Change retention for a certain backup data

[Jonanotoko]

Hi,

There's a VM backup from last week that I need to retain for longer. It is currently defined to retain for 30 days, but I might need to retain it one year or even indefinitely. Is there any way to change the retention or copy this data over to another group with higher retention?

Regards

 

[marclant]

Here you go: https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/wikis/home?lang=en#!/wiki/Tivoli Storage Manager/page/DP for VMWare FAQ for Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments?section=Q11c MC

EDIT TO ADD:
Sorry, the above is for a new backup. You cannot change the management class for a backup once it has been taken, the only thing you can do is change the retention for the management class, but that will affect all VMs bound to that same management class.

There is no such thing as archive for VMs, but that would be ideal for keeping a single version of a VM longer than the rest.

Might be too late now, but I think if this comes again, the best way to keep a single version of a VM longer, is to clone the VM, backup the clone with INCLUDE.VM in the option file for that VM and a different management class. Once the backup has been taken, you can discard the clone. Alternatively, you can just keep the clone powered off as your backup copy.

 

[Jonanotoko]

Hi Marclant,

Thanks for replying. Yes I've also suspect there is no way to do this. I've contacted the TSM engineer and he's not confident about this. My plan if I can't find a way is to restore the backup as a new VM and backup that one with a longer retention.

Could there be a way to copy the backup data to a tape or to another storage pool with a different set of retention?

Regards

 

[marclant]

Hi Marclant,
Could there be a way to copy the backup data to a tape or to another storage pool with a different set of retention?

No. The location (storage pool, volumes, etc.) make no difference, it's the retention. The destination in the management class is just the initial storage pool to store the data, from that point on, it can be migrated or moved to other storage pools, but it still belongs with to the same management class with the same retention.

Your plan to restore the VM and back it up again is probably your best bet.

 

[booman55]

Rename the file space for the VM.

 

[Jonanotoko]

Rename the file space for the VM.

Wouldn't that change all the backup and any subsequent backup? I only wish to retain backup from a certain timeframe.

 

[booman55]

Wouldn't that change all the backup and any subsequent backup? I only wish to retain backup from a certain timeframe.

Subsequent backup would create a new file space name. I'm not a 100% sure how VE expiration would handle the renamed file space.

 

[ChrisRees]

Can you use export node with this type of data, with the correct fromdate,fromtime, todate,totime parameters, to capture that backup.. this will sit seperate from expiration... then when you need it, import node with mergefilespaces option.
We've done this successfully for db2 backups we wanted to keep longer than normal.