Test 000-431: IBM Tivoli Storage Manager V5.5 Administration

Section 1 - IBM Tivoli Storage Manager Concepts

1. Given access to IBM Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) documentation, Redbooks, the IBM Tivoli Storage Manager support website and/or access to IBM Tivoli Storage Manager training, read the documentation or complete the training to obtain knowledge of TSM component functions

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Read IBM TSM docs and Redbooks
2. Complete IBM TSM Implementation training


2. Given access to IBM Tivoli Storage Manager documentation, Redbooks, the IBM Tivoli Storage Manager support website and/or access to IBM Tivoli Storage Manager training, read documents and or attend training to learn backup methods in order to understand the types of backups, restore, archive and retrieve methods available in IBM TSM

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Read documents and or attend IBM Tivoli Storage Manager Implementation training
2. Explain Incremental backup
3. Explain Incremental by date backup
4. Explain Selective backup
5. Explain Group backup
6. Explain Image backup
7. Explain Subfile backup
8. Explain Classic restore
9. Explain no query restore
10. Explain point in time restore
11. Explain restartable restore
12. Explain how to generate backup set
13. Explain restore from backup set.
14. Explain archive
15. Explain retrieve
16. Explain IBM TSM journaling


3. Given access to IBM Tivoli Storage Manager documentation, Redbooks, the IBM Tivoli Storage Manager support website and/or access to IBM Tivoli Storage Manager training, read documents and or attend training to learn system, storage, policy, operator, analyst and node privileges and explain the difference between restricted and unrestricted privileges

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Read documents and or attend IBM Tivoli Implementation training.
2. Explain system privileges.
3. Explain storage privileges.
4. Explain policy privileges.
5. Explain operator privileges.
6. Explain analyst privileges.
7. Explain node privileges.
8. Explain difference between restricted and unrestricted privileges.


4. Given access to IBM Tivoli Storage Manager documentation, Redbooks, the IBM Tivoli Storage Manager support website and/or access to IBM Tivoli Storage Manager training, read IBM TSM documentation and or attend training to learn IBM TSM Policy Domain, Policy set, Management class and backup and archive copygroups

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Read and/or attend IBM TSM Implementation training.
2. Explain IBM TSM Policy Domain.
3. Explain IBM TSM Policy set.
4. Explain IBM TSM Management classes.
5. Explain IBM TSM backup/archive copygroups.


5. Given access to IBM Tivoli Storage Manager documentation, Redbooks, the IBM Tivoli Storage Manager support website and/or completion of IBM Tivoli Storage Manager training, explain VERExists, VERDeleted, RETExtra and REOnly to understand copygroup versioning

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Read IBM TSM documents and/or attend IBM TSM Implementation training.
2. Explain VERExists.
3. Explain VERDeleted.
4. Explain RETExtra.
5. Explain RETOnly.


6. Given access to IBM Tivoli Storage Manager documentation, Redbooks, the IBM Tivoli Storage Manager support website and/or completion of IBM Tivoli Storage Manager training, explain primary random access storage pools, primary sequential access storage pools and explain copy sequential access storage pools in order to understand storage hierarchy

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Read IBM TSM documentation and/or attend IBM TSM Implementation training.
2. Explain primary random access storage pools.
3. Explain primary sequential access storage pools.
4. Explain copy sequential access storage pools.
5. Explain active data pools


7. Given access to IBM Tivoli Storage Manager documentation, Redbooks, the IBM Tivoli Storage Manager support website and/or completion of IBM Tivoli Storage Manager training, describe how caching on primary disk storage pool improves recovery and how caching can degrade performance to understand the advantages and disadvantages of caching

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Read IBM TSM documents and/or attend IBM TSM Implementation training.
2. Describe how caching on primary disk storage pool can improve recovery.
3. Describe how caching can degrade performance.


