Front cover

Draft Document for Review June 18, 2021 3:38 pm REDP-5640-00

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus

Protecting Database Applications

Julien Sauvanet
Kenneth Salerno
Markus Fehling

Redpaper
Draft Document for Review June 18, 2021 11:51 am 5640edno.fm

IBM Redbooks

Spectrum Protect Plus Protecting Database

Applications

June 2021

REDP-5640-00
5640edno.fm Draft Document for Review June 18, 2021 11:51 am

Note: Before using this information and the product it supports, read the information in “Notices” on page v.

First Edition (June 2021)

TThis edition applies to Version 10.1.8 of IBM Spectrum Protect Plus..

This document was created or updated on June 18, 2021.

© Copyright International Business Machines Corporation 2021. All rights reserved.

Note to U.S. Government Users Restricted Rights -- Use, duplication or disclosure restricted by GSA ADP Schedule
Contract with IBM Corp.
Draft Document for Review June 18, 2021 11:52 am 5640TOC.fm

Contents

Notices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .v
Trademarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Now you can become a published author, too! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii
Comments welcome. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii
Stay connected to IBM Redbooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii

Chapter 1. Protecting database applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

1.1 Database application backup configuration basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1.1 Creating an Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1.2 Adding an application server. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1.3 Configuring the database application options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.1.4 Assigning an SLA policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.2 IBM Spectrum Protect Plus database restore and data reuse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.2.1 Test restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.2.2 Instant access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.2.3 Production restore. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.3 Database protection and vSnap server operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.3.1 Backup operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.3.2 Restore operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.4 Database backup with pre-script and post-script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Chapter 2. Protecting Oracle database applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

2.1 IBM Spectrum Protect Plus requirements for Oracle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.1.1 Oracle features related to backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.1.2 Server registration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.1.3 Oracle log backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.1.4 Backup details. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.1.5 Restore details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.1.6 Troubleshooting hints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Chapter 3. Backing up and restoring MongoDB databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

3.1 IBM Spectrum Protect Plus requirements for MongoDB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3.1.1 Fundamental IBM Spectrum Protect Plus requirements for MongoDB. . . . . . . . . 40
3.1.2 MongoDB databases without authentication. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.1.3 MongoDB databases with authentication enabled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.1.4 Register a MongoDB server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.2 MongoDB backup and restore with Spectrum Protect Plus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.2.1 MongoDB backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.2.2 MongoDB restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Chapter 4. Backing up and restoring Db2 databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

4.1 IBM Spectrum Protect Plus Db2 features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
4.2 Prerequisites for Db2 databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
4.3 Protecting Db2 databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
4.3.1 Registering the Db2 database server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
4.3.2 Backup Db2 data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

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4.3.3 Restoring Db2 databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Chapter 5. Backing up and restoring SQL Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

5.1 IBM Spectrum Protect Plus SQL Server features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
5.2 Prerequisites for SQL Server databases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
5.3 Protecting SQL Server databases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
5.3.1 Register the SQL Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
5.3.2 Defining an SQL Server backup job . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
5.3.3 SQL database backups logs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
5.3.4 vSnap commands used to manage SQL database backups logs. . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
5.3.5 Parallel ad-hoc SQL database backups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
5.3.6 SQL Server global preferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
5.4 Restoring SQL Server databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Chapter 6. Backing up and restoring Microsoft Exchange data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

6.1 Microsoft Exchange server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
6.1.1 Server roles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
6.1.2 Stand-alone or availability group databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
6.1.3 Mailbox movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
6.1.4 Microsoft built-in data loss prevention. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
6.2 Prerequisites for protection in IBM Spectrum Protect Plus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
6.2.1 Granular restore remote package installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
6.3 IBM Spectrum Protect Plus configuration for Exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
6.3.1 Log backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
6.3.2 Database Availability Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
6.4 Backup jobs overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
6.4.1 Assigning an SLA policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
6.4.2 Backup types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
6.4.3 Scheduled backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
6.4.4 Ad hoc backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
6.5 Restore jobs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
6.5.1 Complete Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
6.5.2 Restoring individual items with granular restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Related publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

IBM Redbooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Online resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Help from IBM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

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Notices

This information was developed for products and services offered in the US. This material might be available
from IBM in other languages. However, you may be required to own a copy of the product or product version in
that language in order to access it.

IBM may not offer the products, services, or features discussed in this document in other countries. Consult
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IBM Director of Licensing, IBM Corporation, North Castle Drive, MD-NC119, Armonk, NY 10504-1785, US

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IBM may use or distribute any of the information you provide in any way it believes appropriate without
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The performance data and client examples cited are presented for illustrative purposes only. Actual
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Information concerning non-IBM products was obtained from the suppliers of those products, their published
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of the sample programs.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2021. v

5640spec.fm Draft Document for Review June 18, 2021 11:51 am

Trademarks
IBM, the IBM logo, and ibm.com are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines
Corporation, registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. Other product and service names might be
trademarks of IBM or other companies. A current list of IBM trademarks is available on the web at “Copyright
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The following terms are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation,
and might also be trademarks or registered trademarks in other countries.
AIX® IBM® Redbooks®
Db2® IBM Services® Redbooks (logo) ®
DB2® IBM Spectrum® Tivoli®

The following terms are trademarks of other companies:

The registered trademark Linux® is used pursuant to a sublicense from the Linux Foundation, the exclusive
licensee of Linus Torvalds, owner of the mark on a worldwide basis.

Microsoft, Windows, and the Windows logo are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States,
other countries, or both.

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VMware, and the VMware logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware, Inc. or its subsidiaries in
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Other company, product, or service names may be trademarks or service marks of others.

vi Spectrum Protect Plus Protecting Database Applications

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Preface

IBM® Spectrum Protect Plus is a data protection solution that provides near-instant recovery,
replication, retention management, and reuse for virtual machines, databases, and
application backups in hybrid multicloud environments.

This IBM Redpaper publication focuses on protecting database applications. IBM

Spectrum® Protect Plus supports backup, restore, and data reuse for multiple databases,
such as Oracle, IBM Db2®, MongoDB, Microsoft Exchange, and Microsoft SQL Server.
Although other IBM Spectrum Protect Plus features focus on virtual environments, the
database and application support of IBM Spectrum Protect Plus includes databases on virtual
and physical servers.

Authors
This paper was produced by a team of specialists from around the world .

Julien Sauvanet is a Open Group Certified Expert IT

Specialist, working at IBM for more than 15 years. He spent
more than 10 years working in IBM Services®, helping with
Spectrum Protect design, deployment as well as helping clients
to solve their challenges around resiliency. Julien focuses on
helping customer with their Spectrum Protect/Plus
deployments, working as a Technical Advisor in the IBM
Systems organization. He has co-authored several IBM
Redbooks® publications.

