Question & Answer
Question
Collecting documents to aid in problem determination when a database backup (BACKUP DB) fails on V7 servers.
Answer
Collecting Troubleshooting Data early, even before opening the Case, helps IBM® Support quickly determine if:
Symptoms match known problems (rediscovery).
There is a non-defect problem that can be identified and resolved.
There is a defect that identifies a workaround to reduce severity.
Locating root cause can speed development of a code fix.
Before collecting the docs listed here make sure that you have consulted the
Hub for Troubleshooting Server Database Backup Performance Degradation
(see the related link section for details)
Collecting Data: Table of contents:
Entering general information into an electronically-opened Problem Case (previously called PMRs) eliminates waiting on the phone to provide general information to support.
From a Spectrum Protect Admin command line client, enter the following commands:
- where endd and endt are the ending date and time for the actlog entries being collected
- the actlog gather should cover the full time frame of the issue/problem/scenario being diagnosed
Explicitly using the above commands will redirect the output to files called querysys.out and actlog.out in the Spectrum Protect servers working directory. The names of these files can be changed and a full path can be specified to place the output in any desired directory using any desired name.
These files along with the following files/info should be included as general information:
Gather the following files:
Note: The above Spectrum Protect Client files can be found in the installation file path. The default installation path is:
Windows: C:\Program Files\Tivoli\TSM\baclient
AIX: /usr/tivoli/tsm/client/ba/bin
HP-UX, Linux, Solaris: /opt/tivoli/tsm/client/ba
Since the Spectrum Protect Server uses an embedded Spectrum Protect Client (called $$_TSMDBMGR_$$) via API it will be necessary to run two parallel traces both on Spectrum Protect Server and Spectrum Protect Client.
Server trace instructions
A. Enable Spectrum Protect server tracing using the server monitoring script from the Perl Script to collect IBM Spectrum Protect Server monitoring data document.
When prompted for traceflags specify
SESSION ICBACK ADDMSG
Make sure to run the script as instance user as this user needs write permission to generate the trace file with the complete doc collection.
See related link section for a link to the server monitoring script technote.
B. Perform the following actions to generate the trace on API side:
- Login to the system as Administrator (Windows) or root (Unix)
- Add the following parameters to the option file indicated by the system variable DSMI_CONFIG (by
default: tsmdbmgr.opt) file:
traceflag service api
tracefile <path_free_space>/traceapi.txt
C. Save the file just modified
D. Recreate the problem by launching the BACKUP DB command
E. When the database backup has failed, disable the tracing on the server stopping the script with a Ctrl-C command.
IMPORTANT:
Do not forget to remove the above lines from option file indicated by DSMI_CONFIG otherwise the trace will be created at every db backup operation.
After the replication of the error gather the following information:
collected logs from the monitoring script
traceapi.txt
option file indicated by DSMI_CONFIG (by default tsmdbmgr.opt)
dsm.sys file contained in folder indicated by system variable DSMI_DIR (when the failure is seen on a Unix / Linux system)
all logs contained in the folder indicated by variable DSMI_LOG (main file is tsmdbmgr.log)
dsmserv.opt
query actlog begind=-1
query system
db2support.zip - created after running: db2support . -d TSMDB1 -c -s (as instance owner)
event log from the system
Symptoms match known problems (rediscovery).
There is a non-defect problem that can be identified and resolved.
There is a defect that identifies a workaround to reduce severity.
Locating root cause can speed development of a code fix.
Before collecting the docs listed here make sure that you have consulted the
Hub for Troubleshooting Server Database Backup Performance Degradation
(see the related link section for details)
Collecting Data: Table of contents:
| Gathering General Information |
Entering general information into an electronically-opened Problem Case (previously called PMRs) eliminates waiting on the phone to provide general information to support.
| Manually Gathering General Information |
From a Spectrum Protect Admin command line client, enter the following commands:
- QUERY SYSTEM > querysys.out
- QUERY ACTLOG begind=<mm/dd/yyyy> begint=<hh:mm> endd=<mm/dd/yyyy> endt=<hh:mm> > actlog.out
- where endd and endt are the ending date and time for the actlog entries being collected
- the actlog gather should cover the full time frame of the issue/problem/scenario being diagnosed
Explicitly using the above commands will redirect the output to files called querysys.out and actlog.out in the Spectrum Protect servers working directory. The names of these files can be changed and a full path can be specified to place the output in any desired directory using any desired name.
These files along with the following files/info should be included as general information:
- dsmserv.opt
- dsmserv.err
- details of operating system levels
- Spectrum Protect Server specific version (ex: 7.1.8.2)
Gather the following files:
- dsm.sys/dsm.opt
- details of operating system levels
- dsminfo.txt - Run QUERY SYSTEMINFO using the Spectrum Protect Client Command Line to generate a current version of the file.
Note: The above Spectrum Protect Client files can be found in the installation file path. The default installation path is:
Windows: C:\Program Files\Tivoli\TSM\baclient
AIX: /usr/tivoli/tsm/client/ba/bin
HP-UX, Linux, Solaris: /opt/tivoli/tsm/client/ba
| Manually Gathering Spectrum Protect Database Backup Information |
Since the Spectrum Protect Server uses an embedded Spectrum Protect Client (called $$_TSMDBMGR_$$) via API it will be necessary to run two parallel traces both on Spectrum Protect Server and Spectrum Protect Client.
Server trace instructions
A. Enable Spectrum Protect server tracing using the server monitoring script from the Perl Script to collect IBM Spectrum Protect Server monitoring data document.
When prompted for traceflags specify
SESSION ICBACK ADDMSG
Make sure to run the script as instance user as this user needs write permission to generate the trace file with the complete doc collection.
See related link section for a link to the server monitoring script technote.
B. Perform the following actions to generate the trace on API side:
- Login to the system as Administrator (Windows) or root (Unix)
- Add the following parameters to the option file indicated by the system variable DSMI_CONFIG (by
default: tsmdbmgr.opt) file:
traceflag service api
tracefile <path_free_space>/traceapi.txt
C. Save the file just modified
D. Recreate the problem by launching the BACKUP DB command
E. When the database backup has failed, disable the tracing on the server stopping the script with a Ctrl-C command.
IMPORTANT:
Do not forget to remove the above lines from option file indicated by DSMI_CONFIG otherwise the trace will be created at every db backup operation.
After the replication of the error gather the following information:
collected logs from the monitoring script
traceapi.txt
option file indicated by DSMI_CONFIG (by default tsmdbmgr.opt)
dsm.sys file contained in folder indicated by system variable DSMI_DIR (when the failure is seen on a Unix / Linux system)
all logs contained in the folder indicated by variable DSMI_LOG (main file is tsmdbmgr.log)
dsmserv.opt
query actlog begind=-1
query system
db2support.zip - created after running: db2support . -d TSMDB1 -c -s (as instance owner)
event log from the system
| Submitting Information to IBM Support |
After a Case is open, you can submit diagnostic troubleshooting data to IBM.
When data is uploaded to the Case, the status will be automatically be updated to acknowledge that data has been received. If you are still working with older Problem Management Records, you will want to update the PMR to indicate that you have sent the data.
| Online Self-Help Resources |
-
Review up-to-date product information at the IBM Spectrum Protect page.
- Sign into your account on the Spectrum Protect Product page, to access additional resources or to open a Case with the Support team.
| Related Information |
Related Information
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Document Information
Modified date:
21 October 2019
UID
swg21980701