IBM Support

IBM Spectrum Protect™ and IBM Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) guest support for Virtual Machines and Virtualization

Troubleshooting


Problem

Virtual Machine (VM) and virtualization guest support for IBM Spectrum Protect™ and IBM Tivoli Storage Manager products for versions 7.1 and 8.1, and any restrictions on that support, in the tables below.

Resolving The Problem

Tip: The product now known as IBM Spectrum Protect™ was named IBM Tivoli® Storage Manager in releases earlier than Version 7.1.3. To learn more about the rebranding transition, see technote 1963634.


The support position and restrictions for IBM Spectrum Protect products running inside virtual machine guest operating systems and through virtualization is listed below.

Note for all virtualization technologies:

  • The guest must be running an operating system supported by the IBM Spectrum Protect product. See Related URLs below for the IBM Spectrum Protect product Operating System support pages.
  • IBM Spectrum Protect products and components which rely on other IBM and third-party products will only be supported if the requisite IBM and third-party components are also supported by the virtualized environment. Examples of these dependencies are listed but not limited to the following:
    • For the IBM Spectrum Protect Server product, IBM Db2 must also support running within the virtualized environment
    • For the Data Protection products, the application being protected must also support running on that operating system inside a guest
  • The performance of IBM Spectrum Protect applications, especially the IBM Spectrum Protect server, ultimately depends on the resources available to the application whether deployed in a physical or virtual environment. Please refer to the IBM Spectrum Protect Blueprint for guidance on resource considerations for the IBM Spectrum Protect server.


Links to virtualized environment sections below:

Physical and Virtual Partitions

VMware ESXi Guest
Microsoft Hyper-V Virtual Guest
Red Hat Enterprise Linux and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM)
Nutanix Acropolis
Citrix XenServer

Other cloud-based deployment technologies

IBM Workload Partitions for AIX (WPAR)
Solaris Containers

z/VM Hypervisor Guest
 
Physical and Virtual Partitions

All IBM Spectrum Protect products and components are supported on physical machines that have been physically or virtually partitioned such that each partition is provisioned with dedicated, discrete resources (CPU, memory, I/O).

Some examples of such supported physical or virtual partitions:

  • IBM Logical Partitions (LPAR) including LPARs within a IBM Virtual I/O Server (VIOS) environment
  • IBM Dynamic Logical Partitions (DLPAR)
  • IBM System z Processor Resource/System Manager (PR/SM)
  • HP nPartitions
  • HP vPartitions
  • Sun Dynamic System Domains (DSD)


If other virtualization technologies are used in conjunction with the physical or virtual partitions, such that the resources are then purely virtual (not dedicated) and/or are not discrete, you must use the support tables below for that virtualization technology to determine whether IBM Spectrum Protect products or components are supported in that environment.

 

VMware ESXi Guest

 
The support position for the following IBM Spectrum Protect products and components is for backup and recovery within the VMware ESXi virtual guest. This includes all versions of ESXi currently supported by VMware.
IBM Spectrum Protect PRODUCT/COMPONENT
SUPPORT?
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT INFORMATION
IBM Spectrum Protect Server
IBM Spectrum Protect Operations Center
IBM Spectrum Protect Reporting and Monitoring		 Yes
  • IBM can make no guarantees with respect to the performance and scalability in a virtualized environment
  • No support for attached tape drivers or tape libraries, either virtual or physically attached
  • No support for LAN-Free data movement to tape or disk
IBM Spectrum Protect Backup-Archive and API clients Yes
  • No support for LAN-Free data movement
  • No support for backupset restore from tape
IBM Spectrum Protect Storage Agent No
  • No support
IBM Spectrum Protect UNIX HSM (Space Management) clients Yes
  • No support for LAN-Free data movement
IBM Spectrum Protect HSM for Windows clients Yes
  • No known restrictions
IBM Spectrum Protect for Mail (DP for Domino, DP for Exchange) Yes
  • No support for LAN-Free data movement
IBM Spectrum Protect for Databases (DP for Oracle, DP for SQL) Yes
  • No support for LAN-Free data movement
IBM Spectrum Protect for Enterprise Resource Planning Yes
  • No support for LAN-Free data movement
IBM Spectrum Protect FastBack for Workstations / CDP for Files Yes
  • No known restrictions
IBM Spectrum Protect FastBack Yes
  • No known restrictions
IBM Spectrum Protect for SysBack Not applicable
  • Not applicable
 

