Question & Answer
Question
What are the known issues with Tivoli® Storage Manager Operations Center V6.4.1?
Answer
InstallingLogging in
Overview
Alerts
- Alerts might not be updated immediately
- The status of the wrong alert might be updated
- Alert-related problems might occur after a hub or spoke server is renamed
- Table contents might be filtered incorrectly when a search includes an underscore character
Clients
- Data protection nodes might be classified as "System" clients
- Virtual machines might be missing from the Operations Center
- Data from a virtual machine might not be displayed in the Operations Center
- The At Risk state "Data" for virtual machines is incorrectly defined in the documentation
- The activity chart might show that data was backed up but that 0 files were backed up
Servers
- Communications might time out between the hub server and spoke servers
- Data might continue to be displayed about a disconnected or removed item
- A connected spoke server might be shown as being unavailable
Storage pools
- Storage pools might be incorrectly reported as having no capacity
- Storage pools might be incorrectly reported as having less capacity than they have
- A DISK storage pool might continually have a Critical status
Storage devices
- A warning or error might be displayed for disk storage even if no directories are constrained
- The drive count and scratch-volume count for a device class associated with a mixed library might be too high
Command-line interface
- There is no extra step to confirm a command that you issue to a spoke server
- The syntax of the SET STATUSSKIPASFAILURE command is incorrectly defined in the documentation
- The syntax of ALERTTRIGGER and ALERTSTATUS commands is incorrectly defined in the documentation
- The activity log might contain messages that seem to be out of place
Help information
Symptom
When you install Operations Center V6.4.1.1 on Microsoft Windows Server 2012, a message reports that the operating system is not supported.
Cause
Starting with Operations Center V6.4.1.1, Microsoft Windows Server 2012 is a supported operating system. The installation program, however, incorrectly reports that the operating system is not supported.
Resolving the Problem
If you are installing Operations Center V6.4.1.1, ignore the message.
Symptom
When you enter a URL in a web browser to open the Operations Center, an unexpected page is displayed, and the Operations Center does not open.
Cause
You might have entered one of the following incorrect URLs:
http://hostname:port
https://hostname:secure_port
https://hostname:secure_port/OC
Resolving the problem
The Operations Center opens only if you include /oc in lowercase at the end of the URL. Enter the following URL:
https://hostname:secure_port/oc
where hostname represents the name of the computer where the Operations Center is installed, and secure_port represents the port number that the Operations Center uses for HTTPS communication on that computer. If a port number for HTTPS communication was not specified during Operations Center installation, the default port number is 11090.
Symptom
A message similar to the following one might be displayed when you log in to the Operations Center:
ANRG0177E The password for the monitoring administrator ID IBM-OC-TSMGUI5 expired.
The password was changed on the hub server and 1 of 2 spoke servers.
Ensure that the spoke servers are running, and that there are no network issues,
and click Change Passwords to try the action again.
In the Tivoli Storage Manager server topology from which this example is taken, the total number of spoke servers is seven; however, this message seems to indicate that the total number of spoke servers is two.
Cause
If the Operations Center fails to update the password of the monitoring administrator on one or more spoke servers, the Operations Center tries again to update the password on those remaining spoke servers the next time that you or another administrator logs in to the Operations Center.
The ANRG0177E message in the example indicates that the passwords on two spoke servers remained to be updated from the previous Operations Center session. When an administrator logged in to the Operations Center for the current session, the Operations Center was successful in updating one of those two remaining spoke servers. The message is not phrased well and seems to indicate that the total number of spoke servers is two.
Resolving the problem
Remember that the message does not necessarily indicate the total number of spoke servers.
Symptom
On the Overview page of the Operations Center, the Activity area includes a count of the server processes that are currently active. The count includes processes to identify duplicates even if the processes are idle.
Resolving the problem
Determine how many of the processes are idle processes for identifying duplicates by completing the following steps:
- Issue the QUERY PROCESS command.
- In the command output, check the Process Status column for processes that are marked State: idle.
Return to list
Symptom
On the Overview page of the Operations Center, you can view high-level status information. However, when you click an area of the page, such as the Alerts area, the browser does not display the expected details page.
Cause
An earlier version of the page is cached by the browser.
