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IBM Spectrum Protect 8.1 UNIX and Linux Backup-Archive Client known problems and limitations

Question & Answer


Question

This document contains warnings and known problems for the IBM® Spectrum Protect 8.1 UNIX and Linux backup-archive clients.

Answer

This document is divided into linked sections for ease of navigation.
You can use the following links to navigate to the section of the document you want.


 


 


Backup-archive client warnings

Currently, no known backup-archive client warnings for 8.1
 

Backup-archive client known problems and limitations

  • Help links incorrect for backup-archive legacy Web and Java GUIs (internal reference: #199951)
    Problem: The help links in the legacy Web GUI and the Java GUI point to 8.1.10 help and not 8.1.11 help.
    Workaround: After clicking links and being in 8.1.10 help, select the version level at the top of the web page and change it to 8.1.11 to see the correct help.
    Affected platforms: AIX, Linux, Mac, Windows
    Limitation: Since 8.1.11. Solved with 8.1.12.
     

  • GSKit attention notice during installation of BA Client on RH 8.2 (internal reference #195910)
    Problem: During installation of backup-archive client on Red Hat 8.2, the following message appears:

    ValueError: File context for /usr/local/ibm/gsk8_64/lib64/C/icc/icclib/libicclib*.so already defined
    The installation continues and the product is installed successfully. The attention message is internal and does not impact the product's ability to function.
    Workaround: No workaround is necessary. The product works correctly after installation.
    Affected platforms: Linux
    Limitation: Since 8.1.10, see APAR IT33140, permanent restriction.

     

  • CLI Help files are not available in two languages, Korean (KOR) and Simplified Chinese (CHS). (internal reference # 195986)
    Problem: For 8.1.10, the backup-archive client command line (CLI) Help files (Unix & Windows) are updated and available for 12 of the 14 supported languages. However, the CLI Help files are not available in two languages, Korean (KOR) and Simplified Chinese (CHS). For 8.1.10, the CLI Help files for KOR and CHS will point to the 8.1.7 versions.
    Workaround: The workaround for 8.1.10 when using the CLI in KOR or CHS is to access the content, normally contained in the CLI Help files, in IBM Documentation for these two languages.
    Affected platforms: AIX, Linux, Mac, Windows
    Limitation: Since 8.1.10. Solved with 8.1.11.
     

  • File "client_message.chg" contains incorrect information (internal reference # 185266)
    Problem:  The installed file: C:\Program Files\Tivoli\TSM\doc\client_message.chg contains incorrect information.
    Workaround:  The correct information is:

    ##########################################################################
# Name:    client_message.chg
# Created: Wed May  8 09:24:40 2019
# Description: Message changes from ITSM 8.1.7 to ITSM 8.1.8
##########################################################################
# Licensed Materials - Property of IBM
# (C) Copyright IBM Corporation 1999,2019. All rights reserved.
# U.S. Government Users Restricted Rights - Use, duplication or disclosure
# restricted by GSA ADP Schedule Contract with IBM Corporation.
##########################################################################
These are the new client messages: ANS1044W, ANS9421E
These are the changed client messages: ANS2567E, ANS9419W, ANS4174E

    Affected platforms: AIX, Linux, Mac, Windows
    Limitation: Since 8.1.8. Solved with 8.1.9.
     

  • IBM Redbooks Link from backup-archive client GUI should be updated to an available page. When accessing the link, an error message is displayed.  (internal reference #180291)
    Problem: The link is not correct:  http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/portals/tivoli
    Workaround: IBM Spectrum Protect Redbooks can be found at http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/Redbooks.nsf/domains/spectrumcomputing
    Affected platforms: AIX, Linux, Mac, Windows
    Limitation: Since 8.1.7. Solved with 8.1.8.
     

  • A long delay can be experienced while performing operations to the IBM Spectrum Protect Server before the operation fails with GSKKM_ERR_DATABASE_OPEN. (internal reference #148640)
    Problem: The problem is specific to the following scenario on UNIX. A user is attempting to configure client/server communication with Secure Socket layers. The version of the IBM Spectrum Protect server is not relevant in this case, but they are using the 8.1.2 IBM Spectrum Protect Client and API. The user manually imports the server certificate (dsmcert.kdb) as a root user, they do this action by either running the GSKit command-line utility program, gsk8capicmd, to import the certificate, or they use the new dsmcert tool. The user then switches to another non-root user on the system, they then attempt to perform IBM Spectrum Protect Client operations. In this scenario, the user experiences a long delay, anywhere between 5 to 20 minutes, before the client fails with a GSKKM_ERR_DATABASE_OPEN error.
    Problem Verification: The operation can appear to be hung, as it could take up to 20 minutes before failing. The failures can be different depending on the operation being attempted, but a GSKKM_ERR_DATABASE_OPEN error will be logged on dsmerror.log and dsierror.log.
    Workaround: The workaround is to manually change the permission on the certificate (dsmcert.kdb) so that both root and non-root users have read access to the certificate files "chmod go" and "r dsmcert.*"
    Affected platforms: AIX, Linux, Mac, Windows
    Limitation: Since 8.1.2. Solved with 8.1.4
     

  • If a keystore contains several hundred entries then there can be a delay when starting a client session. (internal reference: #148702)
    Problem: There can be a long delay when starting a client session. This behavior occurs when a certificate keystore contains more than a couple hundred entries.
    Workaround: Keep the keystore to fewer than 50 certificates.
    Affected platforms: AIX, Linux, Mac, Windows
    Limitation: Since 8.1.2. Solved with 8.1.4

  • Non-root users of the IBM Spectrum Protect Client might need access to the certificate store for server certificates, but permission problems thwart such access. (internal reference: #150024)
    Problem: The dsmcert utility installed with the IBM Spectrum Protect backup Archive Client is used to create a certificate store for server certificates. The file permissions on the store restrict access to the creator of the store and the root user. Non-root users of IBM Spectrum Protect will likely need access to the store.
    Workaround: Access can be granted by running the following commands:

    chmod 644 TSM.KDB
chmod 644 TSM.crl
chmod 644 TSM.rdb
chmod 644 TSM.sth

    This gives non-root users read access but not write access.
    Affected platforms:  AIX, Linux, Mac, Windows
    Limitation: Since 8.1.0. Solved with 8.1.4

  • Updating and Expiring a Node Password can result in rejected session (internal reference #147153)
    Problem: If a node's password is updated and later expires before it is ever used, the next time the node attempts to connect to the server the session will be rejected.  A subsequent attempt to connect to the server will not be rejected.
    Problem Verification: The rejected connection attempt returns:

    ANS1026E (RC136) The session is rejected: There was a communications protocol error.

    Workaround: To work around the rejected connection, retry the connection.
    Affected platforms: AIX, Linux, Mac, Windows
    Limitation: Since 8.1.2. Solved with 8.1.4
     

  • Long DSM_LOG path causes Common Inventory Technology (CIT) wscanhw tool to crash which in turn causes dsmc to crash (internal reference #204387)
    Problem: When a long DSM_LOG path that is greater than 1000 characters is specified, the CIT hardware scanner, wscanhw, crashes and thereby dsmc also crashes with "Segmentation fault (core dumped)".
    Problem Verification: One way to verify this is to check the output core file after dsmc crashes. If this lists wscanhw, then this is truly CIT crashing which is causing dsmc to crash.
    Workaround: Set DSM_LOG path to be short, fewer than 500 characters.
    Affected platforms: AIX, Linux, Mac
    Limitation: Since 7.1 and 8.1 release. Solved with 8.1.13.
     

