Tivoli Storage Manager for Windows Administrator's Guide


Performing Routine Operations

Staying prepared for a disaster involves a few routine DRM operations, many of which you can automate (see Chapter 17, Automating Server Operations for details). Here is an overview of these tasks in the order in which they are typically done.

  1. Back up client data.
  2. Back up the database and storage pools. See Backing up the Primary Storage Pools and the Database for details.
  3. Move the new backup tapes offsite and update the database with their locations. See Sending Server Backup Volumes Offsite for details.
  4. Return expired or reclaimed backup tapes onsite and update the database with their locations. See Moving Reclaimed or Expired Volumes Back Onsite for details.
  5. Generate a new disaster recovery plan. See Creating and Storing the Disaster Recovery Plan for details.

The following diagram is an overview of the recovery media life cycle:

Figure 88. Recovery Media Life Cycle

Recovery Media Life Cycle


Task Required Privilege Class
Manually send backup volumes offsite and back onsite Unrestricted storage or operator

Update the location of the volumes with the MOVE DRMEDIA command and track their locations with the QUERY DRMEDIA command.

Offsite recovery media management does not process virtual volumes. To display all virtual copy storage pool and database backup volumes that have their backup objects on the remote target server, issue the following command:

query drmedia * wherestate=remote

Offsite Recovery Media Management does not move or display any two-sided volumes that have a REMOVABLEFILE device type.

Backup volume location information is included in the disaster recovery plan. In the event of a disaster that destroys the server, the disaster recovery plan can provide a list of offsite volumes required at the recovery site.

Sending Server Backup Volumes Offsite

DRM uses the following states for volumes that are sent offsite. The location of a volume is known at each state.

MOUNTABLE
The volume contains valid data, and TSM can access it.

NOTMOUNTABLE
The volume contains valid data and is onsite, but TSM cannot access it.

COURIER
The volume contains valid data and is in transit to the vault.

VAULT
The volume contains valid data and is at the vault.

After you have created the backup copies of your primary storage pools and database, you can send your backup media offsite.

To send server backup media offsite, mark the volumes as unavailable to TSM and give them to the courier. Do the following to identify the database backup and copy storage pool volumes and move them offsite:

  1. Identify the copy storage pool and database backup volumes to be moved offsite:
    query drmedia * wherestate=mountable
    

    TSM displays information similar to the following:

    +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
    |Volume Name      State             Last Update          Automated               |
    |                                   Date/Time            LibName                 |
    |---------------  ----------------  -------------------  -----------------       |
    | TPBK05          Mountable         01/01/1999 12:00:31  LIBRARY                 |
    | TPBK99          Mountable         01/01/1999 12:00:32  LIBRARY                 |
    | TPBK06          Mountable         01/01/1999 12:01:03  LIBRARY                 |
    +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
  2. Indicate the movement of volumes whose current state is MOUNTABLE by issuing the following command:
    move drmedia * wherestate=mountable
    

    TSM does the following for each volume in the MOUNTABLE state:

    1. For a volume in an automated library, checks the volume out of the library.
    2. Updates the volume state to NOTMOUNTABLE.
    3. Updates the volume location according to the SET DRMNOTMOUNTABLENAME. If this command has not been issued, the default location is NOTMOUNTABLE.
    4. For a copy storage pool volume, updates the access mode to unavailable.

    Notes:

    1. During checkout processing SCSI libraries request operator intervention. To bypass these requests and eject the cartridges from the library, first issue the following command:
      move drmedia * wherestate=mountable remove=no
      

      Next, access a list of the volumes by issuing the following command:

      query drmedia wherestate=notmountable
      

      From this list identify and remove the cartridges (volumes) from the library.

