Creating an SLA policy for databases and file systems

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You can create custom service level agreement (SLA) policies to define backup frequency, retention, replication, and copy policies that are specific for databases and file systems.

Before you begin

Ensure that the storage system that you want to associate with the SLA policy is configured in System Configuration > Storage > vSnap servers. For information about the adding a vSnap server see Registering a vSnap server as a backup storage provider.

About this task

If a virtual machine is associated with multiple SLA policies, ensure that the policies that you create are not scheduled to run concurrently. Either schedule the SLA policies to run with a significant amount of time between them, or combine them into a single SLA policy.

If a snapshot replication task is started before an initial backup to a vSnap server is completed, errors in the job log indicate that no recovery points exist for the database. After the initial backup to the vSnap server is completed, run the replication task again to replicate the snapshots as configured in the SLA policy.

When copying data from a vSnap server to cloud storage, the most recent successfully completed snapshot will be copied.

Procedure

To create an SLA policy for databases and file systems, complete the following steps:
  1. In the navigation panel, click Manage Protection > Policy Overview.
  2. Click Add SLA Policy to open the Add SLA Policy wizard.
  3. Select Applications and databases in the Category list.
  4. Click Tiered vSnap and then click Next.
    The SLA policy options are displayed on the Policy rules page.
  5. Complete the following options on the page and then click Next.
    1. Enter a name that provides a meaningful description of the SLA policy.
    2. Optional: Select the Disable All Schedules checkbox to disable all scheduling options in the policy.
    3. In the Backup Policy section, set the following options for backup operations.
      Retention
      Specify the retention period for the backup snapshots.
      Disable Schedule
      Select this checkbox to create the backup policy without defining a frequency or start time. Policies that are created without a schedule can be run on demand.
      Repeats
      Enter a frequency for backup operations. Choose from Subhourly, Hourly, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Yearly. When Weekly is selected, you may select one or more days of the week. The Start Time will apply to the selected days of the week.
      Start Time
      Enter the date and time that you want the backup operation to start.
      The time zone is automatically populated with your browser settings. To update the time zone, click the field and select a region and city from the list, for example: Europe/Dublin. You can also click the field and enter a region or city in the Search field, and select an item from the matching results.
      Target Site
      Select the target backup site for backing up data.
      A site can contain one or more vSnap servers. If more than one vSnap server is in a site, IBM Storage Protect Plus server manages data placement in the vSnap servers.
      Only sites that are associated with a vSnap server are shown in this list. Sites that are added to IBM Storage Protect Plus, but are not associated with a vSnap server, are not shown.
      Only use encrypted disk storage
      Select this checkbox to back up data to encrypted vSnap servers if your environment includes a mixture of encrypted and unencrypted servers.
      Restriction: If this option is selected and there are no encrypted vSnap servers available, the associated job will fail.
    4. In the Log Backup Policy (SQL only) section, set the following options for SQL log backup operations.
      Enable Log Backup
      Select this checkbox to enable the backing up of SQL transaction logs. These logs are used for recovery options such as point-in-time restore operations. If log backups are enabled for your backup jobs, transactions are continuously logged during the backup time. Notification is sent if any discontinuity is detected in log file backups.
      Disable Schedule
      Select this checkbox to create the log backup policy without defining a frequency or start time.
      Repeats
      Enter a frequency for log backup operations. Choose from Subhourly, Hourly, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Yearly. When Weekly is selected, you may select one or more days of the week. The Start Time will apply to the selected days of the week.
      Start Time
      Enter the date and time that you want the log backup operation to start.
      The time zone is automatically populated with your browser settings. To update the time zone, click the field and select a region and city from the list, for example: Europe/Dublin. You can also click the field and enter a region or city in the Search field, and select an item from the matching results.
    5. Under Replication Policy, set the following options to enable asynchronous replication from one vSnap server to another. For example, you can replicate data from the primary to the secondary backup site.
      Replication partnerships requirement: These options apply to established replication partnerships. To add a replication partnership, see the instructions in Configuring backup storage partners.
      Backup Storage Replication
      Select this option to enable replication.
      Disable Schedule
      Select this checkbox to create the replication policy without defining a frequency or start time.
      Repeats
      Enter a frequency for replication operations. Choose from Subhourly, Hourly, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Yearly. When Weekly is selected, you may select one or more days of the week. The Start Time will apply to the selected days of the week.
      Start Time
      Enter the date and time that you want the replication operation to start.
      The time zone is automatically populated with your browser settings. To update the time zone, click the field and select a region and city from the list, for example: Europe/Dublin. You can also click the field and enter a region or city in the Search field, and select an item from the matching results.
      Target Site
      Select the target backup site for replicating data.
