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File system requirements: IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management 2.2.18

Detailed System Requirements


Abstract

This document details the backup and restore requirements for file systems for IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management 2.2.18.

Content

This document is divided into linked sections for ease of navigation. Use the following links to jump to the section of the document that you require:



 

General

  • IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management installs an agent on application servers when they are registered. Some anti-virus software might flag or attempt to remove the agent software. If you run anti-malware software application servers, exclude the installation path of the IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management agent.
  • For Linux-based and AIX-based file system and Application servers, you must install the psmisc package, which is required for proper functionality. For example, it is required so that the cancellation or cleanup of restore jobs functions correctly. If this package is not installed, restore jobs might fail. Installation of psmisc package is registered in IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management by using the command:  
    yum localinstall psmisc-22.20-17.el7.x86_64.rpm
  • For Microsoft Windows-based systems, such as Microsoft SQL Server, the agent installation directory must be excluded for any anti-virus scans. Add this path to the exclusion list for all anti-virus software that is installed on the application server: 
    C:\Program Files\IBM\IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management
  • For Linux-based and AIX-based systems, the agent installation directory must be excluded for any anti-virus software scans. Add this path to the exclusion list for all anti-virus software that is installed on the application server. For Oracle (Linux and AIX/Power), InterSystems Caché and IRIS (on Linux and AIX/Power), and SAP HANA (on Linux and Power): 
    /tmp/cdm_guestapps_username
    Where cdm_guestapps_username is the username of the account used to register the application server in IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management.
  • IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management support for third-party operating systems, applications, services, and hardware depend on the respective vendor. If a third-party product or version moves into extended support, self-service support, or end-of-life, IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management supports the product or version at the same level as the vendor. See also IBM Support General Guidelines and Limitations - IBM support for software on unsupported operating systems



 

Configurations

Supported platforms and configurations

Table 1: File system configuration requirements
Operating system
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 or later
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.0 or later
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12.0 or later
  • AIX 6.1 or later [5]
  • AIX 7.1 or later [5]
  • AIX 7.2 or later [5]
  • Windows Server 2012 R2 [1]
  • Windows Server 2016 [1]
  • Windows Server 2019 [1]
Server types Storage Systems Storage Configuration
Physical [4]
  • IBM Spectrum Virtualize Software 7.3 or later, 8.1.2 or later, 8.4 or later and 8.5 or later
    - IBM SAN Volume Controller [6]
    - IBM Storwize [6]
    - IBM FlashSystem [6]
  • Pure Storage running Pure APIs 1.5 or later
    - FlashArray//c
    - FlashArray//m
    - FlashArray//x
    - FlashArray 4xx series
  • Fibre Channel [6]
  • iSCSI [6]
Virtual (VMware) [2]
  • IBM Spectrum Virtualize Software 7.3 or later, 8.1.2 or later, 8.4 or later and 8.5 or later
    - IBM SAN Volume Controller [6]
    - IBM Storwize [6]
    - IBM FlashSystem [6]
  • NetApp ONTAP storage systems running the following versions:
    - Data ONTAP 8.1.0, 8.2.0 or later in 7-mode
    - Data ONTAP 9.x
    - Clustered Data ONTAP 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 9.4 or later
  • Pure Storage running Pure APIs 1.5 or later
    - FlashArray//c
    - FlashArray//m
    - FlashArray//x
    - FlashArray 4xx series
  • iSCSI disks attached directly to guest operating system [6]
  • pRDM [3]

 
Notes:

  • [1] Windows Remote Shell (WinRM) must be enabled.
  • [2] For supported VMware vSphere versions, see in System requirements: IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management 2.2.18.
  • [3] Select the Physical provider type when you register the provider in IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management. NetApp ONTAP storage systems are not supported. All data files and log files for an instance need to stay on either a pRDM or virtual disk.
  • [4] Only basic disks are not supported.
  • [5] On AIX only Fibre Channel is supported for file system backup and restore.
  • [6] On IBM Systems Storage, condense is run during maintenance jobs.
Note: If you are using IBM storage systems running IBM Spectrum Accelerate level 11.5.3 or later, including FlashSystem A9000/A9000R and IBM XIV storage systems use IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management 2.2.13.


 

Windows file system considerations

For Windows file system, the following configurations are not supported:

  • Windows Failover Clusters 
  • Clustered Shared Volumes (CSV)

NTFS is required for those configurations.