  3. Send the volumes to the offsite vault. Issue the following command to have TSM select volumes in the NOTMOUNTABLE state:
    move drmedia * wherestate=notmountable
    

    This command does the following for all volumes in the NOTMOUNTABLE state:

  4. When the vault location confirms receipt of the volumes, issue the MOVE DRMEDIA command with the WHERESTATE=COURIER parameter. For example:
    move drmedia * wherestate=courier
    

    This command automatically completes the following process for all volumes with a current state of COURIER:

  5. To display a list of volumes that contain valid data at the vault, issue the following command:
    query drmedia wherestate=vault
    

    TSM displays information similar to the following:

    +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
    |Volume Name       State           Last Update          Automated                |
    |                                  Date/Time            LibName                  |
    |----------------- --------------  -------------------  -----------------        |
    |TAPE0P            Vault           01/05/1999 10:53:20                           |
    |TAPE1P            Vault           01/05/1999 10:53:20                           |
    |DBT02             Vault           01/05/1999 10:53:20                           |
    |TAPE3S            Vault           01/05/1999 10:53:20                           |
    +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
  6. If you do not want to step through all the states, you can use the TOSTATE parameter on the MOVE DRMEDIA command to specify the destination state. For example, to transition the volumes from NOTMOUNTABLE state to VAULT state, issue the following command:
    move drmedia * wherestate=notmountable tostate=vault
    

    This command automatically completes the following process for each volumes in the NOTMOUNTABLE state:

See DRM User Scenarios for an example that demonstrates sending server backup volumes offsite using MOVE DRMEDIA and QUERY DRMEDIA commands.

Moving Reclaimed or Expired Volumes Back Onsite

DRM uses the following states for backup volumes that are reclaimed or no longer contain valid data and are to be moved back onsite.

VAULTRETRIEVE
The volumes no longer contain valid data and are to be returned to the site. For more information on reclamation of offsite copy storage pool volumes, see Reclamation of Offsite Volumes. For information on expiration of database backup volumes, see step 1 below.

COURIERRETRIEVE
The volumes no longer contain valid data and are in the process of being returned by the courier.

ONSITERETRIEVE
The volumes no longer contain valid data and have been moved back to the onsite location. The volume records of database backup and scratch copy storage pool volumes are deleted from the database. For private copy storage pool volumes, the access mode is updated to READWRITE.

Use the following procedure to expire the nonvirtual database backup volumes and return the volumes back onsite for reuse or disposal.

  1. To specify the number of days before a database backup series is expired, issue the SET DRMDBBACKUPEXPIREDAYS command. To ensure that the database can be returned to an earlier level and database references to files in the copy storage pool are still valid, specify the same value for the REUSEDELAY parameter in your copy storage pool definition.

    The following example sets the number of days to 30.

    set drmdbbackupexpiredays 30
    

    A database backup volume is considered eligible for expiration if all of the following conditions are true:

    Note:The database backup volumes that are virtual volumes are removed during expiration processing. This processing is initiated either by issuing the EXPIRE INVENTORY command or automatically through the EXPINTERVAL option setting specified in the server options file.
  2. When a backup volume is reclaimed and the TSM status for a copy storage pool volume is EMPTY, or the database backup series is EXPIRED, the volume should be moved back onsite for reuse or disposal. To determine which volumes to retrieve, issue the following command:
    query drmedia * wherestate=vaultretrieve
    
  3. After you request the reclaimed volumes be moved back onsite, and the vault location acknowledges that the volumes have been given to the courier, issue the following command:

    move drmedia * wherestate=vaultretrieve
    

    This command automatically completes the following process for all volumes with a current state of VAULTRETRIEVE:

  4. When the courier delivers the volumes, issue the following command to acknowledge that the courier has returned the volumes onsite:
    move drmedia * wherestate=courierretrieve
    

    This command automatically completes the following process for all volumes with a current state of COURIERRETRIEVE:

  5. If you do not want to step through all the states, you can use the TOSTATE parameter on the MOVE DRMEDIA command to specify the destination state. For example, to transition the volumes from VAULTRETRIEVE state to ONSITERETRIEVE state, issue the following command:
    move drmedia * wherestate=vaultretrieve tostate=onsiteretrieve
    

    This command automatically completes the following process for all volumes with a current state of VAULTRETRIEVE:

For an example scenario that demonstrates moving volumes back onsite, see DRM User Scenarios.


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