Microsoft Hyper-V Virtual Guest
The support position for the following IBM Spectrum Protect products and components is for backup and recovery within the virtual guest.

Backups of the Hyper-V virtual machines from the parent partition using Microsoft's Volume Shadow Copy Services (VSS) is supported using the IBM Spectrum Protect Windows Backup-Archive client Version 6.2 and above. See the IBM Tivoli Storage Management Information Center for more information about this topic.

IBM Spectrum Protect PRODUCT/COMPONENT
SUPPORT?
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT INFORMATION
IBM Spectrum Protect Server
IBM Spectrum Protect Operations Center
IBM Spectrum Protect Reporting and Monitoring		 Yes
  • IBM can make no guarantees with respect to the performance and scalability in a virtualized environment
  • No support for attached tape drivers or tape libraries, either virtual or physically attached
  • No support for LAN-Free data movement to tape or disk
  • No support for IBM Spectrum Protect Administration Center
  • No support for IBM Spectrum Protect Reporting and Monitoring
IBM Spectrum Protect Backup-Archive and API clients Yes
  • No support for LAN-Free data movement
  • No support for backupset restore from tape
IBM Spectrum Protect Storage Agent No
  • No support
IBM Spectrum Protect UNIX HSM (Space Management) clients Not applicable
  • Not applicable
IBM Spectrum Protect HSM for Windows clients No
  • No support
IBM Spectrum Protect for Mail (DP for Domino, DP for Exchange) Yes
  • No support for LAN-Free data movement
IBM Spectrum Protect for Databases (DP for Oracle, DP for SQL) Yes
  • No support for LAN-Free data movement
IBM Spectrum Protect for Enterprise Resource Planning Yes
  • No support for LAN-Free data movement
IBM Spectrum Protect FastBack for Workstations / CDP for Files Yes
  • No known restrictions
IBM Spectrum Protect FastBack Yes
  • No known restrictions
IBM Spectrum Protect for SysBack Not applicable
  • Not applicable
 

Red Hat Enterprise Linux and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM)

The support position for the following IBM Spectrum Protect products and components is for backup and recovery within the virtual guest.

The IBM Spectrum Protect Backup-Archive client does not provide integrated backups of KVM virtual machine images from the Linux host environment. Customers who wish to use the Backup-Archive client on the Linux KVM host to backup and recover virtual machine images must ensure that the images are placed in a consistent state before the backup (for example, by suspending the virtual guest machine) to ensure that the data will be recoverable.

Note: This section also applies to IBM Spectrum Protect components running on Ubuntu.

Note: This section applies to KVM running on Intel (x64) and IBM z Systems.

IBM Spectrum Protect PRODUCT/COMPONENT
SUPPORT?
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT INFORMATION
IBM Spectrum Protect Server
IBM Spectrum Protect Operations Center
IBM Spectrum Protect Reporting and Monitoring		 Yes
  • IBM can make no guarantees with respect to the performance and scalability in a virtualized environment
  • No support for attached tape drivers or tape libraries, either virtual or physically attached
  • No support for LAN-Free data movement to tape or disk
  • No support for IBM Spectrum Protect Administration Center
  • No support for IBM Spectrum Protect Reporting and Monitoring
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) KVM only supports IBM Spectrum Protect Server in RHEL guests
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) KVM only supports IBM Spectrum Protect Server in SLES guests
IBM Spectrum Protect Backup-Archive and API clients Yes
  • No support for LAN-Free data movement
  • No support for backupset restore from tape
IBM Spectrum Protect Storage Agent No
  • No support
IBM Spectrum Protect UNIX HSM (Space Management) clients Yes
  • No known restrictions
IBM Spectrum Protect HSM for Windows clients Yes
  • No known restrictions
IBM Spectrum Protect for Mail (DP for Domino, DP for Exchange) Yes
  • No support for LAN-Free data movement.
IBM Spectrum Protect for Databases (DP for Oracle, DP for SQL) Yes
  • No support for LAN-Free data movement
IBM Spectrum Protect for Enterprise Resource Planning Yes
  • No support for LAN-Free data movement
IBM Spectrum Protect FastBack for Workstations / CDP for Files Yes
  • No known restrictions
IBM Spectrum Protect FastBack No
  • No support
IBM Spectrum Protect for SysBack Not applicable
  • Not applicable
 

