Mac OS X operating systemsOracle Solaris operating systemsLinux operating systemsAIX operating systems

Backing up data with client-node proxy support (UNIX and Linux)

Backups of multiple nodes that share storage can be consolidated to a common target node name on the IBM Spectrum Protect server.

About this task

Consolidating backups from multiple nodes to a common target node name on the server is helpful in configurations where the workstation that is responsible for performing the backups can change over time, such as within a cluster.

An agent node is a client node that is granted authority to perform client operations on behalf of a target node.

A target node is a client node that grants authority to one or more agent nodes to perform client operations on its behalf.

Use the asnodename option with the appropriate command to back up, archive, restore, and retrieve data under the target node name on the server.

The asnodename option also allows data to be restored from a different system than the one that performed the backup.

Consider the following features when you use a proxy node to back up or restore data on other nodes:.
  • A proxy operation uses the settigns for the target node (such as maxnummp and deduplication) and schedules that are defined on the IBM Spectrum Protect server. The IBM Spectrum Protect server node settings and schedules for the agent node are ignored.
  • All of the agent nodes in the multiple node environment must be running the same operating system type.
  • Do not use target nodes as traditional nodes, especially if you encrypt your files before you back them up to the server.
  • You cannot access another node (either from the GUI drop-down or by using the fromnode option).
  • You cannot perform NAS backup or restore.

Procedure

  1. Install the backup-archive client on all nodes in a shared data environment.
  2. Register each node with the IBM Spectrum Protect server. Register the common target node name to be shared by each of the agent nodes that are used in your shared data environment.
  3. Register each of the nodes in the shared data environment with the IBM Spectrum Protect server. Register the agent node name that is used for authentication purposes. Data is not stored on the server, under that node name, when the asnodename option is used.
  4. The IBM Spectrum Protect server administrator must grant proxy authority to all nodes in the shared environment to access the target node name by using the GRANT PROXYNODE command.
  5. Use the QUERY PROXYNODE administrative client command to display the client nodes of the authorized user that was granted by the GRANT PROXYNODE command.