8. Given access to IBM Tivoli Storage Manager documentation, Redbooks, the IBM Tivoli Storage Manager support website and/or completion of IBM Tivoli Storage Manager training, read documents and review website on NDMP in order to explain how NDMP works on network attached storage and to understand how NDMP for NAS works with IBM TSM

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Read information on NDMP website: www.ndmp.org
2. Explain how NDMP for NAS works with IBM TSM.


9. Given business requirements for data retention, explain benefits of backups and archives to understand when to use backups versus archives

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Explain benefits of backups
2. Explain benefits of archives

Section 2 - Daily Operations

1. Given access to a UNIX or Windows client and appropriate permissions for service or daemons, determine the scheduler status, stop the scheduler and restart it and verify the scheduler is running to ensure a running scheduler service or daemon

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Login to operating system
2. Run command to determine daemon/service status
3. Issue command to stop daemon or service
4. Issue command to start daemon or services. (S)
5. Verify daemon or services restarted


2. Given the business's backup requirements, central scheduler is active, clients have been registered, have connection to the server, scheduler is running service/daemon and has been associated to a specific schedule, start an admin session, update the schedule and then stop/start client scheduler service/daemon to update its' schedule

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Start command line administrative console (dsmadmc)
2. Update the correct schedule.
3. Stop and restart the client schedule service/daemon


3. Given a running server and query requirements, start the command line administrative console (dsmadmc) and redirect output as required for reports to successfully complete the queries

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Start dsmadmc administrative session
2. Execute desired queries
3. Redirect output (as required) for reports, etc


4. Given a scheduled nightly backup, the locations of dsmsched.log and dsmerror.log and permission to read and write to the log files, issue and obtain output from event queries, review the dsmsched.log and dsmerror.log for successful completion and error messages respective to determine the status of a nightly backup

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Issue/obtain output from query event
2. Review output from query event
3. Review dsmsched.log file for start and stop times to determine backup duration and success.
4. Review dsmerror.log file for discrepancies and unsuccessful conditions that may need further action.


5. Given a TSM client on Windows, a requirement to backup a file regardless of its' status (open vs. closed), LVSA is installed and the correct identification of the copygroup and type that affects these files, define serialization for open files, define cache file for LVSA, start LVSA service and ensure open files are included to backup per customer requirement

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Modify serialization for open files. Update serialization in copygroup
2. Install LVSA as part of windows install
3. Define cache file for LVSA
4. Start LVSA service.
5. Ensure files are included.


6. Given a running TSM server, run query DB and query log from an open administrative command line to review the database and recovery log capacity

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Open administrative command line client (dsmadmc)
2. Run Q DB
3. Run Q Log


7. Given access to the server's OS, run the proper commands on UNIX and Windows to review the space availability

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Run O/S commands to check space


8. Given a running administrative command line, check the activity log for errors relating to tape drives and libraries, check drive and path status, depending on the status either verify working devices or perform troubleshooting to obtain a functioning device

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Check activity log for error on tapes, drives, libraries, paths and devices
2. Check status of drives and paths
3. Drives and paths are all 'online' and no errors in activity log, devices are operational.
4. If drives and/or paths are 'online=no' and/or device errors found in ACTLOG, follow problem determination steps to resolve


9. Given a defined and available tape library and off-site data stored on private tape volumes, start the administrative command line client and issue select command to distinguish private volumes from scratch volumes, private, scratch and offsite copy volumes are identified

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Using command line issue "dsmadmc" to query volumes
2. Issue select command to determine private volumes from scratch volumes
3. Issue query command to find copypools and primary pools
4. Issue query command to determine volume status


10. Given a running administrative command line, a configured and attached tape library and a known number of total tape slots in a tape library, run the select command to check for available scratch tapes, run the select command to get tape count, check out tapes if all slots are full and when scratch tapes are low label and check-in additional tapes in order to manage scratch volumes

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Run command to check available scratch tapes: select count (*) from LIBVOL where status ="Scratch"

Select Count (*) from LIBVOL to get tape count
If all slots are full then check out tapes
If available scratch tape is low follow steps to adjust