Nutanix Acropolis Virtual Guest
The support position for the following IBM Spectrum Protect products and components is for backup and recovery within the virtual guest.
 

IBM Spectrum Protect PRODUCT/COMPONENT
SUPPORT?
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT INFORMATION
IBM Spectrum Protect Server
IBM Spectrum Protect Operations Center		 Yes
  • IBM can make no guarantees with respect to the performance and scalability in a virtualized environment
  • No support for attached tape drivers or tape libraries, either virtual or physically attached
  • No support for LAN-Free data movement to tape or disk
IBM Spectrum Protect Backup-Archive and API clients Yes
  • No support for LAN-Free data movement
  • No support for backupset restore from tape
IBM Spectrum Protect Storage Agent No
  • No support
IBM Spectrum Protect UNIX HSM (Space Management) clients Not applicable
  • Not applicable
IBM Spectrum Protect HSM for Windows clients No
  • No support
IBM Spectrum Protect for Mail (DP for Domino, DP for Exchange) Yes
  • No support for LAN-Free data movement
IBM Spectrum Protect for Databases (DP for Oracle, DP for SQL) Yes
  • No support for LAN-Free data movement
IBM Spectrum Protect for Enterprise Resource Planning Yes
  • No support for LAN-Free data movement
 

Citrix XenServer

The support position for the following IBM Spectrum Protect products and components is for backup and recovery within the virtual guest.

IBM Spectrum Protect PRODUCT/COMPONENT
SUPPORT?
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT INFORMATION
IBM Spectrum Protect Backup-Archive and API clients Yes
  • No support for LAN-Free data movement
  • No support for backupset restore from tape

Note: The Backup-Archive and API clients are the only IBM Spectrum Protect components that support Citrix XenServer at this time.

 

Other cloud-based deployment technologies

 

The support position for the following IBM Spectrum Protect products and components is for backup and recovery within cloud deployments based on technologies listed below.

Note that support for cloud-based deployments is based on the extent of support offered for the underlying virtualization technology. Specifically, this support statement is based on the known virtualization technologies at the time. If the cloud deployments adopt other virtualization technologies in the future, the support will have to be evaluated in the context of the virtualization technology. At this time the support statement is based on the following technologies:

  • IBM Cloud virtual servers based on Citrix XenServer
  • Amazon Elastic Compute Clould (EC2) based on the Xen hypervisor
  • Google Cloud Platform based on the KVM hypervisor
  • Microsoft Azure based on Microsoft Hyper-V
  • Nutanix on IBM Power®

In addition to the virtualization considerations mentioned above, IBM Spectrum Protect deployments hosted in cloud environments must satisfy all other applicable requirements, including a supported operating system; allocation of sufficient hardware and network resources and use of supported storage.

