Entering options with a command

You must follow the general rules for entering options with a command.

Enter a command, a dash (–), the option name, an equal sign (=), and the option value or parameter. Do not include spaces on either side of the = sign.
Here are examples of this syntax on different clients:
```
   dsmc archive -description="year end 1999" /home/
```
```
   dsmc archive -description="Project A" c:\devel\proj1\*
```
For options that do not include parameters, enter a command, a dash (–), and the option name. For example,
```
   dsmc incremental -quiet
```
Note: Use a leading dash (-) to indicate that the following text is the name of an option. If an object name begins with a dash, you must surround it in either single quotation marks (') or quotation marks ("). Most operating system command line processors strip the quotation marks before the command-line arguments are submitted to the IBM® Storage Protect client application. In such cases, by using escape characters or doubling the quotation marks allows the client to receive the quoted object name. In loop mode, surround such objects in either single quotation marks (') or quotation marks (").
Enter either the option name, or an abbreviation for the option name. For example, to enter the latest option, enter either -lat or -latest. The capital letters in the syntax of each option indicate the minimum abbreviation for that option name.

Enter options before or after command parameters. For example, you can enter the option before or after a file specification: Mac OS X operating systems

   dsmc selective -subdir=yes "/home/devel/proj1/*"
   dsmc selective "/home/devel/proj1/*" -subdir=yes

   dsmc selective -subdir=yes c:\devel\proj1\*
   dsmc selective c:\devel\proj1\* -subdir=yes

When you enter several options on a command, separate them with a blank space.

Enclose the value in quotation marks (" ") if the option value that you enter contains a blank space. For example: Mac OS X operating systems

   dsmc archive -description="Project A" "/home/devel/proj1/*"

   dsmc archive -description="Project A" c:\devel\proj1\*

Most options that you enter on the command line override the value that is set in the preferences file. However, when you use the domain option with the incremental command, it adds to the domain specified in your client options file rather than overriding the current value.
On AIX®, Solaris, Linux® on z, and Mac: The maximum number of characters for a file name is 255. The maximum combined length of the file name and path name is 1024 characters. The Unicode representation of a character can occupy several bytes, so the maximum number of characters that a file name might contain can vary.
On Linux: The maximum length for a file name is 255 bytes. The maximum combined length of both the file name and path name is 4096 bytes. This length matches the PATH_MAX that is supported by the operating system. The Unicode representation of a character can occupy several bytes, so the maximum number of characters that comprises a path and file name can vary. The actual limitation is the number of bytes in the path and file components, which might or might not correspond to an equal number of characters.
On Linux: For archive or retrieve operations, the maximum length that you can specify for a path and file name (combined) remains at 1024 bytes.
The maximum number of bytes for a file name and file path is 6255 combined. However, the file name itself cannot exceed 255 bytes and the path that leads to the file cannot exceed 6000 bytes. Furthermore, directory names (including the directory delimiter) within a path are limited to 255 bytes. The Unicode representation of a character can occupy several bytes, so the maximum number of characters that a file name might contain can vary.
For Mac OS X, the maximum length of a file name is limited to 504 bytes (not characters). The Unicode representation of a character can occupy several bytes, so the maximum number of characters that a file name contains can vary.

Table 1 lists client command options that you can enter only on the command line with specific commands.

