Preparing Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager for Custom Applications with GPFS

If you plan to configure Tivoli® Storage FlashCopy® Manager for Custom Applications in a GPFS™ environment, some prerequisites are required before you start.

Before you configure Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager for Custom Applications with a GPFS setup, there are a number of preparatory steps as follows:
  1. If you want to use Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager from all GPFS nodes in your environment, you must install it into a GPFS file system. You must prepare an independent file set or a GPFS file system for the installation that does not contain other application data that you want to protect. The Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager repository, configuration, and binary files are then shared between all nodes of your GPFS cluster.
  2. Choose one GPFS management node in the cluster that runs the Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager daemons.
  3. Choose a GPFS management node for offloading data to a Tivoli Storage Manager server. This can be the same node on which the daemons are running.
  4. Choose the GPFS management nodes that participate in offloading operations. You must include the node that is used for offloading data to the Tivoli Storage Manager. Ensure that the Tivoli Storage Manager client is set up on all nodes that you choose.
  5. Determine which Tivoli Storage Manager server or servers you are offloading backups to. Ensure that the Tivoli Storage Manager client is set up and configured for each of the Tivoli Storage Manager servers. For information about setting up Tivoli Storage Manager clients for cooperation with the GPFS mmbackup command, see http://www-01.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/STXKQY_4.1.1/com.ibm.spectrum.scale.v4r11.adm.doc/bl1adm_tsmreqs.htm%23tivolistoragemanagerreqs.
  6. If you require different Tivoli Storage Manager settings for various GPFS independent file sets, plan to set up different Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager instances. A single instance manages all file sets that share a set of Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager and Tivoli Storage Manager parameters.
  7. Where possible, place all data to be managed by Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager in independent file sets that are different from root file sets of the GPFS file system.

In a Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager GPFS setup, there is no backup server. Offload operations to the Tivoli Storage Manager server are run at the production cluster level.

Note:

Do not use the GPFS mmbackup command manually on data that is managed by Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager.

Make sure that all file systems in a backup are mounted to the default mount point. All file sets must be linked when an offloaded backup to a Tivoli Storage Manager server is run. When you are unlinking file sets or linking file sets to different paths, restrictions for the mmbackup command apply. For example, files that are contained in file sets that were unlinked during an offload operation are expired on the Tivoli Storage Managerserver.

To send backups to a Tivoli Storage Manager server, the GPFS mmbackup command is used. Rules and limitations that are documented in the GPFS documentation for the mmbackup command apply. For more information about the mmbackup command, see here http://www-01.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/STXKQY_4.1.1/com.ibm.spectrum.scale.v4r11.adm.doc/bl1adm_mmbackup.htm. For information about using the Tivoli Storage Manager and mmbackup, see here http://www-01.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/STXKQY_4.1.1/com.ibm.spectrum.scale.v4r11.adm.doc/bl1adm_backupusingmmbackup.htm?lang=en. For information about backing up file system data with the Tivoli Storage Manager, see here http://www-01.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/STXKQY_4.1.1/com.ibm.spectrum.scale.v4r11.ins.doc/bl1ins_tsm_bkupconsiderations.htm?lang=en.