Kenneth Salerno is an Open Group Certified Distinguished

Technical Specialist working for IBM Systems in the USA. He
has 23 years of experience in Information Technology. Prior to
joining IBM, he worked 7 years as a Senior Infrastructure
Engineer and Architect on Wall Street managing and
supporting multiple data centers for mission-critical online
financial services. He holds a degree in Computer Science
from CUNY Queens College in New York City. His areas of
expertise include operating systems, storage, security,
networking, middleware, databases and enterprise data center
operations. He has contributed code to various open source
projects, and is also Linux and Cisco certified.

Markus Fehling joined IBM more than 30 years ago as Dipl.

Ing. in Electrical Engineering as a software developer for Hard
Disk production, then became developer for Tivoli® Storage
Manager. In 2005, he became SAP relationship manager.
Markus is an IBM Certified IT specialist, with expertise in AIX®,
databases, VMware and Spectrum Protect Plus. Markus is now
part of the Storage sales team at the European Storage
Competence Center , in IBM Germany, focusing on Spectrum
Protect Plus and Red Hat OpenShift.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2021. vii

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Thanks to the following people for their contributions to this project:

Bert Dufrasne
IBM Redbooks, San Jose Center

Siddharth Bhatt
Dominic Mueller
Jim Smith
Joerg Walter
Axel Westphal
IBM

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Find out more about the residency program, browse the residency index, and apply online at:
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Preface ix
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x Spectrum Protect Plus Protecting Database Applications

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Chapter 1. Protecting database applications

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus supports backup, restore, and data reuse for multiple databases,
such as Oracle, IBM Db2, MongoDB, Microsoft Exchange, and Microsoft SQL Server.

Most of the configuration information included in this paper applies to all database
applications.

This chapter includes the following topics:

򐂰 Database application backup configuration basics
򐂰 IBM Spectrum Protect Plus database restore and data reuse
򐂰 Database protection and vSnap server operations
򐂰 Database backup with pre-script and post-script

Note: IBM Spectrum Protect Plus offers data reuse functions in addition to backup and
restore. You can use the database backup data to create a permanent copy (or clone) of
your production database, or to temporarily establish a database copy directly from the
vSnap server volumes.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2021. 1

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1.1 Database application backup configuration basics

This section describes how to configure and run a database back up in IBM Spectrum Protect
Plus, and how to schedule a job to regularly back up the database transaction logs.

Backup, restore, and data reuse handling functions for the supported (relational) databases
are all similar in IBM Spectrum Protect Plus.

These are the steps which we cover in this chapter, enabling application’s backup:
򐂰 Optional but considered as good practice: create an identity
򐂰 Register the database application
򐂰 Perform an inventory of the application (the system automatically triggers an inventory
following the registration process)
򐂰 Assign the application to an SLA
– The SLA must exist, and contains, amongst other option, the Data backup frequency
(not the log backup frequency) and associated retention ( for both data and logs ).
򐂰 Configure the application database Options
– At this step, you will have to specify how you want the application log to be handled
򐂰 Start the backup manually or wait for the next schedule as per the SLA instructions

Note: Do not assign more than one application per machine as an application server to a
resource group. For example, if Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Exchange Server
occupy the same machine and both are registered with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, only
one of the applications can be added as an application server to a given resource group.
As a reminder Resource Group is used for the Role Based Access Control (RBAC)
definition.

For more information about supported databases and environments, see IBM Spectrum
Protect Plus Installation and User’s Guide.

1.1.1 Creating an Identity

An operating system user is required to register a database application server, and discover
the databases that exist on that server. You can enter the user ID and the server-specific
data, such as IP name or IP address. However, we advise you to create so-called Identities
(user definition entries) in advance, to maintain a customized ordering scheme.

In the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus GUI, select Accounts → Identity → Add Identity to enter
the user definition for your specific databases, as shown in Figure 1-1.

Tip: If you use identical operating system users and passwords for multiple database
servers, IBM Spectrum Protect Plus allows you to manage these databases under one
identity.

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Figure 1-1 Creating an identity for an operating system user

With a list of identity entries, as shown in Figure 1-2, you can see that there are default
system identities (such as serveradmin) and identities explicitly created for database backup
and restore (DB administrator, operating system user, Mongo DB user, and Oracle DBA).

Figure 1-2 Spectrum Protect Plus Identity page

1.1.2 Adding an application server

In the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus GUI, select Manage Protection → Databases → <your
database type> as shown in Figure 1-3 on page 4.Then, click the Manage application
servers and Add application server buttons.

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Figure 1-3 Manage Protection Menu > Databases

As shown in Figure 1-4, you then enter the database server’s IP name or address, enter the
database administration user or select an identity that you defined earlier. Click the Get
databases button to start a database discovery job on the server.

Figure 1-4 Manage Application, step to register an application database to SPP

If you save this application server entry, IBM Spectrum Protect Plus automatically starts an
inventory job. This job confirms a network connection, adds the application server to the IBM
Spectrum Protect Plus database, and then catalogs the instance. You can follow the inventory
job or its status in the Jobs and Operations menu.

1.1.3 Configuring the database application options

A complete database backup includes the data files, metadata (such as database control
files), and the transaction logs. While an IBM Spectrum Protect Plus database backup
includes data and metafiles, transactions logs must be backed up more frequently to enable a
future database roll forward to a given current point in time. In addition to the backup
schedule, IBM Spectrum Protect Plus allows you to automatically create a cron job that
regularly starts a transaction log backup.

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After you registered the application, an important step is to specify the options, this is where
you define how you want the logs to be managed for the database. This is not controlling the
retention but the frequency of the log backup as well as whether SPP will delete them from
the local system or not, and if yes, when.

Application Options is also where you specify how many streams will be used to perform the
database backup, for the applications which are supporting this feature (Oracle is one of
those). When enabling multiple streams for database backup, consider the performance
impact it can cause to the application server. Moreover, parallel stream is working at datafile
level, so consider the number of datafile to set parallel stream value. Tuning this performance
setting is likely to be an iterative process to find the right spot, specific to your environment.

Figure 1-5 below shows the possible Application Options. By checking the Enable Log
backup, additional options are proposed, to let you decide how log backup has to occur.

Figure 1-5 Application Database options selection - for log backup management & multi stream backup for supported
databases

Starting with Spectrum Protect Plus 10.1.8, the log backup can be done below the hour
frequency ( SubHourly option).

