Creating an SLA policy for hypervisors, databases, and file systems

You can create custom service level agreement (SLA) policies to define backup frequency, retention, replication, and copy policies that are specific for your environment.

To create an SLA policy for hypervisors, databases, and file systems, complete the following steps:

1. In the navigation pane, click Manage Protection > Policy Overview.
2. Click Add SLA Policy.
   The New SLA Policy pane is displayed.
3. In the Name field, enter a name that provides a meaningful description of the SLA policy.
4. Click VMware, Hyper-V, Exchange, Office365, SQL, Oracle, Db2, MongoDB and Windows File Systems.
5. In the Backup Policy section, set the following options for backup operations. These operations occur on the vSnap servers that are defined in the System Configuration > Backup Storage > Disk window.

   Retention

   Specify the retention period for the backup snapshots.

   Disable Schedule

   Select this check box to create the main policy without defining a frequency or start time. Policies that are created without a schedule can be run on-demand.

   Frequency

   Restriction: The days of the week for Weeks option is available only if you install IBM Spectrum® Protect Plus interim fix 10.1.6 eFix2 or later.

   Enter a frequency for backup operations. Choose from Minutes, Hours, Days, Weeks, Months, or Years. When Weeks is selected, you may select one or more days of the week. The Start Time will apply to the selected days of the week.

   Start Time

   Enter the date and time that you want the backup operation to start.

   The time zone is automatically populated with your browser settings. To update the time zone, click the field and select a region and city from the list, for example: Europe/Dublin. You can also click the field and enter a region or city in the Search field, and select an item from the matching results.

   Target Site

   Select the target backup site for backing up data.

   A site can contain one or more vSnap servers. If more than one vSnap server is in a site, IBM Spectrum Protect Plus server manages data placement in the vSnap servers.

   Only sites that are associated with a vSnap server are shown in this list. Sites that are added to IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, but are not associated with a vSnap server, are not shown.

   Only use encrypted disk storage

   Select this check box to back up data to encrypted vSnap servers if your environment includes a mixture of encrypted and unencrypted servers.

   Restriction: If this option is selected and there are no encrypted vSnap servers available, the associated job will fail.

6. Under Replication Policy, set the following options to enable asynchronous replication from one vSnap server to another. For example, you can replicate data from the primary to the secondary backup site.
   Replication partnerships requirement: These options apply to established replication partnerships. To add a replication partnership, see the instructions in Configuring backup storage partners.

   Backup Storage Replication

   Select this option to enable replication.

   Disable Schedule

   Select this check box to create the replication relationship without defining a frequency or start time.

   Frequency

   Restriction: The days of the week for Weeks option is available only if you install IBM Spectrum Protect Plus interim fix 10.1.6 eFix2 or later.

   Enter a frequency for replication operations. Choose from Minutes, Hours, Days, Weeks, Months, or Years. When Weeks is selected, you may select one or more days of the week. The Start Time will apply to the selected days of the week.

   Start Time

   Enter the date and time that you want the replication operation to start.

   The time zone is automatically populated with your browser settings. To update the time zone, click the field and select a region and city from the list, for example: Europe/Dublin. You can also click the field and enter a region or city in the Search field, and select an item from the matching results.

   Target Site

   Select the target backup site for replicating data.

   A site can contain one or more vSnap servers. If more than one vSnap server is in a site, IBM Spectrum Protect Plus server manages data placement in the vSnap servers.

   Only sites that are associated with a vSnap server are shown in this list. Sites that are added to IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, but are not associated with a vSnap server, are not shown.

   Only use encrypted disk storage

   Select this option to replicate data to encrypted vSnap servers if your environment includes a mixture of encrypted and unencrypted servers.

   Restriction: If this option is selected and there are no encrypted vSnap servers available, the associated job will fail.

   Same retention as source selection

   Select this option to use the same retention policy as the source vSnap server. To set a different retention policy, clear this option and set a different policy.

7. In the Additional copies section, set the following options to copy data to standard object storage or archive object storage.

   Standard object storage (incremental copy)

   Select this option to copy data to cloud storage or to a repository server.

   Data is backed up to the vSnap server for short term protection, and then copied to the selected cloud storage or repository server for longer-term protection. During the first copy of a backup volume, the snapshot is backed up in full. After the first copy of the base snapshot is completed, subsequent copies are incremental and capture cumulative changes since the last copy. Cloud or repository server restore operations can be performed from any available vSnap server.

   Disable Schedule

   Select this check box to create the copy relationship without defining a frequency or start time.

   Frequency

   Restriction: The days of the week for Weeks option is available only if you install IBM Spectrum Protect Plus interim fix 10.1.6 eFix2 or later.

   Enter a frequency for copy operations. Choose from Minutes, Hours, Days, Weeks, Months, or Years. When Weeks is selected, you may select one or more days of the week. The Start Time will apply to the selected days of the week.

   Start Time

   Enter the date and time that you want the copy operation to start.

   The time zone is automatically populated with your browser settings. To update the time zone, click the field and select a region and city from the list, for example: Europe/Dublin. You can also click the field and enter a region or city in the Search field, and select an item from the matching results.

   Same retention as source selection

   Select this option to use the same retention policy as the source vSnap server. To set a different retention policy, clear this option and set a different policy.

   Restriction: Copy retention options are disabled if a server that uses write once read many (WORM) retention is selected in the Target field.

   Source

   Click the source for the copy operation:

   Main Policy Destination

   The source for the copy operation is the target site that is defined in the Main Policy section.

   Replication Policy Destination

   The source for the copy operation is the target site that is defined in the Replication Policy section.

   This option is available only when Backup Storage Replication is selected.

   Destination

   Click Cloud services or Repository servers.

   Target

   Click the cloud storage system or repository server to which you want to copy data.

   This list contains the secondary storage systems that you have added to IBM Spectrum Protect Plus. If you have not added secondary storage or want to add it, see Managing secondary backup storage for information about the cloud storage systems and repository servers that are supported and how to add them to IBM Spectrum Protect Plus.

   Archive object storage (full copy)

   Select this option to archive data to cloud storage or to a repository server for long-term protection.

   This operation provides a full image copy to the selected archival storage.

   Disable Schedule

   Select this check box to create the archive relationship without defining a frequency or start time.

   Frequency

   Restriction: The days of the week for Weeks option is available only if you install IBM Spectrum Protect Plus interim fix 10.1.6 eFix2 or later.

   Enter a frequency for archive operations. Choose from Minutes, Hours, Days, Weeks, Months, or Years. When Weeks is selected, you may select one or more days of the week. The Start Time will apply to the selected days of the week.

   Start Time

   Enter the date and time that you want the archive operation to start.

   The time zone is automatically populated with your browser settings. To update the time zone, click the field and select a region and city from the list, for example: Europe/Dublin. You can also click the field and enter a region or city in the Search field, and select an item from the matching results.

   Retention

   Specify the retention period for the archive snapshots as a unit of time in days, months, or years.

   Source

   Click the source for the archive destination:

   Main Policy Destination

   The source for the archive operation is the target site that is defined in the Main Policy section.

   Replication Policy Destination

   The source for the archive operation is the target site that is defined in the Replication Policy section.

   This option is available only when Backup Storage Replication is selected.

   Destination

   Click Cloud services or Repository servers.

   Target

   Click the cloud storage system or repository server to which you want to archive data.

   Only cloud targets that have a defined archive bucket are shown in this list. To add an archive bucket for a cloud storage system, follow the instructions in Managing cloud storage.

8. Click Save. The SLA policy can now be applied to backup job definitions.