What Is the TSM Archive?
The DESY IT department provides the possibility to archive files in a long-term storage. Your data will be stored safely for a specified amount of time (one to several years) and afterwards discarded automatically. The archive is managed by the Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM).
The archive is related to, but not identical to the central backup. Both are managed by TSM, but the backup is continuously kept up to date, whereas the archive contains a one-time snapshot of your data. Files in the backup are available for half a year, and any arbitrary state from the meantime can be recovered. Files in the archive can be stored much longer, but only the archived state can be recovered.
Archive and backup are available for the AFS (particularly your home directory) and for certain hosts (called TSM nodes), but not for all ordinary computers. The FLC group server flcl01.desy.de and the FLC web server flcweb01.desy.de are TSM nodes, but most other FLC hosts are not.
Starting the Tivoli Storage Manager
If you want to archive files from your AFS home directory, start dsm_afs. You will be asked for your AFS password, and a window titled “Tivoli Storage Manager” will pop up after quite some time.
If you want to archive files from a TSM node, log in to that host (typically flcl01.desy.de) and start dsm. Again, a window titled “Tivoli Storage Manager” will pop up.
Note that you can not only archive files that are stored locally on flcl01, but also files that are reachable via NFS. Thus, you can also archive files from other hosts as long as they appear under /nfs/flc/hostname/data/username (for the office computers flc01 through flc49) or /nfs/flc/hostname/pool/username (for the file servers lc3 and lc4). Just make sure the automounter mounts the NFS volume, e. g. by changing to an NFS directory in your shell. There are also command-line tools named dsmc_afs and dsmc. Type help at the tsm> prompt to browse the built-in help system, type quit to exit the program.
Storing Files in the Archive
If you have a large number of small files, first pack them (and possibly compress them) using tar. The main reason for this is to keep the number of entries in the TSM file catalogue at a reasonable size. - In the TSM main window, click on the “Archive” button. A new window with a file browser will pop up.
- Click your way through the filesystem tree and select the files and directories you wish to archive (by marking the checkboxes at their left).
- Think of a reasonable description for your archive package, and enter it in the “Description” text field. This description will be used to identify your archive package(s) later.
- Click on the “Options” button to adjust further settings. By checking “Override include/exclude list”, you can select a different “Management Class”, i. e. the number of days to keep your data.
- Click on the “Archive” button to write your files to the archive. This may take some time.
- Remember the relevant properties of your archive package, e. g. by writing it down to a piece of paper. Using this information, you’ll be able to retrieve your data even if your account and/or the TSM node do not exist anymore at some point in the future.
- name of the TSM node
- your username
- date and time of the archive package
- description of the archive package
- filespace (i. e. filesystem, mount point)
- path and/or filenames of the files and directories in the archive
- Close the window to return to the main window, or choose “Exit” from the “File” menu to quit the Tivoli Storage Manager.
Retrieving Files from the Archive
- In the TSM main window, click on the “Retrieve” button. A new window with an archive browser will pop up.
- Click your way through the archive structure and select the files and directories you wish to retrieve (by marking the checkboxes at their left).
- Click on the “Options” button to adjust further settings, e. g. how to handle collisions with existing files.
- Click on the “Retrieve” button to read your files from the archive. This may take some time.
- Close the window to return to the main window, or choose “Exit” from the “File” menu to quit the Tivoli Storage Manager.
Deleting Files in the Archive
- In the TSM main window, choose “Delete Archive Data” from the “Utilities” menu.
Troubleshooting
When you start dsm, you may get a warning message that your Java version is not supported (TSM needs at least version 1.4.1). Scientific Linux 4 comes with Java version 1.5 by default, and this seems to work without problems. Choose “y” and give it a try.
If you just get an “Access denied” error when starting dsm, make sure that you have write permissions on the log files in /tmp/tsmlog. Ask an administrator for help, or ask the owner of the files (i. e. the person who used dsm before you) to adjust the file access permissions. This is actually a bug that should be resolved!
If you get a timeout error from xauth and no X11 connection when starting dsm_afs, make sure that you do not have an authorized_keys file in your ~/.ssh directory. You should not be able to log in to the archive/backup host (typically something like afs-safe1.desy.de) without being asked for your password. (The problem is that SSH key authentication will not provide you with an AFS token, so you’ll be able to log in to the host, but you cannot do anything there.)