Manually setting up the data mover nodes in a vSphere environment

If you offload backup workloads to a vStorage backup server in a vSphere environment, you can manually set up the data mover nodes to run the operation and move the data to the IBM Spectrum Protect server.

Before you begin

A physical data mover node typically uses the SAN to back up and restore data. If you configure data mover nodes to directly access the storage volumes, turn off automatic drive letter assignment. If you do not turn off letter assignments, the client on the data mover node might corrupt the Raw Data Mapping (RDM) of the virtual disks. If the RDM of the virtual disks is corrupted, backups fail.

Required services: The data mover requires the client acceptor service, the remote client agent service, and the data mover scheduler service as described in the following steps. If you remove a data mover from a datacenter, uninstall and delete these services for the data mover.

Important: If the data mover is installed on the same Windows system as the Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI and Create Services was selected during the data mover configuration, the following steps are not required.

In a standard Data Protection for VMware environment, a separate dsm.opt file (Windows) or dsm.sys file stanza (Linux) is used for each data mover node. When multiple data mover nodes on a vStorage Backup Server are used for data deduplication, and these nodes have authority to move data for the same datacenter node, then each dsm.opt file or dsm.sys file stanza must include a different value for the dedupcachepath option. For best results, specify a different schedlogname and errorlogname option for each dsm.opt file or dsm.sys file stanza. The minimum set of required options is provided in Step 2.

A physical data mover node typically uses the SAN to back up and restore data. If you configure the data mover node to directly access the storage volumes, turn off automatic drive letter assignment. If you do not turn off letter assignments, the client on the data mover node might corrupt the Raw Data Mapping (RDM) of the virtual disks. If the RDM of the virtual disks is corrupted, backups fail.

Restriction: Data Protection for VMware does not support scheduling the vStorage Backup Server (that is used as the data mover) to back up itself. Make sure that the vStorage Backup Server is excluded from its own schedules. Use a different vStorage Backup Server to perform the backup of a VM that contains a vStorage Backup Server.

About this task

Tip: All steps in this procedure are completed on the vStorage Backup Server.

Procedure

Ensure that Java™ software is installed on the target machine.
Set the relevant environment variables.
1. Ensure that the JAVA_HOME environment variable is exported correctly:
```
export JAVA_HOME=<jre-or-jdk-install-dir>
```
2. Ensure that the PATH environment variable is exported correctly:
```
export PATH=$PATH:$JAVA_HOME/jre/bin 
```
3. Ensure that the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable is exported correctly. Check or set it to the client installation directory and the Java shared library libjvm.so :
  For IBM® Java :
```
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/tivoli/tsm/client/ba/bin:$JAVA_HOME/jre/bin/classic
```
  For Oracle Java :
```
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/tivoli/tsm/client/ba/bin:$JAVA_HOME/jre/lib/amd64/server
```
Create the dsm.opt or dsm.sys options file in the following location:
- Windows: C:\Program Files\Tivoli\TSM\baclient
- Linux: /opt/tivoli/tsm/client/ba/bin
Copy the options from the sample options file for the data mover to the dsm.opt or dsm.sys file.
To find the sample file for the data mover:
- Open a web browser and enter the GUI web server address. For example:
```
https://guihost.mycompany.com:9081/TsmVMwareUI/
```
- Log in with the vCenter user name and password, and ensure that Configuration mode is selected.
- In the configuration wizard, go to the Data Mover Nodes page.
- Locate the data mover that you want, and click View.
- Copy the sample options from the Windows or Linux tab in to the options file.
You can update these options if required for your environment.
For a description of the options, see Options reference.

