Safeguarded Copy

The Safeguarded Copy feature creates safeguarded backups that are not accessible by the host system and protects these backups from corruption that can occur in the production environment. You can define a Safeguarded Copy schedule to create multiple backups on a regular basis, such as hourly or daily. You can also restore a backup to the source volume or to a different volume.

Management of Safeguarded Copy is supported by Copy Services Manager 6.2.3 or later and GDPS® 4.2 or later. The management software provides the ability to create and recover backups and to define policies for expiration.

Safeguarded Copy can create backups with more frequency and capacity in comparison to FlashCopy® volumes. The creation of safeguarded backups also impacts performance less than the multiple target volumes that are created by FlashCopy.

With backups that are outside of the production environment, you can use the backups to restore your environment back to a specified point in time. You can also extract and restore specific data from the backup or use the backup to diagnose production issues.

You cannot delete a safeguarded source volume before the safeguarded backups are deleted. The maximum safeguarded virtual backup capacity size is 14.6 TiB for CKD data and 16 TiB for FB data.
Note: To guarantee adequate space for one backup, the Safeguarded Copy capacity must be at least 1.5 times the size of the safeguarded source volume.

In addition to the actions that are available on the Volumes page, you can use the page to view details about a safeguarded volume, including the safeguarded location, the virtual safeguarded capacity, and used safeguarded capacity. This page also indicates whether a backup copy is being recovered to a recovery volume.

Using Safeguarded Copy

To define a safeguarded backup location and safeguarded virtual backup capacity, use the DS8000® Storage Management GUI (from the Volumes page) or DS CLI. You can also use the Volumes page to migrate a safeguarded backup to a different location and maintain the backup schedule at the new location.

To manage the recovery of backups and to define backup schedules that create backups, use Copy Services Manager v6.2.3 or later.