Agents - DB2 - How To

Topics | How To | Related Topics

Convert to Full Backup on Indexing Failures

Browse the Latest Data

View Job History Details

Create Backup Sets/Migration Sets

Create an Instance

Create a New Index on a Full Backup

Deconfigure a Client, MediaAgent, Agent, or Enabler

Delete the Agent

View the Software Version

Convert to Full Backup on Indexing Failures

Required Capability: See Capabilities and Permitted Actions

To convert a non-full backup to a full backup on indexing failures:

1. From the CommCell Browser, right-click the agent icon of the client computer whose agent configuration you want to change, and then click Properties.
2. From the Index tab of the agent Properties dialog box, select Convert to full backup on indexing failures.
3. Click OK.

Browse the Latest Data

The following procedure can be used to browse data from the client, agent, instance, or backup set level, replication set level, depending on the functionality of a given agent.

Required Capability: See Capabilities and Permitted Actions

To browse the latest data:

1. From the CommCell Browser, right-click the level whose data you want to browse, click All Tasks, and then click the Browse/Browse Backup Data option from that level.
2. From the Browse Options dialog box, click OK to execute the browse using the Browse the Latest Data option.

View Job History Details

Required Capability: See Capabilities and Permitted Actions

To view the details of a job history:

1. From the CommCell Browser, right-click the entity (e.g., subclient, client computer, etc.) whose job history you want to view, click View, and then click job history.
2. From the Job History Filter dialog box, select the filter options that you want to apply and click OK.
3. From the Data Management Job History window, right-click the job whose job details you want to view, and then click View Job Details.
4. The Job Details dialog box appears, displaying detailed job history in General, Details, Phase Details and Attempts tabs for the selected job.
5. Click OK.

If viewing the details of a job with a pending or failed status, the Reason for Job Delay field will contain an Error Code, which, if clicked, will launch the customer support website displaying troubleshooting article(s) related to the specific issue.

Create Backup Sets/Archive Sets

Required Capability: See Capabilities and Permitted Actions

To create backup sets/archive sets for the client computer:

1. From the CommCell Browser, locate the correct client computer node, right-click the iDataAgent, Agent or instance node (depending on your agent's functionality) for which you want the backup set/archive set created, select All Tasks and then click Create New Backup Set or Create New Archive Set.
2. For most agents, from the Create New Backup Set or Create New Archive Set dialog box, enter a New Backup Set Name or New Archive Set Name (up to 32 characters) of the backup set/archive set that you want to create. For the DB2 or DB2 DPF iDataAgent, from the same dialog box, click the desired database (backup set) name under Available DB Names and move this name under Selection.

   NOTES

   • For DB2 or DB2 DPF, to prevent archive log backup failures, ensure that the name that you select is the actual name of the database and not the alias name for the database. If the database name and the corresponding alias name are different, both names are displayed under Available DB Names; if both names are the same, the name that is displayed is the database name. To find out about database names and their aliases, run the following command as a DB2 or DB2 DPF instance owner on the DB2 or DB2 DPF client: db2 list db directory.
3. Where applicable, if you want to designate this backup set/archive set as the default backup set/archive set, select Make this the Default backup set or Make this the Default Archive Set; otherwise, leave the check box cleared.
4. For most agents, verify that the storage policy copy associated with the default subclient is the storage policy that you want. If you want to select a different storage policy, click the storage policy box and select the one you want from the list. If the agent supports a system-state subclient, repeat this step for that subclient. For the DB2 or DB2 DPF iDataAgent, to establish a storage policy for all the log files, click the storage policy in the list provided.
5. Where applicable, if you want to create additional subclients within this backup set/archive set:
   • Click Add.
   • Follow Create a New Subclient procedure.
   • Repeat this step for each additional subclient that you want to define within this backup set/archive set.
   • When all subclients have been added, click OK.
   • A message will advise you to schedule backups for your new backup set. It is recommended that you elect to set a schedule now. You can also associate this backup set/archive set with an All Agent Types schedule policy (which is automatically created by the system, or can be a user-defined Data Protection schedule policy). If you have already associated a schedule policy at a previous level (Agent, Client, or Client Computer Group) the schedules defined in the Schedule Policy will be automatically applied to the new backup set/archive set. See Schedule Policy for more information.
     • If you want to associate this backup set/archive set with an All Agent Types schedule policy, click Associate with Generic Schedule Policy, and then select that schedule policy from the drop-down list box. Click OK.
     • If you have selected to define a schedule for this backup set/archive set:
       • Click Schedule.
       • If applicable, from the Backup Options dialog box, select the type of backup that you want to schedule.
       • If you want to set Advanced Backup/Archive Options, click Advanced.
       • After selecting the backup type and any advanced options, click OK. The Schedule Details dialog box appears.
       • From the Schedule Details tab, select the scheduling options that you want to apply, then click OK.
     • If you don't want to create a backup/archive schedule at this time, click Do Not Schedule, and then click OK.

