General information

Not permitted backups
Monitoring of automatic backups
Monitoring the age of the filespaces of all computers
TSM nodes without TSM server contact

Not permitted backups

The backup of CDs/DVDs inserted in the computer (file system type CDFS for Windows systems) and/or inserted sticks (file space names containing "USB", "Flash" or other partial names) is not permitted. Such backups will be deleted without consultation.
If you have a legitimate interest, first copy the relevant data to your hard disk and then back it up.

Monitoring the automatic backups

Every day, the status of the automatic backups ("events") of the ISP clients pending that night is checked in the ISP servers.
For each backup whose status is shown with a return code greater than 0 (also applies to the Completed status), an e-mail with the corresponding status and return code is generated and sent to the ISP client responsible for the corresponding computer.
responsible for the corresponding computer.
For the Missed, Started, Restarted and InProgress statuses, the return code is not required.
If the return code is not 0, the entries in the log files
dsmerror.log Error messages
dsmsched.log Messages from the ISP scheduler
dsmwebcl.log messages of the ISP Client Acceptor (CAD)
can be checked.

The subject line of the e-mail is structured as follows:

ISP backup for <computer> from <date> "<backup-status> (RC=<return-code>)"

<computer>	Name (ISP node name) of the computer to be backed up
<date>	Tag of the backup in the form dd.mm.
<backup-status>	Backup status		e-mail
	Completed	Specifies that the backup has been completed.	No=(RC=0) Yes (RC>0)
	Missed	Specifies that the backup startup window has passed and the backup has not begun.	Yes
	Failed	Specifies that the client reports a failure in executing the backup and succesive retries have not succeeded.	Yes
	Started	Specifies that the backup has begun execution.	Yes
	Restarted	Specifies that the client has retried execution of the backup.	Yes
	In Progress	Specifies that the backup is running and has not yet reported the completion state of the server.	Yes
	Severed	Specifies that the communications with the client is severed before the backup can complete.	Yes
	Future	Specifies that the beginning of the startup window for rhe backup is in the future	No
	Pending	Specifies that the QUERY EVENT command was issued during the startup window for the backup, but execution of the backup has not yet begun.	No
<return-code>	Return code
	0	The backup ended successfully.
	4	The backup ended successfully, but some files were not backed up. No other errors or warnings occurred. This return code is displayed frequently. Files are not backed up for various reasons. The most common causes are: The file matches an entry in an exclusion list. The file was used by another application and the client could not access the file. Too many changes were made to the file during the backup.
	8	The backup ended with at least one warning message. Check the files dsmerror.log, dsmsched.log and dsmwebcl.log for warnings.
	12	The backup ended with at least one error message (does not apply to error messages for skipped files). Check the files dsmerror.log, dsmsched.log and dsmwebcl. log for error messages issued. In general, this return code means that the error was so serious that the backup could not be completed successfully. For example, an error that prevents the processing of a complete file system issues the return code 12.

Monitoring the age of the filespaces of all computers

A so-called filespace can be a file system or part of a file system (platforms: UNIX, MacOS X from version 10.3.9), a drive (platform: Windows) or volume (platforms: MacOS, Novell NetWare).
In the following, backup always refers to the backup of a single file space.

Please note:
Only incremental backups update the start and end date of a backup of the corresponding filespace. With selective backups, this data is not updated and therefore the monitoring assumes that no more backups have been made for this filespace.
You should therefore always perform incremental backups.

To ensure optimal use of the backup system and to inform users of any outdated data, users are usually informed on Mondays if the last backup was made too long ago and/or is incomplete.

Rules for the TSM servers S01 N03

An automatic notification is currently sent for the following backup types:

For automatic backups (TSM scheduler) that are older than 15 days.
There is an entry in the TSM server for the backup dates for these computers.
For manual backups that are older than 30 days.
The user backs up these computers either at irregular intervals or using their own schedules.
For backups without a timestamp , the user is notified on the following Monday.
Such incomplete backups are usually caused by incorrect operation during manual backups (selective instead of incremental backup) or incorrect configuration in the dsm.opt and dsm.sys option files (e.g. a missing entry for a virtualmountpoint instructionin the dsm.sys option file).

Since May 1, 2006, the following regulations have applied in accordance with the announcement at the meeting of IT representatives on January 23, 2006:

Automatic backups: Filespaces whose backup is older than 180 days will be deleted.
Manual backups : Filespaces whose backup is older than 180 days will be deleted.
Backups without a time stamp:Filespaces are deleted after 3 weeks , i.e. if a filespace has been registered for four consecutive backups.

The check usually takes place on the 1st Monday of each month.

TSM nodes without TSM server contact

TSM nodes (computers) that have had no contact with the TSM server for more than 180 days are deleted, i.e. removed from the TSM computer database.
The check is usually carried out on the 1st Monday of each month. This corresponds to the regulation for manual backups in the old ADSM/TSM servers.
If a newly registered computer has not made a backup within 30 days, this node is deleted from the TSM server and the computer must then be registered again.

Exceptions are of course possible, for example if a user is ill or away on a business trip, the affected computer is being repaired or similar.
These exceptions must be agreed with the backup team. An accepted exception is always confirmed by email.

Status: 26.7.2021