Gen­er­al in­form­a­tion about Tivoli Stor­age Man­ager (TSM)

The Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) is used as software for data backup. The RWTH Aachen University offers a central data backup for the University of Paderborn.

The TSM server works with a database, in which all information about secured objects is stored. Unlike most other available backup products, TSM works on file level. This means that each file is considered as an object and can be addressed individually.

In general, TSM follows the strategy of incremental backups. After a fullbackup only the changes in the file system are transmitted to the TSM server.

For the backup in Aachen three TSM servers are available. The distribution to the servers is based on the workload of the servers and not on the faculty affiliation.

TCPSERVERADDRES b37.rz.rwth-aachen.de mit dem TCPPORT 1537
TCPSERVERADDRES b41.rz.rwth-aachen.de mit dem TCPPORT 1541
TCPSERVERADDRES b42.rz.rwth-aachen.de mit dem TCPPORT 1542

TSM offers the possibility to backup multiple versions of files. A distinction is made between active and inactive versions. The current version of a backed up file is called active version, all other versions of the file are called inactive versions.

The current backup policy is as follows:

  • 3 versions of a file are kept.
  • 2 versions of a deleted file are kept.
  • After 30 days inactive files are deleted.
  • After 90 days, the last version of a deleted file is removed from the backup.

Active data is never deleted from the backup server. The ZIM reserves the right to delete this data after prior notification of the user if the last backup of the data stock was more than half a year ago. Notification is made by e-mail to the responsible contact person of the system.

The installation, configuration and operation of the programs required for the backup service on a local computer is the responsibility of the user. If necessary, the user can fall back on the support of the ZIM.

If you have any questions, please send an e-mail to tivoli-admins@lists.upb.de or to zim@upb.de.

The TSM client software is available for the following operating systems:

  • AIX
  • HP-UX
  • Linux
  • Mac
  • Solaris
  • Windows

You can download the latest version from the ftp-server of Karlsruhe University:

ftp://ftp.scc.kit.edu/pub/mirror/service.boulder.ibm.com/storage/tivoli-storage-management/maintenance/client/

The TSM server runs under version 5.5.3.

Further information:

Data backup Windows-PC Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) under Unix Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) under Windows