Forcing the client to fail over

The client can immediately fail over to the secondary server even if the primary server is operational. For example, you can use this technique to verify that the client is failing over to the expected secondary server.

Procedure

To force the client to immediately fail over to the secondary server, complete the following steps:

  1. AIX operating systemsHP-UX operating systemsLinux operating systemsMac OS X operating systemsOracle Solaris operating systemsAdd the forcefailover yes option in the client-system options file (dsm.sys).
  2. Windows operating systemsAdd the forcefailover yes option in the client options file (dsm.opt).
  3. Connect to the secondary server by restarting the backup-archive client GUI or by starting a command session with the dsmc command.
  4. Optional: Instead of updating the options file, you can establish a connection with the secondary server by specifying the -forcefailover=yes option with a command. For example: 
    dsmc q sess -forcefailover=yes

What to do next

You can verify that you are connected to the secondary server with one of the following methods:
  • Check the Secondary Server Information field in the Connection Information window in the backup-archive client GUI.
  • Check the command output when you start a command session. The status of the secondary server is displayed in the output.