11. Given a running dsmadmc session, a configured and attached library and tape available to be checked out, run the checkout library volume command to check out tape volumes

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Run the tape checkout command
2. Verify the correct volume is checked out
3. Physically remove the tape volume


12. Given a configured and attached library, a running dsmadmc session, new tape ready for use which are loaded into the I/O ports of the library, check-in the tape as private if returning tape to restore data, check-in the tape as scratch if loading a previously labeled tape and label a new tape to make scratch and data tapes available to TSM

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. If returning tapes to library that still contain data (for restore) run the tape checkin command
2. If adding tapes previously labeled run the tape checkin command.
3. If adding new tapes run Label LIBVOL command.
4. Run query libvol to verify tape is successfully labeled/checked-in.


13. Given the data from a completed backup is stored in the primary storage pool, the next storage pool is defined and pre-defined thresholds are set, use the migrate command to force data migration

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Issue the migrate stg command
2. Issue command query process to verify migration is running.


14. Given a requirement for an off-site copy of backup data, the data resides on the primary storage pool, enough media is available and enough tape drives are available, check tape library to ensure enough tape drives are available and backup the storage pool from the command line so that data in the primary storage pool is also on the copy pool

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Check tape library to ensure scratch volumes are available.
2. Run command to check tape availability
3. Issue backup stgpool command


15. Given the TSM DB version controls will expire the database entries and expiration is processed every 24 hours, from the dsmadmc command line issue the expiration command to remove expired data entry pointers

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Issue expiration command


16. Given a TSM database ready for backup, available space for a DB backup, run the database backup from the dsmadmc command line and verify the TSM database was successfully backed up

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Start administrative command line (dsmadmc)
2. Run the backup db command
3. Verify that the TSM database backup completed successfully

Section 3 - Server Management

1. Given appropriate admin privileges on OS and available space, perform tasks necessary to configure needed space for TSM DB, log and storage volumes

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Verify that space is available on OS
2. Run TSM commands to format and define the recovery log volumes
3. Run TSM commands to format and define the database volumes
4. Run TSM commands to format and define the storage pool volumes


2. Given a formatted database and recovery log, the appropriate privileges and authority, define, extend and query db and log volumes

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Run TSM command define dbvolume
2. Run TSM command 'extend db'
3. Run TSM command 'define logvolume'
4. Run TSM command 'extend log'
5. Run TSM command 'query dbvolume'
6. Run TSM command 'query db'
7. Run TSM command 'query logvolume'
8. Run TSM command 'query log'


3. Given formatted and allocated TSM database and logs with sufficient space for mirroring, define the mirrors for the database and log volumes so that database mirror and log mirror are defined

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Run TSM command 'define dbcopy'
2. Run TSM command 'define logcopy'
3. Run TSM command 'query dbvolume'
4. Run TSM command 'query logvolume'


4. Given administrator has appropriate TSM privileges and authority and recovery log is in roll forward mode, run the following TSM command: define dbbackuptrigger and query dbbackup trigger so that the database backup trigger is defined

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Run TSM command define dbbackuptrigger
2. Run TSM command query dbbackup trigger


5. Give that the administrator has appropriate TSM privileges and authority, ensure available space for expansion and have determined the thresholds, run the following TSM commands: 'define spacetrigger' and 'query spacetrigger' so that thresholds are set for spacetriggers

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Run TSM command 'define spacetrigger'
2. Run TSM command 'query spacetrigger'


6. Given administrator has appropriate TSM privileges and authority, devclass is defined and scratch volumes are available, run TSM command backup db and run TSM command query process so that the TSM database is backed up to file or tape

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Run TSM command 'backup db' and enter either type =full, type=inc or type= dbsnapshot

Run TSM command 'query process'


7. Given administrator has appropriate TSM privileges and authority and allocated storage pool space in a pre-determined location, run the following TSM commands 'backup devconfig', 'backup volhistory' and 'query actlog' so that devconfig and volhist files are backed up