For instant access, instant restore, or mount (file restore) operations, make sure to add VMISCSISERVERADDRESS to the data mover options file. Specify the iSCSI server IP address of the network card on the vStorage Backup Server that is used for the iSCSI data transfer during instant operations. The physical network interface card (NIC) that is bound to the iSCSI device on the ESX host must be on the same subnet as the NIC on the vStorage Backup Server that is used for the iSCSI transfer.
Issue this command to set the VMware vCenter user and password for the data mover node:
```
dsmc set password -type=vm vcenter.mycompany.xyz.com <administrator> <password1>
```
Set up the client acceptor service and data mover scheduler service by completing the following tasks:
- This procedure uses the IBM Spectrum Protect Client GUI Configuration wizard to set up the client acceptor service and scheduler service. By default, the remote client agent service is also set up through the wizard. If you use the IBM Spectrum Protect Client Service Configuration Utility (dsmcutil) for this task, make sure to also install the remote client agent service.
  Start the IBM Spectrum Protect Client Configuration wizard from the file menu by going to Utilities > Setup Wizard:
  - Select Help me configure the TSM Web Client. Enter the information as prompted.
    1. In the When do you want the service to start? option, select Automatically when Windows boots.
    2. In the Would you like to start the service upon completion of this wizard? option, select Yes.
    When the operation completes successfully, return to the wizard welcome page and proceed to Step b.
    Tip: When you configure more than one data mover node on the same machine, you must specify a different port value for each client acceptor instance.
  - Select Help me configure the TSM Client Scheduler. Enter the information as prompted.
    1. When you enter the scheduler name, make sure to select the Use the Client Acceptor daemon (CAD) to manage the scheduler option.
    2. In the When do you want the service to start? option, select Automatically when Windows boots.
    3. In the Would you like to start the service upon completion of this wizard? option, select Yes.
- For the data mover on Linux, complete the following steps:
  1. The installation program creates a startup script for the client acceptor (dsmcad) in /etc/init.d. Check or set the relevant environment variables in the /etc/init.d/dsmcad file.
  2. Specify the following options in the dsm.sys file, in the stanza for the data mover node:
    - Specify the managedservices option with these two parameters:
```
managedservices schedule webclient
```
      This setting directs the client acceptor to manage both the web client and the scheduler.
    - (Optional) If you want to direct schedule and error information to log files other than the default files, specify the schedlogname and errorlogname options with the fully qualified path and file name in which to store log information. For example:
```
schedlogname /vmsched/dsmsched_dm.log
errorlogname /vmsched/dsmerror_dm.log
```
  3. Start the client acceptor service:
    The client acceptor must be started before it can manage scheduler tasks, or manage the web client. As root, complete the following steps:
    1. Configure the client acceptor service and data mover scheduler service to act as a vStorage Backup Server.
    2. Start the client acceptor by issuing the following command:
      service dsmcad start
      To enable the client acceptor to start automatically after a system restart, add the service as follows, at a shell prompt:
      # chkconfig --add dsmcad
      Tip: If you want to run the dsmc command directly from the Linux command-line, you must also apply the equivalent environment variables mentioned in Step 2 to the command shell.
Start a data mover command-line session with the -asnodename and -optfile command-line parameters:
```
dsmc -asnodename=VC1_DC1 -optfile=dsm_DM1.opt
```
Make sure that after your initial sign-on, you are not prompted for your password.

Attention: To prevent the IBM Spectrum Protect scheduler from failing, make sure that the asnodename option is not set in the dsm.opt file (Windows) or dsm.sys file stanza (Linux). The scheduler queries the IBM Spectrum Protect server for schedules associated with nodename (data mover node), not asnodename (datacenter node). If asnodename is set in dsm.opt or dsm.sys, schedules associated with asnodename (and not nodename) are queried. As a result, scheduling operations fail.

Complete these tasks:
1. Verify the connection to the IBM Spectrum Protect server by issuing this command:
```
dsmc query session
```
  This command shows information about your session, including the current node name, when the session was established, server information, and server connection information.
2. Verify you can back up a VM by issuing this command:
```
dsmc backup vm vm1
```
  In Steps 5b and 5d, vm1 is the name of the VM.
3. Verify that the backup completed successfully by issuing this command:
```
dsmc query vm "*"
```
4. Verify that the VM can be restored by issuing this command:
```
dsmc restore vm vm1 -vmname=vm1-restore
```
Verify that the client acceptor and agent are set up correctly:
1. In a web browser, enter IBM Spectrum Protect vSphere Client plug-in address. For example:
```
https://guihost.mycompany.com/vsphere-client/
```
2. Log in with the vCenter user name and password.
3. In the vSphere Web Client, click IBM Spectrum Protect > Configure > Data Movers.
4. Ensure that Verified is shown in the Status column for the data mover. If Failed is shown, hover over the status to view the failure message.
Tip: When the IP address changes on the system where the Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI is installed, you must complete the following:
1. Complete the tasks described in Troubleshooting.
2. Set up the client acceptor again so that the Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI becomes enabled for operations. Otherwise, the Plug-in Manager shows the Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI status as disabled.