Profile

When you use IBM Storage Protect Snapshot executable commands, the profile is identified by the value that is specified for option -p.

For DB2® databases, the profile is identified by the PROFILE vendor option. The elements of the profile are not case-sensitive. Section and parameter names are indicated with uppercase letters.

The profile is divided into the following sections:

In some cases, there are multiple DEVICE_CLASS sections. Each DEVICE_CLASS section must have a unique device instance name.

The profile must be available on all database nodes and on the system where the management agent, acsd, is running. In addition, the GLOBAL section of the profile is required on all backup and clone systems.

To overwrite IBM Storage Protect Snapshot profile parameters for DB2, use vendor options.

GLOBAL

The GLOBAL section contains information that is required and used by all IBM Storage Protect Snapshot components. The components reference the information in the GLOBAL section during the startup process. Changes to the Global section require a restart of IBM Storage Protect Snapshot.

IBM Storage Protect Snapshot can be installed on multiple systems within a database environment. For example, when a database is distributed among multiple application hosts or when a backup server is used to transfer snapshot backups to IBM Storage Protect server. When IBM Storage Protect Snapshot is installed on multiple systems within a database environment, there is only one active management agent. The location of this management agent is specified in GLOBAL section by using the ACSD parameter.

Other parameters in the GLOBAL section specify the location for logging, tracing, and password files. On the backup and clone servers, the only section of profile that is referenced is GLOBAL.

ACSD

The ACSD section contains information that is used exclusively by the management agent, acsd. The ACSD section includes the ACS_REPOSITORY parameter. The ACS_REPOSITORY parameter specifies the directory where the management agent stores its backup repository. This repository is the most important collection of IBM Storage Protect Snapshot data. If the repository is lost, any previously created backup cannot be restored.

CLIENT

The CLIENT section contains all parameters that relate to back up operations, including parameters for database applications, whether an IBM Storage Protect backup is to be created from the snapshot, how many snapshot backup generations to retain, and which DEVICE_CLASS section is used during snapshot creation. The CLIENT section is used by the snapshot backup library that is loaded to start backup or restore processing.

DEVICE_CLASS device

The DEVICE_CLASS section contains parameters that are related to the storage device. A DEVICE_CLASS section describes the characteristics of a storage device that can be used to create a snapshot backup. The parameters and options that are used in the DEVICE_CLASS section depend on the storage solution.

Each storage solution that is used in the environment must have a DEVICE_CLASS section and must have a unique <device> instance name. At least one DEVICE_CLASS section is required for the configuration of the management agent.

The DEVICE_CLASS section that is used is determined by the value of the DEVICE_CLASS parameter in the CLIENT section of the profile for backup operation. For cloning operations, this value is determined by the DEVICE_CLASS parameter in the CLONING section of the profile. The same DEVICE_CLASS value cannot be specified in the CLIENT and CLONING sections at the same time.

During backup, the value of the DEVICE_CLASS parameter that is used is recorded in the IBM Storage Protect Snapshot repository. The same DEVICE_CLASS must be used when you are restoring the backup. Therefore, use caution when you delete or rename DEVICE_CLASS sections. If the appropriate section cannot be found, then the data that is backed up cannot be restored.

For each DEVICE_CLASS section, a password is required. This password is used by IBM Storage Protect Snapshot to authenticate to the management interface of the storage device that is represented by the DEVICE_CLASS section. You can specify the password during configuration with the setup script, or by using the following fcmcli command:

fcmcli -f password

OFFLOAD

The parameters and options in the OFFLOAD section determine how a snapshot is transferred to IBM Storage Protect server. The information is sent to the offload agent, (fcmcli -D).

To configure IBM Storage Protect Snapshot for protection of both active and standby nodes of a DB2 high-availability disaster recovery (HADR) environment, have two OFFLOAD sections in the profile: OFFLOAD and OFFLOAD_DB2STANDBY.

When the offload agent is started, it connects to the management agent and queries for snapshot backups that are backed up with the TSM_BACKUP parameter that is set to YES. If this parameter and option is found, the offload agent mounts the snapshot on a backup server and initiates an IBM Storage Protect backup by using one of the following applications:

• IBMDB2 Storage Protect client for DB2 environments
• IBM Storage Protect for Enterprise Resource Planning

OFFLOAD_DB2STANDBY

The OFFLOAD_DB2STANDBY section uses the same semantics as the OFFLOAD section, except that the section is evaluated when an offloaded backup from a DB2 HADR secondary occurs. In most environments, the profile also includes an OFFLOAD section to protect databases when the DB2 HADR primary and secondary nodes switch.

CLONING

The CLONING section contains the parameters that are used for cloning operations. The section is ignored for all other operations.

DB2STANDBY

The DB2STANDBY section is used when you are backing up the standby node of a DB2 HADR environment. Although IBM Storage Protect Snapshot also evaluates all parameters that are specified in the CLIENT section during HADR operations, some parameters that are specified in the DB2STANDBY section override the corresponding parameters in the CLIENT section.