt file is correct, see if you can ping the TSM server from the remote location. You need to have port 1500 open to have a connection between the TSM server and the TSM node.

Do this for now.

Come back when this is working.

 

[iloveemmi]

Sorry for the delay, for some reason the camp's Internet connection seems to have failed (not unusual at this location). There's a good chance we will have to pick this up tomorrow. I will report as soon as possible!

 

[iloveemmi]

Sorry for the outrageous delay! I did not realize when I said I would return "tomorrow" that we had Friday off for Good Friday/Easter and then I was taking a personal day off on Monday. All that said, the network connection is back up and I am back at work.

********

The line is present with the correct IP address. I can ping the TSM server from the remote location. The windows firewall is completely off and no other software firewalls have been installed on the unit. There should be no hardware firewall; however, if you consider this a likely cause of the problem I can contact a network engineer and find out for certain.

 

[moon-buddy]

Ok, let's work on the TSM server first:

On the TSM Server:

1. Open a command line by entering dsmadmc
2. Enter your ID and password
3. Once you have the prompt. enter 'q node <node_name_of_the_server_you_need_to_backup> f=d'
4. You should see its details
5. If you don't see it, the you have not resgistered the node. Read the link above I posted on how to do this

If you see the node's details:

On the node:

1. Go to C:\Program Files\Tivoli\TSM\Baclient using a DOS window
2. Type dsmc
3. If you get a prompt, this means that the DSM.OPT file is correct
4. If you don't, correct the error

If you get the prompt:

1. At the dsmc prompt, enter: incr
2. A backup should run

Get back to the forum after you have done these steps.

 

[iloveemmi]

When Performing the 2nd half of you instructions (I don't have access to the server, so I figured I would try the other half before I bothered anybody about it) I got this output:

node name: FSMalibu
ANS1017E session rejected: tcp/ip connection failure

I logged into the Integrated Solutions Console and removed the FSMalibu object. I was pleased to discover that the GUI now loads on the client (after re-installation), so this problem was almost certainly due to me misconfiguring the object in the ISC. I am a bit baffled by why the program would fail to load altogether rather than throw an error. I was so sure it was some sort of installation problem! But as usual at this job, I was surprised.

Your assistance is much apreceated, now that the program loads I am confident I can take it from here.

 

[moon-buddy]

Glad to hear that you are back on track - good luck.