Backing up file systems or custom applications

IBM® Storage Protect Snapshot software provides an application agent, the IBM Storage Protect Snapshot for Custom Applications to back up file systems and custom applications.

You can use IBM Storage Protect Snapshot to create a consistent snapshot image of a file system and custom application on a production system. Custom applications are applications that are on-file systems that are supported by IBM Storage Protect Snapshot. The applications are not explicitly supported by IBM Storage Protect Snapshot. Examples of custom applications are Domino®, MAX DB, and WebSphere®. The snapshots are managed as backup versions by using the version management policies of IBM Storage Protect Snapshot. The snapshots can be used as a source for snapshot restore operations.

Except for backups in a GPFS™ environment, you can mount snapshot backups on a secondary server. In an IBM Storage Protect environment, you can use the backup archive client installed and configured on the secondary server to initiate offload backups to the IBM Storage Protect server.

For volume group snapshot, refer Configuring Storwize family and SAN Volume Controller dynamic target allocation (SVCDTA).

Use the fcmcli -f backup command to protect any application on a file system that is supported by IBM Storage Protect Snapshot. The fcmcli -f backup operation must be issued from the production system.

The following scenario explains the backup of an IBM Storage Protect server. In this scenario, the custom application is the IBM Storage Protect server:

1. Create a list of files and directories that you want to back up. Save the list to a file that is later used by IBM Storage Protect Snapshot as an input infile file. This file can contain a list of the directories for the DB2® table spaces, and the online redo logs. If the storage device supports space-efficient snapshots, include the IBM Storage Protect disk storage pools. For example, include file pools and the active storage pool. This solution provides you with a consistent image of the system as of the time when the snapshot is created.
2. Create a preflash.sh and postflash.sh script files to shut down and restart the IBM Storage Protect server. Use the IBM Storage Protect Snapshot configuration setup script to add these scripts to the CLIENT section of the IBM Storage Protect Snapshot profile as values for the PRE_FLASH_CMD and POST_FLASH_CMD parameters.
3. Enter the following command to create a snapshot backup of the environment:

   fcmcli -f backup -I infile -p profile

   IBM Storage Protect Snapshot calls the preflash.sh script. After the snapshot is created on the storage system, it calls the postflash.sh script to restart the IBM Storage Protect server. The snapshot represents an offline backup of the IBM Storage Protect database. The IBM Storage Protect server is offline only for a short time.

4. Depending on the value of the parameter TSM_BACKUP in the profile file, IBM Storage Protect Snapshot can start an IBM Storage Protect backup of the snapshot image by using the backup-archive client.

   The snapshot must be backed up to another IBM Storage Protect server to obtain a useful backup.