Overviews - Overview

View high-level status information about the IBM Spectrum Protect environment.

Clients

The following client categories are shown in the Operations Center:

Applications

The following clients are application clients:

IBM Spectrum Protect for Enterprise Resource Planning
IBM Spectrum Protect Snapshot
IBM Spectrum Protect for Databases
IBM Spectrum Protect for Mail
IBM Spectrum Protect for Virtual Environments (except for VMware vSphere clients, which are classified as system clients)

A virtual machine that is backed up using application client software that is installed on the virtual machine itself is also classified as an application client.

Virtual Machines

A virtual machine is the individual guest host within a hypervisor. Each virtual machine is represented as an IBM Spectrum Protect file space.

Restriction: Virtual machines are only eligible for backup and restore services, even if additional services are shown as enabled.

To be classified as a virtual machine, a client must meet the following requirements:

The client is not registered to an IBM Spectrum Protect server as a client node
The client is backed up by an IBM Spectrum Protect client node that is installed outside of the virtual machine
Tip: This separately installed client node, called a data center node, is classified as an application client, even if it is technically a system client.

Systems

Backup-archive and API clients are classified as system clients.

System clients also include the following items:

An IBM Spectrum Protect source server in a server-to-server virtual volume configuration
A virtual machine that is backed up using backup-archive client software that is installed on the virtual machine itself
VMware vSphere clients

Object Clients

An object client is an application that accesses the server by making S3 requests to store and retrieve objects. A software agent, called the object agent, receives the S3 requests from the object client and communicates with the server to complete the request. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is the only exploiter of this client type. All object clients represent an IBM Spectrum Protect Plus server.

Tip: The default "at risk" time intervals are specified when you initially configure the Operations Center.

You can change the at-risk configuration on the Settings page ( > Settings > General).

Retention Sets

Retention sets are collections of client backup data. Data in retention sets is kept to satisfy long-term data retention requirements.

Retention sets are created at scheduled intervals by retention rules, and can be created on demand. A retention set represents a point-in-time snapshot of the active backup data objects for one or more clients. The backup data can be retained in place in server storage or copied to tape or cloud object storage.

The status summary shows the number of retention sets in each state. The following states can be shown:

Expiring: The number of retention sets that are expiring within the next 30 days. When the expiration date of a retention set is reached, the retention set is deleted unless it is in a retention hold. To prevent a retention set from being deleted, you can update its expiration data or you can add it to a retention hold.
Interrupted: The number of retention sets that are interrupted. When a retention set is in this state, its underlying retention job is interrupted and must be resumed by an administrator. Typically some intervention on behalf of the job is required before the administrator resumes the job. Jobs can be interrupted by an administrator, or the server might interrupt the job based on error conditions.
Note: An interrupted retention job remains interrupted until an administrator explicitly resume it. Action must be taken to resolve the problem and resume the job.
Copying: The number of retention sets that are currently being copied. The underlying retention job, which copies retention set data from primary storage to the retention storage pool, is running. The retention job runs only during the processing window of the retention storage pool's associated retention-copy storage rule.
Sleeping: The underlying retention job is sleeping until the next processing window of the retention storage pool's associated retention-copy storage rule. The next time the retention-copy storage rule begins processing, the storage rule restarts the job.

Alerts

An alert represents an error message that is issued by a backup server. Alerts are shown in the Operations Center and can be sent as email notifications.

You can add or remove alerts from the Configure Alerts page (Overviews > Alerts > Configure).

To configure most email settings for alerts, use the SET ALERTEMAIL command and related commands. You can also add or remove email recipients from the Configure Alerts page.

The following states can be shown for each alert category:

Info: Processing continues with an informational message, and no action is required.
Warning: Processing can continue, but problems might occur later.
Critical: Processing cannot continue. You must immediately correct the issue that is described in the alert message, or the data protection services that are provided by the affected servers will be interrupted.

Tips:

The Client category shows alert information for clients that do not correspond to another client category. This category does not summarize all the client alerts.
The Server category shows alert information for server-related issues, but not the server database, active log, and archive log. Alert information for these items is shown in the Inventory category.

