Defining a copy subrule

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To specify exceptions to a copy storage rule, you can define one or more copy subrules.

About this task

Use subrules to define exceptions to a storage rule for copying data to tape. Subrules provide flexibility in specifying which data in a source container storage pool you want to copy and where you want to store the data.

By default, a copy storage rule copies all data from the defined source storage pools to the target storage pool. However, you might want to copy data for only some of the client nodes in the source storage pool to tape. You can configure the parent storage rule to not copy data by specifying the ACTIONTYPE=NOCOPYING parameter value. Then, define subrules to copy data only from specific nodes or file spaces in the source storage pool.

Subrules can be useful in many situations. Here are additional examples:
  • A copy storage rule is defined to copy all client data in a source directory-container storage pool to a target tape storage pool. However, you do not want to copy the data from all client nodes that are backed up to the source directory-container storage pools to the target copy storage pool. You define subrules to specify which client nodes are excluded from the copy-to-tape operation.
  • You created a storage rule to copy all of the client node data to a target storage pool. However, you want to copy the data from a subset of client nodes in the source directory-container pools to a different target storage pool. You define subrules to copy those client nodes to a different target storage pool than the rest of the nodes in the source container storage pool.

Procedure

To define a copy subrule, complete the following steps:

  1. On the Operations Center menu bar, click Storage > Storage Rules.
  2. On the Storage Rules page, select the rule for which you want to create a subrule. Click +Create Subrule.
  3. On the Create Subrule page, complete the fields.
  4. To create the copy subrule, click Create.
    Tip: Alternatively, you can define a subrule by using the DEFINE SUBRULE command. For more information, see DEFINE SUBRULE (Define an exception to a storage rule).

Results

The copy subrule is created. If the parent storage rule is active, the subrule runs on the same schedule as the parent rule. If the parent rule is inactive, the subrule is also inactive.

What to do next

  • To modify the copy subrule, use the UPDATE SUBRULE command.
  • To delete the copy subrule, use the DELETE SUBRULE command.
  • To query a copy subrule, use the QUERY SUBRULE command.