  • LAN-free restores from disk might hang (Internal reference #168294)
    Problem: Attempting no-query restores (NQR) via the storage agent (LAN-free) from a storage pool of device class DISK might hang after some files have been restored.
    More conditions are:
       - the option RESTOREMIGSTATE is set to NO
       - target storage pools for backup and space management are different
    Workaround:
       - run NQR from DISK type storage pool without the storage agent (no LAN-free)
       - or do not use NQR, but standard query restores
       - or use RESTOREMIGSTATE=YES (which is the default)
    Affected platforms: AIX, Linux, Mac
    Limitation: Since 7.1 and 8.1 release. Solved with IBM Spectrum Protect server 8.1.6.100 and 8.1.7, see IT26377


 

Backup-archive client known problems and limitations related to web user interface

  • Some Web user interface login issues do not have specific error messages. (internal reference #SPP-BA-374)
    Problem: Under rare circumstances, when an admin user or password fails to login to the Web user interface there is only a return code, and not a specific message.
    Problem Verification: The following error message will be shown instead:

    "Try to log in again. If the problem persists, contact your administrator. Unable to login (rc = 3028)."

    Workaround: Check if admin password is expired.
    Affected platforms: AIX, Linux, Windows
    Limitation: Since 8.1.13 
     

  • Some web user interface messages contain indeterminate object names (internal reference #SPP-BA-367)
    Problem: Some messages that are issued by the IBM Spectrum Protect web user interface contain indeterminate object names because the web user interface cannot obtain the necessary information from the server. For example, if you tried to use the web user interface to retrieve a file from an archive package that was removed at the same time by the backup-archive client, the following error message is issued in the error details panel:

     ANS1345E No objects on the server match '{0}{1}{2}'

    The requested objects are shown as placeholders because the web user interface can no longer obtain the object names on the server.
    Workaround: The local dsmerror log file contains the complete message.
    Affected platforms: AIX, Linux, Windows
    Limitation: Since 8.1.13, see APAR IT39779, permanent restriction.
     

  • Error trace line output to dsmerror.log when session timeout (internal reference #SPP-BA-366)
    Problem:  If there wasn't any operation on backup-archive client web user interface for 30 minutes, an error is output to dsmerror.log like:

    ANS0361I DIAG: sessClose: Communications close error: -50

    This error does not cause any real problem. All running jobs continue.
    Workaround: Sign out backup-archive client web user interface if no more operation needs to be done on it.
    Affected platforms: AIX, Linux, Windows
    Limitation: Since 8.1.13
     

  • Running tasks in parallel on separate client nodes on the same host is not supported (internal reference: #SPP-BA-229)
    Problem:  When you log in to the web user interface and run several tasks consecutively, each of these tasks must wait until the previous task is completed. Only after one task is finished can the next task begin.
    However, when you log in to a second node on the same host (that is, the same URL), any task that you create is not started and remains in the "Waiting" state until the tasks in the first node is completed. Furthermore, no information about the running tasks that are initiated in the first node is displayed.
    The tasks on the second node can start only after the tasks on the first node is completed.
    Workaround: None. You must wait until the tasks on the first node are completed before the tasks on the second node can be started.
    Affected platforms: AIX, Linux, Windows
    Limitation: Since 8.1.7 (Linux x86, Windows), 8.1.8 (Linux on POWER, Linux zSeries) , 8.1.9 (AIX)
     

  • Trace logging is not working in backup-archive web client (internal reference: #199853)
    Problem: The tracing for the functionality of the web client cannot be turned on in backup-archive client 8.1.11 without a workaround.
    Problem Verification: If tracing is not working in 8.1.11 for the web client, check the messages.log in the webserver directory. If a message like the following is seen, then the installation is impacted:

    2020-11-03 17:46:46,118 FRAPI.ManagedExecutorService-thread-4 ERROR Unable to create file wsjar:file:/opt/tivoli/tsm/tdpvmware/common/webserver/usr/servers/veProfile/apps/FR_API.war!/../../logs/fr_api.log java.io.IOException: No such file or directory
        at java.io.File.createNewFile(File.java:1023)
        at org.apache.logging.log4j.core.appender.rolling.RollingFileManager$RollingFileManagerFactory.createManager(RollingFileManager.java:658)
        at org.apache.logging.log4j.core.appender.rolling.RollingFileManager$RollingFileManagerFactory.createManager(RollingFileManager.java:641)
        at org.apache.logging.log4j.core.appender.AbstractManager.getManager(AbstractManager.java:113)

    Workaround: In the following directory /webserver/usr/servers/veProfile/apps directory do the following.
    1. Copy and rename FR_API.war to FR_API.war.orig.
    2. Unzip the FR_API.war file into a FR_API.war directory.
    3. Restart the webserver.
    Affected platforms: AIX, Linux, Windows
    Limitation: Since 8.1.11. Solved with 8.1.12
     

  • After installation on Linux PLE, backup-archive client Web GUI webserver does not start (internal reference: #194403)
    Problem: After installation of the backup-archive Web GUI on Linux PLE, the webserver may have a core dump message.
    Starting server veProfile. The command status: start failed because of a communication error with the server.

    Server veProfile start failed. Check server logs for details.
/opt/tivoli/tsm/tdpvmware/common/webserver/bin/server: line 812: 73915 Trace/breakpoint trap   (core dumped) "${JAVA_CMD}" "$@" >> "${JAVA_CMD_LOG}" 2>&1

    The web GUI will not be functional until the webserver is started manually.
    Workaround:
    1. Check the webserver status after installation by running: service webserver status from terminal window
    2. If the webserver is not running, issue: service webserver start.
    3. After webserver has started navigate in browser to GUI at: https://localhost:9081/bagui
    Affected platforms: Linux Power little endian (PLE)
    Limitation: Since 8.1.9. Solved with 8.1.10
     

  • Inactive files might not be restored when restoring a directory by using the web user interface. (internal reference: #179512)
    Problem: When a directory is restored by using the web user interface, the handling of the inactive files depends on the backup status (active or inactive) of the directory.
    If the backup status of the directory is inactive (that is, the directory was no longer present at the time of the last backup), then all files in the selected directory, and related subdirectories, are restored.
    If the backup status of the directory is active (that is, the directory was present at the time of the last backup), then only the active files of this directory, and related subdirectories, are restored. Inactive files, that can be displayed on the user interface are not restored.
    Problem Verification: Restore a directory that contains inactive files.
    Workaround: Select the individual inactive files to restore.
    Affected platforms: Linux, Windows
    Limitation: Since 8.1.7 (Linux x86, Windows), Solved with 8.1.8
     

  • Only one CAD is displayed in the web user interface when multiple CADs share node name (internal reference: #185304)
    Problem: The Web UI reads the CAD's dsminfo files from /var/log to obtain the connection information. If a second CAD using the same node name is started, it overwrites the dsminfo file of the other CAD. When using the Web UI the admin is only able to log in by using the CAD, which was started at last.
    Workaround: none
    Affected platforms: Linux
    Limitation: Since 8.1.7 (Linux x86), 8.1.8 (Linux on POWER, Linux zSeries). Solved with 8.1.9
     

  • The "Detailed Failed Restore Information" panel of the web user interface does not effectively report that a "disk full" message relates to the target directory. (internal reference: #179513)
    Problem: In the case of a restore failure to an alternative location due to insufficient disk space in the target directory, the "Detailed Failed Restore Information" panel of the web user interface erroneously reports that the source disk is full. The "disk full" message displays next to the source "Object Name" files, and so this could be erroneously interpreted that the source disk is full, when in fact it is the alternative location of the target directory that is full.
    Problem Verification: Restore files and directories to an alternative location where there are no disk space issues.
    Affected platforms: Linux, Windows
    Limitation: Since 8.1.7 (Linux x86, Windows). Solved with 8.1.8.
     

  • Restore a directory to alternate location that has files only in nested directories on a full disk. (internal reference: #179574)
    Problem: When a directory is restored to an alternate location that has insufficient disk space and the restored directory has only files in nested directories. The restore fails but there is no information available about which files failed.
    Problem Verification: Restore a directory to an alternate location that contains files only in nested directories by using the IBM Spectrum Protect 8.1.7 web user interface.
    Workaround: No workaround available.
    Affected platforms: Linux, Windows
    Limitation: Since 8.1.7 (Linux x86, Windows). Solved with 8.1.8.
     

