DEFINE STGRULE (Define a storage rule for copying data)

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Use this command to define a storage rule for one or more storage pools. The storage rule schedules operations to copy data from a source container storage pool to a copy sequential-access storage pool. The target storage pool must be on tape. You can define one or more storage rules for a target storage pool.

You can copy data from a container storage pool to a tape storage pool to improve recoverability of the data and as part of your disaster recovery plan.

Restriction: By using the Amazon S3 protocol, you can send data from IBM® Storage Protect Plus and other object clients to IBM Storage Protect. The sent data is known as object client data. You cannot use a storage rule to copy object client data to tape.

Privilege class

To issue this command, you must have system privilege.

Syntax

Read syntax diagramSkip visual syntax diagram DEFine STGRULE rule_name target_stgpool ACTiontype=COPYACTiontype=COPYNOCopying,SRCPools=source_poolACTIVE=YesACTIVE=NoYesMAXPRocess=2MAXPRocess=numberDURation=NOLimitDURation=minutesSTARTTime=current_timeSTARTTime=timeDESCription=description

Parameters

rule_name (Required)
Specifies the name of the storage rule. The name must be unique, and the maximum length is 30 characters.
target_stgpool (Required)
Specifies the name of the target storage pool, which must be a copy sequential-access storage pool.
ACTiontype (Required)
Specifies whether the storage rule copies data from the source storage pool to the target storage pool. The default value is COPY.
COPY
Specifies that the storage rule copies data from the source storage pool to the target storage pool.
NOCopying
Specifies that the storage rule does not copy data from the source storage pool to the target storage pool.
SRCPools (Required)
Specifies the name of one or more directory-container storage pools or on-premises cloud-container storage pools from which data is copied to the target storage pool. To specify multiple storage pools, separate the names with commas with no intervening spaces. You must specify this parameter if the ACTIONTYPE=COPY parameter is specified.
Restrictions:
  • Cloud-container storage pools with a parameter value of CLOUDLOCATION=OFFPREM cannot be specified as source pools.
  • Storage rules that have an action type of TIERBYSTATE or TIERBYAGE with an off-premise cloud target storage pool cannot share source pools with a storage rule of type COPY. Using a common source storage pool for both copy storage rules and tiering storage rules might result in data movement charges from your cloud storage provider during reclamation processing.
ACTIVE
Specifies whether the storage rule processing occurs. This parameter is optional. The default is YES. The following values are possible:
No
Specifies that the storage rule is inactive. The storage rule is not processed at the scheduled time.
Yes
Specifies that the storage rule is active. The storage rule is processed at the scheduled time.
MAXProcess
Specifies the maximum number of parallel copying processes for each source storage pool that is specified. This parameter is optional. Enter a value in the range 1 - 99. The default value is 2. For example, if you have four source storage pools and you specify the default value for this parameter, eight processes are started.
For each process, the following resources are required:
  • One tape drive. Ensure that you configure enough tape drives for simultaneous copy operations to the target storage pool.
  • One or more volumes. For example, if you have four tape drives and you specify four processes, but only two volumes are available, only two processes can run at a time.
DUration
Specifies the maximum number of minutes that the storage rule runs before it is automatically canceled. You can specify a number in the range 60 - 1440. The default value is unlimited. If you do not specify a value, or if you specify a value of NOLimit, the storage rule runs until it is completed. This parameter is optional.
STARTTime
Specifies the time for the beginning of the window in which the storage rule is first processed. The default is the current time. This parameter is optional. The storage rule runs daily within 5 minutes following the specified time.
Specify one of the following values:
Value Description Example
HH:MM:SS A specific time. 23:30:08
NOW The current time. NOW
NOW+HH:MM or +HH:MM The current time plus the specified number of hours and minutes. NOW+02:00 or +02:00
NOW-HH:MM or -HH:MM The current time minus the specified number of hours and minutes. NOW-02:00 or -02:00
Restriction: If you are copying retention set data to a retention copy storage pool and a node in that retention set is the target of a replication operation, you must specify a STARTTIME parameter value for the copy storage rule that occurs after the replication operation is complete. If the replication operation is not successfully completed before the specified starting time for the copy operation, the retention set data is not copied. The system will attempt to copy the retention set data again after the next successful replication operation.
DESCription
Specifies a description of the storage rule. This parameter is optional.

Define a storage rule

Define a storage rule that is named copyaction to copy data from the source container storage pools dirpool1 and dirpool2 to the target copy sequential-access storage pool tapepool1. Specify a start time of 03:00 hours that uses a maximum of 10 processes for a copy storage rule:
define stgrule copyaction actiontype=copy sourcepool=dirpool1,dirpool2
targetpool=copypool maxprocess=10 starttime=03:00:00

Related commands

Table 1. Commands related to DEFINE STGRULE
Command Description
DEFINE SUBRULE (copying) Defines an exception to a copy storage rule.
DELETE STGRULE Deletes storage rules.
QUERY STGRULE Displays storage rule information.
UPDATE STGRULE (copying) Updates a copy storage rule.
UPDATE SUBRULE (copying) Updates a subrule that is an exception to a copy storage rule.