IBM Tivoli Storage Manager, Version 7.1

Tivoli Storage Manager scheduler overview

The Tivoli® Storage Manager central scheduler allows client operations to occur automatically at specified times.

In order to understand scheduling with Tivoli Storage Manager, several terms need to be defined:

schedule definition
A definition on the Tivoli Storage Manager server which specifies critical properties of the automated activity including the type of action, the time the action should take place, and how frequently the action takes place. There are numerous other properties which can be set (see the appropriate Tivoli Storage Manager Administrator's Reference Guide for a detailed description of the define schedule.)
schedule association
An assignment to a specific schedule definition for a client node. Multiple schedule associations allow single schedule definitions to be used by many client nodes. Because schedule definitions are included with specific policy domains, it is only possible for nodes defined to a certain policy domain to be associated with schedules defined in that domain.
scheduled event
A specific occurrence of when a schedule is executed for a node. The following conditions must be met before automatic scheduled events take place for a client:
  • A schedule definition must exist for a specific policy domain.
  • A schedule association must exist for the required node which belongs to that policy domain.
  • The client scheduler process must be running on the client system.

AIX operating systems HP-UX operating systems Linux operating systems Mac OS X operating systems Oracle Solaris operating systems When creating a schedule definition on the Tivoli Storage Manager server, schedule actions that you can take include incremental, selective, archive, restore, retrieve, image backup (does not apply to Mac OS X), image restore (does not apply to Mac OS X), command, and macro. The scheduled action that is most frequently used is incremental with the objects parameter left undefined. With this setting, the Tivoli Storage Manager client performs a domain incremental backup of all file systems defined by the client domain option. A schedule definition using the command action allows an operating system command or shell script to be executed. When automating tasks for Tivoli Storage Manager for Data Protection clients, you must use command action schedule definitions which invoke the command-line utilities for the "Tivoli Storage Manager for" application.

Windows operating systems When creating a schedule definition on the Tivoli Storage Manager server, schedule actions that you can take include incremental, selective, archive, restore, retrieve, imagebackup, imagerestore, command, and macro. The scheduled action that is most frequently used is incremental with the objects parameter left undefined. With this setting, the Tivoli Storage Manager client performs a domain incremental backup of all drives defined by the client domain option. A schedule definition using the command action allows an operating system command or shell script to be executed. When automating tasks for Tivoli Storage Manager for Data Protection clients, you must use command action schedule definitions which invoke the command-line utilities for the "Tivoli Storage Manager for" application.

The schedule startup window indicates the acceptable time period for a scheduled event to start. The startup window is defined by these schedule definition parameters: startdate, starttime, durunits, and duration. The startdate and starttime options define the beginning of the startup window for the very first scheduled event. The beginning of the startup windows for subsequent scheduled events vary depending on the period and perunit values of the schedule definition. The duration of the schedule window defines the length of the startup window. The schedule action is required to start within the startup window. To illustrate, consider the results of the following schedule definition:
define schedule standard test1 action=incremental starttime=12:00:00 period=1
perunits=hour dur=30 duru=minutes
Event Window start Window end Actual start (just an example, times vary)
1 12:00:00 12:30:00 12:05:33
2 13:00:00 13:30:00 13:15:02
3 14:00:00 14:30:00 14:02:00
and so on      

The variation in actual start times is a result of the randomization feature provided by the Tivoli Storage Manager central scheduler which helps to balance the load of scheduled sessions on the Tivoli Storage Manager server.



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