Notes on BackHome!/TSM and TMF

1. Introduction

   The following information will help to ease the tasks of installing and operating BackHome!/TSM TMF.

2. Notes

   1. BackHome!/TSM / TSM & TMF Planning

      The purpose of the following steps is to familiarize you with TMF and BackHome!/TSM terminology and to help you gather information for the installation of the TMF option which provides a link between TMF and BackHome!/TSM.

      1. Familiarize yourselves with TMF terms like Online-dumps, Audit-trail dumps, COPIES, Serial or Parallel COPIES, etc.

      2. Also familiarize yourselves BackHome!/TSM terms like Monitor, Logger, Requestors, EMS-logging, Remote and Local Locations, Requests, Routing class, Remote and Local Attributes.

      3. Plan your TMF dump destinations ahead of time

         EXAMPLE:

         • COPY-1 dumps can go to BackHome!/TSM, while COPY-2 dumps would go to local tapes or vice-versa.
         • Both COPIES would go to BackHome!/TSM, but be directed to two different TSM servers.
         • Or they can both go to different instances of BackHome!/TSM.

         NOTE: TMF COPY-2 can be made in Serial or Parallel mode. However, only COPY-2 Parallel can be detected on BackHome!/TSM TMF

      4. Dumps directed to BackHome!/TSM
         • Decide which BackHome!/TSM will process them. Then note down the Requestors Routing information like:
         • Remote Location
         • Routing class
         • If the TMF dumps are defined with COPY-2 Parallel, you might want to prepare two sets of information (if they are to use different requestors). The information is used to create the COPY record(s) for BackHome!/TSM database.
      5. Decide how dumps (those destined to BackHome!/TSM ) will be done concurrently this is to plan for the number of ETMF Processes to be defined. (Their process name can be defined / reserved here).

         NOTE: If you plan for two concurrent On-line dumps, then you must reserve at least 3 ETMF processes (the extra one is for AUDIT dump).

   2. BackHome!/TSM Infrastructure planning

      In this phase, you should evaluate the capacity of your BackHome!/TSM environment, just to be sure it can handle the TMF traffic.

      NOTE: Please remember that TMF traffic can be significantly large in volume

      1. Configure the BackHome!/TSM environment to accommodate the TMF traffic. The number of BackHome!/TSM Requestors should be sufficient to handle the extra TMF loads on top of the normal BackHome!/TSM Load.
         • As the example in (1.e), if three (3) ETMF processes are reserved than at least three TSM Requestors need to be configured for TMF processing, there should also be an extra one or two Requestors reserved for normal BackHome!/TSM traffic.
         • The relative number of ETMF processes vs. the BackHome!/TSM Requestors depend on different factors:
           • How often TMF dumps/recovers are issued, and how long they take.
           • How often BackHome!/TSM requests are queued, and how long they take.
         • In other words, they depend on the availability of the BackHome!/TSM Requestors the bottom line is: “Avoid TMF dumps/recovers and BackHome!/TSM requests competing for resources.”
      2. Evaluate communication medium
         • Evaluate if the current communication lines can handle the capacity for the new load.
      3. Evaluate BackHome!/TSM remote sites
         • Remote BCOM partners or Remote BackHome!/TSM Servers (like TSM server) should have enough storage to handle the extra TMF traffic, which could be a significant amount of tapes or disc storage. Find out if there is any constraint in handling large amount of data.

           For Example:

           • number of available tapes
           • backup duration time constrain
           • TSM object size constrains etc.,

         *** Often these constrain causes the failure of large TMF dumps. ***

   3. Installation

      Please consult and follow the installation procedure in the TMF-Option for BackHome!/TSM manual carefully.

      The following are notes on some but not all of the installation procedures.

      1. At the TMF-Option step
         • Add Configuration Record based on information gathered in step 1.b
         • Add COPY records based on information in steps 1.d. Please take note that COPY-2 record can be activated only if TMF dumps ( both on-line and Audit ) are defined to work in PARALLEL. Also, please consult “Copy Attributes“ section in the TMF-Option for BackHome!/TSM manual for details before performing this step.
         • At Process-Record step, create one process (IP) record for each planned ETMF process (as planned in step 1.e). Please remember to create the corresponding Notify Tacl file for each IP record created.
      2. At the “start BCOM “step
         • Make sure BackHome!/TSM environment(s) have a sufficient number of Requestors to handle the extra TMF load. (see explanation in item 1e and 2)
         • Remember to start BackHome!/TSM environment(s) before starting the ETMF processes.
         • ALL ETMF processes should be started.
      3. Enable TMF option step
         • Before executing this step “ enable TMF Option” , please make sure the SYSTEM.SYSnn.TMFDR is not being used ( like using FUP INFO ). If it is open, wait until it is closed ( i.e. until all currently executed dumps are completed). Otherwise, this step will fail with a BIND failure.
      4. Operational Procedures
         • You might need to define some real TMF tapes for emergency cases.
         • You must remember to deactivate the TMF-Option before bringing down the BCOM BackHome!/TSM environment. When TMF-Option is deactivated, all future TMF dumps will be routed to tapes. Therefore, the number of real TMF tapes defined in section 4.a should be sufficient for TMF dumps.
         • Stand-alone recovery is supported only when remote server is an MVS BCOM Server (i.e. not to TSM server).
         • Rather than making a single very large dump that might take 12 hours to finish. It is better to break it up into several smaller ones that each would finish within a more manageable time frame.