IBM Support

How to delete orphaned snapshot chains on the DR hub server

Question & Answer


Question

How can orphaned snapshot chains be deleted which still exist on the DR side but no longer on the server ?

Cause

There may be orphaned data in the FastBack DR Hub server repository. The orphaned data is outdated and cannot be removed automatically by the scheduled DR process.
The orphaned data may accumulate and decrease the available DR Hub server repository space.

Answer

You can manually delete the orphaned snapshot chains as follows:

1)
First you need to know the names of the Policy and the Volume, which
together identify the chain of snapshots. The exact policy and volume
names can be found using the FastBack Mount GUI on the DR HUB side,
for example:
 policy "server01_00_45"                                            
 server "server01"                                                  
 volume "F:"                                                            


2)
Since the chain of snapshots is identified by an ActionItemID (Policy
ID) and a VolumeID value, you need to find the ID values for the policy
and volume. The values are stored in the configuration file named:
conf.txt
Since the chain does not exist on the FastBack Server and is still kept
on the DR HUB repository, use the conf.txt file from the DR HUB
machine. The conf.txt file may exist in the following location on the
DR HUB:
[FTP root]\Repository\<repository unit>\


3)
Make a copy the file conf.txt and open it with a text viewer
application, for example: Notepad, Wordpad, Lister32 etc.


4)
Search for the [ACTION ITEM] paragraph which contains the desired
policy name (Action Item Name). You will finds entries similar to:

[ACTION ITEM-003]                                                        
Action Item Classes @                                                    
10                                                                      
Action Item Jobs @                                                      
9                                                                        
Cleanup Optimization Precentage = -1                                    
Scripts timeout = 600                                                    
Action Item paused = 0                                                  
Action last update =                                                    
Enable soft mirror = 1                                                  
Enable DR = 1                                                            
Action Item Name = server01_00_45                                    
Erasing time = 21                                                        
Cont windows count = 0                                                  
Action Item Priority = 50                                                
Action Item ID = 3                                                      


5)
Make a note of the values for the policy:
- Action Item Classes: the ID value(s) of the Client Group(s) used by
the policy.
- Action Item Name: the name of the policy, it must be equal to the
policy name you were searching for.
- Action Item ID: is the policy ID.


6)
Volume ID values are kept in [CLASS] (Client Groups) paragraphs.
For example:

[CLASS-010]                                                              
Class Volumes @                                                          
Signature 0x7803b271 on My Server VolLetter C:\                          
Signature 0x2a790ae9 on My Server VolLetter F:\                          
Class last update =                                                      
Class Name = My Client Group                                            
Class ID = 10                                                            

Note the value of the "Signature".
This is the volume ID and will be needed for the "VolumeID" parameter
value.


7)
According to our example:
- ActionItemID = 3 (0x3 hex)
- VolumeID = 0x2a790ae9

Now you can run the manual erasure of the chain of snapshots, made for
volume "F:" (hosted on server "server01") made under the policy
"server01_00_45".


8)
The FastBack Server must be fully operational and running.
The FastBack DR must be stopped.


9)
Run windows Command Prompt (CMD) as Administrator on the FastBack
Server machine and go to the following location within this DOS/Command
Prompt window:

Windows 32 bit:
%system drive%\program files\tivoli\tsm\fastback\dr

Windows 64 bit:
%system drive%\program files (x86)\tivoli\tsm\fastback\dr


10) The command syntax would be as follows:

FastBackDRPh2.exe -DeleteChain -ActionItemId <Policy ID> -VolumeId <Volume ID> -Title "zzz"                                                
Note:
Both parameters "ActionItemId" and "VolumeId" require HEX input.
The "-Title" parameter must be included, but its value is not important.

For Example:
FastBackDRPh2.exe -DeleteChain -ActionItemId 3 -VolumeId 2a790ae9  -Title "zzz"          

Wait until the command finishes processing and the command prompt
appears again.


11)
To check if the erasure was performed successfully:
- open the FastBack Mount GUI again
- Click on the "Refresh" button
- Look for the volume name under the policy name and see if the desired
chain of snapshots no longer appears.


Additional:
FastBack development have provided a clean-up preparation tool to simplify the listing of ActionItemId and VolumeId of orphaned chains of a FastBack server on the DR Hub server: APAR IC99366.

Related Information

[{"Product":{"code":"SS9NU9","label":"Tivoli Storage Manager FastBack"},"Business Unit":{"code":"BU058","label":"IBM Infrastructure w\/TPS"},"Component":"DR Hub Server","Platform":[{"code":"PF033","label":"Windows"}],"Version":"6.1","Edition":"","Line of Business":{"code":"LOB26","label":"Storage"}}]

Document Information

Modified date:
17 June 2018

UID

swg21668154