Considerations for using Tivoli® Storage Protect

You can use IBM Storage Protect, formerly Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM), to create backup images of a Db2 database. When you are deciding which backup tool to use for your database, you must consider the features and restrictions of each available option.

Note: As of version 8.1.19, IBM Storage Protect is the new product name for Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM). For more information, see IBM Storage Protect Downloads - Latest Fix Packs and interim fixes
  • To use specific features within IBM Storage Protect you might be required to give the fully qualified path name of the object using the feature.
    Important: Remember that on Windows operating systems, the backslash symbol (\) is used instead of the forward slash symbol (/).
    The fully qualified path name of:
    • A full database recovery object is: /database/DBPARTnnn/FULL_BACKUP.timestamp.seq_no
    • An incremental database recovery object is: /database/DBPARTnnn/DB_INCR_BACKUP.timestamp.seq_no
    • An incremental delta database recovery object is: /database/DBPARTnnn/DB_DELTA_BACKUP.timestamp.seq_no
    • A full table space recovery object is: /database/DBPARTnnn/TSP_BACKUP.timestamp.seq_no
    • An incremental table space recovery object is: /database/DBPARTnnn/TSP_INCR_BACKUP.timestamp.seq_no
    • An incremental delta table space recovery object is: /database/DBPARTnnn/TSP_DELTA_BACKUP.timestamp.seq_no
    where database is the database alias name, and DBPARTnnn is the database partition number. The names shown in uppercase characters must be entered as shown.
  • In the case where you have multiple backup images using the same database alias name, the time stamp and sequence number become the distinguishing part of a fully qualified name. You need to query IBM Storage Protect to determine which backup version to use.
  • If you perform an online backup operation and specify the USE TSM option and the INCLUDE LOGS option, a deadlock can occur if the two processes try to write to the same tape drive at the same time. If you are using a tape drive as a storage device for logs and backup images, you need to define two separate tape pools for IBM Storage Protect, one for the backup image and one for the archived logs.
  • IBM Storage Protect has a data retention policy that defines how long data is kept on the IBM Storage Protect server. Take this retention policy into consideration when defining a database recovery strategy. For example, when using IBM Storage Protect for backup and log archiving, ensure that the IBM Storage Protect retention period is in line with the database recovery history retention period. If these periods are not inline, Db2® might not have access to the recovery objects that are stored on IBM Storage Protect, during a recovery operation.
  • To use client proxy nodes, the IBM Storage Protect administrator must complete the following steps on the IBM Storage Protect server:
    1. If the Db2 clients are not already registered with the IBM Storage Protect server, register each client using the register node IBM Storage Protect command.
    2. Register a (virtual) common IBM Storage Protect node name to be used by the group of clients with the IBM Storage Protect server using the register node IBM Storage Protect command.
    3. Grant proxy authority to all computers in the group using the grant proxynode IBM Storage Protect command.
    For information on how to set up proxy node clients, see Configuring an IBM Storage Protect client.
  • When taking incremental backups where only a small number of pages have been modified, it might be necessary to increase the IBM Storage Protect parameter IDLETIMEOUT to be larger than the time it takes to complete the backup of the largest table space. This prevents IBM Storage Protect from closing the session prior to the completion of the incremental backup.