IT31646: NEW VSNAP HOSTS NOT USED BY THE BACKUP POLICIES AFTER ADDING THEM INTO EXISTING SITES

APAR status

• Closed as program error.

Error description

• A new vSnap host is not used as expected after being added to an
  existing site and this site is in use by an existing SLA.
  It is expected that guests that were added to this SLA are
  backed up to the new vSnap that has the most free space and
  guests with existing backups in this SLA will continue to be
  saved to the old vSnap.
  
  However, the currently observed behavior is that all guests are
  backed up to the existing vSnap instead, causing higher risks
  for that vSnap to run out of space.
  
  
  IBM Spectrum Protect Plus Versions Affected:
  IBM Spectrum Protect Plus 10.1.x
  
  Initial Impact: Medium
  
  Additional Keywords: SPP, SPPlus, TS003210037
  

Local fix

• n/a
  

Problem summary

• ****************************************************************
  * USERS AFFECTED:                                              *
  * IBM Spectrum Protect Plus level 10.1.5.                      *
  ****************************************************************
  * PROBLEM DESCRIPTION:                                         *
  * See Error Description                                        *
  ****************************************************************
  * RECOMMENDATION:                                              *
  * Apply fixing level when available. This problem is currently *
  * projected to be fixed in IBM Spectrum Protect Plus levels    *
  * 10.1.5 patch1 and 10.1.6. Note that this is subject to       *
  * change at the discretion of IBM.                             *
  ****************************************************************
  

Problem conclusion

• When new VMs are added to an SLA, the job did not correctly
  select an appropriate vSnap when creating the backup volume. The
  selection logic was biased towards grouping the new VM backups
  into existing volumes in older vSnaps even if newly added vSnaps
  with more space available were present in the same site.
  
  The problem has been resolved by improving the vSnap selection
  logic for VMs that are newly added to an SLA. The new selection
  logic prefers to first select a vSnap that has fewer VM backups
  already stored in it, and then if there are multiple vSnaps that
  satisfy this criteria, it prefers to select a vSnap that has
  more available space.
  
  As part of these changes, the default value of the global
  preference "Group VMs By" has been updated. Rather than grouping
  by size, the default behavior is to group by count, with a
  default count value of 3.
  

Temporary fix

Comments

APAR Information

• APAR is sysrouted FROM one or more of the following:

• APAR is sysrouted TO one or more of the following:

Fix information

• Fixed component name

  SP PLUS

• Fixed component ID

  5737SPLUS

Applicable component levels