There are several ways to selectively delete a specific file from the
TSM storage pools.Let's assume you need to delete the file
/usr/tsm/test1.txt. First we take a look at the options that are
available to you through the TSM client command line (dsmc):

1) Delete the file selectively from an archive with 'delete backup', for
example:
delete backup /usr/tsm/test1.txtdelete backup /usr/tsm/* -pick (to list
all matched files)
You can use "delete archive" instead of "delete backup".

2) Mark all versions as inactive with 'expire', that way they will be
removed from the TSM server at the next expiration process. Remove the
file from the file system itself also if you don't want it to be backed
up again with the next incremental backup, or exclude it. For example:
expire /usr/tsm/test1.txt

3) Create a special management class on the TSM server with the
VERDELETED and RETONLY parameters set to 0 and place an INCLUDE
statement to bind the file to this management class. Then issue a
selective backup of the file. It will be removed from the TSM server at
the next expiration process.

4) create an empty file with the same filename and backup this empty
file as many times as your retention parameters are set to "push" the
filled file out of TSM DB and storage.
5) Put an exclude statement for the file in your dsm.opt (or dsm.sys)
file on the node or the client options file on the server side to mark
the file as expired. This is like step 2.

There is one way to delete data from the TSM server, without the client.
For obvious reasons, this is not the recommended approach. Let's skip
the discussion about data integrity and who actually owns the data for
now. Be sure to inform the data owner in any case.
You'll need to know the object ID of the file you want to be deleted.
This can be revealed by issuing a SELECT query against the BACKUPS or
ARCHIVES table.
For example:
NODE_NAME: FACE_TSMCLFILESPACE_NAME: /usrFILESPACE_ID: 2STATE:
ACTIVE_VERSIONTYPE: FILEHL_NAME: /tsm/LL_NAME: test1.txtOBJECT_ID:
551534088BACKUP_DATE: 2007-12-21 04:14:31.000000DEACTIVATE_DATE: OWNER:
CLASS_NAME: DEFAULT
In this case you'll need to issue the following command to delete the
file from the table:
- delete object 0 551534088

Be aware that the object is only deleted from the backups and archive
tables. It is not removed from other places in the TSM DB. You might be
risking database inconsistency. Run an AUDIT DB to prevent future
problems.
Best regards,
Tommy Hueber
http://www.tsmblog.org <http://www.tsmblog.org/> 

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