   The new backup set/archive set is displayed in the CommCell Browser.

Create/Modify an Instance

Before You Begin

• For the Oracle, Oracle RAC or SAP for Oracle iDataAgent, if you have custom SQL settings, you must turn off these settings to ensure that the instance browse works correctly and that the instance status is correctly fetched. To do this, create and edit the cvlogin.sql file with the appropriate contents at ORACLE_HOME/sqlplus/admin. For example, run the following command:

  edit file $ORACLE_HOME/sqlplus/admin/cvlogin.sql

  Then include the following contents in the cvlogin.sql file:

  set heading on;

  set pause off;

Required Capability: See Capabilities and Required Actions

To create/modify an Instance

1. To create an instance, from the CommCell Browser, locate the correct client computer node, and right-click the agent node for which you want the new instance created, click All Tasks, and then click New Instance from the shortcut menu.

   To modify an existing instance, from the CommCell Browser, right-click the instance you want to modify, and then click Properties from the shortcut menu.

2. From the General tab, enter the name (up to 32 characters) for the instance. In addition, provide the required access information for this instance.

   For various iDataAgents, you can add/modify an application/database user account. See the appropriate section as follows in User Accounts and Passwords for more information:

   • DB2 iDataAgent
   • Informix iDataAgent
   • Microsoft SQL Server iDataAgent
   • Oracle iDataAgents (Oracle, Oracle RAC, SAP for Oracle)
   • Sybase iDataAgent
   • MySQL iDataAgent
3. If your agent uses the Details tab, enter the required database connect string and other optional parameters.
   • For the Oracle, Oracle RAC and SAP for Oracle iDataAgents, see the Oracle iDataAgents section in User Accounts and Passwords for more information.
4. From the Storage Device tab, select storage policy copies to be used for, as applicable, data backups, command line data backups and log backups. Within these tabs you can click Data Paths to display the details of the data paths associated with the primary storage policy copy of the selected storage policy.
5. If your agent uses the Software Compression tab, and you want to enable software compression for the selected backups, click the tab and select the option appropriate to your environment.
6. If you want to enable data encryption, from the Encryption tab select encryption settings for third-party or RMAN command line backups.
7. Click OK to save the instance.
8. A message advises you to schedule backups for your new instance. It is recommended you elect to set a schedule now. You can also associate this instance with an All Agent Types schedule policy (which is automatically created by the system, or can be a user defined Data Protection schedule policy). If you have already associated a schedule policy at a previous level (Agent, Client, or Client Computer Group) the schedules defined in the Schedule Policy will be automatically applied to the new instance. See Schedule Policy for more information.
   • For agents that offer an OK option, click OK to acknowledge the message. This procedure is now complete.
   • For agents that offer Yes and No options to this message, click No if you don't want to create a backup schedule at this time, and this procedure is complete. If you click Yes, a dialog box prompts you to back up all subclients of this instance.
9. Click Yes. The Backup Options dialog box appears, which allows you to create the necessary schedules.
10. From the Backup Options dialog box, select the type of backup that you want to schedule.
11. If you want to access Advanced Backup Options, click Advanced.
12. After selecting the backup type and any advanced options, click OK. The Schedule Details dialog box appears.
13. From the Schedule Details tab of the Schedule Details dialog box, select the scheduling options that you want to apply, then click OK.