  • Long running restore can fail in the web user interface when signing off. (internal reference #180815) 
    Problem: Signing off during a long running restore can result in a failed restore. Starting a long running restore and signing of when this restore is still running can result in a restore failure. The restore task status is failed but it can be that all files were restored. It is not possible to see which files where restored.
    Workaround: Do not sign off during running restore task.
    Affected platforms: Linux, Windows
    Limitation: Since 8.1.7 (Linux x86, Windows). Solved with 8.1.8.



 

Backup-archive client known problems and limitations related to IBM Spectrum Scale (GPFS)

  • On GPFS file systems during a file movement to other storage pool new ctime is set which leads to new backup (Internal reference #93633)
    Problem: On GPFS file systems if a file is moved from one storage pool to another, the attributes of the files change and the ctime will be set. The ctime change causes a new backup of the file in the next backup run.
    Workaround: none
    Affected platforms: AIX, Linux
    Limitation: Since 7.1 and 8.1 release.
     

  • Size of returned file attributes can be nonzero
    Problem: The size that is returned for extended file attributes can be nonzero regardless of the presence of extended ACLs. Such files are processed as if they have ACLs.
    Workaround: none
    Affected platforms: AIX
    Limitation: Since 7.1 and 8.1 release.
     

  • Changes on a file ctime lead to new backup
    Problem: Changes to the ctime of a file that hold ACL or EA data cause a full backup of the file in terms of the next incremental backup. This behavior is true for both backup solutions IBM Spectrum Protect backup-archive client progressive incremental and GPFS mmbackup.
    Workaround: none
    Affected platforms: AIX, Linux
    Limitation: Since 7.1 and 8.1 release.
     

  • Uninstallation of IBM Spectrum Scale (GPFS) Software while backup-archive client is still installed leads to missing libraries
    Problem: If Spectrum Scale (GPFS) software is uninstalled while the IBM Spectrum Protect backup-archive client is still installed, the backup-archive client fails to load because of missing links to Spectrum Scale (GPFS) libraries.
    Workaround: In this case, you can either reinstall the backup-archive client or re-create the missing links manually. To re-create the links manually, issue the following commands:

    ln -s /opt/tivoli/tsm/client/api/bin64/libgpfs.so /usr/lib64/libgpfs.so
ln -s /opt/tivoli/tsm/client/api/bin64/libdmapi.so /usr/lib64/libdmapi.so

    Affected platforms:  Linux
    Limitation: Since 7.1 and 8.1 release.



 

Backup-archive client known problems and limitations related to IBM Spectrum Protect for Space Management (also known as UNIX HSM) client

  • IBM Spectrum Protect for Space Management daemons can exist after reboot
    Problem: UNIX HSM daemons and commands open and rely on DMAPI sessions. DMAPI sessions are persistent over node reboots. Typically the UNIX HSM client recovers orphan DMAPI sessions, but it can happen that orphan DMAPI sessions exist after a node failure that caused a reboot or the operating system. The DMAPI session limit in an IBM Spectrum Scale cluster is 4000. If this number of open sessions was exceeded UNIX HSM can't work correctly.
    Workaround: Query the number of open DMAPI sessions by issuing the command "mmdiag --dmapi session". Initiate a UNIX HSM DMAPI session recovery by issuing the command "dmkilld; dsmrecalld" on all cluster nodes that have UNIX HSM installed. If this action does not help close the DMAPI sessions manually by restarting the whole GPFS cluster by issuing the command "mmshutdown -a; mmstartup -a".
    Limitation: Since 7.1 and 8.1 release (AIX and Linux).
     

  • Move of a migrated file leads to migration state "resident"
    Problem: Movement of a migrated file from a source file set to a target file set will cause the recall of the file. The file migration state changes to "resident".
    Workaround: none
    Limitation: Limitation: Since 7.1 and 8.1 release (AIX and Linux).
     

  • Restored stub files have resident state if option RESTOREMIGSTATE=NO
    Problem: Stub files that are restored by using the IBM Spectrum Protect backup-archive client are restored to resident state if the option RESTOREMIGSTATE = NO is set.
    Workaround: none
    Limitation: Since 7.1 and 8.1 release (AIX and Linux).
     

  • Restored stub files with ACLs have allways RESTOREMIGSTATE=NO
    Problem: If the stub file that has to be restored holds ACL and EA data, the RESTOREMIGSTATE will be set to NO implicitly. This behavior occurs because ACL and EA data is stored along with the file data in the storage pool on the server.
    Workaround: none
    Limitation: Since 7.1 and 8.1 release (AIX and Linux).
     

  • Enabled IBM Spectrum Protect server node replication leads to restore stub files
    Problem: Enabled IBM Spectrum Protect server node replication leads to restore stub files from target server. Stub files that are restored from the target server can't be recalled from the source server.
    Workaround: If IBM Spectrum Protect server node replication is enabled in the environment and files must be restored from the target server set the option RESTOREMIGSTATE to NO to prevent the restore of stub files.
    Limitation: Since 7.1 and 8.1 release (AIX and Linux).



 

AIX Backup-Archive Client

  • GSkit incompatibility issue with Domino Server and backup-archive client (internal reference: #186201)
    Problem: An incompatibility between Domino and IBM Spectrum Protect backup-archive client on the AIX backup-archive client can exist when the backup-archive client is installed on the same machine as a Domino Server. The user will see "GSKKM_ERR_CRYPTO_ALGORITHM" when attempting backup or restore commands.  The problem exists because of an incompatibility between installed GSKit versions by the IBM Spectrum Protect backup-archive client and the Domino Server.
    Workaround: If Data Protection for Domino is not installed on the machine running the Domino Server, ensure that the LIBPATH setting is not affecting the IBM Spectrum Protect backup-archive client only will fix the issue. This can be tested by issuing the command "unset LIBPATH". LIBPATH can be set to the Domino Server GSKit installation and is causing the error with the backup-archive client.
    However, if the Data Protection for Domino client is also installed, it is recommended to use the circumvention described in technote: Resolving GSKit Incompatibility between Domino and IBM Spectrum Protect for Domino
    Affected platforms: AIX
    Limitation: Since 7.1 and 8.1 release.
     

  • Upgrade installation does not remove snapdiff library and license file (internal reference: #132942)
    Problem: When running an overinstall of BA Client on AIX two files will be left behind related to the depreciation snapdiff functionality

    /usr/tivoli/tsm/client/ba/bin64/nasdcm.lic
/usr/tivoli/tsm/client/ba/bin64/plugins/libPiSnpHdw.a

    Workaround: Delete the two files manually after upgrade.
    Affected platforms: AIX
    Limitation: Since 8.1.0. Solved with 8.1.2




 

Linux backup-archive client

  • Journal-based backup cannot be used with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.8 and 8.2 (internal reference: #196002)
    Problem: Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 7.8 and 8.2 introduced changes that render these operating systems incompatible with the IBM Spectrum Protect backup-archive client journal-based backup kernel extension. Therefore, journal-based backup cannot be used with these versions of Red Hat Linux.  When the kernel extension attemps to load, the following error displayed in the terminal:

    insmod: ERROR: could not insert module filepath.ko: Operation not permitted
ERROR: Failed to start filepath with error 1
    Workaround: None. Defer your operating system upgrade to RHEL 7.8 or RHEL 8.2, or change to regular incremental backup after the operating system upgrade.  This issue is described by APAR IT33132
    Affected platforms: Linux
    Limitation: Since 7.1 and 8.1 release. Solved with 8.1.11, see APAR IT33132
     

  • In RHEL 8, the elfutils-libelf and elfutils-libelf-devel packages are missing when building JBB driver (internal reference: #189643)
    Problem: In RHEL 8, the elfutils-libelf and elfutils-libelf-devel packages are not installed as part of the kernel-headers of kernel-devel packages.  These elfutils-libelf and elfutils-libelf-devel packages are needed by the Linux jbb driver.
    Problem Verification: The user will see an error similar to the one below when building the JBB driver on a system without those libraries.

    Makefile:958: *** "Cannot generate ORC metadata for CONFIG_UNWINDER_ORC=y, please install libelf-dev, libelf-devel or elfutils-libelf-devel".  Stop.

