Operating system interoperability

The IBM® Storage Protect API supports cross-platform interoperability. Applications on a UNIX or Linux® system can operate on file spaces and objects that are backed up from a Windows system. Similarly, a Windows system can operate on file spaces and objects that are backed up from a UNIX or Linux system.

About this task

By default, the names of objects from one UNIX system are compatible with the names of objects from other UNIX systems. By default, names of objects from Windows systems are not compatible with names of objects from UNIX systems. Several parameters control the naming of objects in IBM Storage Protect file spaces. If you set up an application appropriately, the names of objects can be used by applications that run on both Windows systems and UNIX systems. Use the same parameters to back up and restore objects.
Restriction: A Windows application that uses Unicode creates a file space that is not compatible with applications that run on UNIX systems.

Procedure

To achieve interoperability, complete the following setup tasks:

  1. Establish a consistent naming convention. Select a character for the dir delimiter, such as forward slash (/) or backslash (\). Place the directory delimiter character in front of the file space name, the high-level qualifier, and the low-level qualifier.
  2. When you call dsmInitEx, set the value of the dirDelimiter field to the directory delimiter character that you selected and set bCrossPlatform to bTrue.
  3. Set the useUnicode flag to bFalse when you use the IBM Storage Protect interface. Unicode file names are not compatible with non-Unicode file names.