Miles,
Thanks for your input. Just to make things a little clearer, the reason
why we jump
through all the hoops to break off a mirror with our current backup
procedure is to
allow clients to carry on using the disks whilst we back up the broken
mirror. Effectively
we are getting a snapshot of the disk at that point in time. In this way, we
have a minimum
of downtime (basically just the time needed for breaking the mirror copies
off).
MP>So if you are backing up filesystems there is no need to break the
mirroring
I realise this is true in general, but not in the situation where the
contents of the
disks are still changing. Breaking off the mirrors is the way you accomplish
this when
using sysback; I was wondering whether TSM provides anything similar. I
guess I am asking
whether there is any easy way to use the client to get a point-in-time
snapshot of a filesystem
and back that up. We really want to minimise the downtime for the client
machine.
It might prove to be the case that we can ship the data off the client to
the TSM server
fast enough that we can get all the data off in the time it used to take to
break the mirrors,
which would certainly help. I don't really have a feel for how much data we
are likely
to be changing on these servers in a day, or how much network bandwidth I
can steal to
do this just yet.
I know that from the OS point of view, you just see the filesystem
within the LVM, and
that the multiple PP copies of the LP are handled transparently at a lower
level.
MP>However I think you want to back up filesystems, right?
Yep. That isn't the hard bit. The tricky bit is getting a snapshot whilst
keeping the
machine up...
I hope that is a little clearer!
Cheers,
Steve Greatbanks
-----Original Message-----
From: Miles Purdy [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Monday, 22 October 2001 11:22 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: Client and AIX mirrored disks...
Hi,
Let me try and clarify things and that should answer your question....
First, are you backing up filesystems or raw logical volumes? (hmm, it might
not matter).
Remember filesystems are built on logical volumes, logical volumes point to
one ore more physical volumes. So if you are backing up filesystems there is
no need to break the mirroring. Now even if you want to back up raw logical
volumes, I don't think you should have to break the mirrors.
>Without going into too much detail about our current config, are
>there any special considerations
>regarding the client if you are using AIX LVM-level mirroring?
NO!
>Is there anything in the TSM client which assists in the backup of mirrored
volumes?
No, because TSM clients look at filesystems, which don't know about
mirroring. The logical volumes manager handles the mirroring. ie. the answer
is no because you have to worry about it!
>Do the logical volumes have to be varied on (just wondering if varying them
off is an option) for TSM to back them up?
If they contain a filesystem YES, if you want to back up raw logical volumes
then I would think NO. However I think you want to back up filesystems,
right?
To answer your question generally, just install the client though smitty,
set the options and run dsmc inc. That's all you need to do to get started.
Miles
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
Miles Purdy
System Manager
Farm Income Programs Directorate
Winnipeg, MB, CA
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
ph: (204) 984-1602 fax: (204) 983-7557
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
>>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 21-Oct-01 11:18:04 PM >>>
Hi,
I am something of a TSM beginner, and this is my first post here
too, so please excuse
any obvious mistakes on my part.
I am in the position of having to implement a TSM backup solution
for our client. This is
(in the first instance at least) an all AIX shop. I've read all the
redbooks, and am pretty confident
that I know (more or less!) what needs to be done. However, I would
appreciate some feedback
regarding AIX disk mirroring and how this affects the client-side of the
set-up.
Without going into too much detail about our current config, are
there any special considerations
regarding the client if you are using AIX LVM-level mirroring? Our current
backups use sysback/sbom
which jumps through a number of hoops to break a copy off the (triple)
mirror, which is then backed
up whilst work continues. For simplicity, as much as anything else, I would
far prefer to not have
to do this kind of thing as part of the backup procedure. Is there anything
in the TSM client which
assists in the backup of mirrored volumes? Do the logical volumes have to be
varied on (just wondering
if varying them off is an option) for TSM to back them up? Does anybody have
any experience with this
kind of thing?
Thanks in advance,
Steve Greatbanks
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