IBM Tivoli Storage Manager for Mail, Data Protection for Microsoft Exchange Server, Version 7.1

Specifying Data Protection for Exchange options

Several Data Protection for Exchange parameters need to be configured.

The Tivoli® Storage Manager administrator is to provide you with the node name, password, and the communications method with the appropriate parameters to connect to the Tivoli Storage Manager server. These values, with other parameters, are stored in an options file that are located (by default) in the Data Protection for Exchange installation directory. If needed, edit the dsm.opt file by using a text editor.

If you edit the dsm.opt file, make sure that the Data Protection for Exchange options file and the backup-archive client options file specify the same Tivoli Storage Manager server.

The options file includes the following parameters, which are required for initial configuration:
COMMMethod
This option specifies the communication protocol to use between the Data Protection for Exchange node with the Tivoli Storage Manager server. Data Protection for Exchange supports the same set of communication protocols that are supported by other Tivoli Storage Manager clients on Windows systems. Depending on the chosen commmethod, the connectivity parameters for that commmethod must be specified as well.

For all backups, specify the commmethod option in the Data Protection for Exchange options file. In addition, specify the commmethod option in the backup-archive client options file that is used as the Local DSMAGENT Node. If the environment is configured for VSS offloaded backups, you must also specify the commmethod option in the backup-archive client options file that is used as the Remote DSMAGENT Node.

NODename
The Tivoli Storage Manager node name is the unique name by which Tivoli Storage Manager recognizes the system that runs Data Protection for Exchange.
The following options are not required for initial configuration. By default they are not specified, but you can modify the default settings:
CLUSTERnode
Leave this option blank. When the option is blank, the default value is used.
COMPRESSIon
This option instructs the Tivoli Storage Manager API to compress data before it is sent to the Tivoli Storage Manager server. This compression reduces traffic and storage requirements. If you enable compression, it affects performance in two ways:
  • CPU usage increases on the system on which Data Protection for Exchange is running.
  • Network bandwidth use is lower because fewer bytes are sent.
  • Storage usage on the Tivoli Storage Manager server is reduced.
You might want to specify compression yes if any of the following conditions exist:
  • The network adapter has a data overload.
  • Communications between Data Protection for Exchange and Tivoli Storage Manager server are over a low bandwidth connection.
  • There is heavy network traffic.
  • You can also use the compressalways yes option (with the compression yes setting) to specify that file compression continues even if the file grows as a result of compression.
It might be better to specify compression no in the following cases:
  • The computer that runs Data Protection for Exchange has a CPU overload; the added CPU usage can impact other applications that include the Exchange Server. You can monitor CPU and network resource usage with the Performance Monitor program included with Windows.
  • You are not constrained by network bandwidth; in this case, you can achieve the best performance by leaving compression no and enabling hardware compaction on the tape drive, which also reduces storage requirements.
The Tivoli Storage Manager administrator can override the compression option setting for the Data Protection for Exchange node when they register or update the node by specifying, on the Tivoli Storage Manager server side, that a particular node:
  • Always uses compression.
  • Never uses compression.
  • Leaves the decision up to the client (default value).

For VSS backups, specify the compression option in the backup-archive client options file that is used as the Local DSMAGENT Node. If the environment is configured for VSS offloaded backups, you must also specify the compression option in the backup-archive client options file that is used as the Remote DSMAGENT Node. Review the compression information available in the client documentation before you attempt to compress your data.

DEDUPLication
Client-side data deduplication is used by the Tivoli Storage Manager API to remove redundant data during backup and archive processing before the data is transferred to the Tivoli Storage Manager server. Specify whether the Tivoli Storage Manager API deduplicates data before it is sent to the Tivoli Storage Manager server. You can specify Yes or No. The default value is No. The value of the deduplication option for Data Protection for Exchange applies only if the Tivoli Storage Manager administrator allows client-side data deduplication.

The deduplication and enablelanfree options are mutually exclusive. You can use either one option or the other, but not both options together.

You can turn on client-side data deduplication by adding DEDUPLICATION YES to the dsm.opt file and by making sure that the deduplication prerequisites are met.