Moreover, beyond the frequency, you can decide whether the logs are being deleted from the
production system, upon Spectrum Protect Plus log backup, after some time (days or hours,
or never. Possible options are shown in Figure 1-6

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Figure 1-6 How applications log are handled on the production database environment

1.1.4 Assigning an SLA policy

After a database instance is defined in IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, assign an SLA policy to
that instance. In general we recommend that you create dedicated SLA policies for any single
database, or for groups of logically related databases.

To assign SLA, select the application resource and use the ‘Select an SLA policy’ button. You
can do it as either the host level for all databases, or at instance level.

Following the SLA assignment, your application or database is ready for backup. you can
decide to let the backup start as per the SLA schedule or manually trigger backup
immediately. In the latter, from the Application menu, select the application resource and Click
the Run button, as shown in Figure 1-7.

Figure 1-7 Start a manual backup for an application, after registration or at any later time

You can track the progress of a running backup from the Jobs & Operations menu.

Your application is now registered and is part of the Spectrum Protect Plus backup plan,
according to the assigned SLA.

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1.2 IBM Spectrum Protect Plus database restore and data reuse
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus features a restore wizard that simplifies restore operations for
virtual machines and databases. The wizard guides you through the configuration of restore
types and parameters, and optionally schedules a job that performs the actual restore.

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus treats data reuse and data recovery as a restore activity. In either
case, you must create a restore job. The Databases and the Jobs and Operations menus in
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus have a button that is used to start creating a restore job. The
parameters that you select during job creation define which activity is performed.

The following list describes the parameters that control the final restore or data reuse activity:
򐂰 Type of Restore:
– On-Demand Snapshot: one-time restore operation (you choose with-in the list of
backup date and time)
– On-Demand Point in Time: one-time restore by selecting a point-in-time backup of that
database (you specify a point in time or a transaction number)
– Recurring: repeating point-in-time restore job that runs on schedule
򐂰 Restore Method:
– A production restore overwrites the original database or creates a database copy with
a different database name. In the database copy case, you must specify a new
database name and the destination paths.
– A test restore mounts the vSnap server directories with a database backup to a
database server, recovers and opens the database. You can rename the database.
– An instant access restore also mounts the vSnap server directories with a database
backup to a database server, but does not recover or open the database
򐂰 Destination:
– Restore to the original instance
– Restore to an alternative instance

The combination of these selections define which action to perform:

򐂰 Restore a database and optionally overwrite an existing database
򐂰 Establish a copy of a previously backed up database (DevOps)
򐂰 Get access to the database files (data and metadata) of a previous backup and more

The following sections describe examples for these use cases. The sample database is
Oracle database 12c.

Note: Consider the following points:

򐂰 For test or instant access restores, IBM Spectrum Protect Plus creates an internal
snapshot on the vSnap server to prevent any change to the database backup data. The
snapshot directory is then mounted to the selected database server.
򐂰 If you decide to open the database after a restore, you can choose the point-in-time for
a database roll forward: either a specific point-in-time or end of backup.

Before you start to create a restore job, you must first select the database and an associated
backup to restore, as shown in Figure 1-8.

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Figure 1-8 Select the source for a database restore

1.2.1 Test restore

This section describes a possible test restore use case: Every Monday morning, a
development tester or a particular application user requires a fresh copy of a production
database for testing a DevOps scenario.

In the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus restore wizard, you can set up such a user requirement by
choosing the following parameter settings:
򐂰 Restore type: On-demand point in time (or On-demand snapshot, depending on the
available backups)
򐂰 Restore method: Test
򐂰 Destination: Original or alternative instance

First, select the database instance and an associated database backup, as shown in
Figure 1-8. In addition, select a site and a location for the instance to restore. These settings
depend on your specific environment, which can include a cloud or copy location, or a
secondary site that you use for replication.

In our example, we chose the primary site and we chose Recurring to create a repeating
restore job that runs on a schedule, as shown in Figure 1-9.

Figure 1-9 Selecting a site to create the new database instance

For our use case, we decided to create the test database in an alternative destination (which
means not on the original production server) and give the database a new name. Figure 1-10
and Figure 1-11 show the corresponding parameter selections.

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Figure 1-10 Selecting the Test restore method

Figure 1-11 Selecting a restore to an alternative instance

Finally, we define the schedule: every Monday at 8:00 o’clock. Figure Example 1-12 on
page 9 shows an example. If you do not want to wait for the first test run, you can find the
scheduled job in the Jobs and Operations menu of IBM Spectrum Protect Plus. Select the
Schedule tab, find the job in the list, and start it manually.

Figure 1-12 Weekly schedule for a database copy

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus does not reflect the new database name in the name of the
mounted directory or in the data file names, but it starts the database with the new database
identifier (System ID, SID).

The IBM Spectrum Protect Plus test restore job that you started stays active until you
manually terminate it. In the Job and Operations menu, the job status is shown as
“Resource active”. To terminate the job, select it and choose End instant disk restore.

1.2.2 Instant access

In Instant access restore mode, IBM Spectrum Protect Plus mounts the volume from the
vSnap server repository. The instant access restore wizard is similar to the test restore one,
described in “Test restore” on page 8.

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In comparison to the test restore, an instant access restore job does not start a database;
therefore, you do not need to select a database instance as a restore target.

From the mounted file system you can use the data for custom recovery; for example:
򐂰 Reload individual files such as control files, configuration files, and data files.
򐂰 Rebuild a customized database copy.

As described in 1.2.1, “Test restore”, the instant access job remains active with the “Resource
active” state until you terminate it manually. To terminate the job, select it and choose the End
instant disk restore action.

1.2.3 Production restore

This section describes a common use case for a backup and restore solution: A traditional
database restore that overwrites the original database and optionally rolls forward the
database to a specific point-in-time.

In the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus restore wizard, the following parameters initiate a traditional
database restore that overwrites the existing database:
򐂰 Restore type: On-Demand Point in Time
򐂰 Restore method: Production
򐂰 Destination: Original Instance

First, select the database instance and an associated database backup, as shown in
Figure 1-8 on page 8. In addition, select a site and a location for the instance to restore.
These settings depend on your specific environment, which can include a cloud or copy
location, or a secondary site that you use for replication.

In our case, we chose the primary site, as shown in Figure 1-13.

Figure 1-13 Select a site to restore the database

The next two selections indicate what we are trying to achieve; that is, production restore to
the original instance, as shown in Figure 1-14 and Figure 1-15.

Figure 1-14 Production restore to the original database

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Figure 1-15 Database restore to the original instance

For a restore of a production database, the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus restore wizard
assumes a database roll forward to a specific point in time that you can configure in the next
menu.

