Setting a data mover node as a tag-based node

When tagging support is enabled on a data mover node, administrators can apply data protection tags to VMware inventory objects such as host clusters, datacenters, hosts, resource pools, virtual machines, and folders (Host and Cluster folders and VM and Template folders).

Before you begin

Ensure that the following requirements are met:

VMware vCenter Server must be at Version 6.0 Update 1 or later.
In order for the Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI to function correctly with tagging support, ensure that the following requirements are met during the installation of the GUI:
- At least one data mover and the Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI must be installed on the same server. This data mover node must be configured so that the vCenter server credentials are saved. You can save the credentials by running the configuration wizard to save the data mover node password, or by using the dsmc set password command on the data mover command line.
  If you use other data movers, running on virtual machines or physical machines as additional data movers, you can install them on other servers. For tagging support, all these data movers must also be configured with the vmtagdatamover=yes option. These additional data movers do not require the Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI to be installed on the same server in order for them to work correctly as tag-based data movers.
- For Linux data movers, ensure that you specify the data mover installation directory and the Java™ shared library libjvm.so in the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable. The path to libjvm.so is used for tagging support when you enable the vmtagdatamover option on the data mover. For instructions, see Setting up the data mover nodes in a vSphere environment.
- On Linux operating systems, the Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI must be installed by using the default user name (tdpvmware).
- For Linux data mover nodes, the default password file (/etc/adsm/TSM.PWD) must be used.

About this task

You can use data protection tags to configure the backup policy of virtual machines in VMware inventory objects. These data protection tags are presented as settings that can be changed in the IBM Spectrum Protect™ extension. For tags that are related to schedules, the virtual machines must be in a protection set that is protected by a schedule. A protection set consists of the virtual machines in a container that is assigned the Schedule (IBM Spectrum Protect) tag.

Procedure

Use one of the following methods:

To configure a new data mover for tagging support on Windows by using the Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI, complete the following steps:
1. On the Windows system where the Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI is installed, start the GUI by opening a web browser and entering the GUI web server address. For example:
```
https://<GUI web server address>:9081/TsmVMwareUI/
```
  Log on with the vCenter user ID and password.
2. Go to the Configuration tab, and select the Edit IBM Spectrum Protect Configuration action.
3. Go to the Data Mover Nodes page of the configuration notebook.
4. Add a data mover node by completing the following steps:
  1. For the data mover node that you want to set up tagging support for, select Create Services, then select Tag Based Node.
  2. To designate the tag-based node as a default data mover node, select Default Data Mover. A default data mover node backs up any new VMs that are added to any container in the datacenter, if the container is already in a protection set. The default data mover also backs up any VMs in the protection set that are not assigned the Data Mover tag.
    Tip: If you edit the configuration, add a new data mover node, and select this new data mover to be the default data mover for the datacenter, and the vmtagdefaultdatamover option is set in your other data mover option files, you must manually edit the data mover options files for the other data movers in the datacenter to change the vmtagdefaultdatamover value to the newly created data mover.
  3. Click OK to save your changes.
    The vmtagdefaultdatamover and vmtagdefaultdatamover (if set) options are added to the data mover options file (dsm.opt).
To configure a new or existing Linux data mover node, or an existing Windows data mover node, for tagging support:
1. Add the vmtagdatamover yes option in the data mover options file (dsm.sys for Linux and dsm.opt for Windows).
2. To designate the tag-based node as a default data mover node, add the vmtagdefaultdatamover yes or vmtagdefaultdatamover dm_name option to the data mover options file.
  Tip: If you edit the configuration, add a new data mover node, and select this new data mover to be the default data mover for the datacenter, and the vmtagdefaultdatamover option is set in your other data mover option files, you must manually edit the data mover options files for the other data movers in the datacenter to change the vmtagdefaultdatamover value to the newly created data mover.

Results

After the data mover node is enabled for tagging support, the data mover queries the VMware inventory for tagging information when it runs a backup. The data mover then backs up the virtual machines according to the data protection tags that are set. If the data mover node is not configured for tagging support, any data protection tags are ignored during a backup operation.