ENABLECLIENTENCRYPTKEY
This option encrypts Exchange databases during backup and restore processing. One random encryption key is generated per session and is stored on the Tivoli Storage Manager server with the object in the server database. Although Tivoli Storage Manager manages the key, a valid database must be available to restore an encrypted object. Specify enableclientencryptkey yesin the options file. In addition, assign the type of encryption to use by specifying the encryptiontype option in this same options file. You can specify DES56 (56 bit) or AES128 (128 bit). The default is AES128. In this same file, you must also specify the databases that you want encrypted by adding an include statement with the include.encrypt option.
  • For VSS backups, specify the encryption options in the backup-archive client options file that is used as the Local DSMAGENT Node. If the environment is configured for VSS offloaded backups, you must also specify the encryption options in the backup-archive client options file that is used as the Remote DSMAGENT Node. Review the encryption information available in the client documentation before you attempt to encrypt your databases.
For example, encrypt your Exchange database backups by adding the following three options:
  1. Add the enableclientencryptkey yes option.
  2. Add the encryptiontype option with the type of encryption to use.
ENABLELANFree
This option allows Data Protection for Exchange to run in a LAN-free environment (if you are equipped to do so). To run a LAN-free VSS backup with Data Protection for Exchange, specify enablelanfree yes in the DSMAGENT (VSS Requestor) options file. See Managed System for SAN Storage Agent User's Guide for detailed information about LAN-free environments.
INCLUDE and EXCLUDE
Use the VSSPOLICY statement in the Data Protection for Exchange configuration file to set policy for VSS backups.
The general include and exclude syntax is displayed:
include "objectNameSpecification" [ManagementClassName]
exclude "objectNameSpecification"
where objectNameSpecification is:
ExchangeServerName\ExchangeStorageGroupName\...\backupType
where backupType is one of the following:
full, copy, incr, diff
The Tivoli Storage Manager API does not allow sending any of the three data types (meta, data, logs) that comprise an Exchange database backup to different storage destinations on the Tivoli Storage Manager server.
This example excludes Database 1 from a backup:
EXCLUDE "SERVER1\Database 1\...\*"
This example binds all objects for database DB2 to management class CLASS1:
INCLUDE "SERVER1\DB2\...\*" CLASS1
This example binds all Directory backups to management class CLASS2:
INCLUDE "SERVER2\Directory\...\*" CLASS2
This example binds all incremental objects to management class CLASS3:
INCLUDE "SERVER3\...\incr" CLASS3

This example binds mailbox history objects to management class CLASS4:

INCLUDE "\...\MAILBOXINFO\...\*" CLASS4

Consider the following behavior when you set include and exclude statements:
  • The wildcard character (*) matches zero or more characters.
  • The wildcard character (?) matches any one character.
  • The wildcard character (*) within a qualifier replaces zero or more characters only within that qualifier. The qualifier itself must exist in the matching object name. To match zero or more qualifiers, use ellipses (\...\).
  • Incremental object names are always unique. These names contain qualifiers whose values make them unique. Incremental object names are generated at the time of the backup and therefore are not predictable and cannot be specified.
  • Include/exclude lists are processed from the bottom up and processing stops at the first match. To ensure that more specific specifications are processed at all, the more general specification are to be listed before the more specific ones, The general specifications are processed after the more specific ones. Otherwise, the more general specification matches the target before the more specific specifications are seen.
  • When a match is found, processing of the list stops and the statement that matches is examined.
    • If it is an exclude statement, the matching object name is not backed up.
    • If it is an include statement, the matching object name is backed up.
    If the include statement contains a ManagementClassName, that management class is associated with the object name, for this backup and for all backups of the same name on the current node.
  • If a match is not found, the object is backed up using the default management class for the current node.
  • If a match is found for an include statement that specifies a management class but the specified management class is not valid for the current node, the default management class for the current node is used.
  • Exchange database names must be of the correct case, as shown by the displayed results from the query exchange or query tsm. Data Protection for Exchange constants must be lower-case: meta, data, logs. However, now the Windows Tivoli Storage Manager API assumes the specifications are for a Windows file system and ignores case. Because they might be accepted in the future, the correct case must always be used.
PASSWORDAccess
This option instructs the Tivoli Storage Manager API to store the current password (encrypted) in the Windows registry and automatically generates a new one when the current one expires. This method of password management is recommended when you run scheduled, unattended backups since it ensures that the backup never fails because of an expired password. The default is prompt.

You can manage the password as stored in the registry by using a utility program named dsmcutil.exe. This utility program is distributed with the Tivoli Storage Manager backup-archive client package. For more information about using the dsmcutil program, see the dsmcutil.hlp file or the dsmcutil.txt file that are distributed with the Tivoli Storage Manager backup-archive client package.

You can create more Data Protection for Exchange options files to point to other Tivoli Storage Manager servers. You might also want to create more than one options file, each with different parameters to use with a single Tivoli Storage Manager server.


Feedback