DR Tests & System Restores

I know I have covered this before, but we have been doing DR tests and when restoring UNIX servers I find it easier and faster to use the Web/Java GUI to select all file systems required to restore the data than following the IBM guideline to build a small script that runs them serially. The thing I don't get is why they would push command line restore. Doing the restore file system by file system will require the same tapes be mounted multiple times where the GUI will restore all the data available on the tape for the selected backup. They do state that you can execute more than one restore simultaneously, but in every DR exercise I have run that would just cause tape contention since I do not collocate by file space. Unless I am wrong in how TSM handles a GUI based multiple file system restore wouldn't the GUI be the better solution when in a DR or full UNIX system restore scenario?

Of course this is all dependent on whether you have Java 1.4.1 or higher installed.

60 seconds of tips

Good morning comrades

After running a database restore you need to run an audit on your storage pools so they are consistent. Failure to do so may results in lost space and errors in your log.
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How do you know from day to day the throughput of your client backups? Here we take a glimps at a method which can help you review performance with next to no effort.
Read more

Enjoy the weekend

Tip of the day

setopt maxsessions - server side option which specifies total number of sessions, client and server, that can run at any one time

set schedmaxsessions - this number is a PERCENTAGE of 'maxsessions' and specifies what percent of the maxsessions can be used for server/client schedules, like the maintenance script or daily client backups

If # of clients trying to backup over night exceed the percent of maxsessions available, you'll get an error in dsmsched.log which looks something like this. "Could not backup, no sessions available"

FILE vs DISK

There are a number of words you'll read before becoming uninterested. You can read everything below in under 20 seconds.

Based on real word advantages:

DISK No reclamation required Does not Fragment Caching allowed Shredding supported

FILE Only uses space required Can query node data Smaller DB and lower processor utilisation Supports LAN Free

Do you have anything to add?

Nice List of TSM SQL Querries

I came across this web page when doing a search on TSM SQL queries and thought I would post it for all to reference. Thanks goes to Thobias Salazar Trevisan for the list and as he requests please send him any SQL queries you think would be beneficial to the masses they can be added. Thobias also has created a TSM monitoring tool that can be found here. For those of you not as versed in TSM, this tool might help you with your daily tasks.

TSM Oxford Symposium Presentations Available

In case you didn't know, the 2007 TSM Oxford Symposium presentations are now available from the following link:

2007 TSM Oxford Symposium

If you have the time I highly recommend you look through them, I guarantee you will find at least one presentation that can help you in your environment. Thanks to the symposium for posting the presentations for us lackeys who could not attend.

Journal

The TSM journal can be your friend or foe. Which one depends on when and how you use it. IBM have released an FAQ around the journal and below I point out a couple of important areas. It will take you no longer than 60 seconds to improve/refresh you're understanding of the journal.

60 second intro

• Journal Backup is appropriate for backing up files systems with small or moderate amounts of change activity between backup cycles.
• A traditional incremental backup of the file system must be completed while the
  journal for the file system is active.
• This backup must result in the Last Backup Completion Date being updated on
  the TSM server.
• Once the full incremental backup has been completed, the change journal is marked
  as valid for the TSM client node and server the backup was performed with.

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