You must also decide whether to overwrite an existing database, as shown in Figure 1-16 on
page 11. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus provides an auxiliary protection against an unintended
data overwrite: If the database still exists and you do not select the overwrite choice box, the
restore job fails.

Figure 1-16 Selecting the database roll forward and overwrite options

Carefully review the job summary that IBM Spectrum Protect Plus displays (Figure 1-17) and,
if the information describes what you are trying to achieve, run the restore job.

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Figure 1-17 Restore job summary

The IBM Spectrum Protect Plus restore job verifies whether a database exists or is even up
and running. In this case, the Allow database overwrite setting is relevant, as shown in the
restore job log shown in Example 1-1.

Example 1-1 Restore job log

[t6-vm-lx2] SPP: Another DB with the same name is already running. Proceeding
because the overwrite option is enabled.

1.3 Database protection and vSnap server operations

This section explains how the database backups are organized inside the vSnap server, how
backed up data is stored in the vSnap server, and the different ways of restoring from these
backups.

The intent here is to provide technical details about how the process works. For more
information about how to configure backup and run recovery operations for specific
databases with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, see the following resources:
򐂰 Chapter 2, “Protecting Oracle database applications” on page 21

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򐂰 Chapter 3, “Backing up and restoring MongoDB databases” on page 39

򐂰 Chapter 4, “Backing up and restoring Db2 databases” on page 51
򐂰 Chapter 5, “Backing up and restoring SQL Server” on page 69
򐂰 Chapter 6, “Backing up and restoring Microsoft Exchange data” on page 91

At the time of this writing, the following databases are supported:

򐂰 Oracle
򐂰 Microsoft SQL
򐂰 Microsoft Exchange
򐂰 IBM DB2®
򐂰 MongoDB

1.3.1 Backup operations

A complete database backup includes the data files, metadata (such as database control
files), and the transaction logs. While an IBM Spectrum Protect Plus database backup
includes data and metafiles, transactions logs must be backed up more frequently to enable a
future database roll forward to a given current point in time. In addition to the backup
schedule, IBM Spectrum Protect Plus allows you to automatically create a cron job that
regularly starts a transaction log backup.

For the database that includes log backup enabled, two volumes are created:
򐂰 one volume for the data
򐂰 one volume for the log management - which remains mounted at any time to the target
application server

MongoDB: Unlike the other supported databases, MongoDB does not have log
management configurable in IBM Spectrum Protect Plus.

The SLA policy that you assigned to your database defines the schedule time for the first
backup. If you did not define a schedule, or you do not want to wait for the first automatic
backup schedule, click the Run button or scroll down to the SLA policy that you provided for
this database and select the Actions button to start the database backup.

At this point, you also decide to perform a backup of a single database by clicking the Run
button) or a backup of all applications included in the SLA policy by clicking the Actions
button (see Figure 1-5 on page 5).

For each SLA and each database included in that SLA, the following resources are created
on the vSnap server to store backups:
򐂰 One primary data vSnap server volume
򐂰 One primary log vSnap server volume

Optionally, the following resources also are created:

򐂰 Replication vSnap server volumes (if vSnap server replication is enabled for that SLA)
򐂰 Copy data volume (S3 or Repository Server if copies are enabled for that SLA)
򐂰 Archive data volume (S3 cold, tape, if archive is enabled for that SLA)

These data and log volumes are made available to the database server, using different
access method depending on the platform and application, as shown in Figure 1-18.

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Note: Log volumes feature the main characteristics:

򐂰 Log volumes stay mounted.
򐂰 Log volumes are not copied or archived to any S3-mode repositories

Figure 1-18 How database server access their respective vSnap server volumes

Table 1-1 lists what actions take place for data backup and describes the mechanism that is
used by IBM Spectrum Protect Plus to handle the application logs backup.

Table 1-1 Application Data and log backup

Application Data backup Log backup trigger

Oracle RMAN inconsistent incremental cron job

level0 for the first backup, level1
for the subsequent, copy all file
to share

Microsoft SQL VSS snapshot, copy all files to Windows task scheduler
iSCSI LUN

Microsoft Exchange VSS snapshot, copy all files to Windows task scheduler
iSCSI LUN

IBM Db2 LVM snapshot, copy all files to db2 archive log scheduler
share

MongoDB LVM snapshot, copy all files to Copy journal with data file
share

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1.3.2 Restore operations

The following restore operations are available:
򐂰 Production restore: Replace application data
򐂰 Test restore: Clone new instance of production
򐂰 Instant Access: Access backup data

A point-in-time backup is represented by a volume snapshot in the vSnap server.

A point-in-time Production restore creates a temporary vSnap server clone volume of the last
vSnap server data volume before the selected point in time and mounts that clone to the
target server. A copy then occurs on the target server, from the clone volume to the
production volume. After the copy process completes, the clone volume is dismounted and
deleted from the vSnap server.

The next step is to create a temporary clone of the log volume that contains database logs
that are created after the selected point in time and mount that clone to the target. This clone
contains the log backup with database transactions that occurred after the data was restored
in the first step, and allows a roll forward recovery until the specified point in time.

The Test restore works the same way as point in time production restore, but the production
data is not copied back. The restore data is provided as a share from the vSnap server.

The Instant Access restore creates a temporary vSnap server clone volume of the selected
(point in time) backed up data and mounts that clone to the target application server for
access. The same clone and mount operation occurs on the log volume of that same point in
time.

These clones allow read/write access, so the application can work with the data. However,
when the instant access process completes, the data modifications are not persistent, and
any modifications that were made during the instant access are lost. The original backup
does not change.

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1.4 Database backup with pre-script and post-script

Backup pre-script and post-script are features of IBM Spectrum Protect Plus that can be used
and configured as part of an SLA policy options. SLA policy options are unique to an SLA
policy. Therefore, if you decide to use SLA options to set pre or post-script actions, any
workload that is assigned to that SLA policy uses the same options, including the execution of
the script on the configured script server.

Several environments exist in which the database or other application requires their backup to
be integrated into a sequence of actions, in a specific order. These tasks are usually
managed by a scheduler, such as Tivoli Workload Scheduler.

The intent of this section is to explain which steps and features can be used within IBM
Spectrum Protect Plus to synchronize the backup with an external scheduler. Although the
backup is still triggered by an IBM Spectrum Protect Plus policy, we can use the pre-script
option to have IBM Spectrum Protect Plus run a piece of code on the server host. In our
example, we show how to wait for an external scheduler flag before triggering the backup.

Example 1-2 shows the few lines of code that we use as a pre-script. This code is going to
loop until a specific file (acting as a flag) is placed in a specific location by an external
mechanism. This flag file is the signal for IBM Spectrum Protect Plus to trigger the backup.

