When a backup server is needed

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Backup servers are auxiliary hosts where IBM® Storage Protect Snapshot can mount backups. The number of required IBM Storage Protect Snapshot backup servers is determined by the number of servers that are used to access backup images.

For example, to access backup images on either site of a disaster recovery environment, at least two backup servers are needed. A backup server can also simultaneously be used for multiple applications and multiple production servers. IBM Storage Protect Snapshot can mount a backup image on a backup server. For the following scenarios, at least one backup server is required.
  • Mount backup images on another server.
  • When IBM Storage Protect Snapshot is used with other products for example, IBM Storage Protect for Enterprise Resource Planning to offload backups to an IBM Storage Protect server.
  • When IBM Storage Protect Snapshot requires a mount during a backup operation because one of the following conditions exists:
    • The database is running in an LVM mirrored environment on AIX.®
    • Conditions that require a so called IBM Storage Protect Snapshot forced mount operation for the different storage subsystem environments:
      SAN Volume Controller, Storwize® family, and DS8000®
      A forced mount is required if the option PREASSIGNED_VOLUMES is set for the profile parameter BACKUP_HOST_NAME and the operating system is Linux™.
      DS8000
      A forced mount is required on AIX if the option PREASSIGNED_VOLUMES is set for the profile parameter BACKUP_HOST_NAME and a freeze and thaw action was not executed for the file systems.

For a physically partitioned DB2® database, multiple backup servers can be used. The physical partitioning of the production server is not required to be identical to the physical partitioning of the backup server. However, the number of DB2 partitions and the DB2 partition numbers must be identical on the production and backup server.

Ensure that the amount of DB2 partitions and DB2 partition numbers are identical on the production database and on the clone server. All partitions of the clone database must be on a single clone server.