Target set handling for cloning

Cloning operations require specific settings for target sets.

The TARGET_SETS profile parameter identifies the target volumes to be used in the snapshot operation. This parameter must be specified in the device class section of the profile. You can specify one of these values with cloning operations:

VOLUMES_FILE <name of the target volumes file>(.fct): Specify the name of the target volumes file (.fct). The USE_FOR_CLONING list of clone database names statement identifies the correct target set to use for a specific clone database name. When more than one clone database name is specified in the list, the referenced target set is used for all specified clone database names. Each name that is specified in the list must be separated by a space. In this situation, the target set must be used by those clone databases only that are identified in the list. The USE_FOR_CLONING list of clone database names must be specified in the target volumes file.
TARGET_NAMING <string with wildcards %SOURCE> USE_FOR_CLONING <list of clone database names>: Available for SAN Volume Controller only. Specify the naming convention for target volumes. When a backup volume is required at backup time, IBM® Storage Protect Snapshot determines the name of the target set for the current operation and the name of the source volume to be backed up. The name of the volume that stores the backup is the name that is specified when the string %SOURCE is replaced with the respective value in the current operation. The required USE_FOR_CLONING <list of clone database names> statement identifies the correct target set to use for a specific clone database name. When more than one clone database name is specified in the list, the referenced target set is used for all specified clone database names. Each name that is specified in the list must be separated by a space. In this situation, only the target set must be used by those clone databases that are identified in the list. The USE_FOR_CLONING list of clone database names must be specified with the TARGET_NAMING parameter itself. It is possible to have multiple TARGET_NAMING entries in the device class where each represents a different clone database name.

Restriction: For SAN Volume Controller and Storwize® family, when a new backup is started on a target volume that is not the oldest in the chain, SAN Volume Controller stops all mappings to older target volumes.

When a restore is requested from a target volume that is not the youngest in the chain, SAN Volume Controller stops all mappings to newer target volumes. When a mapping to a target volume stops in either of these situations, this target volume immediately goes offline if any of these conditions exist:

The target volume is a space-efficient volume.
The mapping was for an incremental copy that was ongoing.
The mapping was for a full copy that was ongoing.

As a result, the target volumes for the production database to be cloned, and the target volumes for the snapshot backup of the same database, must not be on the same cluster. If you are cloning databases in an AIX® Logical Volume Mirroring (LVM) environment, use FlashCopy® cloning on one of the clusters, and FlashCopy backup on the other cluster. Avoid space-efficient target volumes for cloning. If space-efficient target volumes are used, the profile parameter ALLOW_NOCOPY_FLASHCOPY YES must be specified in the cloning device class section of the profile.

Target volumes file (.fct) cloning examples

The target volumes file (specified by the VOLUMES_FILE parameter) must have the following syntax for multi-partition DB2®:

>>> TARGET_SET <target set name>
	DEVICE_CLASS <device classes> USE_FOR_CLONING <list of clone database names>	
			# this parameter is mandatory for FlashCopy Cloning and allows to
			# restrict the use of this target set to a specific device class 
			# and to a specific clone database name or a list of clone database names
	>>> PARTITION name of partition 
			# e.g. NODE0000 for partition 0 or NODE0001 for partition 1, ...
			# or the name of a PARTITION_GROUP
		TARGET_VOLUME target [source] [size]
 [...]
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The target volumes file (specified by the VOLUMES_FILE parameter) must have the following syntax for single partition DB2:

>>> TARGET_SET <target set name>
	DEVICE_CLASS <device classes> USE_FOR_CLONING <list of clone database names>	
			# this parameter is mandatory for FlashCopy Cloning and allows to
			# restrict the use of this target set to a specific device class 
			# and to a specific clone database name
	TARGET_VOLUME target [source] [size]
	[...]
<<<
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