Copy pools

The BACKUP SYSTEM utility uses copy pools. A copy pool is a defined set of storage groups that contain data that DFSMShsm can back up and recover collectively. Each of these storage groups contains the name of the associated backup storage group for storing the backup.

Each Db2 subsystem can have up to two standard copy pools, one for databases and one for logs. BACKUP SYSTEM copies the volumes that are associated with these copy pools at the time of the copy.

You must define any needed copy pools before you run BACKUP SYSTEM. You must at least define a database copy pool, and that definition must include the ICF catalog names. (You can add the ICF catalog names to the database copy pool definition by altering the copy pools.) If you plan to also copy the logs, define another copy pool for your logs.

Start of changeDo not include the compression dictionary data set (CDDS) or any image copies in the database and log copy pools.End of change

Use the following Db2 naming convention when you define the required copy pools:

DSN$locn-name$cp-type

where:

DSN
The unique Db2 product identifier.
$
A delimiter. You must use the dollar sign character ($).
locn-name
The Db2 location name.
cp-type
The copy pool type. Use DB for database and LG for log.

Start of changeOptionally, you can define alternate copy pools. An alternate copy pool includes the same defined set of storage groups as the standard copy pool; however a different backup storage group is specified. The ALTERNATE_CP parameter is used for both the database and log copy pools. Therefore, you can make system-level backups on different target volumes. These target volumes can be shared among different Db2 subsystems. That is, a volume can be used by another subsystem if it is not part of an active copy. You can make these extra backups without overwriting the primary production system-level backup or invalidating any versions in the regular backup storage group. End of change

Use the following Db2 naming convention when you define the alternate copy pools:

DSN$name$cp-type

where name is a string value, up to 14 characters.

You can use one of the following two methods to specify that BACKUP SYSTEM use an alternate copy pool for the system-level backup

  • Specify a value for the ALTERNATE_CP subsystem parameter. In this case, BACKUP SYSTEM alternates between using the standard copy pool and the alternate copy pool.
  • Explicitly specify ALTERNATE_CP on the BACKUP SYSTEM utility control statement. In this case, BACKUP SYSTEM uses the specified alternate copy pool for that utility invocation only.

The ALTERNATE_CP value applies to both the database copy pool and the log copy pool, if one is specified.

If you use Metro Mirror (Peer-to-Peer Remote Copy or PPRC) or z Global Mirror (Extended Remote Copy or XRC), and Remote Pair FlashCopy® (RPFC) support is enabled, use the following fields on the Copy Pool Define panel to allow volume-level FlashCopy operations on the primary volumes by DFSMShsm:

  • FRBACKUP to PPRC Primary Volumes allowed
  • FRRECOV to PPRC Primary Volumes allowed
  • FRBACKUP to XRC Primary Volumes allowed
  • FRRECOV to XRC Primary Volumes allowed