Resolving the problem
Clear the browser cache and reload the Overview page.
Symptom
You select multiple alerts on the Alerts page of the Operations Center, and you attempt to update the alerts; for example, you attempt to assign the alerts to an administrator or to close the alerts. The alerts are not updated immediately on the Alerts page.
Resolving the problem
Select fewer alerts at a time to see a faster update of the alerts.
Symptom
When you update the status of an alert on the hub server, either in the Operations Center or by issuing the UPDATE ALERTSTATUS server command, the status of the wrong alert is updated.
Cause
If a hub server is monitoring one or more spoke servers, multiple alerts on the hub server might have the same alert identifier. For example, on the hub server, alert identifier 5 might apply to both of the following alerts:
- Alert ANR2045E that originated from the hub server
- Alert ANR3517E that originated from the spoke server
If you update the status of an alert on the hub server, the status of an alert with the same identifier on the spoke server might be updated instead.
Resolving the problem
This problem is resolved in Tivoli Storage Manager V7.1.
Symptoms
One or more of the following symptoms are present:
- The QUERY ALERTSTATUS command shows duplicate alerts.
- The table on the Alerts page in the Operations Center does not load, and the following message is displayed:
- You cannot view or manage alerts in the Operations Center.
An error occurred loading table data
Cause
After you configured a hub server or spoke server, you might have renamed the server by issuing the RENAME SERVER command.
Resolving the problem
Close duplicate alerts on the hub and spoke servers by using the UPDATE ALERTSTATUS command.
Do not rename servers after they are configured as hub or spoke servers.
Symptom
If you filter the contents of the table on the Clients or Alerts page of the Operations Center by searching for a text string that contains an underscore character ("_"), some of the rows that are displayed in the results might not contain the underscore character.
Cause
In the tables on the Clients and Alerts pages, the underscore character is treated as a wildcard.
Resolving the problem
Avoid including an underscore character in text strings that you enter in the filter field of the tables on the Clients and Alerts pages.
This issue is resolved in Tivoli Storage Manager V7.1.
Symptoms
One or more of the following symptoms are present:
- The Operations Center incorrectly classifies one of the following types of Tivoli Storage Manager data protection nodes (TDP nodes) as a "System" client rather than an "Application" client:
- Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments - Data Protection for VMware nodes
- Tivoli Storage Manager for Databases - Data Protection for Oracle nodes
- Tivoli Storage Manager for Databases - Data Protection for Microsoft SQL Server nodes
- Tivoli Storage Manager for Enterprise Resource Management - Data Protection for SAP nodes
- On the Overview page of the Operations Center, virtual machines are missing from the Virtual Machines count.
- On the Clients page, virtual machines are missing from the table.
A backup-archive client might have used the credentials of a data protection node to connect to the Tivoli Storage Manager server.
The name of the platform for the data protection node (for example, TDP VMware, TSM4VE, or TDP Oracle AIX), which is stored on the server, changes to the name of the platform on which the backup-archive client is running (for example, WinNT or AIX).
The Operations Center incorrectly classifies the data protection node as a "System" client. If the data protection node is a datacenter node that manages virtual machines, these virtual machines are removed from the Operations Center.
Solution
Investigate which backup-archive clients are using the credentials of the data protection node to connect to the Tivoli Storage Manager server, and prevent them from doing so.
Additionally, you can take one of the following actions:
- Wait until the next time that the proxy-node agent for the data protection node connects to the Tivoli Storage Manager server. The name of the platform for the data protection node reverts to the correct name (for example, TDP VMware, TSM4VE, or TDP Oracle AIX). Missing virtual machines are displayed again in the Operations Center.
- Manually change the name of the platform for the data protection node on the server by issuing the UPDATE NODE command, as in the following example:
update node node_name platform="TSM4VE"
Note: The PLATFORM parameter is purposely not described in the help information for the UPDATE NODE command. You can use the parameter as part of the solution to this known issue. However, do not use the parameter in general, for example, to change the platform name that is stored on the server for other clients. The parameter is automatically reset every time that the client accesses the server.
