Administrator's Guide

Moving Backup Media

To recover from a disaster you will need database backup volumes and copy storage pool
volumes. To prepare for a disaster, you will need perform the following daily tasks:

1. Move new backup media offsite and update the database with their locations. See Moving
Backup Volumes Offsite for details.
2. Return expired or reclaimed backup media onsite and update the database with their
locations. See Moving Backup Volumes Onsite for details.

Task Required Privilege Class

Send backup volumes offsite and back onsite Unrestricted storage or operator

Offsite recovery media management does not process virtual volumes. To display all virtual copy
storage pool and database backup volumes that have their backup objects on the remote target
server, issue the following command:

query drmedia * wherestate=remote

The disaster recovery plan includes backup volume location information and can provide a list of
offsite volumes required to restore a server.

The following diagram shows the typical life cycle of the recovery media:
Figure 86. Recovery Media Life Cycle

DRM assigns the following states to volumes. The location of a volume is known at each state.

MOUNTABLE
The volume contains valid data, and TSM can access it.
NOTMOUNTABLE
The volume contains valid data and is onsite, but TSM cannot access it.
COURIER
The volume contains valid data and is in transit to the vault.
VAULT
The volume contains valid data and is at the vault.
VAULTRETRIEVE
The volume no longer contain valid data and are to be returned to the site. For more
information on reclamation of offsite copy storage pool volumes, see Reclamation of
Offsite Volumes. For information on expiration of database backup volumes, see step 1
below.
COURIERRETRIEVE
The volume no longer contain valid data and are in the process of being returned by the
courier.
ONSITERETRIEVE
The volume no longer contain valid data and have been moved back to the onsite
location. The volume records of database backup and scratch copy storage pool volumes
are deleted from the database. For private copy storage pool volumes, the access mode is
updated to READWRITE.
Moving Backup Volumes Offsite

After you have created the backup copies of your primary storage pools and database, you can
send your backup media offsite. To send media offsite, mark the volumes as unavailable to TSM
and give them to the courier. Do the following to identify the database backup and copy storage
pool volumes and move them offsite:

1. Identify the copy storage pool and database backup volumes to be moved offsite:
2. query drmedia * wherestate=mountable

DRM displays information similar to the following:

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
---------+
|Volume Name State Last Update Automated
|
| Date/Time LibName
|
|--------------- ---------------- -------------------
----------------- |
| TPBK05 Mountable 01/01/2000 12:00:31 LIBRARY
|
| TPBK99 Mountable 01/01/2000 12:00:32 LIBRARY
|
| TPBK06 Mountable 01/01/2000 12:01:03 LIBRARY
|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
---------+

3. Indicate the movement of volumes whose current state is MOUNTABLE by issuing the
following command:
4. move drmedia * wherestate=mountable

For all volumes in the MOUNTABLE state, DRM does the following:

o Updates the volume state to NOTMOUNTABLE and the volume location

according to the SET DRMNOTMOUNTABLENAME. If this command has not
been issued, the default location is NOTMOUNTABLE.
o For a copy storage pool volume, updates the access mode to unavailable.
o For a volume in an automated library, checks the volume out of the library.

Notes:

4. During checkout processing, SCSI libraries request operator intervention. To

bypass these requests and eject the cartridges from the library, first issue the
following command:
5. move drmedia * wherestate=mountable remove=no

Next, access a list of the volumes by issuing the following command:

 query drmedia wherestate=notmountable

From this list identify and remove the cartridges (volumes) from the library.

6. For the 349X library type, if the number of cartridges to be checked out of the
library is greater than the number of slots in the I/O station, you can define a high
capacity area in your library. Then use the following command to eject the
cartridges to the high capacity area, rather than to the I/O station:
7. move drmedia * wherestate=mountable remove=bulk
5. Send the volumes to the offsite vault. Issue the following command to have DRM select
volumes in the NOTMOUNTABLE state:
6. move drmedia * wherestate=notmountable

For all volumes in the NOTMOUNTABLE state, DRM updates the volume state to
COURIER and the volume location according to the SET DRMCOURIERNAME. If the
SET command has not yet been issued, the default location is COURIER. For more
information, see Specifying Defaults for Offsite Recovery Media Management

7. When the vault location confirms receipt of the volumes, issue the MOVE DRMEDIA
command in the COURIER state. For example:
8. move drmedia * wherestate=courier

For all volumes in the COURIER state, DRM updates the volume state to VAULT and
the volume location according to the SET DRMVAULTNAME command. If the SET
command has not yet been issued, the default location is VAULT. For more information,
see Specifying Defaults for Offsite Recovery Media Management.