NOTES

• A default subclient is created for the Oracle instance, which includes all the objects in the instance. When you are done with this procedure, open the Subclient Properties dialog box for the default subclient and verify that the Resync Catalog option available in the Backup Arguments tab is selected. This would help you to successfully perform a full system restore in the event of destroyed or damaged client.
• After creating the instance for DB2, you can now create one or more Backup Sets for this instance.

Create a New Index on a Full Backup

This procedure sets the default behavior. Note that whatever option is selected in the Advanced Backup Options dialog box will be used.

Required Capability: See Capabilities and Permitted Actions

To create a new index on a full backup:

1. From the CommCell Browser, right-click the agent icon of the client computer whose agent configuration you want to change, and then click Properties.
2. From the Index tab of the agent Properties dialog box, select Create new index on full backup.
3. Click OK.

Deconfigure a Client, MediaAgent, Agent, or Enabler

Required Capabilities: Capabilities and Permitted Actions

Before you Begin:

• For MediaAgent Deconfiguration, ensure that all the storage policies or copies associated with the configured libraries (or drive pools) in the MediaAgent are deleted or re-associated to another MediaAgent.

To deconfigure a client, MediaAgent, agent, or enabler:

1. In the CommCell Browser, right-click the name of the client, MediaAgent, agent, or enabler you want to deconfigure, click All Tasks (if displayed), and select Deconfigure.
2. A popup warning message appears.

   Click OK to continue.

3. Another popup message then appears.

   Click Yes to continue with the deconfiguration or No to abort.

4. If the deconfigure is unsuccessful, a number of popup messages appears. In some cases, the message requests that you take some corrective action. For example, the message might advise you to ensure that there are no jobs running on the agent. In such a case, click OK and take the appropriate action. Then repeat the deconfigure process.

If the deconfigure is successful, the tree element is dimmed and available for deletion.

Delete the Agent

Before You Begin

You can perform agent operations as long as the agent is installed and appears enabled in the CommCell Browser. However, if you have no need to run jobs on the agent data of a client computer, you may want to delete the agent that resides on that computer. Once you have uninstalled or DeConfigured the agent, the corresponding icon in the CommCell Browser is grayed out. While this icon exists, you can recover data from the agent to another client. If you delete this icon, all of the agent's data is irretrievably lost.

NOTES

• You cannot delete an agent while operations for that agent are running.
• NAS clients do not use this procedure; for NAS, see the Uninstall section of Deployment - NetApp NAS NDMP iDataAgent.

Deleting the agent is a two-phase process.

• You need to uninstall or DeConfigure the agent software from the client computer. Doing so frees an agent license, thereby allowing you to install it on some other computer whose data you do want to secure.
• After you delete the client software, you can either leave the corresponding data intact for appropriate action, or you can remove the data immediately. If you choose to remove the data immediately, you must delete the agent from the CommCell Browser.

Required Capability: See Capabilities and Permitted Actions

To delete an agent:

1. From the CommCell Browser, right-click the icon of the agent that you want to delete, and then click Delete. (The agent software must first have been uninstalled/DeConfigured or the delete option on the shortcut menu will not appear.)
2. A warning message prompts you with the following: This operation will permanently delete the data backed up from this level and it cannot be restored. Click Ok to continue with the deletion operation. (Clicking No will abort the operation.)
3. From the Confirmation Text dialog box, enter the confirmation text string, erase and reuse media. Click Ok. The agent icon and the data that corresponds to the selected agent will be deleted. Consequently, you will not be able to browse or recover this data.

View the Software Version

To view the Software Version:

1. From the CommCell Browser, click the CommServe, Client, Agent, MediaAgent, or Enabler for which you wish to view the version, and then click Properties.
2. Click the Version tab.

   The component version and post release service pack, additional updates and missing updates are displayed.