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Run TSM command 'backup devconfig'
2. Run TSM command 'backup volhistory'
3. Run TSM command 'query actlog'


8. Given business requirements, administrative access and privileges and requirements to retain TSM database backups and snapshots, run the following TSM commands 'delete volhistory' and 'query volhistory' so the volume history information is deleted from the TSM database

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Run TSM command 'delete volhistory'. Type in either 'type=dbb' or 'type=dbs'
2. Run TSM command 'query volhistory'. Type in either 'type=dbb' or 'type=dbs'


9. Given configured LAN or SAN automated tape library run the proper TSM commands so that the TSM library and path are defined

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Run TSM command define library
2. Run TSM command define path
3. Run TSM command query library
4. Run TSM command query path


10. Given allocated storage pool space, requirements for whether primary storage pool will be disk or tape and whether storage pool will be copied sequentially, run the proper TSM commands so that disk, tape and copy stgpools are defined

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Run TSM command to define a primary storage pool
2. Run TSM command to define a copy storage pool
3. Run TSM command 'update stgpool'
4. Run TSM command 'query stgpool'


11. Given business requirements for collocation and collocation by group, node and filespace will be used, run the proper TSM commands so that collocation is enabled

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Run TSM command: 'update stgpool collocate=group'
2. Run TSM command: 'update stgpool collocate=node'
3. Run TSM command: 'update stgpool collocate=filespace'
4. Run TSM command: 'query stgpool'


12. Given an approved location for overflow storage, run the appropriate TSM commands so that overflow location is defined

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Run TSM command 'define stg ovflocation=...'
2. Run TSM command 'update stg ovflocation=...'


13. Given appropriate admin privileges and the need to remove a storage pool, delete the storage pool so that the TSM server storage is properly cleaned up

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Run TSM command 'delete stgpool'
2. Run TSM command 'query stgpool'


14. Given appropriate administration privileges, a volume with data and not in use, run the proper command so that a tape volume is deleted

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Run TSM command 'delete vol discarddata=n'
2. Run TSM command 'delete vol discarddata=y'


15. Given appropriate administrator privileges and business requirements for management data, define domains, policy sets, management class and copy group and then validate and activate policyset so that the TSM policy is configured

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Run TSM command 'define domain'
2. Run TSM command 'define policyset'
3. Run TSM command 'define mgmtclass'
4. Run TSM command 'define copygroup type=backup'
5. Run TSM command 'define copygroup type=archive'
6. Run TSM command 'validate policyset'
7. Run TSM command 'activate policyset'

Section 4 - Performance and Problem Determination

1. Given that the TSM client node on a Windows platform has an 8 hour backup window and 300GB of total storage, daily backups are taking twice as long as the available backup window, check backup statistics, aggregate transfer rate, network transfer ratio, number of files backed up and number of files inspected so that backup performance is improved

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Using command line or web access, review client backup statistics. Check aggregate transfer rate against network transfer rate.
2. Check available network bandwidth and available transfer rate at time of backup. Use FTP to transfer data across the network and compare with TSM to determine transfer rate (S)
3. Check network port speeds and settings
4. Check the number of files backed up. Check number of files inspected
5. Determine percentage difference of transfer rate versus aggregate rate to validate problem with network or if problem is with TSM inspect process
6. If network is cause of problem, then move schedule to less busy time if available
7. If unable to move schedule, create primary network for TSM backups by adding separate NIC card
8. If inspect is the problem, then use journal backup


2. Given the TSM server has (2) 1.8 GHz CPUs with 4 GB of memory, 40 GB TSM DB 80% utilized, 7 LTO3 tape drives and 660 GB diskpool backup, 60 client nodes with 6 TB of total storage overall backup performance needs improvement, limit server workload and number of sessions and processes during backup windows, turn on instrumentation tracing to check I/O, read and write to adjust parameters so that server performance is improved

