This chapter describes the following topics:
Personnel approved by IBM will perform all installations and configuration of the libraries supported for use with SAMS:Alexandria. These personnel can refer to the appropriate IBM library documentation as well as IBM Customer Support organization's Technical Notes during the installation and configuration.
Four hundred barcode labels come with each customer order of DDS-2 libraries and DDS-3 libraries, regardless of the number of libraries ordered. These labels are numbered 000 to 399. Eighty uniquely numbered barcode labels come with each HP DLT4000 library, but none are supplied with STK libraries. You must obtain barcode labels from a vendor other than IBM. Contact IBM Customer Support for approved vendors that meet the DDS-2/DDS-3 library, DLT4000 library, STK library, or IBM 3494 library requirements.
ATTENTION Barcode labels intended for HP DLT4000 libraries cannot be read by the barcode reader in STK libraries. (The incompatibility is only with the barcode reader; the data is readable.) If you plan to use DLT tapes in an STK library and these tapes already have HP library-compatible barcodes, first obtain STK barcode labels for these tapes before you insert them into an STK library. The barcode alphanumeric label name on the replacement barcode label must be identical to the original. When moving media from an HP DLT4000 library into an STK library the barcode labels will have to be physically changed. These steps will ensure that the SAMS:Alexandria database can accurately track these tapes.
ATTENTION Since SAMS:Alexandria cannot easily detect duplicate barcode numbers, the numbering of all barcode labels used on 4-mm DAT tapes and DLT tapes should be unique at each site. To avoid problems, observe this requirement for all 4-mm DAT tapes and DLT tapes your site uses, not just those used with SAMS:Alexandria.
Before the first-time installation of Backup Toolkit and SAMS:Alexandria you need to perform certain tasks. These tasks do not have to be performed immediately before software installation; they can be performed days or weeks ahead of the actual software installation. The tasks required are as follows:
[ ] | Create a disk partition for the SAMS:Alexandria software and database. |
[ ] | |
[ ] | Set aside a raw partition for use as the transaction logging database, if you choose to use this feature of SAMS:Alexandria. |
[ ] | |
[ ] |
You should create a dedicated filesystem for the SAMS:Alexandria home directory and mount it under /usr/alexbkup before you install SAMS:Alexandria on a host. Additionally, you can create a dedicated filesystem for the SAMS:Alexandria binaries and database. These dedicated filesystems can grow quickly if many files are backed up. The SAMS:Alexandria database is limited to 2 GB on all operating system versions. For more information on the disk usage of SAMS:Alexandria, refer to the SAMS:Alexandria Reference Guide.
ATTENTION If you plan to use ptx/SVM volumes for the SAMS:Alexandria filesystems, the filesystems must be on a ptx/SVM disk that belongs to the ptx/SVM root disk group (rootdg). In the event of a disaster, the host will be booted from the custom miniroot; this miniroot contains information only applicable to restoring the ptx/SVM root disk group. If these critical filesystems are not part of the ptx/SVM root disk group, ptx/SVM information will not be available for these filesystems when booted from the custom miniroot.
These release notes refer to the SAMS:Alexandria home directory as /usr/alexbkup, which is the default location for the SAMS:Alexandria software. If this software is located in another directory, be sure to use that directory when you see references to /usr/alexbkup. The documentation provided for SAMS:Alexandria refers to the home directory as /users/alexbkup.
SAMS:Alexandria requires the existence of an alexbkup user ID and group ID, which you must create. If you plan to perform network backups, the alexbkup user must also be created on each client host. The user ID and group ID of user alexbkup must be the same on every networked SAMS:Alexandria host. Make sure that the user ID and group ID that you select for user alexbkup on the server host is available on all potential client hosts. Once you assign a user ID and group ID to user alexbkup these IDs cannot be changed.
The home directory for user alexbkup must be entered in the /etc/passwd file. This directory is typically /usr/alexbkup.