Servers

The status indicator shows whether the IBM Spectrum Protect servers that are managed by the Operations Center are available to provide data protection services to clients.

In a multi-server environment, the hub server regularly issues a ping command to the spoke servers. If a spoke server cannot be contacted, it is shown as unavailable.

Inventory

The inventory tracks how client data is stored. Each IBM Spectrum Protect server maintains its own inventory, which consists of the server database and its active and archive logs.

The status summary reflects the most severe error state that was reported.

The following states can be shown:

Warning: At least one server is running out of inventory space. If this condition persists, you must add space.
Critical: At least one server does not have enough inventory space available. You must add space immediately, or the data protection services that are provided by the affected servers will be interrupted.
Unavailable: Status cannot be obtained. Ensure that the managed servers are running, and that there are no network issues.

Status is determined by the monitoring thresholds that are defined for the servers. To modify the default threshold settings for a server, use the UPDATE STATUSTHRESHOLD command.

Storage & Data Availability

Storage pools and storage devices store client data for backup and recovery.

Capacity usage is shown for the following storage pool types:

Containers

Data is stored in container storage pools, which provide automatic deduplication and compression as data is stored.

Status is shown for the following pool types, which store client data in file-system directories or by using object-based cloud storage:

Directory: File-based storage on disk.
On-premises cloud: Object-based storage that is managed by internal IT staff in your data center.
Off-premises cloud: Storage in vendor-managed cloud repositories.

Volumes

Data is stored using traditional volume-based storage.

Status is shown for the following pool types, which use device classes to identify the devices that can be used to store data:

Disk

Data is stored on disk or solid-state drives, by using the DISK device class or a FILE device class.

Tape

Data is stored by using tape devices and virtual tape libraries (VTLs).

Copy and Retention

Provides combined status for the following storage pool types:

Copy pools: File copies from primary storage pools are stored on sequential-access devices (for example, FILE and tape-based device classes).
Container-copy pools: Data copies from directory-container storage pools are stored on tape.
Retention pools: Retention set data that is stored on tape.

Tip: Active-data storage pools are not included in the capacity usage summary.

If primary storage pool capacity is low, ensure that the high migration threshold is appropriately configured. For disk-based storage pools, you might need to add volumes or change space trigger settings.

Tip: For spoke servers running a version of IBM Spectrum Protect earlier than V8.1, the capacity that is shown for tape pools is based on the maximum scratch volumes setting. By default, this value is set very high if you create a storage pool in the Operations Center.

To provide a more accurate capacity estimate, you can upgrade the server to V8.1 or later, or adjust the setting for each storage pool. If you lower the value, ensure that enough volumes are available to handle the expected usage.

You can view and change settings on the Properties page for a storage pool (Storage Pools > Details > Properties).

Pool status

The status summary reflects the most severe error state that was reported for the managed servers. The following states can be shown:

Warning: At least one storage pool is running out of space, or the access state of a pool or directory is read-only.
Critical: At least one storage pool does not have enough space available or has an access state of unavailable. For container pools, the access state of a directory is unavailable or destroyed, or a container is marked as damaged.

Device status

The status summary reflects the most severe error state that was reported for all the device classes that are defined to the managed servers.

Tip: The percentage values that are described in this section indicate the default threshold settings. You can change these settings by using the DEFINE STATUSTHRESHOLD command.

The following error states can be shown:

Warning: For a DISK device class, more than 25% of its volumes are offline or have a read-only access state.
For a tape device class or a shared FILE device class, one or more of the following conditions exists:
- More than 25% of the paths or drives are offline.
- More than 25% of the drives are in a polling state.
For a FILE device class that is not shared, less than 75% of the scratch volumes that are specified by the mount limit setting can be allocated, based on the available directory space.
Critical: For a DISK device class, more than 50% of its volumes are offline or have a read-only access state.
For a tape device class or a shared FILE device class, one or more of the following conditions exists:
- More than 50% of the paths or drives are offline.
- More than 50% of the drives are in a polling state.
For a FILE device class that is not shared, one of the following conditions exists:
- If the device class uses preallocated volumes, at least one directory is unavailable.
- If volumes are not preallocated, less than 50% of the scratch volumes that are specified by the mount limit setting can be allocated, based on the available directory space.