IBM Spectrum Protect PRODUCT/COMPONENT
SUPPORT?
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT INFORMATION
IBM Spectrum Protect Server
IBM Spectrum Protect Operations Center
IBM Spectrum Protect Reporting and Monitoring		 Yes
  • IBM can make no guarantees with respect to the performance and scalability in a virtualized environment
  • No support for attached tape drives or tape libraries, either virtual or physically attached
  • No support for LAN-Free data movement to tape or disk
IBM Spectrum Protect Backup-Archive and API clients Yes
  • No support for LAN-Free data movement
  • No support for backupset restore from tape
IBM Spectrum Protect Storage Agent No
  • No support
IBM Spectrum Protect UNIX HSM (Space Management) clients Yes
  • No support for LAN-Free data movement
IBM Spectrum Protect HSM for Windows clients Yes
  • No known restrictions
IBM Spectrum Protect for Mail (DP for Domino, DP for Exchange) Yes
  • No support for LAN-Free data movement
IBM Spectrum Protect for Databases (DP for Oracle, DP for SQL) Yes
  • No support for LAN-Free data movement
IBM Spectrum Protect for Enterprise Resource Planning Yes
  • No support for LAN-Free data movement
IBM Spectrum Protect FastBack for Workstations / CDP for Files Yes
  • No known restrictions
IBM Spectrum Protect FastBack Yes
  • No known restrictions
IBM Spectrum Protect for SysBack Not applicable
  • Not applicable


For cloud platforms and cloud services not specifically listed, such as IBM SoftLayer Bare Metal servers, support of IBM Spectrum Protect products is based on the underlying virtualization technology and/or operating system as listed in this article (virtualization technology) or the applicable hardware and software requirements (operating system) for the specific
IBM Spectrum Protect component.

 

IBM Workload Partitions for AIX (WPAR)

IBM Spectrum Protect PRODUCT/COMPONENT
SUPPORT?
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT INFORMATION
IBM Spectrum Protect Server
IBM Spectrum Protect Operations Center
IBM Spectrum Protect Reporting and Monitoring		 Yes
  • IBM can make no guarantees with respect to the performance and scalability in a virtualized environment
  • Supported with non-shared System WPARs
  • No support for shared System WPARs
  • No support for global environments or Application WPARs
  • Support for tape devices and libraries in a WPAR is documented in this Technote
  • No support for LAN-Free data movement to tape or disk
  • No support for IBM Spectrum Protect Administration Center
  • No support for IBM Spectrum Protect Reporting and Monitoring
IBM Spectrum Protect Backup-Archive and API clients Yes
  • Supported in global environments
  • Supported with non-shared System WPARs
  • Supported with shared System WPARs1
  • No support for Application WPARs
  • No support for image backup
  • No support for backupset restore from tape
IBM Spectrum Protect Storage Agent Yes
  • Support for tape devices and libraries in a WPAR is documented in this Technote
IBM Spectrum Protect UNIX HSM (Space Management) clients Yes
  • Space Management can only be installed in global environments
  • Data migrated from the global environment can be transparently recalled from a system WPAR
  • No support for non-shared System WPARs
  • No support for shared System WPARs
  • No support for Application WPARs
IBM Spectrum Protect HSM for Windows clients Not applicable
  • Not applicable
IBM Spectrum Protect for Mail (DP for Domino) Yes
  • Supported in global environments
  • Supported with non-shared System WPARs
  • Supported with shared System WPARs1
  • No support for Application WPARs
IBM Spectrum Protect for Databases (DP for Oracle) Yes
  • Supported in global environments
  • Supported with non-shared System WPARs
  • Supported with shared System WPARs1
  • No support for Application WPARs
IBM Spectrum Protect for Enterprise Resource Planning Yes
  • Supported in global environments
  • Supported with non-shared System WPARs
  • Supported with shared System WPARs1
  • No support for Application WPARs
IBM Spectrum Protect FastBack for Workstations / CDP for Files Not applicable
  • Not applicable
IBM Spectrum Protect FastBack Not applicable
  • Not applicable
IBM Spectrum Protect for SysBack Yes
  • Supported in global environments
  • Limited support with non-shared System WPARs
  • Limited support with shared System WPARs1
  • Limited support means to back up and restore the data located within a WPAR with SysBack's File / Directory backup option only (i.e./usr/sbin/mkdirback).
  • No support to use SysBack to boot / reinstall / recreate the WPAR or to recreate LVM or file system structures inside of the WPAR


