How to completely remove the IBM Spectrum Protect backup-archive client from Microsoft Windows

Note:

• It is recommended that you review and understand this entire document before you proceed with the removal operation.
• In order to perform this procedure, you must be logged in to Windows with administrator privileges.
• Use this procedure only when all of the following condition is true:
  
  You no longer intend to use any IBM Spectrum Protect products on the system, including (but not necessarily limited to):
  • IBM Spectrum Protect backup-archive client
  • IBM Spectrum Protect server
  • Any other IBM or non-IBM product that uses the IBM Spectrum Protect API
  • All other IBM Spectrum Protect products from the system are already uninstalled
     
• This procedure uses the Windows reg.exe to edit the Windows Registry. Errors in editing the registry can render the operating system unstable or unbootable. Before you edit the registry, make sure you have a backup copy. If you are unfamiliar or uncomfortable with editing the registry, then it is recommended that you ask your Windows system administrator for assistance before you use this procedure.
• This procedure involves the manual removal of files and directories related to IBM Spectrum Protect. Make sure you have backups or other precautionary measures in place in case the wrong files are accidentally deleted.
• IBM Spectrum Protect uses the Microsoft Software Installer (MSI) to install IBM GSKit (IBM Global Security Kit). There are other IBM products that also install GSKit, but do not perform the installation with MSI. MSI does not recognize other products that are using GSKit, if the other products did not use MSI for the installation. Therefore, if the IBM Spectrum Protect is the only product to install GSKit with MSI, then when you uninstall the IBM Spectrum Protect, MSI also uninstalls GSKit. This GSKit uninstallation means that other products that use GSKit becomes unusable until you repair the installation for that product.
• If you are using another product that also installs GSKit, consider these alternatives:
  • Do not uninstall the IBM Spectrum Protect at all, which prevents the other product from being affected.
  • Check whether other products installed their own GSKit, like IBM Spectrum Scale. In this case, make sure you do not uninstall or remove parts of this GSKit.
  • Plan the removal of IBM Spectrum Protect when you can also plan for an outage of the other product. After IBM Spectrum Protect is uninstalled, use the other products installation repair facility to reinstall GSKit.

1. Ensure that no IBM Spectrum Protect processes are running

   Stop any IBM Spectrum Protect processes that might be running:
   • IBM Spectrum Protect backup-archive client command-line interface (dsmc.exe)
   • IBM Spectrum Protect backup-archive client GUI (dsm.exe, dsmagent.exe)
   • IBM Spectrum Protect backup-archive client scheduler service (dsmcsvc.exe)
   • IBM Spectrum Protect backup-archive client acceptor daemon (dsmcad.exe)
   • IBM Spectrum Protect backup-archive client remote client agent (dsmagent.exe)
   • IBM Spectrum Protect command-line administrative interface (dsmadmc.exe)
   • IBM Spectrum Protect journal service (tsmjbbd.exe)
   Tip: Use Windows Task Manager to identify any running IBM Spectrum Protect processes. Alternatively, from a Windows command prompt (cmd.exe) you can use the tasklist command. Examples of using tasklist:

   tasklist /fi "imagename eq dsm*"

2. Remove all installed IBM Spectrum Protect backup-archive client services

   Use dsmcutil.exe to identify these installed IBM Spectrum Protect services:
   • Scheduler services
   • Client Acceptor Daemon (CAD) services
   • Remote Client Agent services
   The dsmcutil.exe is located in the backup-archive client subdirectory of the IBM Spectrum Protect backup-archive client installation directory. For example, C:\Program Files\Tivoli\TSM\baclient.
   1. Open a Windows command prompt (cmd.exe)
   2. Change into the directory where dsmcutil.exe is located
   3. Issue the following command: dsmcutil list
      Example output if no services are installed:

      No TSM Client Services were located.

      Example output if services are installed:

      Installed TSM Client Services:
         1. TSM Client Acceptor
         2. TSM Remote Client Agent
         3. TSM Workstation Backup
      TSM Client Services were located.

   4. Use dsmcutil.exe to remove all installed services (if any):

      dsmcutil remove /name:"TSM Remote Client Agent"
      dsmcutil remove /name:"TSM Client Acceptor"
      dsmcutil remove /name:"TSM Workstation Backup"

      Repeat the dsmcutil list command to verify all services are removed.
       

3. Uninstall the IBM Spectrum Protect backup-archive client

   From the Windows Control panel, open Programs > Programs and Features.
   Remove any of the following items that are listed:
   • IBM Spectrum Protect backup-archive client
   • IBM Spectrum Protect JVM
   • Optional: Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Redistributable
   Note:
   The Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Redistributable might also be needed for other programs, but was installed with the IBM Spectrum Protect backup-archive client. Be sure that you do not need this version of the Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Redistributable before you remove it. If you are prompted to restart (boot) the system, you must do so before you proceed with the remaining steps.
   Typical reasons that you might be prompted to restart the system include: An IBM Spectrum Protect backup-archive client process was running at the time the remove operation was attempted.
    

