Tivoli Storage Manager for Windows Using the Backup-Archive Client


Chapter 5. Automating Tasks

Your administrator can schedule Tivoli Storage Manager to perform tasks automatically on a regular basis. For example, you can automatically back up files at the end of each day or archive some of your files every Friday. This procedure, known as central scheduling, is a cooperative effort between the server and your client node. Your administrator associates clients with one or more schedules that are part of the policy domain maintained in the server database. The administrator defines central scheduling on the server and you start the client scheduler on your workstation. Once you start the client scheduler, further intervention is not necessary.

With client scheduling, you can also:

Notes:

  1. The schedule start time is based on the server clock, not on the workstation clock.

  2. Install the command line client and ensure the communication software is running before you start the client scheduler.

Specifying Scheduling Options

You can modify scheduling options in the client options file dsm.opt or in the graphical user interface. However, if your administrator specifies a value for these options, that value overrides the value in your client.

For more information about scheduling options, changing the scheduling mode, specifying the TCP/IP address or port number, or running commands before or after a schedule, see "Scheduling Options".


Mobile Dial-Up Support

Tivoli Storage Manager supports remote network connections to a server. With a remote network connection, mobile users no longer need to dial-in to their company network when a backup is scheduled to run. Tivoli Storage Manager automatically establishes a connection before the scheduled backup occurs. If the connection fails, Tivoli Storage Manager reestablishes the connection before attempting the backup.

To establish a remote network connection you need Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 or higher on your Windows NT, 2000, 98, or Me workstation. Consult your operating system or Microsoft Internet Explorer help menus for current instructions to do the following:

Configure a network or dial-up connection
Options are available for the type of connection you want to establish.

Configure autodial feature
The schedule client connects to the internet and displays a dialup box if the autodial feature is not enabled.

Add and configure a phone book
Available phone numbers are placed in the operating system phone book. Consult your operating system or Microsoft Internet Explorer help menus for instructions on how to work with phone book entries.

Return Codes from Executables

If you use Tivoli Storage Manager commands in executables, be aware that the return code from a Tivoli Storage Manager executable does not indicate a successful backup, archive, or restore of specific objects. The return code only indicates whether the Tivoli Storage Manager executable (e.g., dsmc or dsmserv) ran successfully during execution. The return code does not indicate whether a specific Tivoli Storage Manager command executed successfully inside of the Tivoli Storage Manager shell. The client returns a code greater than 0 (zero) only if Tivoli Storage Manager was unable to attempt the operation or if you cancel the operation.

For example, assume that your executable includes the Tivoli Storage Manager command:

dsmc sel myfile.txt

If Tivoli Storage Manager attempts to back up myfile.txt, and the dsmc command successfully starts and finishes, Tivoli Storage Manager sends a return code of 0. Tivoli Storage Manager returns 0 even if the file is not successfully processed for the following reasons:

Note: Only those return codes output to the Tivoli Storage Manager screen, activity log, schedule log, and error report indicate the success or failure of specific commands.


Starting the Client Scheduler

Start the Tivoli Storage Manager Client Scheduler by using one of the following methods:

For Windows NT, 2000 clients, you can also use the Scheduler Service Configuration utility. The Scheduler Service Configuration utility must be run from an account that belongs to the Administrator/Domain Administrator group. You can start multiple client scheduler services on your system. For additional information, see "Using the Scheduler Service Configuration Utility for Windows NT, 2000" in Tivoli Storage Manager Installing the Clients, SH26-4119.

Note:
Running the Client Scheduler on the command line is not preferred for Windows NT, 2000 since it does not run the scheduler as a background service.

When you start the client scheduler, it runs continuously until you close the window, shut down your system, or log out of your system. If you are running the Scheduler Service on Windows NT or Windows 2000, the scheduler runs until the system is shutdown or you explicitly stop it via the services control panel. For information on scheduling options, see Chapter 8, "Setting Common Options".


Managing the Client Scheduler Using the Client Acceptor Service

The Tivoli Storage Manager Client Acceptor service can manage the scheduler, reducing the number of background processes on your workstation. This also resolves memory retention problems that may occur when using traditional methods of running the scheduler.

Use the managedservices option in your client options file to specify whether the Client Acceptor service manages the scheduler. See Managedservices for more information.

Note:
You cannot use the managedservices option in a Microsoft Cluster Server (MSCS) environment.

