Re: 3584, iseries and tsm

Yep, the ISeries guy uses local tape drives to do system level backups. We used to use the Lotus Domino TDP on AS400 before we moved all that to Windows and it was really solid. I guess it sounds like we are on the same sheet of music regarding BRMS/TSM. If we had a high performance restore or backup environment, I'd be using BRSM only, with a partition on our 3494 or a totally different library.

Thanks for your enlightening posts to this list. I'm sure they are of benefit to more than just me!

Good Luck!!!

Curtis

Daniel Sparrman <Daniel.Sparrman AT EXIST DOT SE>
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09/23/2004 09:12 AM

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Subject	Re: 3584, iseries and tsm

Yes Curtis, this is one of the performance issues i mentioned. TSM also acts in a similar way when doing backups. The data is not directly sent to TSM from BRMS, rather cached and then sent. This is a performance impact as well. This is probably why you have a single package of files when you restore data aswell, as the TSM API has packaged the files togheter into a single file and then sent it to the TSM server.

This isnt that big of an issue as long as the iSeries servers are huge. It all depends on the amount of data you need to backup from your iSeries servers.

On thing to keep in mind; the TSM api will NOT backup your OS data, only user data. So you will need to backup your OS data to another device to have full restore capabilities.

The customer I referenced had large iSeries servers where this performance impact was huge. The impact wouldnt be as big if the iSeries server had less data to backup/restore.

This far we've only discussed "normal data". With Lotus Domino on iSeries there is a big difference. The Tivoli Data Protection for Lotus Domino on iSeries is a separate application, not only an API. Therefore we've seen alot higher performance using the TDP than using BRMS+TSM. The TDP doesnt require BRMS and operates differently.

Best Regards

Daniel Sparrman
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Curtis Stewart <Curtis.Stewart AT LAWSON DOT COM>
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2004-09-23 16:00

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Subject	Re: 3584, iseries and tsm

I agree, there are some performance issues. But, as I said, "It works fine for us."

Restores can be a little slow. We restored a single IFS directory from an IFS library the other day and here's the problem. It appears that TSM restores a single huge file to the ISeries server, where the file is dissected by BRMS. All the AS400 files are just pieces of this large object restored by TSM. So, from a TSM perspective, we restored about 40GB. However, the AS400 files actually restored to the server only amounted to about 400MB. Yes, there are some restore issues, but from our perspective, the ability to manage all the tape media through a single application (TSM) is a worthy trade.

The link I sent in my original reply to this post includes a discussion about the performance issues involved when one decides to use the BRMS/TSM combination to back up AS400. In short, it's not recommended for large environments, or environments where restore performance is a high priority. Since we aren't running production stuff on AS400 (we're a software company who only uses the ISeries because we have a version of our code for that platform), it's not like we need to have a failed server up in minutes. Hours or a day or two is fine for these specific servers.

Curtis.

curtis.stewart AT lawson DOT com

Daniel Sparrman <Daniel.Sparrman AT EXIST DOT SE>
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09/23/2004 08:46 AM

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Subject	Re: 3584, iseries and tsm

Hi

1. Yes, you can share a 3584-L32 library between one or more iSeries servers and a pSeries server, but it will require partitioning.

2. Yes, BRMS is a good way of going if you want to use dynamic sharing between the drives. This however will require the TSM api, so that BRMS server acts as a TSM client. This is a good way to go if you dont have high performance expectations, as the BRMS solution has some mean performance issues.

We have a customer that was choosing between running BRMS+TSM api or partitioning the library. They went with the partitioning scenario, as this gave alot better performance and could offer the advantages of central, consolidated tape storage.

The down-side is that you dont manage all tape activity through the TSM server. However, all tape and job activity isnt managed through TSM despite using BRMS with TSM. You still have to monitor the individual iSeries servers.

Best Regards

Daniel Sparrman
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Daniel Sparrman
Exist i Stockholm AB
Propellervägen 6B
183 62 TÄBY
Växel: 08 - 754 98 00
Mobil: 070 - 399 27 51

Curtis Stewart <Curtis.Stewart AT LAWSON DOT COM>
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2004-09-23 15:36

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Subject	Re: 3584, iseries and tsm

We back up our AS400 with BRMS and TSM. Check this out. It works fine for us.

http://www-1.ibm.com/servers/eserver/iseries/service/brms/adsmfaq.htm

Good Luck.

Curtis

Otto Schakenbos <otto.schakenbos AT TELEFLEX DOT COM>
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Subject	3584, iseries and tsm

Is it possible to share a 3584 Library (FC-LTO2) between a TSM server(5.1.9.3) on AIX433 and a AS400. Do you need to do partitioning(and loose an entire drive to the AS400) or can you just dynamicly share a drive between the as400 and tsm? Can the AS400 use the drive as if it was locally attached so it can use its own backup mechanism? How do you backup your as400? regards Otto Schakenbos System Administrator TEL: +49-7151/502 8468 FAX: +49-7151/502 8489 MOBILE: +49-172/7102715 E-MAIL: oschakenbos AT teleflex DOT com TFX IT-Service AG Fronackerstrasse 33-35 71332 Waiblingen GERMANY

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