    Workaround: Install the elfutils-libelf and elfutils-libelf-devel packages separately.
    Affected platforms: Linux
    Limitation: Since 8.1 release.
     

  • SLES 15 installation issues warnings do to missing 'sys' group (internal reference: #173428)
    Problem: SLES 15 has removed the 'sys' group from the default group accounts. 
    As the group sys no longer exists you can see the following warning printed many times during installation: 

    groups sys does not exist - using root

    This behavior is harmless and can be ignored.
    Workaround:  The system admin could create the sys group before installing GSKit. For example:

    groupadd -g 3 sys

    Affected platforms: Linux
    Limitation: Since 8.1 release.
     

  • A valid NetApp Snapshot Differential c-mode license file is missed (internal reference: #132895)
    Problem: On Linux86 Ubuntu, a valid NetApp Snapshot Differential c-mode license file is missing
    Workaround: Copy in a valid c-mode license file
    Affected platforms: Linux x86_64
    Limitation: Since 8.1.0. Solved with 8.1.2, see APAR IT18407.
     

  • On RHEL dsmc client can hang while backing up files
    Problem: Due to a software problem in the RHEL kernel the dsmc client can hang while backing up files. This problem is addressed with RHEL bug report https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1409214
    Workaround: Customers should upgrade to kernel version kernel-3.10.0-553.el7
    Affected platforms: LinuxZ
    Limitation: Since 8.1 release. Permanent restriction.



 

Mac OS X Backup-Archive Client known problems and limitations

  • IBM Spectrum Protect client does not support nanoseconds (internal reference #159310)
    Problem: Objects on an Xsan 2.0 file system have their modification, change, and attribute times stored in a high-resolution format--to the nanosecond. IBM Spectrum Protect client will not back up or restore these fractions of a second of times. The fractional time will not be used to determine whether a file should be backed up and it will always be set to zero during restore.
    Workaround: none
    Affected platforms: Mac OS X
    Limitation: Since 7.1 and 8.1 release.
     

  • IBM Spectrum Protect client treats symbolic links as files. (internal reference #159311)
    Problem: When an input path to the command line contains a symbolic link, Tivoli Storage Manager is unable to process the path. This behavior occurs when the path entered on the command line. This behavior is due to limitations in Mac OS X.
    Workaround: none
    Affected platforms: Mac OS X
    Limitation: Since 7.1 and 8.1 release.


 


Known issues and limitations found in previous version

UNIX and Linux client warnings

  • For option and input files in DBCS locales, ensure that all Tivoli Storage Manager client option and input files (such as dsm.opt, dsm.sys, and filelist) are created in the same SBCS locale as the Tivoli Storage Manager client.

Common client known problems and limitations

  • Sometimes user gets an ANS2120W warning, but it is a false positive and can be ignored.
    If a node with replication enabled is replicated to a target server. And the backup to the source node fails or canceled.
    Then the output of a "dsmc query vm" or "dsmc restore vm" command from the TARGET node (via automated failover) prompts the following warning:

    ANS2120W The last store operation date reported by the server TAPSRV07 of 00/00/0 00:00:00 UTC does not match the last store operation date of 06/26/2015 03:37:36 UTC stored by the client for the filespace \VMFULL-win2008r2x64 - small.

    If it is a restore, you can safely choose to continue.

  • When the user attempts to modify an existing node access rule from the JGUI (Utilities -> Node Access List), the predefined path is not selected in the tree. (Internal reference #94088)
     
  • Java GUI: Adding Access Rule to the Node Access List fails when the file is not under a directory but in the root of the file system. (Internal reference #94256)
    Workaround:
    1. Locate a file under dir in the file system.
    2. Complete the '*' for Filename field. This will grant access to all the files in the file system.
     
  • If the passwordaccess generate is set in the client option file and if an invalid password is given at the first attempt during open registration with the client, the second attempt will fail as well. (Internal reference #94896)
    Workaround: Retry open registration.
     
  • The 'capicmd' GSKit application (gsk8capicmd.exe, gsk8capicmd_64.exe on Windows; gsk8capicmd, gsk8capicmd_64 on Unix) used to create SSL key database files fails with the "File already exists" error if one of the files of the key database has been deleted. (Internal reference #5571)
    A workaround for this issue is to delete all key database files and re-try key generation. Key database files match the following pattern: "dsmcert.*". The recommended way to delete the key database is to use following command: 
    "gsk8capicmd -keydb -delete -db dsmcert.kdb -pw password"
  • Initial configuration wizard reports a protocol violation
    During a first time configuration, the configuration wizard will report a protocol violation. Additionally, the Domain panel will not list the file systems to select for the domain option.
    The error dialog can be dismissed and the configuration wizard can be used without further error.
    After the initial configuration, use the preference editor to set the Domain option.
  • Interrupt with CTRL-CDuring a command line client operation, pressing CTRL-C might result in a Tivoli Storage Manager client program exception or other unexpected behavior. To abort a command line client operation, press the 'Q' key instead of CTRL-C.
  • Web Client tree expansion For browsers running on AIX, the browser machine must have the WorldType fonts (available as package X11.fnt.ucs.ttf - AIXwindows Unicode True Type Fonts on the AIX distribution media) installed.
    • Click "Expand Entire Branch"
    • Then click "Collapse Entire Branch"
    • Web Client font requirements for non-English file names
       
  • Java GUI does not start with invalid option in options file
    In rare cases, when there is an error in the dsm.opt file, the Java GUI will not start properly. The Java GUI will attempt to start, but at some point after 70%, the title screen disappears and nothing appears to happen.
    To work around the problem, refer to the dsmerror.log or dsmj.log file in the installation directory or from where the command to start the Java GUI was issued for the offending option, and remove it manually from the options file. You should be able to restart the client without problems.
     
  • Reset button does not function properly in Preference Editor Communications Panel
    On certain systems, the Communications panel in the Preference editor will not display correctly when the Reset button of the preference editor is invoked. When you click the Reset button, the list of communication methods might not display the proper list after the reset is complete.
    If there is a need to reset the communication panel back to the original settings, exit out of the preference editor and restart it.
     
  • IMAGEGAPSIZE Option
    The value for the IMAGEGAPSIZE option should not be specified outside the listed ranges for MB and GB units. If it is, the client will not report it as an error.
     
  • Select all after applying filter from backup window
    After applying a filter to a directory in the backup window, when you check the check box for this filtered directory, the corresponding files in the file view on the right are not checked (not selected). To select the files in that filtered directory, click the name of the checked directory and the boxes next to the filtered files are checked.
     
  • Connection Information dialog might not appear in certain situations
    The Connection Information dialog might not appear correctly in certain situations. An exception will be logged in the dsmj.log file when this occurs. This will occur when you do the following:
    1. Start the Java GUI.
    2. Change the password (Utilities -> Change Password).
    3. After successfully changing the password, click either the Backup, Restore, Archive, or Retrieve button.
    4. Attempt to open the Connection Information dialog (File -> Connection Information).
     
  • Dsmagent can crash if it is killed during restore operation
    On Unix and Mac platforms, when Tivoli Storage Manager GUI (both Java and Web) is used to perform restore or retrieve operation and dsmj or dsmagent process is killed while the operation is still in progress, dsmagent can crash. There is no negative impact other than creating a core file.
    The recommended ways to terminate an application while an operation is in progress are either pressing the Stop button or cancelling the session by Tivoli Storage Manager administrator.
     
  • Automatic deployment of backup-archive client might connect to the wrong server stanza (internal reference #153620) 
    Problem: When a backup-archive client installation is being updated to version 7.1.8 via automatic deployment, the update manager determines the related server stanza that triggered the deployment action through the currently running scheduler process.
    In case of the scheduler process (or its parent CAD process) has been invoked with the -server option this option is ignored. As a consequence the stanza is selected by the dsm.opt file (as referred to by either -optfile option, DSM_CONFIG environment variable, or defaulting to ba/bin/dsm.opt).
    If this server stanza is different to the server stanza initiating the automatic deployment, the operation is aborted as it cannot retrieve the client package from the server.
    The setup.log file will show: 
    ANS1083E No files have been previously been archived for DEPLOY_7180_<platform>_<arch>
    Workaround: Configure your CAD or scheduler process without the -server option, e.g. by specifiyng the server stanza directly in the referred dsm.opt file.
     
