Backing up and restoring data by using the Tivoli Storage Manager interfaces

Deployment options: Netezza Performance Server for Cloud Pak for Data System

About this task

You can use the IBM® Spectrum Protect (formerly Tivoli® Storage Manager) commands and interfaces to create a client node schedule, which is a record that defines a particular client operation such as a backup or a restore. By using client schedules, you can automate the backups of data from your Netezza Performance Server host without any user operator intervention. You can also automate the restore of data from one Netezza Performance Server system to another if you load data to a backup Netezza Performance Server system regularly.

To use the client scheduler to automate tasks for the Netezza Performance Server host client, you must install the BA client package on the Netezza Performance Server host as described in Configuring the Netezza Performance Server host.

Tivoli Storage Manager offers two ways to manage client scheduling: the client acceptor daemon-managed services, and a Tivoli Storage Manager traditional scheduler. You can use either method to manage client schedules. For details about configuring and managing the Tivoli Storage Manager client scheduler, see the IBM Tivoli Storage Manager for UNIX and Linux® Backup-Archive Clients: Installation and User's Guide, which is available from the IBM Support Portal at http://www.ibm.com/support.

If you create more than one scheduled operation, the Tivoli Storage Manager scheduler does not support overlapping schedules for operations; that is, one operation must start and complete before a new operation is allowed to start. If you create operations with overlapping schedules, the second operation is likely skipped (does not start) because the first operation is still running. Make sure that you allow enough time for the first operation to complete before a new operation is scheduled to run.

To create a client schedule, complete the following steps.

Procedure

In the left navigation frame of the ISC Console, click Tivoli Storage Manager.
Click Policy Domains and Client Nodes.
Select the Tivoli Storage Manager server from which you will be managing your Netezza Performance Server systems, and then select View Policy Domains from the Select Action list.
Select the policy domain that you created for your Netezza Performance Server host (as described in Creating a policy domain) and select Modify Policy Domain from the Select Action list.
Select the Client Node Schedules list to expand it.
From the Select Action list, select Create a Schedule.
In the Create Schedule area, complete the following steps:
1. Enter a name for the schedule in the Schedule name field.
  You can also supply an optional description for the schedule.
2. Select the option Command - run a command on a client node machine.
3. Click Next.
In the Command to run field, specify the absolute path of the script that you want to run and click Next.
The following is an example path name:
```
'sh /nz/scripts/mybackup.sh'
```
The path name is the absolute path of the script file that is on the Netezza Performance Server host and must be preceded by the command sh and enclosed in single quotation marks when it has spaces, as shown in the example. In most cases, the script is an nzbackup or nzrestore command operation. For a backup client schedule, the backup script usually contains a single command line that runs nzbackup for a particular backup operation. You can create the script manually by using a text editor.
In the Select Repetition Options area, select the data and time and the frequency for the client schedule, then click Next.

The Tivoli Storage Manager scheduler does not support overlapping schedules for operations; that is, one operation must start and complete before a new operation is allowed to start. Make sure that you allow enough time for the first operation to complete before a new operation is scheduled to run.
You can accept the defaults on the Advanced Schedule Options area and click Next.
Select the client nodes (one or more Netezza Performance Server hosts) that you want to associate with this schedule. Make sure that you select the client node for the Netezza Performance Server host, not its proxy node, then click Next.

Typically, you would select only one client node (that is, one Netezza Performance Server host) to run this operation at one time. However, if you want to schedule the operation for multiple hosts to occur at the same time, it is possible to select multiple client nodes.
Review the information in the Summary and click Finish to create the client schedule.

Results

Because the script runs as root on the Netezza Performance Server host, the Netezza Performance Server user must be set inside the script by using the NZ_USER variable or specified with the -u user argument. The user password must be cached by using the nzpassword utility, set inside the script by using NZ_PASSWORD, or specified by using the -pw password argument.

You can use the backup history to check the status of a backup operation. For more information, see Backup History report.