Configuring the CAD to Manage the Scheduler

Perform the following steps to configure the CAD to manage the client scheduler:

  1. Select Utilities > Setup Wizard > Help me configure the TSM Client Scheduler from the Tivoli Storage Manager main window. The Scheduler name and location window displays.
  2. Specify the name of the Scheduler. Select the Local Machine and Use the Client Acceptor Daemon (CAD) to Manage the Scheduler options. Click the Next button. The Select the names of the Web services window displays.
  3. Specify the name of the client acceptor service that you want to manage the scheduler. Click the Next button.
  4. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the configuration.

Displaying Information about Scheduled Work

To view schedules that are defined for your client node, enter:

   dsmc query schedule

Tivoli Storage Manager displays detailed information about all scheduled work for your client node. The figure below displays sample query schedule output.

Figure 1. Sample Query Schedule Output


 Schedule Name: DAILY_INC
   Description: Daily System-wide backup
        Action: Incremental
       Options: QUIET
       Objects:
      Priority: 1
Next Execution: 30 minutes
      Duration: 4 Hours
        Period: 1 Day
   Day of Week: Any
        Expire: Never
 
 Schedule Name: WEEKLY_INC
   Description: Weekly backup for project files
        Action: Incremental
       Options: QUIET
       Objects: e: f:
      Priority: 1
Next Execution: 60 minutes
      Duration: 8 Hours
        Period: 7 Days
   Day of Week: Friday
        Expire: Never

The schedule name, DAILY_INC, starts a daily incremental backup. The next incremental backup will start in 30 minutes. Because no objects are listed, Tivoli Storage Manager runs the incremental backup on your default domain. The schedule has no expiration date.

The schedule name, WEEKLY_INC, starts a weekly incremental backup on the e: and f: drives.


Displaying Information about Completed Work

Windows 98, Me: When you run the schedule command in the foreground, output from scheduled commands displays on your screen. Output is also directed to the dsmsched.log file in the current directory unless you change the path and file name using the schedlogname option.

Windows NT, 2000: When you run the schedule command as a service, output from scheduled commands displays in the Windows NT application event log. Output is also directed to the dsmsched.log file in the current directory unless you change the path and file name using the schedlogname option. The amount of detail is determined by whether verbose or quiet is set in the dsm.opt file. The scheduler service also posts messages to the NT event log.

After scheduled work is performed, check the schedule log to verify that all work completed successfully.

When a scheduled command is processed the schedule log may contain the following entry:

   Scheduled event eventname completed successfully
 

The client indicates whether Tivoli Storage Manager successfully issued the scheduled command associated with the eventname. No attempt is made to determine the success or failure of the command. You can assess the status of the command by evaluating the return code from the scheduled command in the schedule log. The schedule log entry for the command's return code is prefaced with the following text:

   Finished command. Return code is:

The scheduler service also logs information into the Windows NT/2000 application event log and provides an event identification (event ID) number for each event in the log. Event ID 4101 displays backup and archive statistics, which you may find useful in determining the success or failure of a command.

The schedule log continues to grow unless you prune it using the schedlogretention option. See "Specifying Scheduling Options" for more information.


Enabling-Disabling Scheduled Commands

You can query the schedules defined by your Tivoli Storage Manager administrator by entering the following command:

   query schedule

You can use the schedcmddisabled option to disable the scheduling of commands by the server. Commands are scheduled by using the action=command option on the define schedule server command.

The schedcmddisabled option does not disable the preschedulecmd and postschedulecmd commands. However, you can specify preschedulecmd or postschedulecmd with a blank or a null string to disable the scheduling of these commands. See Schedcmddisabled for more information.


Accessing Windows NT Network Drives

To access network drives during a scheduled backup, you must specify a Windows NT domain user ID with authority to access the network drives you want to back up. Perform the following steps to establish this access.

  1. Click the Start menu.
  2. Select Control Panel.
  3. Select Services.
  4. Select TSM Services. The Services window is displayed.
  5. Select Central Scheduler.
  6. Click the Startup radio button.
  7. Ensure the radio button next to This Account is enabled in the Login As section.
  8. Enter the domain name and password.
    1. To specify a user's particular domain, click the dropdown list next to the domain name. A list of users appears.
    2. Select the user.
    3. Click Add.
  9. Click OK.
  10. Click Start.

The scheduled backup will run using the security credentials of the Windows NT domain user you specified.


[ Top of Page | Previous Page | Next Page | Table of Contents | Index ]