Example 1-2 Pre-script to make an IBM Spectrum Protect Plus backup waiting for external signal
#! /bin/sh
while [ ! -f /tmp/external_scheduler.flag ]
do
date >> /tmp/SPP_wait4external_scheduler.log
echo " Flag /tmp/external_scheduler.flag not there, wait to start backup " >>
/tmp/SPP_wait4external_scheduler.log
sleep 60
done
echo " Flag /tmp/external_scheduler.flag is here, backup time ! " >>
/tmp/SPP_wait4external_scheduler.log

The script is named SPPWait4externalscheduler.sh.

Tips: Supported scripts include shell scripts for Linux-based machines and batch and
PowerShell scripts for Windows-based machines. Scripts must be created by using the
associated file format for the operating system.

Running the dos2unix command before uploading the script in IBM Spectrum Protect Plus
might help you to ensure suitable format of a shell script if you encounter a formatting
problem (that is, ^M at end of line).

The use of the scripts with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is an easy three-step process:
1. Define the script.
2. Define the script servers.
3. Update the SLA policy options from the SLA Policy Status page.

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The first step is to define the script. From the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus GUI, select System
Configuration → Script to define the script.

Defining the script means uploading the script to IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, as shown in
Figure 1-19. Click Browse to select and upload the script that you plan to run on the
application or database server as part of the backup job.

Figure 1-19 Define script by uploading it

The second step is to define the Script Server, as shown in Figure 1-20. Select System
Configuration → Script. Specify the Host address, login credentials, and operating system
type for which you plan to use script.

Figure 1-20 Define SCript Server by specifying its address and credentials

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The third step is to update an SLA Policy or create an SLA Policy and enable the use of
pre-script in the policy options. Such an option can be accessed by editing the SLA Policy
Options by selecting Manage Protection → <Backup Workload of your choice> → SLA
Policy Status.

In our example, we want to run a script to check whether an Oracle backup ran. We select
Manage Protection → Databases → Oracle → SLA Policy Status. Then, we select Policy
Options, as shown in Figure 1-21.

Figure 1-21 Open the Policy Options to enable the use of a script for that SLA Policy run

When you click Policy Options, a pop-up window opens (see Figure 1-22) and you must
specify whether you want to enable pre-script or post-script, and which script to run.

Figure 1-22 Configure Policy Options to use a specific script for pre or post backup tasks

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Note: Consider the following points:

򐂰 Configuring options for an SLA policy means that any application that is associated with
that SLA policy runs with the specific options. In the case of pre-script and post-script,
they are triggered on the configured script server, although it might not be the server
that is running the backup.
򐂰 In the Policy Options configuration menu, when enabling the use of a script, you can
also instruct IBM Spectrum Protect Plus what to do if the script is failing by selecting the
Continue job/task on script error option.

Whenever the SLA policy is used, completes the pre-script step before triggering the backup
commands. Moreover, if you disable the Continue job/task on script error option, the backup
does not run if the pre-script failed.

Figure 1-23 shows the output log that lists the execution of pre-script.

Figure 1-23 Job log showing that pre script action is executed on the target server t3-vm-lx

Figure 1-24 shows the output log when the pre-script completed so the backup job continues
and triggers the backup of (in our example) the Oracle database.

Figure 1-24 Job log showing that backup action is happening after the pre script completed successfully

Tip: For more information about pre-script or SLA policy options in the job log, enable the
Detail filter of the Job Log.

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In this chapter, we demonstrated the use of pre-script with an external scheduler example.
However, be aware that schedule might also be triggered externally by using the IBM
Spectrum Protect Plus REST API.

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Chapter 2. Protecting Oracle database

applications
This chapter describes Spectrum Protect Plus backup and restore operations for Oracle
databases.

This chapter includes the following topics:

򐂰 Basics of Oracle components used for backup
򐂰 Spectrum Protect Plus Oracle backup and restore Details
򐂰 Troubleshooting and logs

Tip: If you are running a standby Oracle database, you can register the standby database
for backup instead of the production database to reduce the backup impact on business
operations.

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2.1 IBM Spectrum Protect Plus requirements for Oracle

This section describes specific IBM Spectrum Protect Plus requirements for Oracle
databases. For up to date information related to prerequisites, check the Oracle requirements
section of the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus Installation and User’s Guide, which is available at:
https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/spp/10.1.8?topic=requirements-oracle.

The steps to define an Oracle database for the backup are :

1. Optional but considered as good practice: create an identity
2. Register the Oracle database
3. Perform an inventory of the application (Optional as it is automatically triggered following
the registration process)
4. Assign the application to an SLA
– The SLA must exist, and contains, amongst other option, the Data backup frequency
(not the log backup frequency) and associated retention ( for both data and logs ).
5. Configure the application database Options
– At this step, you will have to specify how you want the Oracle archive redo logs to be
handled
6. Optional : Start manually the backup

Before jumping into the details of the above steps, and the Spectrum Protect Plus capabilities,
let’s review some Oracle contextual information.

2.1.1 Oracle features related to backup

This section reviews a few Oracle related concepts that require consideration as they are
impacting how Spectrum Protect Plus performs Oracle database backups.

RMAN
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus relies on Oracle RMAN (Recovery MANager) to perform the
backups and recovery. Any backup related metadata generated by Spectrum Protect Plus are
written to Oracle instance control files. Writing to a remote RMAN catalog is not supported at
the time of this writing.

Spectrum Protect Plus builds its own backup catalog. It is stored inside the Spectrum Protect
Plus virtual appliance and should be protected via Spectrum Protect Plus catalog backup. It is
not possible to use an application specific backup for the catalog.

All commands used by Spectrum Protect can be found in the Job logs, which includes the
command.log file. To find the RMAN command used, you can download the Job log (From the
Jobs and Operations → Job History , select the job you want and click the Download .zip
button).

Once you have extracted that zip file, browse the directory structure and look for the file
named command.log. In this file, you will have all the commands used for the specific
operation. Note that one Job log may have multiple logs (as many as sub-operations) and
therefore multiple directories in this structure.

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For example in Figure 2-1, you can view an extracted log from the Spectrum Protect Plus
server, for an Oracle application backup job ID 1620121641156, which ran against the Oracle
server named 10.0.240.209 (IP address)

Figure 2-1 Extracted Job logs for RMAN command review

Oracle Block Change Tracking

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus uses Oracle Block Change Tracking to perform incremental
backups.

Note: If Block Change Tracking is not enabled, IBM Spectrum Protect Plus enables it
automatically during the first backup

Oracle Compression
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus uses its own compression and deduplication mechanisms. It does
not use the Oracle Advanced Compression feature (which requires an extra license).

