How to take TSM Database backup to tape

[helmsdeep]

Hello Guys,

Greetings to all of you...

My client is using the 5.3.2 TSM in AIX server. The TSM database size is 65 GB.

The backup requirement of DB is Full DB Backup daily.

Client is using TS3500 Tape LIbrary with 100GB tapes.

I want to know which files i need to backup along with Database into tape to restore it succesfully.

I have not backedup or restored a TSM database prevoisuly. So any help would be of great help to me.

Client wants to store 5 days database backup. So do i require 5 tapes to do this?

And what are the step by step commands to follow to do this database backup daily?

Thanks,
Helmsdeep

 

[Hema]

1/100GB tapes--means the LTO1 tapes
2/along with the database u need to backup the deviceconfig and volumehistory using the below commands
"backup devconfig"
"backup volhist"
also check whether the .out files are set for volhist & devconfig
3/you can schedule a full database backup once the backup sessions and server processes(migration,backup storagepool) complete
the command would be
"backup db type=full devc=lto" (lto is the deviceclass name which u define for lto1 tapes,refer to the server)
4/ you can the expiration of older db backups & deletion of volhistory using the below command.
as per ur requirement it would be 5 days ,the db backup tapes are required.

//Use this command to specify when a database backup series is eligible to be expired//
" SET DRMDBBACKUPEXPIREDAYS 5 "
//Use this command to delete volume history file records that are no longer needed (for example, records for obsolete database backup volumes)//
"delete volhistory type=dbb todate=-5"

 

[umur]

With TSM's 5.x versions, volume history and device configuration files are not mandatory for a restore, however, you would do well to keep them somewhere else, perhaps mail them to yourself.

 

[helmsdeep]

Thanks for your quick reply hema.

i have a couple of doubts in this:

1. my doubt on backing devconfig and volhist is...
Can we backup these two files also into same tape used for database backup?
2. And one more thing is i see many other files like dsmserv.dsk and dsmserv.opt in /usr/tivoli/tsm/server/bin. are these files not required to bring up TSM from scratch? or should i backup these files also?

3. In administrative schedule i defined "backup db type=full devc=lto" daily around 12 AM. so this will backup my database to a tape for example B11002 today. now tommorow again at 12 AM when this schedule will run will it backup database to same volume B11002 or will it use another fresh tape?

4. if once a tape is used for database backup it will not be used for any data backup right? or will it be used?

5. i did a "q system" and checked for all options but could not find this DRMDBBACKUPEXPIREDAYS option to check what is it set to prevoisly? how can i find its location? is it in dsmserv.opt?

6. And once i backup these database and devconfig.out and volhist.out to tape and tomorow my database crashes and eveything is gone...what commands should i follow to restore the TSM server?

according to my limited understanding i install the application and then create database and log files of exact size using dsmfmt utility and after that which commands to execute step by step to restore the database and TSM server?

can you please kindly answer these questions for me...

Thanks,
Helmsdeep.

 

[helmsdeep]

@umur: hi umur,

u said to mail devconfig and volhist. but they do keep changing on regularly in our environment.so old files are of no use. we need upto date ones. we do keep taking out tapes and puting them on regular basis. so i cannot daily keep on mailing them naa. some sort of automation needs to be done using some comands right. so can you tell me any methods you know to follow.

 

[umur]

Hello,

Thanks for your quick reply hema.

i have a couple of doubts in this:

1. my doubt on backing devconfig and volhist is...
Can we backup these two files also into same tape used for database backup?

You can't, they are backed up on a file on your TSM server.
2. And one more thing is i see many other files like dsmserv.dsk and dsmserv.opt in /usr/tivoli/tsm/server/bin. are these files not required to bring up TSM from scratch? or should i backup these files also?
You don't need dsmserv.dsk. You can save dsmserv.opt somewhere else in order to easily reconfigure your server.
3. In administrative schedule i defined "backup db type=full devc=lto" daily around 12 AM. so this will backup my database to a tape for example B11002 today. now tommorow again at 12 AM when this schedule will run will it backup database to same volume B11002 or will it use another fresh tape?
İt will back up to a new tape.
4. if once a tape is used for database backup it will not be used for any data backup right? or will it be used?
Once a tape is used for a db backup, it won't be used for any data backup until that db backup is expired.
5. i did a "q system" and checked for all options but could not find this DRMDBBACKUPEXPIREDAYS option to check what is it set to prevoisly? how can i find its location? is it in dsmserv.opt?
It would be in the drm section of your TSM server, I'm sorry I can't be more precise but I can't look it up right now.

6. And once i backup these database and devconfig.out and volhist.out to tape and tomorow my database crashes and eveything is gone...what commands should i follow to restore the TSM server?

according to my limited understanding i install the application and then create database and log files of exact size using dsmfmt utility and after that which commands to execute step by step to restore the database and TSM server?



Very basically, they are:

1. Start your fresh tsm server. Create the library, drives and paths.
2. Check in your TSM db backup tape.
3. Stop your TSM server.
4. dsmserv restore db devclass=tape_class volume=B110002 commit=yes.

You should check an administrator's guide though, as I said those are very basic steps.




can you please kindly answer these questions for me...

Thanks,
Helmsdeep.

For volhist and devconfig, I have a script that mails them daily on myself, however I haven't yet used them for any restore in version 5.5.

Regards,

 

[helmsdeep]

Thank you very much for your reply. you provided some very valuble information to me.

can you please send me the script that mails these files daily to mail. to my mail id [email protected]. i would like to try it.

 

[sandeepkontham]

Thank you very much for your reply. you provided some very valuble information to me.

can you please send me the script that mails these files daily to mail. to my mail id [email protected]. i would like to try it.

from TSM it is not possible to send email to any email id.
Umer mean to say that use backup devconfig or backup volhistory to backup the information to a file and that file can me emailed using smtp etc.

 

[sandeepkontham]

DB backup expiration days will be available in DRM

use q drmstatus

to set it
use set drmdbbackupexpiredays

 

[helmsdeep]

Thanks sandeep.