ATTENTION If you do not define the home directory for user alexbkup in the /etc/passwd file, the Backup Toolkit installalex script will fail and SAMS:Alexandria cannot be installed. The failure occurs because the home directory defined for user alexbkup is determined from the /etc/passwd file.
The alexbkup user is like any other user except that alexbkup has the same ability as root to back up and restore all files on the system. User alexbkup does not have the ability to view root files after restoration.
The SAMS:Alexandria transaction database logging feature duplicates all transactions (inserts, updates, deletions) that are made to the SAMS:Alexandria database. Both server and client hosts can have their own transaction logging database. The transaction database log helps prevent abrupt system shut downs from corrupting the SAMS:Alexandria database. Transaction database logging is an optional feature of that does not have to be used.
Transaction database logging requires the availability of a raw partition specifically set aside with the alex-dbase command. In general, the raw partition used for the transaction database log should not be on the same disk as the SAMS:Alexandria home directory and database. This partition should be 200 MB. The SAMS:Alexandria Reference Guide describes how transaction database logging works and how to designate a raw partition for its use in Chapter 12, "Managing the Alexandria Database."
The raw partition used for the transaction database log must belong to the owner alexbkup and the group alexbkup. You can use the chown command to set the owner and group. For example:
# chown alexbkup:alexbkup /dev/rdsk/sd6s4
If you plan to create a ptx/SVM volume on the raw partition, the volume must belong to the rootdg disk group. Once the ptx/SVM volume is created, use the vxedit set command to set the owner and group for the volume. For example, to set the owner and group for the ptx/SVM volume v-alex-tldb, use the following commands:
# vxedit set user=alexbkup v-alex-tldb
# vxedit set group=alexbkup v-alex-tldb
SAMS:Alexandria requires that activation keys (sometimes referred to as license keys) be configured to enable run-time operations. You can obtain the necessary run-time activation keys from IBM Customer Support. Activation keys are required for the SAMS:Alexandria server, the COBRA personality, the ON-Bar personality, the RMAN personality, the AlexClient/NT personality, and for the library personalities for directly-connected STK libraries and for ACSLS-connected STK libraries. Activation keys are configured after the SAMS:Alexandria software is installed.
SAMS:Alexandria clients do not need activation keys for the SAMS:Alexandria software or the AlexClient/NT personality; these licenses are granted through the server host. (For this reason, client hosts do not have to configure the Client-Nodes-Per-Server configuration option.) The activation key for the server supports a predetermined number of client hosts.
Activation keys for the server and backup personalities are configured or updated with the following SAMS:Alexandria configuration options by using either the alex-option command or the SAMS:Alexandria X interface:
Activation Key |
Configuration Option |
SAMS:Alexandria server |
Server-Key |
COBRA personality |
COBRA-Personality-Key |
ON-Bar personality |
ONBAR-Personality-Key |
RMAN personality |
Recovery-Manager-Personality-Key |
AlexClient/NT personality |
NT-Nodes-Per-Server |
Some of the supported library and tape drive personalities are unprotected and do not require activation keys. Only the ACSLS, LIB_3445, ST-9710, ST-9730, and the ST-L700 library personalities require activation keys.
These library personality keys are configured or updated by the alex-person command or the SAMS:Alexandria X interface. These keys are not configured with configuration options. For more information about activation keys, refer to the Backup Toolkit Administration for SAMS:Alexandria.
If you plan to run the Xalex graphical user interface to SAMS:Alexandria from a remote host but you want to display Xalex at your local terminal, be sure that the DISPLAY environment variable on the remote host is set to the local host on which you want to display Xalex. Also, the name of the local host must be defined in the host table of the remote host.
You can set the DISPLAY environment variable by using your particular shell environment command to set the variable on the remote host. Depending on the network layout at your site, you might need to specify the fully-qualified host name.
For example, the following lines illustrate the syntax in the .profile file on the remote host that sets the DISPLAY environment variable to the local host with the IP address 138.95.57.15:
DISPLAY='138.95.57.15'; export DISPLAY