Backing up and recovering copy set data and the Copy Services Manager database

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You can back up and recover copy set data for a specific session and the complete Copy Services Manager database.

Automatic backups

Copy Services Manager takes automatic backups during key configuration changes.

The automatic backups are stored in the install dir\liberty\wlp\usr\servers\csmServer\database\autobackup directory for distributed systems and in the path_prefix/opt/IBM/CSM/wlp/usr/servers/csmServer/database/autobackup directory for z/OS. The file names include a timestamp (for example, csmAutoBackup_20150526_103041965).

The following events will trigger an automatic backup:
  • DELETE_SESSION
  • NUM_COPYSET_CHANGE
  • ROLE_PAIR_DIRECTION_CHANGE
  • SESSION_ACTIVATED
  • SESSION_DEACTIVATED
  • ROLE_PAIR_CGNAME_CHANGE
You can also perform manual backups. For more information on performing backups, see Backing up the Copy Services Manager database.

Copy sets

You can export data about all copy sets in a specific session to maintain a backup copy that you can use to recover if you lose the session or to upgrade to a different management server.

When you export copy sets, Copy Services Manager creates a backup of the session and saves the data in a comma-separated value (CSV) file, which you can view or edit in a spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel. The exported CSV file includes the session name, session type, date that the data was exported, and the copy sets for each role pair. There is one line per copy set, and the volumes in the copy set are separated by a comma (for example: DS8000:2107.FX101:VOL:1408,DS8000:2107.HJ102:VOL:1408).

The following example illustrates the content of the CSV file for a FlashCopy® session. The first valid row must contain the appropriate role names for the session. The order of the copy sets does not matter, and you can include extra roles. A copy set is created from each row that follows the role names. All rows must have data in each column to be a valid row. The number sign (#) indicates that the line is a comment. Lines that are comments are ignored.
#Session1,
#FlashCopy,
#Oct 2, 2009 10:03:18 AM 

H1,T1 
DS8000:2107.FRLL1:VOL:1004,DS8000:2107.FRLL1:VOL:1104 
DS8000:2107.FRLL1:VOL:1011,DS8000:2107.FRLL1:VOL:1101 
DS8000:2107.FRLL1:VOL:1005,DS8000:2107.FRLL1:VOL:1105
Important: You must manually save this file on the local system when you export copy sets from the Copy Services Manager web interface.

Copy Services Manager database

Copy Services Manager database contains all product data, including data about storage systems, sessions, copy sets, paths, user administration, and management servers. You can back up this data and use the backup file to recover from a disaster or restore a previous configuration.

Important: You must have Administrator privileges to back up and recover the database.

The current data is stored in a new file each time you create a backup. The backup file is named yyyyMMdd_HHmmssSSS.zip, where yyyy is the year, MM is the month, dd is the day, HH is the hour, mm is the minute, ss is the seconds, SSS is the milliseconds when the backup command was run. It is your responsibility to delete backup versions that are no longer needed.

By default, the backup file is stored in the following location:
Copy Services Manager for Distributed Systems
path_prefix\liberty\wlp\usr\servers\csmServer\properties
Copy Services Manager for z/OS® Systems
path_prefix/opt/IBM/CSM/wlp/usr/servers/csmServer/properties
You can change the default location by editing the db.backup.location property in the rmserver.properties file, which is in the following location:
Copy Services Manager for Distributed Systems
path_prefix\liberty\wlp\usr\servers\csmServer\properties
Copy Services Manager for z/OS Systems
path_prefix/opt/IBM/CSM/wlp/usr/servers/csmServer/properties

The backup file contains the Copy Services Manager database data at the time the backup was completed. Any changes that were made after the backup are not reflected when the backup files are used to restore an Copy Services Manager database.

Create a new backup file in the following situations:
  • After you change the Copy Services Manager database data, such as adding or deleting a storage system, changing properties, and changing user privileges
  • After an Copy Services Manager session changes direction. For example, if a Metro Mirror session was copying data from H1 to H2 when the backup was taken, and later, the session was started in the H2 to H1 direction. The session must be in the Prepared state before you create the backup.
  • After a site switch has been declared and the Enable Copy To Site or Set Production to Site command is issued. After you create a backup, consider deleting the previous backup to prevent Copy Services Manager from starting the copy in the wrong direction.

When you create a backup, ensure that all Copy Services Manager sessions are either in the Defined, Prepared, or Target Available state.

Restoring the Copy Services Manager database from a backup copy puts Copy Services Manager back to the point in time when the backup was made. Relationships that exist on the storage systems that were created by Copy Services Manager after the backup was made are no longer be managed by Copy Services Manager until you add the copy set to the session and Copy Services Manager assimilates the relationship into the session. Copy sets that were deleted after the backup are restored and a subsequent Start command to the session creates new relationships. Therefore, you must remove the deprecated copy sets before you issue the Start command.

After you restore a Global Mirror session, you must stop the Global Mirror master and subordinates before you restart the Global Mirror session. Refer to your storage system documentation for more information.