Oracle multi-threading
Oracle 12c introduced the concept of multi-threading. In IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, a
multi-threaded database configuration requires Oracle credentials for backup processing.

The discovery process identifies if multi-threading processing is enabled, and prompts the
user for the credentials. Enter the credentials for multi-threaded databases at the time of
registration. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus passes on the credentials to the Oracle agent during
backup, and the agent uses the credentials to log in to the database.

Note: When restoring an Oracle database that was configured for multi-threading at the
time of backup, the restored database is non-multithreaded. The restored database must
be manually reconfigured to use multi-threading.

2.1.2 Server registration

An Oracle server must be registered in IBM Spectrum Protect Plus by using an operating
system user that exists on the Oracle server. This user must belong to the Oracle Inventory
group (oinstall), have database administration permissions OSDBA (dba) and OSASM
(asmadmin), and sudo permissions to perform system operations.

For an Oracle environment it is important that the user used for the registration process has
proper Oracle permissions as well as sudo permissions. Before registering the database on
the Spectrum Protect Plus server, on the system you want to protect, create a user and
configure the proper sudo permissions as shown in Example 2-1.

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Example 2-1 Create sppagent user for Oracle server registration on Spectrum Protect Plus
itso-oracle:~ # useradd -m -G oinstall,dba,asmadmin sppagent
itso-oracle:~ # passwd sppagent
New password:
Retype new password:
passwd: password updated successfully

titso-oracle:~ # cat /etc/sudoers

...
Defaults:sppagent !requiretty
Defaults:sppagent env_keep+="ORACLE_HOME"
Defaults:sppagent env_keep+="ORACLE_SID"
sppagent ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL

To reflect this configuration in Spectrum Protect Plus, you can then create a Spectrum Protect
Plus identity pointing to the user you just created on the machine you need to protect. Follow
the generic steps to register a database application as described in 1.1, “Database
application backup configuration basics” on page 2 .

Specifically, to register an Oracle database, use the Manage Protect → Databases →

Oracle page , click the Manage applications servers button and enter IP and credentials.

Note that when registering Oracle Real Application Cluster (RAC) nodes, each node must be
registered using its physical name or address, not the virtual or SCAN address.

When Oracle mutithread is enabled, the Set Credential button appears at a database
instance level in the second registration step, as shown in Figure 2-2. You must specify the
credentials of an Oracle database user who has SYSDBA privileges. You can specify the
same credentials as those specified to register the application if the privileges associated
meet the SYSDBA requirement.

Figure 2-2 Oracle registration in an Oracle multi-thread configuration.

Application Inventory process, which is triggered right after the application registration
automatically (as well as run on a regular basis - every 24 hours by default), is collecting
extensive information about the Oracle database; that information is key to understand how
the database can be protected.

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Application Server Inventory: this process runs by default every 24 hours and refreshes
Application inventory information, including Oracle information. It is advised to not
schedule this inventory within the backup window. You can configure it in the Jobs &
Operations → Schedule → Application Server Inventory menu.

Here after are the steps performed by the Application Inventory process:
򐂰 Spectrum Protect Plus (SPP) deploys agents into each Oracle server
򐂰 Agent discovers all Oracle Homes, databases, ASM disk groups (if any) and reports them
back to SPP.
– Collect installation details by reading the /etc/oraInst.loc which contains the path to
oraInventory
– Collect list of Oracle databases
– Collect database details
A set of SQL queries are executed to retrieve information specific to each database
such as DB Name, DB ID, current incarnation, character set, list of data files, list of
redo logs, list of control files, list of temp files, FRA location, list of archived log files ,
SPFILE location, log mode, open mode, size of the database, block change tracking
status and current SCN.

Example 2-2 List of SQL queries executed to retrieve information for an Oracle Instance

DB Name: select value from v$parameter where name='db_name';

DB ID: select dbid from v$database;
Check if multi-tenant DB: select cdb from v$database;
Current incarnation: select resetlogs_id from v$database_incarnation where
status='CURRENT';
Character set: select value from nls_database_parameters where
parameter='NLS_CHARACTERSET';
List of datafiles: select f.file#, t.name, f.name from v$datafile f, v$tablespace
t where f.ts#=t.ts#;
List of redo logs: select l.thread#, l.group#, l.bytes, l.blocksize, f.member from
v$log l, v$logfile f where l.group#=f.group#;
List of control files: select name from v$controlfile;
List of temp files: select name from v$tempfile where status='ONLINE';
List of archived log locations: select destination, status, error from
v$archive_dest where target='PRIMARY' and status!='INACTIVE';
FRA Location: select name from v$recovery_file_dest;
SPFILE Location: select value from v$parameter where name='spfile';
Log mode: select log_mode from v$database;
Open mode: select open_mode from v$database;
Size of DB: select sum(bytes) from dba_segments;
Block Change Tracking: select status from v$block_change_tracking;
Current SCN: select current_scn from v$database;

Based on this inventory job result, Spectrum Protect Plus displays all homes and databases
in the GUI and the user can select them for backup.

Following this inventory, some databases may be marked as "not eligible" and will therefore
not be selectable in the GUI.

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To be eligible for backup with Spectrum Protect Plus, a database must:

򐂰 be MOUNTED and OPEN. If the database is not running, Spectrum Protect Plus cannot
determine its details and therefore cannot protect it
򐂰 be in ARCHIVELOG mode.

2.1.3 Oracle log backup

The application log backups have been presented along with screen captures as part of the
Application backup options in 1.1.3, “Configuring the database application options” on
page 4.

Oracle log backup must be discussed with the database administrator to understand if the log
backup and truncation is managed by Spectrum Protect Plus or by another process
implemented by the Oracle database administrator.

Note: Do not combine the management of Oracle database log backup between Spectrum
Protect Plus and another tool.

Spectrum Protect Plus allows, for Oracle, the following possible scenarios:
򐂰 Backup the Oracle logs and let them on the source system
򐂰 Backup the Oracle logs and delete them from the source following a successful backup
and after the specified source retention
򐂰 Do not backup the Oracle logs

Oracle definition of inconsistent backups: Any database backup that is not consistent is
an inconsistent backup. A backup that is made when the database is open or after an
instance failure or SHUTDOWN ABORT command is used is inconsistent. When a database is
restored from an inconsistent backup, the Oracle database must perform media recovery
before the database can be opened, applying any pending changes from the redo logs.

Spectrum Protect Plus performs an "online incremental update" backup of the Oracle
database. While Spectrum Protect Plus is copying the data files, the database accepts
updates. Consequently, it is likely that at the end of the backup, the datafiles are not
consistent. However, Spectrum Protect Plus cope with this situation by using archivelog
mode, meaning after restoring a specific backup, the collected log will be applied to recover
the database to this backup point in time and make it consistent again.