Replication

The status summary shows the number of file spaces whose replication status is in each state. The replication status is determined by the following conditions:

Whether any errors occurred during replication processing.
The time since the file space on the target replication server was last synchronized with the files space on the source replication server. In other words, the last time the files on the target replication server were at the same level as the files on the source replication server.

The following states can be shown:

Critical: A critical error is shown if replication of the file space failed. For example, replication processing might fail because a client in a replication storage rule is not enabled for replication.
A critical error is also shown if it is over 48 hours since the file space on the target replication server was last synchronized with the file space on the source replication server.
Warning: The last time that replication ran on the file space, some files were not copied to the target replication server. Some files were skipped by the replication process, the maximum run time of a replication storage rule was reached, or the replication process was canceled.
A warning is also shown if it is over 24 hours (but less than 48 hours) since the file space on the target replication server was last synchronized with the file space on the source replication server.
Normal: The last time that replication ran on the file space, the file space was fully copied to the target replication server. Within the last 24 hours, the files space on the target replication server was synchronized with the file space on the source replication server.

Command-Initiated Workload

The workload bar shows the replication workload only for replication that was initiated by commands. Specifically, it tracks replication for the REPLICATE NODE and PROTECT STGPOOL commands. Starting in Version 8.1.13, replication can also be initiated by a replication storage rule. However, replication that is initiated by a replication storage rule is not tracked in this workload bar.

The REPLICATE NODE command is the traditional way to initiate replication processing, and was the only method available in versions earlier that Version 8.1.13. The Operations Center issues the REPLICATE NODE in the background when you use the Replicate action on the Clients page.

Although the REPLICATE NODE command initiates replication processing, data extents can also be copied to the target replication server by the PROTECT STGPOOL command. The PROTECT STGPOOL copies the data extents from a directory-container storage pool on the source replication server to a directory-container storage pool on the target replication server. Although the purpose of the PROTECT STGPOOL is to enable the reparation of data by using the REPAIR STGPOOL command, running this storage pool protection before replication can improve replication performance. Replication processing time can be reduced because any data extents that were already copied to the target replication server by storage pool protection operations are skipped when node replication is started. Node replication copies only the metadata that is associated with the data extents that were already copied by the PROTECT STGPOOL command.

The workload bar shows the total amount of data to be replicated for all replication-enabled clients that back up to managed servers that replicate data.

To view individual replication workloads for each source-to-target server pair, click the workload bar.

If replication tasks are running, the workload bar highlights the task progress. A marker on the workload bar shows the projected amount of data to be replicated for the running tasks in relation to the overall workload.

To view additional details, hover over the workload bar.

Storage Rules

Storage rules define schedules and policies for moving or copying data between different types of storage. Tiering storage rules define policies for moving data to lower-cost storage based on the age of the data. Retention-copy storage rules define policies for copying retention set data from primary storage to tape or cloud object storage.

The status summary shows the most recent processing results for each storage rule. The number of storage rules in each of the following states is shown:

Normal: The number of storage rules that ran without errors. Data was successfully moved or copied according to the rule's specifications. For tiering storage rules, the tiering process was completed within the rule's time limit.
Warning: The number of storage rules that completed processing, but with warnings. The storage rule could not move or copy all data. For tiering storage rules, the rule did not tier all eligible data. Either some files were skipped, the rule's time limit was reached, or the process was canceled.
Failed: The number of storage rules that did not complete processing. The server could not move or copy data. For example, the server might be unable to move or copy data because the target storage pool has insufficient space or because the server cannot access the storage pool.
Other states: The number of storage rules that have other states. The server on which the storage rule is defined might be unavailable to provide the data, or might be running an earlier version of IBM Spectrum Protect that does not support status. Status might not be applicable because the storage rule is not activated, or the storage rule was not run.

For more information about using IBM Spectrum Protect commands, see the IBM Spectrum Protect documentation.