Symptoms
On the Clients page of the Operations Center, the total number of clients is different in the following places:
- At the top of the page, after the title "TSM Clients"
- In the lower-left corner of the table, when the table is unfiltered
Cause
The Operations Center converts all letters in the names to uppercase, which causes duplicate names to occur. Data from only one of the virtual machines with the same name is displayed in the Operations Center.
Resolving the problem
Attention: In the following procedure, you delete a file space. When you delete a file space, data that was backed up, and which belongs to the file space, is also deleted.
If two virtual machines have the same name, differing only in case, complete the following steps:
- Rename one of the virtual machines.
- Verify that a successful backup occurs for the renamed virtual machine.
- From the command-line interface, issue the QUERY FILESPACE command, and locate the previous name of the virtual machine whose name you changed.
- Delete the file space that has the previous name by issuing the DELETE FILESPACE command.
Return to list
Symptom
On the Clients page of the Operations Center, when you hover the mouse pointer over the At Risk column and click Learn more, help information is displayed about the Clients page. Included in the information is the following definition of the At Risk state "Data":
Data: A backup completed with skipped files during the configured status interval (by default, 24 hours).
This definition is incorrect if the client is a virtual machine.
Resolving the problem
The following definition is correct:
Data: For a virtual machine, a backup started during the configured status interval but has not yet completed. For application or system clients, a backup completed with skipped files during the configured status interval (by default, 24 hours).
Return to list
Symptom
On the Clients page of the Operations Center, when you select a client that is a data mover node in a virtual environment and you click Details, the Overview page for the node is displayed. The "Activity Over 2 Weeks" bar chart reports that 0 files were backed up or archived, even when bars of the chart indicate that data was backed up or archived.
Cause
Data mover nodes report when an entire virtual machine is successfully backed up or archived; they do not report the number of files that were backed up or archived from the virtual machine.
Resolving the problem
Ignore the indication that 0 files were backed up or archived when the bar in the chart indicates that data was backed up or archived.
Symptoms
One or more of the following symptoms are present:
- Spoke servers report messages that are similar to the following examples:
- The hub server reports messages that are similar to the following examples:
- Sessions between the hub server and the spoke servers are restarted automatically.
ANR8216W The server experienced a TCP/IP error while sending data on socket 79. Reason 32.
ANR0481W Session 9339 for node IBM-OC-ADMIN (AIX) terminated - client did not respond within 60 seconds.
ANR1987E A communication error occurred during session 123 with monitored server SPOKE1.
ANR1991I Remote monitoring ended for server SPOKE1.
ANR0568W Session 123 for admin SPOKE1 (AIX) terminated - connection with client severed.
Cause
The hub server is already managing status data and does not have enough resources to quickly manage more status data that is sent from the spoke servers.
Resolving the problem
Take one or more of the following actions:
- Increase the status refresh interval on all spoke servers by issuing the SET STATUSREFRESH command. The number of status updates that are sent from the spoke servers to the hub server decreases; therefore, the load on the hub server decreases.
- Increase the ADMINCOMMTIMEOUT server option by issuing the SETOPT ADMINCOMMTIMEOUT command.
- Improve the performance of the hub server, or make another, more powerful server the hub server.
Return to list
Symptom
1. One of the following events occurs:
- A connection is lost between the hub server and a spoke server.
- You halt a spoke server.
- You remove a client, policy, storage pool, or storage device that is managed by a spoke server.
Cause
The clock on the hub server might lag the clock on the spoke server. The Operations Center continues to show the spoke server data until the time on the hub server clock reaches the time at which the connection was lost on the spoke server clock.
Resolving the problem
Synchronize the clocks on the hub server and spoke servers. If possible, use an internet time service to automatically synchronize the clocks.
Symptom
- You recently connected a spoke server to the hub server or restarted a spoke server.
- The Servers page of the Operations Center unexpectedly displays the spoke server as being unavailable.
Cause
The clock on the spoke server might lag the clock on the hub server. The spoke server is shown as being unavailable until the time on the spoke server clock reaches the time at which the connection was made according to the hub server clock.
Resolving the problem
Synchronize the clocks on the hub server and spoke servers. If possible, use an internet time service to automatically synchronize the clocks.
Symptom
On the Storage Pools page of the Operations Center, the capacity column indicates that storage pools have no capacity, even though capacity is defined for the storage pools.