1 IBM Spectrum Protect logs and configuration files must be defined to non-default locations

 

Solaris Containers

IBM Spectrum Protect PRODUCT/COMPONENT
SUPPORT?
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT INFORMATION
IBM Spectrum Protect Server
IBM Spectrum Protect Operations Center
IBM Spectrum Protect Reporting and Monitoring		 Yes
  • IBM can make no guarantees with respect to the performance and scalability in a virtualized environment
  • Full IBM Spectrum Protect Server support in global zone
  • Non-global Whole Root zone support for LAN-free and tape drives; no support for SAN discovery
  • No support for non-global Sparse Zone
  • No support for IBM Spectrum Protect Administration Center
  • No support for IBM Spectrum Protect Reporting and Monitoring
IBM Spectrum Protect Backup-Archive and API clients Yes
  • Supported in global and non-global zones
  • No support for image backup
  • No support for backupset restore from tape
IBM Spectrum Protect Storage Agent Yes
  • Supported in global and non-global Whole Root zones
  • No support for non-global Sparse zones
  • No support for SAN discovery in non-global Whole Root zones
IBM Spectrum Protect UNIX HSM (Space Management) clients Yes
  • Space Management can only be installed in the global zone and not in non-global zones
  • Data migrated from the global zone can be transparently recalled from a non-global zone
IBM Spectrum Protect HSM for Windows clients Not applicable
  • Not applicable
IBM Spectrum Protect for Mail - DP for Domino Yes
  • Supported in global and non-global zones
IBM Spectrum Protect for Mail - DP for Exchange Not applicable
  • Not applicable
IBM Spectrum Protect for Databases - DP for Oracle Yes
  • Supported in global and non-global zones as supported by the Oracle database used in your environment.
IBM Spectrum Protect for Databases - DP for SQL Not applicable
  • Not applicable
IBM Spectrum Protect for Enterprise Resource Planning Yes
  • Supported in global and non-global zones
IBM Spectrum Protect FastBack for Workstations / CDP for Files Not applicable
  • Not applicable
IBM Spectrum Protect FastBack Not applicable
  • Not applicable
IBM Spectrum Protect for SysBack Not applicable
  • Not applicable
 

z/VM Hypervisor Guest

IBM Spectrum Protect PRODUCT/COMPONENT
SUPPORT?
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT INFORMATION
IBM Spectrum Protect Server
IBM Spectrum Protect Operations Center
IBM Spectrum Protect Reporting and Monitoring		 Yes
  • IBM can make no guarantees with respect to the performance and scalability in a virtualized environment
  • Attached tape drivers, attached tape libraries, and LAN-Free data movement to tape support requires a Linux server or z/VM guest on any currently supported z Systems hardware.
IBM Spectrum Protect Backup-Archive and API clients Yes
  • No support for backupset restore from tape
IBM Spectrum Protect Storage Agent Yes
  • See "IBM Spectrum Protect Server" notes above
IBM Spectrum Protect UNIX HSM (Space Management) clients Not applicable
  • Not applicable
IBM Spectrum Protect HSM for Windows clients Not applicable
  • Not applicable
IBM Spectrum Protect for Mail (DP for Domino, DP for Exchange) Yes
  • No support for LAN-Free data movement
  • Not applicable to DP for Exchange
IBM Spectrum Protect for Databases (DP for Oracle, DP for SQL) Yes
  • No support for LAN-Free data movement
  • Not applicable to DP for SQL
IBM Spectrum Protect for Enterprise Resource Planning Not applicable
  • Not applicable
IBM Spectrum Protect FastBack for Workstations / CDP for Files Not applicable
  • Not applicable
IBM Spectrum Protect FastBack Not applicable
  • Not applicable
IBM Spectrum Protect for SysBack Not applicable
  • Not applicable

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Document Information

Modified date:
14 May 2021

UID

swg21239546

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