Table 1. Client command options
Command option	Description	Commands
archmc	Use the archmc option with the archive command to specify the available management class for your policy domain to which you want to bind your archived files.	archive
class	Specifies whether to display a list of NAS objects or client objects when you use the following commands.	query backup delete filespace query filespace
console	Use the console option with the query systeminfo command to output system information to the console.	query systeminfo
deletefiles	Deletes the local copy of files from your workstation after they are archived on the server.	archive
deletefiles	Deletes the local copy of files from your workstation after they are archived on the server. Can also be used with the restore image command and the incremental option to delete files from the restored image that are deleted from the file space after the image is created.	archive restore image
description	Assigns or specifies a description for files when archive, delete, retrieve, or query archive operations are performed.	archive delete archive query archive query backupset retrieve
detail	Displays management class, file space, backup, and archive information, depending on the command with which it is used.	delete filespace query archive query backup query filespace query mgmtclass
dirsonly	Backs up, restores, archives, retrieves, or queries directories only.	archive incremental query archive query backup restore restore backupset retrieve selective
dynamicimage	Performs a dynamic image backup.	backup image
filelist	Specifies a list of files to be processed for the command. The backup-archive client opens the designated file list and processes the files that are listed within according to the command.	archive backup group delete archive delete backup expire incremental query archive query backup restore retrieve selective
filename	Use the filename option with the query systeminfo command to specify a file name in which to store the system information.	query systeminfo
filesonly	Backs up, restores, retrieves, or queries files only.	archive incremental query archive query backup restore restore backupset retrieve selective
fromdate	Use the fromdate option with the fromtime option to specify a date and time from which you want to search for backups or archives during a restore, retrieve, or query operation.	delete backup query archive query backup restore restore group retrieve
fromnode	Permits one node to perform commands for another node. A user on another node must use the set access command to permit you to query, restore, or retrieve files or images for the other node.	query archive query backup query filespace query group query image query mgmtclass restore restore group restore image retrieve
fromowner	Displays file spaces for another owner. Also specifies another owner from which to restore or retrieve files.	query archive query backup query group query image restore restore group restore image retrieve
fromtime	Specifies a beginning time on the specified date. Use with the fromdate option. This option is ignored if the fromdate option is absent.	query archive query backup restore restore group retrieve
groupname	Specifies the fully qualified name for a group.	backup group
ifnewer	Replaces existing files with the latest backup version only if the backup version is newer than the existing version.	restore restore backupset restore group retrieve
imagetofile	Use the imagetofile option with the restore image command to specify that you want to restore the source image to a file. You might need to restore the image to a file in the event of bad sectors present on the target volume, or if you want to do some manipulations with the image data. This option is valid for AIX, Linux, and Oracle Solaris clients.	restore image
imagetofile	Use the imagetofile option with the restore image command to specify that you want to restore the source image to a file. You might need to restore the image to a file in the event of bad sectors present on the target volume, or if you want to do some manipulations with the image data.	restore image
inactive	Displays a list of active and inactive files when used with the pick option.	delete group query backup query group query image query nas restore restore group restore image restore nas delete group query backup query group query image query nas query systemstate restore restore group restore image restore nas restore systemstate
incrbydate	Requests an incremental backup by date.	incremental
incremental	Applies changes to the base image by using information from incremental backups that are made after the original image backup. This option is valid only for AIX, Linux x86_64, Linux on POWER®, and Oracle Solaris clients.	restore image
incremental	Applies changes to the base image by using information from incremental backups that are made after the original image backup.	restore image
latest	Restores the most recent backup version of a file whether it is active or inactive.	restore restore group
mode	Use the mode option with these commands, as follows: backup image To specify whether to perform a selective or incremental image backup of client file systems. backup nas To specify whether to perform a full or differential image backup of NAS file systems. backup group To specify whether to perform a full or differential group backup that contains a list of files from one or more file space origins.	backup group backup nas backup image restore nas
monitor	Specifies whether you want to monitor an image backup or restore of one or more file systems that belong to a network-attached storage (NAS) file server. Specifies whether you want to monitor a restore of one or more file systems that belong to a network-attached storage (NAS) file server.	backup nas restore nas
nojournal	Use this option with the incremental command to specify that you want to perform the traditional full incremental backup, instead of the default journal-based backup.	incremental
nojournal	Use this option with the incremental command to specify that you want to perform the traditional full incremental backup, instead of the default journal-based backup.	incremental
noprompt	Suppresses the confirmation prompt that is presented by the delete group, delete archive, expire, and set event commands.	delete archive delete backup delete group expire
noprompt	Suppresses the confirmation prompt that is presented by the delete group, delete archive, expire, restore image, and set event commands.	delete archive delete backup delete group expire restore image
optfile	Specifies the client user-options file that you want to use when you start a backup-archive client session.	dsmc
optfile	Specifies the client options file you want to use when you start a backup-archive client session.	dsmc.exe
pick	Creates a list of backup versions, images, or archive copies that match the file specification you enter. From the list, you can select the versions to process. Include the inactive option to view both active and inactive objects.	delete archive delete group expire query nas restore restore group restore image restore nas retrieve
pick	Creates a list of backup versions, images, or archive copies that match the file specification you enter. From the list, you can select the versions to process. Include the inactive option to view both active and inactive objects.	delete archive delete group expire query nas restore restore asr restore group restore image restore nas retrieve
pitdate	Use the pitdate option with the pittime option to establish a point in time for which you want to display or restore the latest version of your backups.	query backup query group query image query nas restore restore group restore image restore nas query backup query group query image query nas query systemstate restore restore group restore image restore nas restore systemstate All query and restore system object commands
pittime	Use the pittime option with the pitdate option to establish a point in time for which you want to display or restore the latest version of your backups.	query backup query image query nas restore restore image restore nas query backup query image query nas query systemstate restore restore image restore nas restore systemstate All query and restore system object commands
preservepath	Specifies how much of the source path to reproduce as part of the target directory path when you restore or retrieve files to a new location.	restore restore backupset restore group retrieve
removeoperandlimit	Specifies that IBM Storage Protect removes the 20-operand limit. If you specify the removeoperandlimit option with the incremental, selective, archive, or backup image command, the 20-operand limit is not enforced and is restricted only by available resources or other operating system limits.	incremental selective archive backup image
runasservice	Forces the client command process to continue running, even if the account that started the client logs off. Use this option on all Windows clients.	schedule
showmembers	Displays all members of a group.	query group restore group
showmembers	Displays all members of a group.	query group query systemstate restore group
todate	Use the todate option with the totime option to specify an ending date and time to which you want to search for backups or archives during a restore, retrieve, or query operation.	query archive query backup restore restore group retrieve
totime	Use the totime option with the todate option to specify an ending date and time to which you want to search for backups or archives during a restore, retrieve, or query operation.	query archive query backup restore restore group retrieve
type	Use the type option with the query node command to specify the type of node to query.	query node
v2archive	Use the v2archive option with the archive command to archive only files to the server. The client will not process directories that exist in the path of the source file specification.	archive
verifyimage	Use the verifyimage option with the restore image command to specify that you want to enable detection of bad sectors on the destination target volume. If bad sectors are detected on the target volume, the client issues a warning message on the console and in the error log. This option is valid for AIX, Linux, and Oracle Solaris clients.	restore image
verifyimage	Use the verifyimage option with the restore image command to specify that you want to enable detection of bad sectors on the destination target volume. If bad sectors are detected on the target volume, the client issues a warning message on the console and in the error log. This option is valid for all Windows clients.	restore image
virtualfsname	Specifies the name of the virtual file space for the group on which you want to run the operation.	backup group