Cause
Tivoli Storage Manager estimates the capacity of some storage pools to be zero until data is placed in the storage pools.
The problem occurs when no data is stored in a storage pool in one of the following situations:
- One or more volumes are defined to the storage pool.
- The maximum number of scratch volumes that the storage pool can request is greater than zero.
Diagnosing the problem
Determine whether one of the listed causes is responsible for the symptoms by completing the following steps:
- Display a list of volumes that are defined to a storage pool by issuing the following command:
query volume stgpool=pool_name
- View the maximum number of scratch volumes that a storage pool can request, by completing the following steps:
- a. From the Storage Pools page of the Operations Center, open the Quick Look window for the storage pool.
b. View the value of "Maximum scratch volumes."
Resolving the problem
If one of the listed causes is responsible for the symptoms, ignore the indication of no capacity for storage pools. When data is placed in the storage pool, the correct capacity is estimated and is shown on the Storage Pools page.
Symptom
On the Storage Pools page of the Operations Center, the capacity column incorrectly indicates that storage pools have less capacity than they have. This issue occurs when the estimated capacity of a storage pool is less than 100 GB.
Cause
This issue is caused because numbers are rounded on the Tivoli Storage Manager server and in the Operations Center.
Resolving the problem
Obtain more precise values by issuing the QUERY STGPOOL command.
Symptom
On the Storage Pools page of the Operations Center, the Status column of the table might continually indicate a status of "Critical" for a DISK storage pool, even when data is migrated from the pool.
Cause
Caching is enabled for the disk storage pool (CACHE = YES). When data is migrated to the next pool, a cached copy of the data remains in the pool. Therefore, utilization of the pool remains high.
By default, when utilization of a storage pool is 80% or more, a warning is displayed in the status column; when utilization is 90% or more, "Critical" is displayed in the status column.
Diagnosing the problem
To determine whether caching is enabled for a disk storage pool, issue the following server command:
QUERY STGPOOL pool_name FORMAT=DETAILED
where pool_name represents the name of the storage pool.
Resolving the problem
Ignore the Critical status of DISK storage pools for which caching is enabled. If a next storage pool exists and if migrations are running as expected, Tivoli Storage Manager server is working normally.
Symptom
On the Storage Devices page, the Disk Storage column displays the following information in a row in which the type of storage device is FILE:
- The number of directories that are defined to the device class
- A warning or error icon
- A count of zero constrained directories
The warning or error icon seems to contradict the count of zero constrained directories.
Cause
Although there seems to be a contradiction between the warning or error icon and the count of zero constrained directories, there is no contradiction.
- A constrained condition indicates that a directory is unavailable or does not have enough free space to create any further scratch volumes.
- By default, a warning icon is displayed if the combined directories that are defined to the device class do not have enough space to fulfill 25% of possible scratch-volume requests. Similarly, by default, an error icon is displayed if the combined directories do not have enough space to fulfill 50% of possible scratch-volume requests.
Tip: You can change these thresholds by using the UPDATE STATUSTHRESHOLD command with the FILEDEVCLASSPCTSCRUNALLOCATABLE parameter.
Resolving the problem
To resolve the problem that is indicated by the warning or error icon, complete the following steps:
1. Issue the QUERY DEVCLASS command to view the following information:
- A list of the directories that are defined to the device class
- The estimated or maximum capacity of a volume that is associated with the device class
- The mount limit, which is the maximum number of sequential-access volumes that can be mounted concurrently
3. Determine whether the device class is at risk of exhausting the space available to fulfill possible scratch-volume requests.
Symptoms
On the Storage Devices page of the Operations Center, the Drives column displays the number of drives that are available for use by each device class. If a library contains mixed tape technologies, with different device classes defined for each technology, the number of drives that is displayed for each device class might be too high.
On the same page, the Scratch Library Volumes column displays the number of scratch volumes that are checked into the library. This count might also be too high.
Cause
For each device class, all drives in the library are incorrectly included in the drive count, and all scratch volumes that are checked into the library are incorrectly included in the scratch-volume count.
Resolving the problem
To determine the drive count and scratch-volume count for each device class, complete the following steps:
- On the Storage Devices page, check the Type column for the type of storage device that is used by the device class.