  • Installing the backup-archive client and Data Protection for IBM Domino® on RHEL 7.x or SUSE 12.x distributions causes a conflict (see APAR IT12076)
    If you want to enable the Tivoli Storage Manager web client for IBM Tivoli Storage Manager for Mail: Data Protection for IBM Domino, you must install the Tivoli Storage Manager API, backup-archive client, and Data Protection for IBM Domino on the same system in a specific sequence.
    To avoid an installation conflict on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.x or SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12.x distributions, complete the installation in the following order:

    1. Uninstall the backup-archive client (if already installed).
    2. Install the API if it was uninstalled with the backup-archive client.
    3. Install Data Protection for IBM Domino.
    4. Install the backup-archive client with the --replacefiles option. For example, to install the Linux x86_64 client, issue the following command: 
    rpm -ivh --replacefiles TIVsm-BA.x86_64.rpm

    For more information about installing and uninstalling the backup-archive client and API, see http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSGSG7_7.1.4/client/c_inst_baunix.html.
    For more information about installing Data Protection for IBM Domino, see http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSTG2D_7.1.0/com.ibm.itsm.mail.dom.doc/t_protect_dpmaildom.html.
     
  • NFSTIMEOUT option
    This known problem applies to all UNIX and Linux platforms except for Mac OS. The nfstimeout option can fail if the NFS file system is hard mounted. If a hang occurs, remove the nfstimeout option from your options file and soft mount the NFS file system as follows: 
    mount -o soft,timeo=5,retry=5 machine:/filesystem /mountpoint
    The parameters are defined as follows:
    • soft: Generates a soft mount of the NFS file system. If an error occurs, the stat() function returns with an error. If the option hard is used, stat() does not return until the file system is available.
    • timeo=n Sets the time-out for a soft mount error to n seconds
    • retry=n Set the internal retries and the mount retries to n, the default is 10000.
    • Tivoli Storage Manager editor in various terminal environments
    The Tivoli Storage Manager interactive-mode command line editor is designed to work in the following terminal environments:
    • xterm --- This is the default if terminal type not recognized.
    • xterm (Linux KDE)
    • aixterm
    • dtterm
    • VT-100
      Each of these terminals has a slightly different key map, so certain keys, such as the destructive backspace or the arrow keys, might not be supported on your workstation. If your terminal type is not supported, or you find working with the supplied editor support to be inconvenient, then add EDITOR NO to your dsm.opt file to use the native input support. Using this option will disable interactive-mode command recall.
       
  • Client interoperability
    • Data that has been backed up from Mac OS versions before Mac OS X will not have the correct file owner or permissions when restored on Mac OS X. After the restore is complete, use the "sudo chown" and "sudo chmod" commands to set them.
    • Files backed up or archived by the z/OS Unix System Services client cannot be restored or retrieved by any other Tivoli Storage Manager Unix client. Files backed up or archived by any other Tivoli Storage Manager Unix client cannot be restored or retrieved by the z/OS Unix System Services client.
    • Files backed up or archived with DES-56 encryption on Intel platforms such as Linux86 cannot be restored or retrieved on non-Intel platforms (for example, AIX), and vice versa. AES-128 is the recommended encryption method.
       
  • File names containing characters with code > 127 (does not apply to Mac OS)
    If you want to back up files with names containing characters with a code > 127, ensure that you have chosen either an SBCS character set locale or a DBCS character set locale corresponding to the encoding of the file names. The default code page C or the code page POSIX supports characters up to 127 only. Files whose names contain special characters that are not supported by the current locale will be skipped.
    It is strongly recommended that you perform a system backup by using an SBCS character set to prevent any file or directory from being skipped. This action ensures that all files are backed up independent of their character set encoding.
     
  • Restore and retrieve using FOLLOWSYMBOLIC option
    If you want to restore or retrieve to a destination path that contains a symbolic link to a directory, use the "FOLLOWSYMBOLIC Yes" option setting either during the operation or in your client options file (dsm.opt). This setting allows you to restore or retrieve the original directory tree underneath the destination path. Otherwise, you will get the ANS4029E error during restore or retrieve.
     
  • Option and input files in DBCS locales
    If you create Tivoli Storage Manager client option and input files (such as dsm.opt, dsm.sys, and file lists) using different SBCS locales or using DBCS locales, the Tivoli Storage Manager client might not correctly process the file names in those files. You might receive error messages ANS1228E or ANS4005E.
    Ensure that all Tivoli Storage Manager client option and input files, such as dsm.opt, dsm.sys, and file lists, are created in the same locale as the Tivoli Storage Manager client.
     
  • Java GUI and Web client known problems and limitations
    • The Web and Java GUI client will fail to restore a directory if a filespace with the same name exists on the Tivoli Storage Manager server. You might see the error message "No Objects on the server match query" or "ANS1395E The destination filespace or drive letter is unavailable. The following object is not processed: Filespace: '/'".
      For example, '/opt' is a file system backed up by Tivoli Storage Manager. After reinstalling the machine, '/opt' is a directory below file system '/'. File system '/opt' no longer exists on the Tivoli Storage Manager client machine. The file system '/' and all of its subdirectories, including directory '/opt', is backed up by Tivoli Storage Manager. At this point there are both '/' and '/opt' file spaces on the Tivoli Storage Manager server for this Tivoli Storage Manager client node. Trying to restore files out of filespace '/', directory '/opt' fails to use the Web/Java GUI (dsmj) client.
      If you experience this problem, the workaround is to use the command line Tivoli Storage Manager client to restore the files. Put the file space name in curly brackets. Example: 
      dsmc restore "{/}opt/subdirectory/*" -subdir=yes
    • The maximum trace file size (tracemax) for the Java GUI preference editor is 2147483647 MB. This is a temporary workaround until the preference editor can accommodate larger numbers.
    • Web Client Security Exception
      If you get a Security Exception error when running the Web Client in your browser due to the Web Client trying to open a TCP/IP socket to a socks server, disable the proxy server via your browser settings or Java plug-in control panel. See the "Starting a Web Client Session" section in Chapter 3 "Getting Started" of the "IBM Tivoli Storage Manager for UNIX and Linux Backup-Archive Clients Installation and User's Guide" for more information.
    • Web Client concurrent restore
      Running more than one restore or retrieve operation at the same time from the Web Client might cause the browser to hang when destination or message windows from the different restore/retrieve processes appear on the screen at the same time. If this happens, close the Web Client browser windows, stop the Tivoli Storage Manager Agent service, then retry the operations using only one Web Client session.
    • Insufficient space in Javaheap (Java GUI)
      If you receive the following messages from Java virtual machine (JVM) while running DSMJ: 
      JVMST109: Insufficient space in Javaheap to satisfy allocation request
JVMDG217: Dump Handler is Processing OutOfMemory - Please Wait.
JVMDG315: JVM Requesting Heap dump file
      These errors indicate that your JVM maximum heap size is too small. The default value is 64M. To increase the maximum heap size, add the option -Xmxn (where n is size in MB) in the DSMJ script, such as the following example: 
      java -Xmx256m  -DDSM_LANG=$LANG   -DDSM_CONFIG=$DSM_CONFIG -DDSM_DIR=$DSM_DIR \
-DDSM_LOG=$DSM_LOG -DDSM_OPTIONS="$OPTIONS" -DDSM_ROOT=$PWD    \
${JAVA_XARGS} -jar dsm.jar
      This example increases the maximum heap size to 256MB.
       
    • Search/Filter (Web and Java GUI)
      The Search/Filter function might appear to be unresponsive when searching through very large file systems. This is caused by the Java virtual machine (JVM) running out of memory. You should see a "java.lang.OutOfMemoryError" in the Java console.
       