 

Software

  • The bash and sudo packages must be installed. Sudo must be version 1.7.6p2 or later. Run sudo -V to check the version.
  • Python version 3.x must be installed.
  • RHEL/CentOS 6.x only: Ensure the util-linux-ng package is up to date by running: 
    yum update util-linux-ng
    Depending on your version or distribution, the package might be named util-linux.
  • RHEL/CentOS 7.3 or later: A required Perl module, Digest::MD5, is not installed by default. Install the module by running: 
    yum install perl-Digest-MD5
  • Linux only: If data stays on LVM volumes, ensure the LVM version is 2.0.2.118 or later. To check the LVM version and if necessary to update the package, run: 
    lvm version
yum update lvm2
  • Linux only: If data stays on LVM volumes, the lvm2-lvmetad service must be disabled as it can interfere with IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management's ability to mount and resignature volume group snapshots or clones. Run the following commands to stop and disable the service: 
    systemctl stop lvm2-lvmetad
systemctl disable lvm2-lvmetad
  • Additionally, disable lvmetad in the LVM config file. Edit the file /etc/lvm/lvm.conf and set: 
    use_lvmetad = 0



 

Connectivity

  • The SSH service must be running on port 22 on the server and any firewalls must be configured to allow IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management to connect to the server by using SSH. The SFTP subsystem for SSH must also be enabled.
  • The server can be registered by using a DNS name or IP address. DNS names must be resolvable by IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management.
  • To mount clones or copies of data, IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management automatically maps and unmaps LUNs to the servers. Each server must be preconfigured to connect to the relevant storage systems at that site.
    • For Fibre Channel, the appropriate zoning must be configured beforehand.
    • For iSCSI, the servers must be configured beforehand to discover and log in to the targets on the storage servers.



 

Authentication and Privileges

Authentication

  • The application server must be registered in IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management by using an operating system user that exists on the server (referred to as "IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management agent user" for the rest of this topic).
  • During registration, you must provide either a password or a private SSH key that IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management uses to log in to the server.
  • For password-based authentication, ensure the password is correctly configured and that the user can log in without facing any other prompts, such as prompts to reset the password.
  • For key-based authentication, ensure the public SSH key is placed in the appropriate authorized_keys file for the IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management agent user.
    • Typically, the file is at /home/<username>/.ssh/authorized_keys
    • Typically, the .ssh directory and all files under it need to have their permissions set to 600.


 

Privileges

The IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management agent user needs the following privileges:

  • Privileges to run commands as root and other users by using sudo. IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management requires these privileges for various tasks such as discovering storage layouts and mounting and unmounting disks.
    • The sudoers configuration must allow the IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management agent user to run commands without a password.
    • The !requiretty setting must be set.

For examples on creating a new user with the necessary privileges, see Sample Configuration of an IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management Agent User in file system requirements.



 

Restore and Revert

Restore Jobs

When you restore a database or file system from an XFS file system, the restore process might fail if the xfsprogs package version on the destination server is between 3.2.0 and 4.1.9. To resolve the issue, upgrade xfsprogs to version 4.2.0 or later.


 

Revert Jobs

When you run file system revert jobs, there are considerations that must be met for jobs to successfully complete:

  • Ensure that the databases are on independent storage. The underlying storage volume for the databases being reverted cannot contain data for other databases and cannot contain a datastore that is shared by other virtual machines (VMs) or by other databases not being reverted.
  • Ensure that the production databases are not on VMDK disks that are part of a VMware VM snapshot.
  • Shut down any application databases on the volumes to be reverted before you run revert.
  • When the revert action completes, take appropriate steps to restore the applications to use the old data that is now contained on one or more volumes that were reverted.



 

Sample Configuration of an IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management Agent User

The following commands are examples for creating and configuring an operating system user that IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management use to log in to the application server. The command syntax might vary depending on your operating system type and version.

  • Create the user that is designated as the IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management agent user: 
    useradd -m cdmagent
  • If you use password-based authentication, set a password: 
    passwd cdmagent
  • If you use key-based authentication, place the public key in /home/cdmagent/.ssh/authorized_keys, or the appropriate file depending on your sshd configuration, and ensure the correct ownership and permissions are set, such as: 
    chown -R cdmagent:cdmagent /home/cdmagent/.ssh
chmod 700 /home/cdmagent/.ssh
chmod 600 /home/cdmagent/.ssh/authorized_keys
  • Place the following lines at the end of your sudoers configuration file, typically /etc/sudoers. If the existing sudoers file is configured to import configuration from another directory (for example /etc/sudoers.d), you can also place the lines in a new file in that directory: 
    Defaults:cdmagent !requiretty
cdmagent ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL



 

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Document Information

Modified date:
09 December 2022

UID

ibm16838845

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