      A site can contain one or more vSnap servers. If more than one vSnap server is in a site, IBM Storage Protect Plus server manages data placement in the vSnap servers.
      Only sites that are associated with a vSnap server are shown in this list. Sites that are added to IBM Storage Protect Plus, but are not associated with a vSnap server, are not shown.
      Only use encrypted disk storage
      Select this option to replicate data to encrypted vSnap servers if your environment includes a mixture of encrypted and unencrypted servers.
      Restriction: If this option is selected and there are no encrypted vSnap servers available, the associated job will fail.
      Same retention as source selection
      Select this option to use the same retention policy as the source vSnap server. To set a different retention policy, clear this option and set a different policy.
      Retention
      Specify the retention period for the replicated data as a unit of time in days, months, or years.
    6. In the Additional Copies section, set the following options to copy data to standard object storage or archive object storage.
      Standard object storage (incremental copy)
      Select this option to copy data to cloud storage or to a repository server.
      Data is backed up to the vSnap server for short term protection, and then copied to the selected cloud storage or repository server for longer-term protection. During the first copy of a backup volume, the snapshot is backed up in full. After the first copy of the base snapshot is completed, subsequent copies are incremental and capture cumulative changes since the last copy. Cloud or repository server restore operations can be performed from any available vSnap server.
      Disable Schedule
      Select this checkbox to create the copy policy without defining a frequency or start time.
      Repeats
      Enter a frequency for copy operations. Choose from Subhourly, Hourly, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Yearly. When Weekly is selected, you may select one or more days of the week. The Start Time will apply to the selected days of the week.
      Start Time
      Enter the date and time that you want the copy operation to start.
      The time zone is automatically populated with your browser settings. To update the time zone, click the field and select a region and city from the list, for example: Europe/Dublin. You can also click the field and enter a region or city in the Search field, and select an item from the matching results.
      Same retention as source selection
      Select this option to use the same retention policy as the source vSnap server. To set a different retention policy, clear this option and set a different policy.
      Restriction: This option and the Retention option are disabled if a server that uses write once read many (WORM) retention is selected in the Target field.
      Retention
      Specify the retention period for the copied snapshots as a unit of time in days, months, or years.
      Source
      Click the source for the copy operation:
      Backup Policy Destination
      The source for the copy operation is the target site that is defined in the Backup Policy section.
      Replication Policy Destination
      The source for the copy operation is the target site that is defined in the Replication Policy section.
      This option is available only when Backup Storage Replication is selected.
      Destination
      Click Cloud services or Repository servers.
      Target
      Click the cloud storage system or repository server to which you want to copy data.
      This list contains the secondary storage systems that you have added to IBM Storage Protect Plus. If you have not added secondary storage or want to add it, see Managing backup storage for information about the cloud storage systems and repository servers that are supported and how to add them to IBM Storage Protect Plus.
      Archive object storage (full copy)
      Select this option to archive data to cloud storage or to a repository server for long-term protection.
      This operation provides a full image copy to the selected archival storage.
      Disable Schedule
      Select this checkbox to create the archive policy without defining a frequency or start time.
      Repeats
      Enter a frequency for archive operations. Choose from Subhourly, Hourly, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Yearly. When Weekly is selected, you may select one or more days of the week. The Start Time will apply to the selected days of the week.
      Start Time
      Enter the date and time that you want the archive operation to start.
      The time zone is automatically populated with your browser settings. To update the time zone, click the field and select a region and city from the list, for example: Europe/Dublin. You can also click the field and enter a region or city in the Search field, and select an item from the matching results.
      Retention
      Specify the retention period for the archive snapshots as a unit of time in days, months, or years.
      Restriction: This option is disabled if a server that uses WORM retention is selected in the Target field.
      Source
      Click the source for the archive destination:
      Backup Policy Destination
      The source for the archive operation is the target site that is defined in the Backup Policy section.
      Replication Policy Destination
      The source for the archive operation is the target site that is defined in the Replication Policy section.
      This option is available only when Backup Storage Replication is selected.
      Destination
      Click Cloud services or Repository servers.
      Target
      Click the cloud storage system or repository server to which you want to archive data.
      Only cloud targets that have a defined archive bucket are shown in this list. To add an archive bucket for a cloud storage system, follow the instructions in Managing cloud storage.
  6. Review your selections, and then click Submit.
    The SLA policy that you created is displayed in the table in the SLA Policies pane.

What to do next

After you create an SLA policy, complete the following actions:
Action How to
Assign user permissions to the SLA policy. See Creating a role
Create a backup job definition that uses the SLA policy. See the backup topics in Protecting databases and Protecting file systems.