IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager for UNIX and Linux, Version 4.1

CLIENT parameters for Oracle in an SAP environment databases

When Tivoli® Storage FlashCopy® Manager is used with IBM® Tivoli Storage Manager for Enterprise Resource Planning, and Oracle in an SAP environment, the client parameters are included in the IBM Tivoli Storage Manager for Enterprise Resource Planning configuration file, .utl file.

For information about the IBM Tivoli Storage Manager for Enterprise Resource Planning configuration file, see BACKINT configuration file. In addition, parameters must be specified in the SAP BRTOOLS configuration file, .sap file. For more information, see Oracle in an SAP environment BR*Tools configuration profile (.sap).

APPLICATION_TYPE
This parameter specifies the environment. There is only one option:
SAP_ORACLE
Use as an Oracle system.
BACKUPIDPREFIX

This parameter specifies a string that is added before the backup ID that is generated by FlashCopy Manager. This parameter is used to separate the backups within the same repository. When you use this parameter, other clients are not able to query, restore, or delete these backups.

The string can contain letters, digits, or the underscore character (_). Except in DB2® environments, the string must be exactly 6 characters.

Default
None
Advanced mode only
Yes
DEVICE_CLASS
This parameter specifies the device classes to use. The following sample identifies the syntax that can be used with the DEVICE_CLASS parameter:
DEVICE_CLASS list_of_device_classes [conditions]
When a list of device classes is specified, the software determines which device class matches the device class in the environment. When multiple device classes are specified, separate the device classes names with a space. The condition statement is optional. When you use the condition statement, use the following syntax:
[USE_AT days of week] [FROM time TO time] 
Note: The time period that is specified cannot span midnight for a device class. If a device class time period is required to span midnight, you must specify two time periods for the device class. The first time period must end with a value 1 minute before midnight and the second time period must start at midnight. The following example shows how to specify a time period that spans midnight for a device class:
DEVICE_CLASS myClass FROM 20:00 TO 23:59
DEVICE_CLASS myClass FROM 00:00 TO 06:00

When there are different devices, multiple sections can be used. Each section provides information about a particular device. To select a particular section, use the DEVICE_CLASS parameter. When the software restores data, the software uses the DEVICE_CLASS value that is specified when the data was backed up.

The configuration wizard (the setup script) automatically adds DEVICE_CLASS sections to the Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager profile when you add more instances of the DEVICE_CLASS parameter to the CLIENT section of the profile.

Default
STANDARD
Advanced mode only
No
GLOBAL_SYSTEM_IDENTIFIER
This parameter specifies a string to be used in the IBM Tivoli Storage Manager for Enterprise Resource Planning Administration Assistant that uniquely identifies a DB2 or Oracle database in the system landscape. This parameter is only valid when the ADMIN_ASSISTANT parameter is specified in the ACSD section of the profile.
Default
Depending on the environment, the default value is either DB2_<DBname> or ORA_<DBname>.
Advanced mode only
Yes
LVM_FREEZE_THAW
This parameter specifies when to enable freeze and thaw actions. The following list identifies the possible options:
YES
Enable freeze before the snapshot operation and the thaw after the snapshot operation. For AIX®, the YES value can be used only when all file systems included in the backup are JFS2 file systems.
NO
Do not perform a freeze. To set this parameter to NO, a licensed version of Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager is needed and a backup server is required for mounting the snapshot to ensure file system consistency.

The value NO is required if at least one JFS file system is involved.