    • Problems with different JRE versions
      • There are several different Java Runtime Environment (JRE) versions available. Depending on the version and the operating system, there are some known problems related to JRE. See the Software Requirements section for the supported and required JRE version to be used with the Tivoli Storage Manager Java GUI for your operating system.
      • Some JRE versions have problems transferring the cursor focus to a component. For example, accessing shortcuts in the menu (e.g., pressing ALT-F to open the file menu) and combo-boxes in a modal dialog by clicking the mouse button might not get the cursor focus correctly. To solve this problem, transfer the cursor focus manually to that component by pressing the TAB key (or CTRL-TAB) several times.
    • Preference Editor limitations (Java GUI)
      • The domain list in the "Backup" tab of the preferences editor does not reflect any domains excluded via the dash operator after "domain ALL_LOCAL" in the domain statement of the client options file.
      • When any option is changed in the preferences editor of the Java GUI, the domain list is rewritten to the client options file.
      • When using the preferences editor to modify the Include-Exclude list, and the selected rule contains a space (for example, /test dir/inclexcl.txt), the rule will not be correctly displayed in the "Filename or Pattern" field. To work around this problem, you can either manually update this field via the "Browse" button, or manually type in the correct path. This will be fixed in a future release.
      • The Preferences Editor invoked from the UNIX Backup-Archive Client Java GUI uses the DSM_CONFIG variable instead of the passed parameter "optfile".
      • The warning in the Diagnostic tab is not removed from the filename box when tracing is disabled and an error exists.
    • Backup Window
      • When you select an item in the filelist tree of backup window, the drop-down box for backup type will be permanently disabled. To re-enable this, exit the backup window and reload the window.
    • Web client performance
      • Disable Java caching from the Java Control Panel to help improve performance on the Web client on the machine running the browser.
  • Client-side data deduplicaton memory requirements
    Client-side data deduplication might require additional memory during backup or archive processing. You might need to increase the system limit on the size of the data area (segment). To check current setting of the limit, run the following command: 
     ulimit -d
    To update the limit, run the following command: 
     ulimit -d <new value>
    or 
    ulimit -d unlimited

Common AIX known problems and limitations

  • GSkit incompatibility issue with Domino Server and backup-archive client (internal reference: #186201)
    Problem: An incompatibility between Domino and IBM Spectrum Protect backup-archive client on the AIX backup-archive client can exist when the backup-archive client is installed on the same machine as a Domino Server. The user will see "GSKKM_ERR_CRYPTO_ALGORITHM" when attempting backup or restore commands.  The problem exists because of an incompatibility between installed GSKit versions by the IBM Spectrum Protect backup-archive client and the Domino Server.
    Workaround: If Data Protection for Domino is not installed on the machine running the Domino Server, ensure that the LIBPATH setting is not affecting the IBM Spectrum Protect backup-archive client only will fix the issue. This can be tested by issuing the command "unset LIBPATH". LIBPATH can be set to the Domino Server GSKit installation and is causing the error with the backup-archive client.
    However, if the Data Protection for Domino client is also installed, it is recommended to use the circumvention described in technote: Resolving GSKit Incompatibility between Domino and IBM Spectrum Protect for Domino
     
  • Auto deployment of 7.1.8 backup-archive clients to AIX 6.1 target machines is not supported (internal reference #152064)
    Problem: Updating existing installations of versions 6.4.x or 7.x backup-archive clients to version 7.1.8 via auto deployment is not supported for AIX 6.1 target machines due to an incompatibility of the deployment manager. Target machines running AIX 7.x are not affected.
    Problem Verification: When an auto deployment of a 7.1.8 backup-archive client is scheduled for a AIX 6.1 target machine the process will fail immediately after the deployment manager has been retrieved on the target machine since it will not be able to run because of unresolved library dependencies.
    Workaround: You can perform a manual update of the backup-archive client on the affected machines or you might want to upgrade the affected machines to AIX version 7.1 or higher
    first before using auto deployment.

     
  • The -absolute option does not work while doing a Journal base backup. The option is accepted, but all files are not backed up. The user will see this error in the dsmerror.log: 
    ANS7559E The absolute option requires specifying the NoJournal option when performing a Journal Based Backup for backing up fs \\xxxxx\x$.
    Workaround: Add the -nojournal option to the command.
     
  • When Journal Based Backup (JBB) is configured and running during Tivoli Storage Manager client upgrade, the first backup after the upgrade will be progressive incremental, i.e. will not use the journal. Incremental backup can take more time comparing to JBB.
    Workaround: Stop the journal daemon before upgrading the client. Restart the daemon when the upgrade is complete.
     
  • NQR (no query restore) does not work for HSM (space managed) file systems, when the RESTOREMIGSTATE option is set to YES. Only classical restore is possible in this case.
     
  • The Tivoli Storage Manager client will fail to perform snapshot-based image backup when mirror pool is enabled. The Tivoli Storage Manager client does not support mirror pools at the moment.
     
  • Snapshot difference incremental backups are not supported for vFiler volumes mounted using AIX NFS version 4. This problem is documented by NetApp BURT 630200. Apply the fix for this once it is available from NetApp. Specify "testflag snapdiffenablevfilernfs4" in dsm.opt file and retry the snapshot difference incremental backup.
     
  • If you perform snapshot difference incremental backup of N-Series or NetApp volumes, make sure that the volumes are defined with a security style of UNIX. Tivoli Storage Manager backups will complete successfully even if the security style is NTFS or MIXED. However, it is recommended that you use a security style of UNIX.
     
  • During snapshot difference incremental backup of N-Series or NetApp volumes, if files are skipped due to any reason, such as Tivoli Storage Manager server media mount being unavailable, these files may not be backed up during subsequent backups either, unless the files have been modified. Such files will be logged to the Tivoli Storage Manager error log. You may back them up manually or perform a snapshot difference backup with the option "createnewbase" set to "yes".
     
  • When the NFS server corresponding to an NFS file system mounted on AIX is not reachable due to a network error or some other problem, the following error message is displayed on the console while performing Tivoli Storage Manager client operations: 
    NFS getattr failed for server nfs_sever_name: error 3 (RPC: 1832-006 Unable to send)
    In order to prevent this error message from being displayed by the AIX operating system, unmount the NFS file system having the problem and retry the Tivoli Storage Manager client operation.
     
  • If you use the memoryefficient=diskcachemethod option for full incremental backup, you might need large amounts of disk space. Ensure that large file support is enabled on the file system that is being used for the disk cache file.

     
  • Used Block Image backup:

    The Tivoli Storage Manager client will perform used block image backup for both snapshot and static image backups by default, unless:
    1. The option imagegapsize is set to zero.
    2. The file system is not AIX JFS2.

  • Symbolic link as a virtual mount point:
    Do not define symbolic links as virtual mount points, when performing snapshot based file backup or archive operations. In scenarios similar to the following, make sure that you set snapshotproviderfs=NONE or remove the snapshotproviderfs option.
    Example:

    • /fs1 is a file system with a directory name dir1 that has one or more files and subdirectories.
    • Create a symbolic link to /fs1/dir1 under a second file system /fs2 as follows: ln -s /fs1/dir1 /fs2/dir2
    • In the dsm.opt file, set: followsymbolic yes
    • In the dsm.sys file, set:
    • snapshotproviderfs NONE
    • virtualmountpoint /fs2/dir2
    • Issue this command: dsmc incr /fs2/dir2
       
  • Performing snapshot backup of multiple virtual mount points for a given file system:
    If you are performing a snapshot backup of two or more virtual mount points for the same file system with a single command, such as: 
    dsmc incr /fs1/level1/dir1 /fs1/level1/level2/dir2 /fs1/level1/level2/level3/dir3
    The Tivoli Storage Manager client will take a single snapshot of file system /fs1 to back up all three virtual mount points. In this case, make sure that you specify a single presnapshotcmd and a single postsnapshotcmd for the entire command as shown following: 
    dsmc incr /fs1/level1/dir1 /fs1/level1/level2/dir2 /fs1/level1/level2/level3/dir3 -presnapshotcmd=pre-script -postsnapshotcmd=post-script
  • Using ssh localhost dsmc command:
    When running ssh localhost dsmc command, the v client uses the server stanza defined in the dsm.opt file in the default installation directory, /usr/tivoli/tsm/client/ba/bin64 for the 64-bit client, ignoring the environment variable DSM_CONFIG, if it is set. Ensure that the dsm.opt file in the default installation directory has the correct server stanza when you invoke dsmc with ssh.
     