4. Remove miscellaneous IBM Spectrum Protect related files and directories

   There are several IBM Spectrum Protect related files and directories that can be created outside of the installation process proper. Review the following list and remove the files and directories. In the next step, the IBM Spectrum Protect installation directory will be removed entirely, so you need to be concerned with files and directories that exist outside of the installation directory.
   • Backup-archive client and API options files (dsm.opt): The default files are located in the IBM Spectrum Protect installation directory, but you might created other options files in other directories or on other drives.
   • The staging directory for IBM Spectrum Protect VSS operations: C:\adsm.sys.
     The STAGINGDIRECTORY option can be used to specify an alternative location.
   • Deduplication ("dedupe") cache path: Used when client-side deduplication is used. If you used client-side deduplication and you used the default cache path location, then the dedupe cache path will be deleted in the next step. You can use the DEDUPCACHEPATH option to specify an alternate dedupe cache path.
   • Disk cache path: Used when MEMORYEFFICIENTBACKUP DISKCACHEMETHOD is used. The default path is TsmCacheDir located in the root of each drive that you back up. You can specify an alternate path with the DISKCACHELOCATION option.
   • Scripts specified by any of the following options. Do not delete these scripts if you still need them for non IBM Spectrum Protect operations.
     • POSTSCHEDULECMD and POSTNSCHEDULECMD
     • POSTSNAPSHOTCMD
     • PRESCHEDULECMD and PRENSCHEDULECMD
     • PRESNAPSHOTCMD
   • Journal service databases: Created when journal-based backup is used. By default these databases are created in the same directory where the Journal service is installed. The JOURNALDIR option in the journal options file (tsmjbbd.ini) can be used to specify an alternate location for the journal database files.
   • Journal service error log: Created when journal-based backup is used. By default this file is created in the same directory where the Journal service is installed. The ERRORLOG option in the journal options file (tsmjbbd.ini) can be used to specify an alternate name.
   • Subfile cache path: Created when you use adaptive subfile backup. The default location is a directory named cache in the location of the backup-archive client executable binary files. For example, C:\Program Files\Tivoli\TSM\baclient\cache.
   • Include-Exclude file: This include-exclude file is an optional file used to contain INCLUDE and EXCLUDE statements. The file name is specified by the INCLEXCL option in the client options file (dsm.opt).
   • Audit logging files: Enabled when backup-archive client option AUDITLOGGING YES is set. The default log name is dsmaudit.log but you can also specify the file name with the AUDITLOGNAME option.
   • IBM Spectrum Protect backup-archive client install log: The default log file name is IBMSP_BAClient.log in C:\ProgramData\
   • Schedule log: The default log name is dsmsched.log. Alternate schedule log names can be configured with the SCHEDLOGNAME option or in a scheduler service definition.
   • Error log: The default error log names are dsmerror.log (backup-archive client) and dsierror.log (API). Alternate error log names can be configured with the ERRORLOGNAME option or in a scheduler backup-archive client installation directory:
     • dsmwebcl.log
     • dsmj.log

   Note: The environment variables DSM_LOG (backup-archive client) and DSMI_LOG (API) can be set to an alternate path where IBM Spectrum Protect logs were located.

5. Delete the IBM Spectrum Protect installation and data directories

   Before you delete the following installation and data directories, review the remaining files in that directories to ensure there is nothing you need to retain.
   For example, if IBM Spectrum Protect was installed in C:\Program Files\Tivoli\TSM, review the files in that directory and its subdirectories to be sure there is nothing you need to keep. Review the data in C:\ProgramData\Tivoli to be sure there is nothing you need to keep. Here is a summary of directories, which might be still on the system after you remove the IBM Spectrum Protect backup-archive client.

   c:\program files\tivoli
   c:\program files\common files\Tivoli
   c:\program files\ibm\
   c:\program files\ibm\gsk8
   c:\IBM\
   c:\IBM\webserver
   c:\programdata\IBM\CAP
   c:\programdata\tivoli

6. Delete the IBM Spectrum Protect registry entries

   • From the Windows command prompt, issue this command to display all registry subkeys of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\IBM:

     reg query hklm\software\ibm

     If the key exists, issue this command to delete the IBM Spectrum Protect registry key:

      reg delete hklm\software\ibm\adsm

   • From the Windows command prompt, issue this command to display all registry subkeys of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\TIVOLI:

     reg query hklm\software\tivoli

     If the key exists, issue this command to delete the IBM Spectrum Protect registry key:

     reg delete hklm\software\ibm\tivoli

7. Clean up environment variables

   The environment variables are: Check whether any IBM Spectrum Protect environment variables are set.
   • DSM_CONFIG
   • DSM_DIR
   • DSM_LOG
   • DSMI_CONFIG
   • DSMI_DIR
   • DSMI_LOG
      
   1. From the Windows Control Panel, open the System and Security > System applet.
   2. If you are running Windows Server, select Advanced system settings.
   3. Click Environment variables
   4. Examine the System variables
      • Check for any of the previous listed environment variables exist, and delete them if found.
      • Check whether the IBM Spectrum Protect directory is included in the PATH environment variable. Remove the IBM Spectrum Protect directory from the PATH environment variable if found.
        Note: Do not delete the PATH environment variable.
   5. Examine the User variables
      • Check for any of the previous listed environment variables exist, and delete them if found.
      • Check whether the IBM Spectrum Protect directory is included in the PATH environment variable. Remove the IBM Spectrum Protect directory from the PATH environment variable if found.
        Note: Do not delete the PATH environment variable.
   6. Click OK to close the Environment Variables dialog.
   7. Click OK to close the System applet.
       

8. Remove IBM Spectrum Protect installation media

   Check the system for IBM Spectrum Protect installation files. The default location is <install directory>\TSMClient\ but you might extracted the files to another drive or directory. If the installation media exists, delete it from the drive. For example, if IBM Spectrum Protect installation media was unpacked to C:\TSMClient, review the files in that directory and its subdirectories to be sure there is nothing you need to keep. Then, from a Windows command prompt, issue these commands:

   cd c\
   rd /s /q c:\TSMClient

   
   IBM Spectrum Protect backup-archive client is now removed from your system.