-f tape_backup

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This offload agent command backs up data to tape storage.

Note: IBM® Storage Protect for Enterprise Resource Planning must be installed on the production and backup server if you use IBM Storage Protect Snapshot in an SAP environment with DB2®.

To create a snapshot backup with a subsequent tape backup, TSM_BACKUP or TAPE_BACKUP_FROM_SNAPSHOT must be specified either as part of the backup command or as a profile parameter. This setting applies to all backups. The management agent updates the usability state with TAPE_BACKUP_PENDING. The IBM Storage Protect Snapshot offload agent then picks up all snapshot backups in the state TAPE_BACKUP_PENDING and backs them up to tape. The fcmcli -f backup operation must be issued from the production system.

To start the offload backup to tape, enter the command: 
fcmcli -f tape_backup
By specifying additional options or filter arguments such as 
 -i instance-name
 -d database-name
the appropriate backup for the given instance and or database can be selected for offloading to tape. The -B backup-id option cannot be specified in conjunction with -f tape_backup. The backups should be processed in chronological order. The tsm4acs backs up the oldest snapshot eligible for transfer to IBM Storage Protect.

(DB2) Offloaded tape backups are not be registered in the DB2 history on the production system. They are reflected in the DB2 history on the offload system when the assigned volumes have not been overwritten. For more information, see DB2 backup history file overview.

By specifying the -D option for the offload agent, it acts as a daemon process that periodically checks for outstanding tape backup requests. Furthermore, the offload agent, running as a daemon, tries to offload a snapshot backup to tape only one time. If the first attempt fails for some reason, the snapshot backup is marked accordingly and is not be picked a second time by the tsm4acs daemon for offloading to tape. This type of backup must be offloaded to tape manually by issuing the following command:
fcmcli -f tape_backup filter_arguments

If multiple snapshot backups of a database are candidates for offloading to tape, the IBM Storage Protect Snapshot offload agent (whether as a daemon or with the -f tape_backup function) always selects the one with the oldest snapshot backup ID. This selection ensures that the IBM Storage Protect backups are created in the appropriate sequential order.

Tip: Whenever a new snapshot backup with TSM_BACKUP set to YES, MANDATE, or LATEST is created, IBM Storage Protect Snapshot sets the TAPE_BACKUP_PENDING status to NO for all snapshot backups that were previously created with TSM_BACKUP set to LATEST. This prevents backup requests to IBM Storage Protect from queuing if they cannot be completed in time.
The tsm4acs tape_backup function internally does the following steps:
  1. Mount the file systems on the offload system if they were not previously mounted using fcmcli with the 'mount' function or by a forced mount request. If all necessary file systems were mounted, this step is skipped.
  2. Update the usability state to TAPE_BACKUP_IN_PROGRESS for all partitions that have the usability state TAPE_BACKUP_PENDING set.
  3. Back up these partitions to tape.
  4. Update usability states: For those partitions for which the backup succeeded, reset the usability state TAPE_BACKUP_PENDING and set TAPE_BACKUP_COMPLETE. For those partitions where the backup failed, set the usability state TAPE_BACKUP_FAILED. For all participating partitions, reset the usability state TAPE_BACKUP_IN_PROGRESS.
  5. Unmount the file systems from the offload system.
When the usability state for a partition is TAPE_BACKUP_IN_PROGRESS, any request to restart the offload of that partition to tape is refused.

If a backup to IBM Storage Protect fails, the IBM Storage Protect Snapshot software can try the backup operation again.

In DPF environments, offloaded backups can be performed only when the snapshot was created on all partitions. If the Offload Agent retries a backup operation, it only backs up those partitions that have not been backed up successfully.

In DPF environments with more the one partition it can be useful to perform the offloaded IBM Storage Protect backup in parallel on multiple partitions. This is useful when the DB2 DPF database is spread across more than one backup system. The profile parameter NUMBER_BACKUPS_IN_PARALLEL in the OFFLOAD section can be used to specify the degree of parallelism. For more information, see Configuration files.