Creating a Safeguarded Copy SLA policy

This procedure describes how to create a Safeguarded Copy (SGC) in IBM Spectrum® Copy Data Management. The Safeguarded Copy function isolates backup copies from production data, so if a cyberattack occurs, you can quickly recover and restore data from Safeguarded copies.

Before you begin

  • You must have a volume group that is created on the Flash System and must have assigned with at least one default safeguarded policy assigned. For steps refer to Getting started with Safeguarded Copy function.
  • If you are using IBM Spectrum Sentinel, you can scan snapshots for ransomware after you register a Security Scan Server by selecting Perform Security Scan. To register a Security Scan Server, see Registering a Security Scan Server.

About this task

The Safeguarded Copy feature creates safeguarded backups that are not accessible by the host system and protects these backups from corruption that can occur in the production environment. You can define a Safeguarded Copy schedule to create multiple backups regularly, such as hourly or daily. You can also restore a backup to the source volume or to a different volume.

Procedure

  1. Click the Configure tab. On the Views pane, select Sites & Providers, then expand the IBM Spectrum Virtualize and add the supported storage.
  2. On the Views pane, select SLA Policies. The All SLA Policies pane opens.
  3. In the All SLA Policies pane, click New. The New SLA Policies pane opens.
  4. Add a sub-policy (SLA Policy) to an IBM Spectrum Virtualize SLA policy.
    1. Select the source icon and define the recovery point objective to determine the minimum frequency and interval with which backups must be made. In the Frequency field, select Minutes, Hourly, Daily, Weekly, or Monthly, then set the interval in the Interval field. The lowest available frequency is five minutes.
      Note: Edits to the frequency and interval of an SLA Policy apply to all associated job schedules.
    2. Click Add Safeguarded Copy.
    3. In the Associated Safeguarded Volume Group pane, expand the storage device and select the volume group that you want to be back up as Safeguarded Copy. Any volume group that you want to back up as Safeguarded Copy must be a volume that belongs to one of these groups. If it is not a member of any of these groups it will not back up as a Safeguarded Copy.
      Note: The Associated Safeguarded Volume Group lists only those volume groups that have the Safeguarded Copy policy applied on the storage array side.
    4. In the Options pane, set the Safeguarded Copy sub-policy options.
      Keep Snapshots
      After a certain number of snapshot instances are created for a resource, older instances are purged from the storage controller. Enter the age of the snapshot instances to purge in the Days field, or the number of instances to keep in the Snapshots field.
      Name
      Enter an optional name to replace the default FlashCopy® sub-policy name displayed in IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management. The default name is Safeguarded Copy0.
      FlashCopy Volume Prefix
      Enter an optional label to identify the FlashCopy. This label is added as a prefix to the FlashCopy name created by the job.
      Tip: FlashCopy labels must contain only alphanumeric characters and underscores.
      Perform Security Scan
      You must enable this and select your security scan servers. This allows to scan for every backup number you have specified.
    5. Enter a name for the new sub-policy (SLA Policy).
    6. Click Finish.