Policy activation after updates

When you make updates to policy, the updates do not go into effect until you activate the policy set that you updated.

Policy set activation puts into effect updates that you made. For example, the following types of updates go into effect after you activate the policy set:

You define a new policy domain with a policy set and one or more management classes
You add a management class to a policy set
You change the backup retention settings in an existing management class

Policy set validation before activation

In the Operations Center, validation is not a separate step. If you are using commands, validation is an optional command that gives you an opportunity to preview the effect of activating a changed policy set. When you validate a policy set, the server reports on conditions that might cause problems if the policy set is activated.

Validation fails if the policy set does not contain a default management class. Validation results in warning messages if any of the conditions that are shown in Table 1 exist.

Table 1. Conditions that cause warnings during policy set validation
Condition	Reason for warning
The storage destinations that are specified for backup, archive, or migration operations are not defined storage pools.	A storage pool must exist before you can specify it as a destination.
A storage destination that is specified for backup, archive, or migration operations is a copy storage pool or an active-data pool.	The storage destination must be a primary storage pool.
The default management class does not contain backup or archive settings.	When the default management class does not contain backup or archive settings, any files that are bound to the default management class are not backed up or archived.
The current active policy set names a management class that is not defined in the policy set that is being validated.	When you back up files that were bound to a management class that no longer exists in the active policy set, backup versions are rebound to the default management class. When the management class to which an archive copy is bound no longer exists and the default management class does not contain archive settings, the server uses the archive retention grace period to manage the retention of the archive copy. The archive retention grace period is set for a policy domain, and that setting is used only when no other policy setting is available to manage an archive copy.
The current active policy set contains backup settings that are not defined in the policy set that is being validated.	When a client backs up a file and the management class to which the file is bound no longer has backup settings, backup versions are managed by the default management class. If the default management class does not contain any backup settings, the server uses the backup retention grace period to manage file versions. However, the file is not backed up in the next backup operation. The backup retention grace period is set for a policy domain, and that setting is used only when no other policy setting is available to manage a backup version.
A management class specifies that a backup version must exist before a file can be migrated from a client node, but the management class does not contain backup settings.	This warning applies only if you are using the Tivoli® Storage Manager for Space Management product. The conflicts within the management class can cause problems for Tivoli Storage Manager for Space Management clients.

Policy set activation

When you activate a policy set, the server validates the contents of the policy set and copies the policy set to be the active policy set. To later change the contents of the active policy set, you must create or change another policy set and then activate that policy set.

Some updates to a policy have an immediate effect when it is activated, but some other updates do not:

Updates to Keep Extra Backups and Keep Deleted Backups settings are immediately applied to data already in server storage, and to future backups.
If you use commands, these settings are the RETEXTRA and RETONLY parameters for the DEFINE COPYGROUP or UPDATE COPYGROUP commands.
Updates to Backups and Deleted Backups settings do not take effect for client data until the clients complete the next backup operation.
If you use commands, these settings are the VEREXISTS and VERDELETED parameters for the DEFINE COPYGROUP or UPDATE COPYGROUP commands.

Restrictions for servers that use the feature for data retention protection

If the feature for data retention protection is active, more rules apply when you validate and activate a policy set. The feature for data retention protection is activated by using the SET ARCHIVERETENTIONPROTECTION command on a server that does not yet have any client data.

If data retention protection is active for a server, more rules must be satisfied before the policy is activated:

If a management class exists in the active policy set, a management class with the same name must exist in the policy set that is being activated.
All management classes in the policy set that is being activated must contain archive retention settings.
If the active policy set includes archive retention settings in a management class, the policy set that is being activated must have archive retention values at least as large as the corresponding values in the active policy set.

If the server is a managed server in an enterprise configuration, the server might receive policy updates from the server that is the configuration manager. Policy updates that are received by the managed server from the configuration manager must also satisfy the preceding rules.