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Determine server workload at time of backup by checking byte counts before and after backup
2. Limit number of sessions and processes running during backup
3. Turn on performance instrumentation tracing
4. Match thread read and write data counts for single session
5. If % of read/writes vary by 50% increase buffer size to remove bottleneck. Repeat all steps until level is satisfactory


3. Given that client backup performance is in need of improvement since the node has a 10/100 network connection with 300 GB of total storage and an 8 hour backup window, check how much data changes on a daily basis, check that network adapter is not set to auto negotiate, check difference between data inspect rate versus change to determine which network option parameters or TSM backup options need to be changed so that client backup performance is tuned and optimized

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Determine how much data changes on a daily basis
2. Use dedicated 1 Gb or better network for backup
3. Ensure full duplex settings on new network
4. Determine if performance is impacted by file inspection; if yes, use Journal based backups
5. Use multiple sessions to improve throughput of the data transfer


4. Given access to problem determination guide and command line, check TSM errors, check OS related errors to define the problem and obtain error messages so that you have the necessary information prior to calling IBM Tivoli support

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Check activity log for errors
2. Check the appropriate logs for OS errors (S)
3. Review TSM error explanation: help or check error messages manual.
4. Based on explanation of error, problem determination should point to a specific device or area. Review specific problem determination steps for this issue.
5. Check the TSM Support website
6. If the problem can not be resolved, then review process to contact IBM Tivoli support.


5. Given daily backup growth, using activity log and TSM SQL Select statements, gather daily statistics to build daily growth and trending so that the capacity of tapes, number of drives and future server needs can be determined

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Build daily trend of total backup data gathered into a spreadsheet or operational reporting tool
2. Use operational reporting tool to view statistics
3. Issue 'query DB' command and 'query log' command to validate amount of space used/available
4. Issue audit license command to validate license
5. Issue the following commands: 'q libr', 'q vol' and 'q libvol' to determine capacity of tapes and library storage slots


6. Given that the TSM server is down and you receive Log SEG error or DB SEG error, attempt to restart the TSM server, determine if an out of space condition exists with either the database or log and take corrective action to extend database or log so that the server is recovered

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Determine where the problem is by trying to start the server in foreground. Observe errors: dbvol or logvol
2. Find dbvol or logvol locations and verify available disk space with the following commands: 'dsmserv display dbvolume' or check available diskspace
3. Format a new volume (db or log) DSMSERV DSMFMT
4. Extend the log or database: DSMSERV Extend [log or database] volname size
5. Start the TSM server
6. Start DSMADMC administrator session
7. Run a TSM database backup to clear the recovery log, then reduce the log to remove emergency volume or increase log to meet needs
8. Check levels for database backup triggers and space triggers. Adjust as required


7. Given a previously working backup fails with TCP/IP errors in the error log, determine status of the hardware and firewall, test and reconfigure the TCP/IP parameters to ensure TCP/IP connectivity is working

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Determine status of hardware communication
2. Determine status of firewall. Check to see if the firewall is running
3. Test TCP/IP configuration. Ping 'hostname'
4. Reconfigure TCP/IP parameters as needed


8. Given that errors in the activity log are not client related and not volume error based on audit of volumes, determine solution and audit the database so that the database error condition is corrected

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Issue 'halt TSM' command
2. On OS command line issue "DSMSERV" command and audit database


9. Given the server that houses TSM has crashed and the new hardware has more CPUs with faster speeds, more memory, more disk drives, more space running and a newer version of the OS, determine which base code of TSM, size of database and recovery log to use and 'halt' the TSM server so that the TSM server is restored

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Using OS software installation procedure, install TSM code with same version as the old system
2. After TSM code is installed configure base code to increase size of database and recovery log
3. Issue TSM database format command to increase the database size to equal or greater than the old TSM database
4. Issue extend db command to expand new TSM database to new size
5. Halt TSM server.
6. On command line issue 'dsmserv restore db" command with appropriate options