Therefore, IBM Spectrum Protect Plus requires that the Oracle database to be in
ARCHIVELOG mode. If the archive log is disabled the database will be displayed as not
eligible for backup in Spectrum Protect Plus.

Log backup management is controlled via crontab, Spectrum Protect Plus creates entries
(one per database), as shown in Example 2-3.

Example 2-3 crontab entries example for sub-hourly Oracle log backup
sppagent@itso-oracle:~> crontab -l
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE - edit the master and reinstall.
# (/tmp/crontab_1621230300 installed on Mon May 17 07:45:00 2021)
# (Cronie version 4.2)
0,15,30,45 * * * *
/opt/IBM/SPP/logbackup/ORATST/df125510cb9a87dbcbba902ea40f0061/logbackup.sh #
Added by SPP

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0,55 * * * *
/opt/IBM/SPP/logbackup/SPP/df125510cb9a87dbcbba902ea40f0061/logbackup.sh # Added
by SPP

Spectrum Protect Plus Oracle log backup can be summarized as a six-step process:
1. Mount the vSnap volume to the target application server (only if this is the first log backup
or the mount was removed manually)
2. Start RMAN and connect to the target database
3. Verify that the target database is mounted or open
4. Connect to the database
5. Perform the log backup:
a. Perform the backup of the archive logs
BACKUP AS COPY ARCHIVELOG FROM SCN ##LATEST_KNOWN_SCN##
b. Perform the archive log truncate from the Oracle archive log path - as per the settings
you selected
DELETE NOPROMPT FORCE ARCHIVELOG UNTIL TIME ###YOUR SETTINGS ###
6. Disconnect from the database

Step 5.b depends on how you configured the log management from the Spectrum protect
Plus Oracle backup configuration options. If you decided to purge the log after 4 hours (see
Figure 2-3). Example 2-4 on page 27 shows the kind of command that Spectrum Protect Plus
will trigger.

Figure 2-3 Oracle database backup configuration options for log backup management

Example 2-4 Oracle archive log truncate management - post archivelog backup

[2021-06-01 15:29:25] INFO pid:27060 Thread-12 worker_logbackup: purgePrimaryLogs:

AFTER_HOURS
[2021-06-01 15:29:25] INFO pid:27060 Thread-12 worker_logbackup: ORATST: purging
primary logs older than [4] hours
[2021-06-01 15:29:25] JOBLOG pid:27060 Thread-12 writeInputFile: <CTGGF0175>
ORATST: Running command: delete noprompt force archivelog until time
'SYSDATE-4/24' like '/home/ORATST/arch%';
[2021-06-01 15:29:26] JOBLOG pid:27060 Thread-12 worker_logbackup: <CTGGF0219>
ORATST: Log backup worker finished.

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Note: If you change the archive log management settings from the Oracle database
backup configuration options (Figure 2-3), the change you made will be applied on the
target system with the next SLA run.

That being said, beyond the 6 steps described above, Spectrum Protect Plus also does
metadata management such as :
򐂰 Record the latest SCN in the SPP catalog so that this information will be available for the
next log backup.
򐂰 Create Point in time snapshot of two vSnap volumes simultaneously. First vsnap volume
contains data files control files, spfile copies. The second vsnap volume contains the
oracle log files.

When an SLA backup runs ( data files, control file, SPFile backup ), Spectrum Protect Plus
deals also with archive log cleaning, but this time, for the archive log that has been copied to
the vSnap NFS share as part of the crontab archive log backup. Example 2-5 shows the
command that is run to cleanup the Oracle archive log no longer required in the log backup
destination, that are stored on the vSnap.

Example 2-5 SPP archive log cleanup from archive log backup destination

[2021-06-01 15:33:55] INFO pid:28896 MainThread backup_main: Adding DB ORATST to

worker queue for logpurge
[2021-06-01 15:33:55] INFO pid:28896 MainThread backup_main: Waiting for all
workers to finish
[2021-06-01 15:33:55] JOBLOG pid:28896 Thread-13 worker_logpurge: <CTGGF0220>
ORATST: Log purge worker started.
[2021-06-01 15:33:55] JOBLOG pid:28896 Thread-13 logParams: ORATST>
(ORACLE_SID=ORATST) (ORACLE_HOME=/opt/oracle/product/12.2.0/dbhome_1)
(OWNER=oracle)
[2021-06-01 15:33:55] JOBLOG pid:28896 Thread-13 worker_logpurge: <CTGGF0062>
ORATST: Deleting archived logs older than 1 day(s) under log backup destination.
[2021-06-01 15:33:55] JOBLOG pid:28896 Thread-13 writeInputFile: <CTGGF0175>
ORATST: Running command: delete noprompt force archivelog until time 'SYSDATE-1'
like '/mnt/spp/vsnap/vpool1/fs181/10_0_240_223/ORATST%';
[2021-06-01 15:33:59] JOBLOG pid:28896 Thread-13 worker_logpurge: <CTGGF0064>
ORATST: Log purge worker finished.
[2021-06-01 15:33:59] JOBLOG pid:28896 MainThread backup_main: <CTGGF0003>
Completed logpurge operation in 4s. 1 database(s) succeeded and 0 failed.

2.1.4 Backup details

This section provides some insight into Oracle database backup process in Spectrum Protect
Plus.

Oracle backup method: “Incrementally updated backups”

The Oracle backup strategy used in Spectrum Protect Plus is called "Incrementally Updated
Backups". In this strategy, Spectrum Protect Plus will create a level 0 image copy of each data
file, and then periodically roll forward this copy by making and then applying a level 1
incremental backup. This approach avoids the overhead of making repeated full image copies
of data files, but still provides all of the advantages of full data file copies.

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Incrementally updated backups were introduced in Oracle 10g. Using this feature, all changes
between the SCN (System Change Number) of the original image copy and the SCN of the
incremental backup are applied to the image copy, winding it forward to make the equivalent
of a new data file image copy, without the overhead of actually creating a new image copy.

As mentioned as part of the prerequisites, database archive logs are enabled, which implies
that local cleaning of these logs is required. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus can perform this task.
To control the local archive log cleaning by IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, select the Enable
Log Backup option and specify the Primary log retention parameter in the Backup Options
window, as shown in 1.1.3, “Configuring the database application options” on page 4.

