Can the Tivoli Storage Manager client enable CBT tracking during the backup

Answer

The Tivoli Storage Manager backup/archive client and the Data Protection for Virtual Environments client are able to enable CBT tracking and use it on a Virtual Machine (VM) as long as the CBT requirements are met.

See the following link for the requirements:

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1020128

Example:

1) The following shows that the option for CBT tracking is disabled on a given VM.


To determine the current value for this option, go into the setting for the VM. Click on the "Options" tab. Click on the General options under "Advanced". Then on the right side click on the "Configuration Parameters" tab.

Note: The VM must be shutdown before you can view these options.

2) When the FIRST backup is taken of the VM, the client will enable CBT tracking, perform a "Stun" cycle, and finally perform the backup.

Note: The "Stun" cycle is a Vmware process that configures the machine to use CBT tracking without having to power the machine off.

Example backup output:
Starting Full VM backup of Virtual Machine 'TSM (TEST)'

Backing up Full VM configuration information for 'TSM (TEST)'
5,100 VM Configuration [Sent]
Processing snapshot disk [SAN-Storage] TSML2-09142011-tsm62-server-linux/
TSML2-09142011-tsm62-server-linux.vmdk (Hard Disk 1), Capacity: 32,212,254,
720, Bytes to Send: 19,599,982,592 (nbd)[sending]
[2011-09-23 11:22:35.692 01624 trivia 'ThreadPool'] PrepareToWait: Starting new
thread
Volume --> 32,212,254,720 Hard Disk 1 [Sent]
Backup processing of 'TSM (TEST)' finished without failure.


Total number of objects inspected: 1
Total number of objects backed up: 1
Total number of objects updated: 0
Total number of objects rebound: 0
Total number of objects deleted: 0
Total number of objects expired: 0
Total number of objects failed: 0
Total number of subfile objects: 0
Total number of bytes inspected: 30.00 GB
Total number of bytes transferred: 18.26 GB


Here is what you would see in the Vmware Vsphere client:


Once the backup is complete, and if the machine is shutdown, you can verify that the Tivoli Storage Manager client enabled CBT tracking:




The Tivoli Storage Manager client GUI interface can also show the "Change Block Tracking" Status in the last column to the right.