Node replication restrictions

Restrictions can affect planning and implementation. For example, Tivoli® Storage Manager applies the replication rule for archive data to the data that was migrated by the HSM for Windows client.

If you restore a file from the Tivoli Storage Manager target server, and the file system is managed by Tivoli Storage Manager for Space Management, you must not restore the file as a stub file. You must restore the complete file. Use the restoremigstate=no option to restore the complete file. If you restore the file as a stub from the target server, the following consequences can occur:
  • You cannot recall the file from the Tivoli Storage Manager source server by using the Tivoli Storage Manager for Space Management client.
  • A Tivoli Storage Manager for Space Management reconciliation process that runs against the Tivoli Storage Manager source server expires the file. If the file is expired by a reconciliation process, you can restore the complete file with the backup-archive client and the restoremigstate=no option.

The following restrictions apply to node replication:

Store operations to a target replication server
If a client node is configured for replication, you cannot back up, archive, or migrate its data to the server that is the target replication server for the replicated data that belongs to the node.
Failover to a target replication server
You can use automatic failover only with Tivoli Storage Manager V7.1 servers and clients. Only one failover server for each node can be used. The failover server is always set to the last target server to which the node was replicated. The client can recover data from the target replication server, but it cannot store data during failover processing. Issue the QUERY SESSION command to determine whether a client node is in failover mode.
The Tivoli Storage Manager for Space Management and HSM for Windows clients, however, do not automatically fail over to the target server. You must manually edit the dsm.sys file to connect to the target server. Any secondary server information in the replservername stanza and myreplicationserver option is ignored by the Tivoli Storage Manager for Space Management and HSM for Windows clients.
Client node definition on the target replication server
If you plan to add a node for replication, the client node definition cannot exist on the target replication server. If the client node definition does exist on the target replication server, you must remove or rename the node before replication can occur.

However, if the data that belongs to a client node was exported from the source replication server and imported on the target replication server, you do not have to delete the client node definition on the target replication server. To replicate, the data must be synchronized between the source and target replication servers. Synchronization occurs during replication.

To synchronize data, the data must be imported with the value of the DATES parameter that is set to ABSOLUTE on the IMPORT NODE command.

Import and export operations
After initial replication, data that belongs to a replicated client node cannot be imported to the target replication server for replication. However, you can export the data that belongs to the client node from the source replication server to other servers. To export, you can use media or server-to-server virtual volumes. Replication rules are not exported.
Data migrated by the HSM for Windows client
The Tivoli Storage Manager for HSM for Windows client provides hierarchical storage management (HSM) for Windows NTFS file systems. When the HSM for Windows client stores data on the Tivoli Storage Manager server, the data is stored as archive data, not as space-managed data.

During replication processing, Tivoli Storage Manager applies the replication rule for archive data to the data that was migrated by the HSM for Windows client. For example, suppose that a backup-archive client has a file space that contains two directories. The data in one directory is archived to the Tivoli Storage Manager server. The data in the other directory is migrated by the HSM for Windows client, but it is stored as archive data. Both sources of data are associated with the same file space on the server.

If you set the file space replication rule for archive data to ALL_DATA and the file-space replication rule for space-managed data to NONE, the rule for space-managed data is ignored during replication processing. All the data in the file space is replicated to the target replication server according to the rule for archive data.

Objects that cannot be replicated
The following objects cannot be replicated to a target replication server:
  • Replication rules
  • Server node definitions
  • Network-attached storage data in nonnative storage pools
  • Client schedules
  • Backup sets
Tips:
  • If you want to convert client nodes for store operations to a target replication server, you can manually duplicate client schedules that are on the source replication server.
  • You can generate backup sets on the target replication server for a replicated client node.
Retention protection
You cannot configure servers for replication on which archive retention protection is enabled.
Replication and file groups
When you are replicating files from one server to another, it is possible that some of the files that are being replicated belong to a group of files that are managed as a single logical entity. If a replication process ends without replicating all the files in a group, client nodes are unable to restore, retrieve, or recall the file group. When replication runs again, the source replication server attempts to replicate the missing files.
Renaming a node
If a node is configured for replication, it cannot be renamed.
Backing up a single client node to two source replication servers
If you have been backing up, archiving, or migrating a client node to two different servers, do not set up replication of the node from both source replication servers to the same target replication server. Replicating from two source servers might create different versions of the same file on the target server. Replicating from two source servers can cause unpredictable results when you restore, retrieve, or recall the file.
Password propagation to the target replication server
When client node data is replicated for the first time, the source server sends the node definition, including the password, to the target replication server. During subsequent replications, if the node password is updated, the source server attempts to send the updated password to the target replication server.

Whether these attempts succeed depends on the node authentication method and on the combination of methods that are used on the source and target replication servers. A conflict occurs if a node password is authenticated on the source server by one server and on the target replication server by a different server. Because authentication can happen on an LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) directory server or the Tivoli Storage Manager server, data can be lost. If this kind of dual authentication occurs, the password is not updated during replication.

Simultaneous-write function
During replication processing, the simultaneous-write function is disabled on the target replication server when you store data to a primary storage pool that is enabled for data deduplication. Data that is replicated consists of only files or extents of data that do not exist on the target replication server.