  • Restoring a file as a non-root Tivoli Storage Manager authorized user:
    After restoring a file as a non-root Tivoli Storage Manager authorized user, the restored file is not owned by the Tivoli Storage Manager authorized user who restored the file, if the restore overwrites the original file.
    • Set up a non-root Tivoli Storage Manager authorized user, such as tsmuser.
    • Create a directory structure such as: /fs1/testdir with file file1.
    • Set the permissions on the directory testdir as 755 and owned by root, the permissions on the file file1 as 777 and owned by a different user than the Tivoli Storage Manager authorized user, say testusr.
    • Back up the testdir directory as the Tivoli Storage Manager authorized user: dsmc sel "/fs1/testdir/*" -su=y
    • Modify the contents of the original file file1
    The restored file should now be owned by the authorized user tsmuser. However, the restored file file1 is still owned by the original owner testusr. In order to avoid this problem, restore the file either as root or as the original owner of the file.
    • VxFS Sparse File Restore
      When a sparse file is restored in the Veritas file system it can occupy more disk space than it did originally at the time of backup. This is a limitation caused by the inner workings of the space allocation algorithm used by the file system.
       
    • Because of the limited functionality of the dtterm application, not all function keys of the command line clients operate as expected. The Control-Left and Control-Right key combinations and the Home and End keys do not work. In the Aixterm environment the keys operate as specified.
       
    • Use NDMP directory level backup with valid filespace mapping.
       
    • If the COMMMethod or LANFREECommmethod options are set to SHAREdmem, the AIX environment variable EXTSHM needs to be turned on to enable extended shared memory. In order to turn on EXTSHM setting, do one of the following:
      • To make this permanent change, add the following line to the /etc/environment file: 
        EXTSHM=ON
      • To make the change in the immediate shell, enter: 
        EXTSHM=ON 
export EXTSHM
        Note: This change is effective until you log out of this shell.
         
    • Connecting to server SSL port by mistake
      If a client connects to an SSL port on the server but the client does not have the SSL option enabled, the client would seem to hang until the session times out on the server.
      The client does not have a way to tell whether the server is expecting an SSL session or not. If you forget to enable SSL on the client, it will try to connect using a regular (non-SSL) session to server's SSL port. The connection will "hang" because both the client and server will wait for expected responses from each other.
      To avoid this situation, make sure that you set the SSL option to "yes" along with setting the TCPPort to server's SSL port.
       
  • Snapshot-based image backup of file systems or logical volumes in a big or scalable volume group
    Tivoli Storage Manager Client will fail to perform snapshot-based image backup of two or more file systems or logical volumes in parallel for a big or scalable volume group. It is an AIX OS limitation. To avoid this situation, run snapshot-based image backups for big or scalable volume group sequentially, ensuring that the first backup is complete before starting the next one.
    For example avoid invoking image backup as follows:
    1. dsmc backup image /fs1 /fs2 /fs2
    2. Start image backup for /fs1. Start image backup for /fs2 while the backup of /fs1 is still in progress.
    This problem will be fixed in an upcoming AIX maintenance level with the APAR IZ74114.
     
  • During restore of NFS file system Tivoli Storage Manager client can fail to change modification or access time of the directories. And the following message can be displayed: 
    ANS4007E Error processing 'directory name': access to the object is denied
** Unsuccessful **
  • If the multi-line text contains symbols which occupy more than one column position (like Japanese or Chinese characters) Tivoli Storage Manager client command line can behave incorrectly when a character from any line except first is backspaced over. In this case the first line from bottom can be multiplied 3 times. Backspace works correctly during deletion of any character from the first line.
     
  • Tivoli Storage Manager Client will fail to perform snapshot-based image backup when mirror pool is enabled. Tivoli Storage Manager client does not support mirror pools at the moment.
     
  • Problem with NFSV4 ACL
    In the case of NFSV4 ACL, a change to the standard UNIX permissions will also change the ACLs. Since Tivoli Storage Manager stores ACLs along with the file data, a change to UNIX permissions will cause a corresponding change to NFSV4 ACLs resulting in the backup of the entire file. You can set the skipaclupdatecheck option to yes to avoid this problem.
    The skipaclupdatecheck option disables checksum and size comparisons of ACL data.
    When set to yes (default is no), the Tivoli Storage Manager client will not perform checksum and size comparisons before or after backup and during incremental processing (ACL checksum from previous backup and current ACL) to detect ACL updates.
    However, current ACL data will be backed up if the file is selected for backup due to other reasons. If only ACLs are updated on a file, the next incremental backup will not recognize this ACL update, and the file will not be backed up.
     
  • Journaled limitation
    On AIX, it is possible to create path names greater than the defined limit (1023).
    The journal will not detect any changes when the path name is greater than the limit, and therefore, no error message will be generated.

     
  • Changes to the ctime of a file that hold ACL or EA data cause a full backup of the file in terms of the next incremental backup. This is true for both backup solutions Tivoli Storage Manager client progressive incremental and GPFS mmbackup.

     

Common Linux known problems and limitations

  • Issues with modification time and access time of a file beyond 32bit unsigned int range (Internal reference #112413)
    Modification time and access time of a file should be in the range of Jan 01 1970 to Feb 2106 (timestamp should be a non-negative integer less than 4294967295), otherwise the access time and modification time attributes will get incorrect values during restore. The files with inappropriate access or modification time value will always be backed up by incremental backup.
     

  • SELinux attributes of symbolic links are not backed up and thus cannot be restored.
     

  • Java GUI Tivoli Storage Manager window on RH7 and SLES12 shows the name of Tivoli Storage Manager class name. (Internal reference #70389 & #70888)
    Problem ticket has been opened in https://bugzilla.linux.ibm.com under:
    Bug 112751 - RHEL 7: Gnome-classic/Gnome problem displaying Java App name.

  • The -absolute option does not work while doing a Journal base backup. The option is accepted, but all files are not backed up. The user will see this error in the dsmerror.log:

    ANS7559E The absolute option requires specifying the NoJournal option when performing a Journal Based Backup for backing up fs \\xxxxx\x$.

    Workaround: Add the -nojournal option to the command.
     

  • When Journal Based Backup (JBB) is configured and running during Tivoli Storage Manager client upgrade, the first backup after the upgrade will be progressive incremental, i.e. will not use the journal. Incremental backup can take more time comparing to JBB.
    Workaround: Stop the journal daemon before upgrading the client. Restart the daemon when the upgrade is complete.

  • When completing a snapshot image backup, the client might be unable to remove the snapshot due to a known problem with Linux kernel version 3.0 and LVM. The problem is documented at https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=642296. Use the "lvdisplay" command to list the active snapshots and the "lvremove" command to remove the snapshot manually.
     

  • Snapdiff backup run on NFS4 mounted file system on Linux backs up all, not only changed files, after successful first Snapdiff backup. The problem has been reported to NetApp under BURT 629745.
     

  • When restoring to NFS-mounted file systems, remount them using the mount option "noac" to prevent NFS-related errors that are not detectable by the client.
    Note: The performance can be raised for NFS by using larger values for the options rsize and wsize (for example 8192).
     

  • Backupset restore from tape is not supported in this release of the Linux client.
     

  • If you get warnings about missing "standard symbols l" fonts when starting the Java GUI with dsmj, try replacing the "standard symbols l" string with the word "symbol" in the Java font.properties file. The font name "standard symbols l" might be different, because not all Linux distributions use the same name for this font.

  • Image restore to another location for XFS file system
    When restoring an image with XFS file system to another location, you might see the message "ANS1066E The restore operation completed successfully, but the file system could not be remounted" appear on the screen. The mount of XFS file system is not possible because by default XFS does not allow the mount of several XFS file systems with the same FS UUID simultaneously. Use the XFS mount option "nouuid" to mount XFS file systems with the same UUID or manually change FS UUID using xfs_admin utility.