- In the command-line interface, view the device type of each drive by issuing the QUERY DRIVE command.
- View the device type of each scratch volume by issuing the QUERY LIBVOLUME command.
- Compare the device type of each drive or scratch volume with the type of storage device that is used by the device class.
This problem is resolved in Tivoli Storage Manager V7.1.
Symptom
Normally, when you issue certain commands to a Tivoli Storage Manager server, you are prompted to confirm that you want to proceed. This confirmation is requested because the commands might stop the server, delete data, or change the server configuration and affect data placement or retention policies.
When you issue such a command from the command-line interface of the Operations Center to the hub server, confirmation is requested. However, when you issue a command from the command-line interface of the Operations Center to a spoke server, no confirmation is requested; the command is run on the spoke server.
Resolving the problem
Make sure that you know the consequences of issuing a command before you press Enter.
Symptom
The choice between ON and OFf is incorrect in the following syntax diagram. The first equals sign is also incorrect.
>>-Set STATUSSKIPASFAILURE--=--+-ON--+-------------------------->
'-OFf-'
>--TYPE--=--+-ALl----------+-----------------------------------><
+-APplications-+
+-VM-----------+
'-SYstems------'
Resolving the problem
The following syntax diagram is correct. The choice is between Yes and No, and there is no equals sign before that choice.
>>-Set STATUSSKIPASFAILURE--+-Yes-+----------------------------->
'-No--'
>--TYPE--=--+-ALl----------+-----------------------------------><
+-APplications-+
+-VM-----------+
'-SYstems------'
Symptom
In the syntax diagrams for the following commands, the documentation incorrectly lists INventory as a valid category:
- DEFINE ALERTTRIGGER
- UPDATE ALERTTRIGGER
- QUERY ALERTSTATUS
The following section of the syntax diagrams shows the incorrect listing:
-+------------------------------+-->
'-CATegory--=--+-APplication-+-'
+-INventory---+
+-CLient------+
+-DEvice------+
+-SErver------+
+-STorage-----+
+-SYstem------+
'-VMclient----'
Resolving the problem
The following syntax diagram is correct. The second category type is correctly listed as CAtalog.
-+------------------------------+-->
'-CATegory--=--+-APplication-+-'
+-CAtalog-----+
+-CLient------+
+-DEvice------+
+-SErver------+
+-STorage-----+
+-SYstem------+
'-VMclient----'
Symptom
The activity log contains messages that seem to be out of place. For example:
05/22/2013 10:51:13 ANR2034E SELECT: No match found using this criteria. (SESSION: 2)
05/22/2013 10:51:13 ANR2017I Administrator ADMIN issued command: ROLLBACK (SESSION: 2)
Cause
When a command is issued to a Tivoli Storage Manager server, at least one ANR2017I message normally echoes the command in the server's activity log. However, for most commands that are issued from the Operations Center to a server, the ANR2017I message is not added in the activity log. The activity log is therefore kept uncluttered.
Some commands cause more than one message to be added to the activity log. When these commands are issued from the Operations Center, only the first, ANR2017I message is suppressed. The remaining messages remain in the activity log and are out of context.
For example, the following command might be issued from the Operations Center to a server:
select * from tsmgui_allsrv_grid where status=1
The first ANR2017I message in the following set of messages is not added to the activity log, which causes the second and third messages to be out of context:
05/22/2013 10:51:13 ANR2017I Administrator ADMIN issued command: select * from tsmgui_allsrv_grid where status=1 (SESSION: 2)
05/22/2013 10:51:13 ANR2034E SELECT: No match found using this criteria. (SESSION: 2)
05/22/2013 10:51:13 ANR2017I Administrator ADMIN issued command: ROLLBACK (SESSION: 2)
Resolving the problem
Keep in mind that an ANR2017I message might be suppressed that would provide context for the remaining messages.
Symptom
When you open the help system of the Operations Center, no information is displayed in the main window pane.
Cause
The help system does not work properly with the Google Chrome web browser.
Resolving the problem
Switch to one of the following web browsers:
- Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 9 or 10
- Mozilla Firefox ESR version 10 or later
Was this topic helpful?
Document Information
Modified date:
17 June 2018
UID
swg21640656