AUTO
If the TARGET_DATABASE_SUSPEND parameter is YES, then this parameter is set with the following option: LVM_FREEZE_THAW YES.
For more information, see Interdependency of LVM_FREEZE_THAW and TARGET_DATABASE_SUSPEND.
Default
AUTO
Advanced mode only
Yes
MAX_VERSIONS
This parameter specifies the number of snapshot versions to store. The following list identifies the possible options:
ADAPTIVE
The maximum number varies depending on the available space. Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager reuses the oldest target set as the target for the current backup.
n
This number specifies the maximum number of snapshot versions to be stored. When this limit is reached, the oldest version is deleted.
Default
ADAPTIVE
Advanced mode only
No
TARGET_DATABASE_SUSPEND
This parameter determines if the activity is suspended on the target database until the FlashCopy operation completes. The following list identifies the possible options:
Yes
This option suspends the target database until the FlashCopy operation completes. When there are many transactions processing, use this option.
NO
This option means that the target database is available while FlashCopy operations run.
OFFLINE
All backups must be offline for the FlashCopy operations to run. If the SAP software requests an offline backup, this parameter is ignored.
Default
There is no default value.
Advanced mode only
No.
For more information about the TARGET_DATABASE_SUSPEND, see Interdependency of LVM_FREEZE_THAW and TARGET_DATABASE_SUSPEND.
TIMEOUT_FLASH
This parameter specifies the maximum time, in seconds, that the database agent waits for a response to the management agent call during the flash phase. If the database agent does not receive a response within the specified time, an error message is displayed. This parameter allows the maximum time to be specified for a database to be suspended. This parameter also implies the maximum time when JFS2 file systems can be frozen. When the timeout is reached, the file systems thaw, the database is resumed, and the backup operation ends with an error. If the LVM_FREEZE_THAW parameter is set to either AUTO or YES, the minimal value for TIMEOUT_FLASH is 5 seconds. In other scenarios, the minimal value is 1 second.
Default
The default value is 120 seconds.
Advanced mode only
Yes
TIMEOUT_PHASE
This parameter specifies the maximum time, in seconds, that the database agent waits for a response to the management agent call during a specific operation phase. If the database agent does not receive a response within the specified time, either the backup or restore operation ends and an error message is issued.
Specify one of the following phase values for a FlashCopy backup:
  • PARTITION
  • PREPARE
  • FLASH (this parameter has a separate description)
  • VERIFY
  • CLOSE
For example, TIMEOUT_PREPARE.
Specify one of the following phase values for a FlashCopy restore:
  • PREPARERESTORE
  • FLASHRESTORE
  • COMPLETERESTORE
  • CLOSE
For example, TIMEOUT_FLASHRESTORE.
Default
The default value is 3600 seconds.
Advanced mode only
Yes
TSM_BACKUP
This parameter specifies whether or not to create a Tivoli Storage Manager backup from a snapshot. For Oracle in an SAP environment, in the .utl file, this parameter is named TSM_BACKUP_FROM_SNAPSHOT. For more information about the Oracle in an SAP environment .utl file, see BACKINT configuration file.
When Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager is installed on a backup server, you can create a Tivoli Storage Manager backup from a snapshot. When the TSM_BACKUP parameter is set to YES, MANDATE, or LATEST, and after the offload agent runs, a Tivoli Storage Manager backup is created from the snapshot. The following list identifies the possible options:
YES
This option creates a Tivoli Storage Manager backup from this snapshot. If the Tivoli Storage Manager backup operation does not successfully complete, the target set can be reused.
MANDATE
This option creates a Tivoli Storage Manager backup but the target set cannot be reused until the Tivoli Storage Manager backup successfully completes.
LATEST
This option removes a backup request to Tivoli Storage Manager from a previous backup. When a new snapshot with TSM_BACKUP set to LATEST, YES, or MANDATE is created, Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager removes any unsuccessful backup request that were previously created with the TSM_BACKUP option set to LATEST. This option prevents backup requests to Tivoli Storage Manager from queuing if they are not completed in time.
NO
Keeps the snapshot backup but the snapshot is not used as a source for a subsequent tape backup operation.
TSM_ONLY
After the Tivoli Storage Manager backup is completed, during the unmount operation, the backup is automatically marked for deletion. This action occurs regardless of whether the backup is successful or not.
USE_FOR list of device classes
To create a Tivoli Storage Manager backup from snapshots that are performed with particular device classes, as specified in the profile, combine this attribute with other options. When you list device classes, separate device classes with the space character. There is no limit of the number of device classes.
Default
None
Advanced mode only
No


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