  • File system and ACL support
    For Ext2/Ext3/Ext4/XFS/JFS ACL support on Linux, the Tivoli Storage Manager client uses the libacl.so library, so it is searched for in the following locations:
    - A colon-separated list of directories in the user's LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable.
    - The list of libraries cached in /etc/ld.so.cache. /usr/lib, followed by /lib.
    Ensure there is a valid library or symbolic link present in one of the specified locations.
     

  • If the host name shown with the hostname command is not specified in the /etc/hosts file, there will be no GUID support available. If you want to have GUID support, you must add the host name into the /etc/hosts file.
     

  • In the Java GUI the preview of the Include-Exclude List might hang. This can be avoided by setting the following before starting the GUI: export MALLOC_CHECK_=0
     

  • Mount recovery of an accidentally dismounted volume on the Windows proxy machine fails continuously on the Linux mount.
    This problem is being investigated. In order to clear this problem, unmount the volume and remount it again.
     

Linux86 known problems and limitations

  • NQR (no query restore) does not work for HSM (space managed) file systems, when the RESTOREMIGSTATE option is set to YES. Only classical restore is possible in this case.
     

  • Templates and virtual machines deployed as vApps
    The Tivoli Storage Manager Backup-Archive Client cannot back up vCenter virtual machine templates. Also, virtual machines that are deployed as vApps are not included in full VM backups.
    Only certified image backup from raw devices, where their corresponding partitions are marked with ID x83, are shown in the partition table. To see the IDs of all partitions of the partition table, use the command "fdisk -l" and look for the column marked with "ID".
     

  • During snapshot difference incremental backup of N-Series or NetApp volumes, if files are skipped due to any reason, such as Tivoli Storage Manager server media mount being unavailable, these files may not be backed up during subsequent backups either, unless the files have been modified. Such files will be logged to the Tivoli Storage Manager error log. You can back them up manually or perform a snapshot difference backup with the option "createnewbase" set to "yes".

  • VMware Transports(SAN, hotadd, NBDSSL, NBD) - VMVSTORTRANSPORT option
    Use the VMVSTORTRANSPORT option with the backup VM or restore VM command to specify the transport to be used with the vStorage API for Data Protection (VADP). The transport determines how VADP accesses virtual disk data. Valid transports include any order or combination of san, hotadd, nbdssl, and nbd separated by a colon. The first transport in the list that is available in the environment will be used. NBD or network based data transfer is the LAN transport and should be available in all environments. It is not necessary to set this option. The default value is to use the VADP order that is defined as "san:hotadd:nbdssl:nbd". This option is passed directly to the VADP API.
    Place the VMVSTORTRANSPORT option in the client options file (dsm.opt). Some common examples are shown below:

    Current default order of transports when none is specified.
VMVSTORTRANSPORT san:hotadd:nbdssl:nbd

When SAN path is temporary unavailable fail the backup so as not to impact LAN.
       VMVSTORTRANSPORT san

Disable the use of hotAdd when running backup server inside VM.
          VMVSTORTRANSPORT nbdssl:nbd

Select NBD even when NBDSSL is available for better performance.
          VMVSTORTRANSPORT nbd

  • If you want to start the Tivoli Storage Manager scheduler using inittab, ensure that the required language environment is set. You can do this by starting a script that first sets the environment and then starts the scheduler. See also the section that handles SBCS in this file.

  • Image backup on raw devices
    Only certified image backup from raw devices, where their corresponding partitions are marked with ID x83, are shown in the partition table. To see the IDs of all partitions of the partition table, use the command "fdisk -l" and look for the column marked with "ID".
     

  • When using option 'COMMMETHOD Sharedmem', you might get the error message 'ANR8294W Shared Memory Session unable to initialize' on the server or storage agent console. By default, Linux is not set up with sufficient system resources to create the message queues. You must increase the kernel parameter MSGMNI to 128 (default is 16). You can modify this parameter by performing the following command:

    echo 128 > /proc/sys/kernel/msgmni

    To enable this parameter to remain persistent after rebooting the system, you can instead add the following line to the file /etc/sysctl.conf, then reboot the machine:

    kernel.msgmni=128

    To view current ipc settings, run this command:

    ipcs -l

    and look at the "max queues system wide" value. The default is 16.
     

  • When attempting to perform Tivoli Storage Manager BA backup|restore|show vm operations on an RHEL or SLES system, you may run into errors like:

    ANS4152E Failure initializing VMware virtual machine environment. RC=-303. Refer to client dsmerror.log for detailed error messages.

    The fuse library package (libfuse2 on SUSE Linux, fuse-libs-2 on Red Hat Linux) is a prerequisite for the VMware virtual machine environment and must be installed before performing any VMware virtual machine operations.
     

  • If you perform snapshot difference incremental backup of N-Series or NetApp volumes, make sure that the volumes are defined with a security style of UNIX. Tivoli Storage Manager backups will complete successfully even if the security style is NTFS or MIXED. However, it is recommended that you use a security style of UNIX.

  • GPFS related topics:

    • Changes to file attributes (e.g. POSIX attributes like owner, group or mode; GPFS attributes like storage pool id) cause an update of the ctime attribute of the file. The Tivoli Storage Manager backup-archive client will update the file attributes on the Tivoli Storage Manager server in terms of the next incremental backup. GPFS mmbackup performs a full backup of the file if GPFS 3.5 TL 2 and below is used. Higher versions of GPFS mmbackup will update the file attributes on the Tivoli Storage Manager server.

  • When using the Tivoli Storage Manager for Space Management (HSM) client:

    • If GPFS is restarted on the node where a file is being recalled with the dsmrecall command, the DMAPI session named 'dsmrecall' might still exist after the GPFS restart. The extra DMAPI sessions do not affect HSM operations unless the DMAPI session limit (4000) is exceeded. If this happens, all further HSM operations will not be possible until GPFS is restarted on the quorum node.

LinuxPPC known problems and limitations

  • If you want to start the Tivoli Storage Manager scheduler using inittab, ensure that the required language environment is set. You can do this by starting a script first sets the environment and then starts the scheduler.

  • When using option 'COMMMETHOD Sharedmem', you might get error message 'ANR8294W Shared Memory Session unable to initialize' on the server or storage agent console. By default, Linux is not set up with sufficient system resources to create the message queues. You must increase the kernel parameter MSGMNI to 128 (default is 16). You can modify this parameter by performing the following command:

    echo 128 > /proc/sys/kernel/msgmni

    To enable this parameter to remain persistent after rebooting the system, you can instead add the following line to the file /etc/sysctl.conf, then reboot the machine:

    kernel.msgmni=128

    To view current ipc settings run this command:

    ipcs -l

    and look at "max queues system wide" value. The default is 16.

LinuxZ known problems and limitations

  • If SELinux is installed on the system but is disabled, installation of the GSKit crypto component (gskcrypt64-8.0.14.11.linux.s390x.rpm) can produce multiple messages as follows:

    libsepol.context_from_record: MLS is enabled, but no MLS context found
libsepol.context_from_record: could not create context structure
libsemanage.validate_handler: invalid context system_u:object_r:textrel_shlib_t specified for /usr/local/ibm/gsk 8/lib/C/icc/osslib/libcrypto.so.0.9.7 [all files]
libsemanage.dbase_llist_iterate: could not iterate over records

    This is related to a problem that has been identified and resolved by Red Hat. The problem is fixed in policycoreutils-1.33.12-14.4.el5. See this report for more information.
    These installation errors do not affect Tivoli Storage Manager functionality and can be ignored. To work around the problem, you can bypass the SELinux check by setting the following environment variable before installation:

    export GSK_DISABLE_SELINUX_TEST=1

    When you set this environment variable, the installation should complete successfully without displaying any error messages. The problem does not occur if SELINUX=enforcing is set.

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Document Information

Modified date:
08 December 2022

UID

swg21993251

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