Copy primary pool to copy pool for offsite storage

[JohnnyB04]

Hello.
1 more week until class and shouldn't have to ask these types of questions.

Hello.
I want to run a backup that will copy all the Tapes in my primary pool and copy to copy pool tapes that will be taken to off site location. I was going to use the following command 'backup stgpool tapepool disaster-recovery' but from what I understand this is going to do an incremental correct?
In this case, they don't want an incremental, they want everything from primary as it is now, weather it has been backed up or not copied to copy pool. Can you help with the correct command
JB04

 

[marclant]

from what I understand this is going to do an incremental correct?

Yes, kind of. It's not a true incremental, but it copies everything that is in the primary that doesn't exist in the copy.

In this case, they don't want an incremental, they want everything from primary as it is now, weather it has been backed up or not copied to copy pool. Can you help with the correct command

There is no such command. So you have two options:
1 - run the backup stgpool command that you have. This will copy everything in the primary that doesn't already exist in the copy.

2 - delete all the volumes in the copy pool with discarddata=yes, then run the backup stgpool command that you have. Again, this will copy everything in the primary that doesn't already exist in the copy, but because you deleted everything in the copy, everything in the primary doesn't exist in the copy, so everything will be copied.

DON'T USE OPTION 2 IF YOU HAVE MORE THAN ONE PRIMARY POOL BACKING UP TO THE COPYPOOL.

The end result will be the same. Option 2 is more steps and more time consuming.

 

[JohnnyB04]

1 - run the backup stgpool command that you have. This will copy everything in the primary that doesn't already exist in the copy.

Does this mean its looking at a database to determine what currently exists in the copy pool, or is it looking at the tapes currently in the tape library and determining what exists in Copy. Could I remove all the copy pool tapes, thus making it look like nothing is in copy pool?

2 - delete all the volumes in the copy pool with discarddata=yes, then run the backup stgpool command that you have. Again, this will copy everything in the primary that doesn't already exist in the copy, but because you deleted everything in the copy, everything in the primary doesn't exist in the copy, so everything will be copied.

DON'T USE OPTION 2 IF YOU HAVE MORE THAN ONE PRIMARY POOL BACKING UP TO THE COPYPOOL.

The end result will be the same. Option 2 is more steps and more time consuming.

I'm thinking about this, sounds a little scary deleting volumes in copy pool. Should I take a backup of my TSM DB 1st before proceeding with this option?

 

[marclant]

Does this mean its looking at a database to determine what currently exists in the copy pool, or is it looking at the tapes currently in the tape library and determining what exists in Copy.

It is looking in the contents table.

Could I remove all the copy pool tapes, thus making it look like nothing is in copy pool?

Nope, TSM is smarter than that.

Should I take a backup of my TSM DB 1st before proceeding with this option?

Always a good habit to take to backup the DB before making changes.


What is it that you are trying to achieve? If you want your copypool content to match the primary pool content. Option 1 will do that. If you are scared that there may be some of the copy pools that have gone missing, then you should get the list of copy pool tapes: "q vol stgpool=disaster-recovery" and see if you can find all the tapes. If you can find all the tapes, you are in a good situation. If you cannot find some of the tapes, you can delete just those tapes and the data that was on those tapes will be copied in the next backup stgpool.

If you are concerned about the integrity of those tapes, take a sample of the copy pool tapes and audit them. The size of the sample will depend on how many successful audit does it take to give you a warm fuzzy feeling that the integrity of the tapes are good.

The only advantage that option2 gives you is that you will have ALL your copy pool tapes in one spot when done. And that's not even an advantage because they should already all be offsite in a vault except for last night's backup.
Everything else about that option is a disadvantage: time consuming, exposure from the time tapes are deleted until they are recreated. Probably will need to run it a few times unless you have enough slots to have all your primary tapes and plus enough scratch tape in the library at the same time. There's no tangible benefits from Option 2. I regret mentioning it.

 

[marclant]

You can see how much is already copied VS how much is left to copy using this query:

select copied,count(*) as "number of objects",sum(file_size) as Size from contents where volume_name in (select volume_name from volumes where stgpool_name='TAPEPOOL') group by copied

That should give you an idea how much data needs to be copied with option 1, and you would have to sum YES+NO to see how much it would be with Option 2.

 

[JohnnyB04]

You can see how much is already copied VS how much is left to copy using this query:

select copied,count(*) as "number of objects",sum(file_size) as Size from contents where volume_name in (select volume_name from volumes where stgpool_name='TAPEPOOL') group by copied

That should give you an idea how much data needs to be copied with option 1, and you would have to sum YES+NO to see how much it would be with Option 2.

Thank you. Is the size that shows in Bytes?
My query shows No, Size=200157142610548

 

[marclant]

Is the size that shows in Bytes?

Yes.

 

[JohnnyB04]

Yes.

HOLY COW...so I have about 182TB that hasn't been copied to copy Pool...lol. Thanks I appreciate the help. Time to start getting some stuff copied lol.

 

[JohnnyB04]

It is looking in the contents table.

What is it that you are trying to achieve? If you want your copypool content to match the primary pool content. Option 1 will do that. If you are scared that there may be some of the copy pools that have gone missing, then you should get the list of copy pool tapes: "q vol stgpool=disaster-recovery" and see if you can find all the tapes. If you can find all the tapes, you are in a good situation. If you cannot find some of the tapes, you can delete just those tapes and the data that was on those tapes will be copied in the next backup stgpool.

I was able to round up all the copy pool tapes that where listed on the output of the query. So that is a good thing.
I'm just going to use option 1.
180TB+ is going to take some time. From what I understand, is if I run the ''backup stgpool tapepool disaster-recovery' and the tapes fill or if I have to cancel it, all I will have to do is run it again and it will pickup where its left off.

When running backup stgpool, it doesn't delete any data from the primary tapes correct?

 

[nenifled]

Correct - your primary storagepool will not be deleted...when you copy it to the copy-pool!

It's like a Crtl+c and then Crtl+v

Not Crtl+x followed by a Crtl+v

;-)