Creating a policy-based high availability backup

Edit online

This procedure describes how to create a policy-based high availability (PBHA) backup.

Before you begin

  • Register a storage provider before you create a backup job. See Registering an IBM Storage Virtualize for snapshot provider.
  • Create a PBHA policy that you want to use for PBHA backup jobs. For more information, see Creating a policy-based high availability SLA policy.
  • Backups created using the PBHA policy cannot be used to perform disk or database restores on the original host.
  • PBHA snapshots can be used to revert the original instance or restore to an alternate host, provided it is of the same type and version.
  • Restoring a SQL database from a remote copy is not supported when the backup is created using a PBHA policy. Only local disk-based restores are permitted. Since PBHA snapshot cannot be restored to partition having PBHA policy, it cannot be used to restore on the original host. Restoring on an alternate host makes the snapshot a remote copy, which is not supported. Hence, only option available is to revert the original snapshot when performing the database restore. Disk restore to an alternate host is supported.
  • Restoring to a different SQL server that is connected to the DR site storage is also unsupported due to an existing limitation of SQL Server.
  • Restoring a database to an alternate SAP HANA server is not supported. Since PBHA snapshot cannot be restored to partition having PBHA policy, it cannot be used to restore on the original host. Restoring on alternate host makes the snapshot a remote copy which is not supported. Hence only option available is to revert original snapshot when performing database restore.
  • For PBHA storage volume backups, the consistency group option is disregarded. If the volumes belong to different volume groups, they are grouped by their respective volume groups. Individual snapshots are taken for each volume group.
  • Do not run multiple separate backup jobs on a given application at the same time.
  • For issues related to PBHA and PBR, see Troubleshooting policy-based high availability and policy-based replication errors.
Important: If you are using PBHA three-site SLA policies for your backups:
  • All capabilities and limitations applicable to backups created by using a PBHA two-site SLA policy within a PBHA relationship also apply to backups created by using a PBHA three-site SLA policy.
  • All capabilities and limitations applicable to backups created by using a PBR SLA policy also apply to backups on DR site created by using a PBHA three-site SLA policy.

Procedure

  1. Click the Jobs tab. Expand the Storage Controller folder, then select IBM Storage Virtualize for Snapshot.
  2. Click New, then select Backup. The job editor opens.
  3. Enter a name for your job definition and a meaningful description.
  4. From the list of available volumes select the volume to backup. To exclude Flash Copies from the list of sources, select Exclude Flash Copies.
  5. Select an SLA policy that meets your backup data criteria.
  6. Click the job definition's associated Schedule Time field and select Enable Schedule to set a time to run the SLA policy. If a schedule is not enabled, run the job on demand through the Jobs tab. Repeat as necessary to add additional SLA policies to the job definition.

    If configuring more than one SLA policy in a job definition, select the Same as workflow option to trigger multiple SLA policies to run concurrently.

    Tip: Only SLA policies with the same RPO frequencies can be linked through the Same as workflow option. Define an RPO frequency when creating an SLA policy.
  7. To create the job definition using default options, click Create Job. The job runs as defined by your triggers, or can be run manually from the Jobs tab.
  8. To edit options before creating the job definition, click Advanced. Set the job definition options.
    Skip the Flash Copy Target Volumes
    Select this option to ensure FlashCopy® target volumes are excluded from jobs associated with the SLA policy.
    Maximum concurrent tasks
    Set the maximum amount of concurrent transfers between the source and the destination.
    Create consistency group
    If multiple volumes are selected in the Source tab (for example, volumes that contain data tied to an application) enable this option to add the volumes to a Snapshot to perform Copy Data functions on the entire group.
    Note: This option is not applicable for PBHA policy-based backups. In such backups, volumes are grouped into volume groups, and a separate snapshot is created for each group.
    Job-level scripts
    Job-level pre-scripts and post-scripts are scripts that can be run before or after a job runs at the job-level. A script can consist of one or many commands, such as a shell script for Linux®-based virtual machines or Batch and PowerShell scripts for Windows™-based virtual machines.
    In the Pre-Script and Post-Script section, click Select to select a previously uploaded script, or click Upload to upload a new script. Scripts can also be uploaded and edited through the Scripts view on the Configure tab. See Configure Scripts.
    After completion, the script displays in the Pre-Script or Post-Script section. Click the Parameters field at add a parameter to the script, then click Add. Additional parameters can be added to a script by entering parameters one at a time in the field, then clicking Add. Next, click the Identity field to add or create the credentials required to run the script. Finally, click the Application Server field to define the location where the script will be injected and executed. For parameter examples, see Using State and Status Arguments in Postscripts.
    Repeat the above procedure to add additional Pre-Scripts and Post-Scripts. For information about script return codes, see Return Code Reference.
    Select Continue operation on script failure to continue running the job if a command in any of the scripts that are associated with the job fails.

    To execute scripts on a remote Linux server, see Custom selection of a directory for script execution on a remote Linux server.

    Job-level snapshot scripts
    Snapshot prescripts and postscripts are scripts that can be run before or after a storage-based snapshot task runs. The snapshot prescript runs before all associated snapshots are run, while the snapshot postscript runs after all associated snapshots complete. A script can consist of one or many commands, such as a shell script for Linux-based virtual machines or Batch and PowerShell scripts for Windows-based virtual machines.
    In the Pre-Script and/or Post-Script section, click Select to select a previously uploaded script, or click Upload to upload a new script. Scripts can also be uploaded and edited through the Scripts view on the Configure tab. See Configure Scripts.
    After completion, the script displays in the Pre-Script or Post-Script section. Click the Parameters field at add a parameter to the script, then click Add. Additional parameters can be added to a script by entering parameters one at a time in the field, then clicking Add. Next, click the Identity field to add or create the credentials that are required to run the script. Finally, click the Application Server field to define the location where the script will be injected and executed. For parameter examples, see Using State and Status Arguments in Postscripts.
    Repeat the above procedure to add additional Pre-Scripts and Post-Scripts. For information about script return codes, see Return Code Reference.
    _SNAPSHOTS_ is an optional parameter for snapshot postscripts that displays a comma separated value string containing all of the storage-based snapshots that are created by the job. The format of each value is as follows: <registered provider name>:<volume name>:<snapshot name>.
    Select Continue operation on script failure to continue running the job if a command in any of the scripts that are associated with the job fails.
  9. Optionally, expand the Notification section to select the job notification options.
    SMTP Server
    From the list of available SMTP resources, select the SMTP Server to use for job status email notifications. If an SMTP server is not selected, an email is not sent.
    Recipients
    Enter the email addresses of the status email notifications recipients. Click Add to add it to the list.

    Click OK.

  10. Review and verify the job specific information job-specific information, and click Create Job. The job runs according to the specified schedule. You can also run the job manually from the Jobs tab.

What to do next

  • If necessary, start the job session immediately rather than waiting for the scheduled job completion. See Start, Pause, and Hold a Job Session.
  • Click Jobs tab to monitor the progress of the job session. See Monitor a Job Session.
  • Enable notification options, to send an email about the status of each task when the job completes.
  • Use the Inventory Browse to review the recovery point. See Browse Inventory.