9. To display a list of volumes that contain valid data at the vault, issue the following
command:
10. query drmedia wherestate=vault

DRM displays information similar to the following:

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
---------+
|Volume Name State Last Update Automated
|
| Date/Time LibName
|
|----------------- -------------- -------------------
----------------- |
|TAPE0P Vault 01/05/2000 10:53:20
|
|TAPE1P Vault 01/05/2000 10:53:20
|
|DBT02 Vault 01/05/2000 10:53:20
|
|TAPE3S Vault 01/05/2000 10:53:20
|
 +-----------------------------------------------------------------------
---------+

11. If you do not want to step through all the states, you can use the TOSTATE parameter on
the MOVE DRMEDIA command to specify the destination state. For example, to
transition the volumes from NOTMOUNTABLE state to VAULT state, issue the
following command:
12. move drmedia * wherestate=notmountable tostate=vault

For all volumes in the NOTMOUNTABLE state, DRM updates the volume state to
VAULT and the volume location according to the SET DRMVAULTNAME command.
If the SET command has not yet been issued, the default location is VAULT.

See Staying Prepared for a Disaster for an example that demonstrates sending server backup
volumes offsite using MOVE DRMEDIA and QUERY DRMEDIA commands.

Moving Backup Volumes Onsite

Use the following procedure to expire the non-virtual database backup volumes and return the
volumes back onsite for reuse or disposal.

1. To specify the number of days before a database backup series is expired, issue the SET
DRMDBBACKUPEXPIREDAYS command. To ensure that the database can be returned
to an earlier level and database references to files in the copy storage pool are still valid,
specify the same value for the REUSEDELAY parameter in your copy storage pool
definition.

The following example sets the number of days to 30.

set drmdbbackupexpiredays 30

A database backup volume is considered eligible for expiration if all of the following
conditions are true:

o The age of the last volume of the series has exceeded the expiration value. This
value is the number of days since the last backup in the series. At installation, the
expiration value is 60 days. To override this value, issue the SET
DRMDBBACKUPEXPIREDAYS command.
o For volumes that are not virtual volumes, all volumes in the series are in the
VAULT state.
o The volume is not part of the most recent database backup series.

Note:
Database backup volumes that are virtual volumes are removed during expiration
processing. This processing is started manually by issuing the EXPIRE INVENTORY
command or automatically through the EXPINTERVAL option setting specified in the
server options file.
 2. Move a backup volume onsite for reuse or disposal when the volume is reclaimed and:
o The status for a copy storage pool volume is EMPTY.
o The database backup series is EXPIRED.

To determine which volumes to retrieve, issue the following command:

query drmedia * wherestate=vaultretrieve

3. After the vault location acknowledges that the volumes have been given to the courier,
issue the following command:
4. move drmedia * wherestate=vaultretrieve

The server does the following for all volumes in the VAULTRETRIEVE state:

o Change the volume state to COURIERRETRIEVE.

o Update the location of the volume according to what is specified in the SET
DRMCOURIERNAME command. For more information, see Specifying Defaults
for Offsite Recovery Media Management.
5. When the courier delivers the volumes, acknowledge that the courier has returned the
volumes onsite, by issuing:
6. move drmedia * wherestate=courierretrieve

The server does the following for all volumes in the COURIERRETRIEVE state:

o The volumes are now onsite and can be reused or disposed.

o The database backup volumes are deleted from the volume history table.
o For scratch copy storage pool volumes, the record in the database is deleted. For
private copy storage pool volumes, the access is updated to read/write.
7. If you do not want to step through all the states, you can use the TOSTATE parameter on
the MOVE DRMEDIA command to specify the destination state. For example, to
transition the volumes from VAULTRETRIEVE state to ONSITERETRIEVE state, issue
the following command:
8. move drmedia * wherestate=vaultretrieve tostate=onsiteretrieve

The server does the following for all volumes with in the VAULTRETRIEVE state:

o The volumes are now onsite and can be reused or disposed.

o The database backup volumes are deleted from the volume history table.
o For scratch copy storage pool volumes, the record in the database is deleted. For
private copy storage pool volumes, the access is updated to read/write.

[ Top of Page | Previous Page | Next Page | Table of Contents | Index ]