Note: When the log backup is enabled, it will be executed as part of the incremental
backup

Oracle backup processing

As already mentioned, Spectrum Protect Plus relies on RMAN to protect the Oracle
database. Below are the different steps and RMAN commands being used to perform the
Oracle database and logs backup as part of the first full or subsequent incremental backup.
1. Mount the vSnap volume to the target application server
2. Start RMAN and connect to the target database
3. Verify that the target database is mounted or open
4. Database backup
a. If this is the the initial backup of the target database (no data on vSnap at this time)
Run > BACKUP INCREMENTAL LEVEL 0 FOR RECOVER OF COPY WITH TAG
'SPP_BACKUP_####' DATABASE
b. If this is an incremental backup of the target database
Run > BACKUP INCREMENTAL LEVEL 1 FOR RECOVER OF COPY WITH TAG
'SPP_BACKUP_####' DATABASE
c. then the other objects backup:
Run > BACKUP AS COPY CURRENT CONTROLFILE REUSE TAG 'SPP_BACKUP_####'
Run > BACKUP AS COPY ARCHIVELOG FROM SCN ##### UNTIL SCN #####
create pfile='/mnt/spp/vsnap/vpool1/fs182/10_0_240_223/SPP/pfile.txt' from
spfile;
5. Disconnect from database
6. Create a snapshot on the vSnap volume
7. Catalog the snapshot
8. Unmount the the vSnap volume from the target application server
9. Enable parallelism in a single database backup process
For Oracle database backup, you have the ability to enable parallel processing - at data
file level. The way parallel processing is achieved is by opening multiple RMAN channels.
This parallel process option is available when you configure the Oracle application options
as shown in Figure 2-4 on page 30

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Figure 2-4 Specifying the Parallel Streams for Oracle datafiles backup

Note: Oracle Parallel Streams parameter shown in Figure 2-4 is satisfied for both backup
and simple Production restore. It is not used by Instant Access, Test restore, and
Production restore when changing the Oracle Resource Name and/or Destination Path. In
the latter, it means that restore is likely to be slower as it is using only one stream.

2.1.5 Restore details

This section provides some insight into Oracle database restore process in Spectrum Protect
Plus.

Restore modes
There are different restore modes available for Oracle database, that can address different
use cases. They are explained in 1.2, “IBM Spectrum Protect Plus database restore and data
reuse” on page 7.

These restore modes are:

򐂰 Test
򐂰 Production
򐂰 Instant Access

Oracle Test restore processing

When doing a Test restore for Oracle, Spectrum Protect Plus creates a vSnap clone from the
version selected by the user and creates an NFS share. The agent mounts the share on the
Oracle server where the restore operation is to be performed. I

For Oracle RAC, the restore operation is performed on all nodes in the cluster. The agent
spins up a new database using the data files directly from the vSnap volume. Spectrum
Protect Plus performs a point-in-time restore by first mounting the database from the

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preceding backup and then applying archived logs to roll forward to the specified intermediate
point in time.

In this mode, a temporary database running directly off the vSnap backup repository can be
launched without performing any data copy back to production storage.

There are a few options to note about the test restore:

򐂰 Test restore can be done to the original Oracle server or an alternate server.
򐂰 The test database can be brought up with the same name as the original or an alternate
name.

Oracle Production restore processing

A Production restore is a permanent database created by copying data from the vSnap
backup repository back to production storage and then launching the database.

The production restore database can have its data restored to the same path (directory or
ASM disk group) as the original, or to an alternate path (directory or ASM disk group).

Spectrum Protect Plus performs a point-in-time restore by first restoring the database from
the preceding backup and then applying archived logs to roll forward to the specified
intermediate point in time.

Here are the RMAN steps and instructions being used for Production restore:
1. Mount the vSnap volume that holds the datafiles of the target database
2. Mount the vSnap volume that holds the log files of the target database
3. Copy the datafiles from the vSnap mount to the target directory
4. Recover the database based on archive log:
a. Run:
>STARTUP NOMOUNT PFILE=' oracle target database location '
b. Connect to database
c. Run the following commands:
>CREATE CONTROLFILE REUSE SET DATABASE ' oracle database name ' RESETLOGS
NOARCHIVELOG
>SET LOGSOURCE ' vSnap log backup mount '
>SET AUTORECOVERY ON
>RECOVER DATABASE USING BACKUP CONTROLFILE UNTIL CANCEL
>ALTER DATABASE ARCHIVELOG
>ALTER DATABASE OPEN RESETLOGS
5. Disconnect from database

If the database name and path are not modified, the recovery uses RMAN commands to copy
the data from vSnap to production system (see Example 2-6) and uses the parallel streams
option that was set when configuring the Oracle backup.

Example 2-6 Extract of RMAN logs for Production restore using 3 parallel streams
...
Recovery Manager: Release 12.2.0.1.0 - Production on Tue May 4 14:10:18 2021

RMAN> set echo off;

2> connect target *

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3> run {
4> configure controlfile autobackup off;
5> set command id to 'SPP_BACKUP_1056_1620130218';
6> allocate channel spp1 type disk;
7> allocate channel spp2 type disk;
8> allocate channel spp3 type disk;
9> restore database from tag 'SPP_BACKUP_1056';
10> release channel spp1;
11> release channel spp2;
12> release channel spp3;
13> }
14> exit;
echo set off

connected to target database: SPP (DBID=2016102274, not open)

using target database control file instead of recovery catalog

old RMAN configuration parameters:
CONFIGURE CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP OFF;
new RMAN configuration parameters:
CONFIGURE CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP OFF;
new RMAN configuration parameters are successfully stored

executing command: SET COMMAND ID

allocated channel: spp1

channel spp1: SID=130 device type=DISK

allocated channel: spp2

channel spp2: SID=9 device type=DISK

allocated channel: spp3

channel spp3: SID=53 device type=DISK

Starting restore at 04-MAY-21

channel spp1: restoring datafile 00001

input datafile copy RECID=6 STAMP=1071670217 file
name=/mnt/spp/vsnap/vpool1/fs123/10_0_240_223/SPP/data_D-SPP_I-2016102274_TS-SYSTE
M_FNO-1_02vu0fqo
destination for restore of datafile 00001: /home/SPP/data/system01.dbf
channel spp2: restoring datafile 00003
input datafile copy RECID=7 STAMP=1071670217 file
name=/mnt/spp/vsnap/vpool1/fs123/10_0_240_223/SPP/data_D-SPP_I-2016102274_TS-SYSAU
X_FNO-3_03vu0fqo
destination for restore of datafile 00003: /home/SPP/data/sysaux01.dbf
channel spp3: restoring datafile 00004
input datafile copy RECID=8 STAMP=1071670217 file
name=/mnt/spp/vsnap/vpool1/fs123/10_0_240_223/SPP/data_D-SPP_I-2016102274_TS-UNDOT
BS1_FNO-4_04vu0fqo
destination for restore of datafile 00004: /home/SPP/data/undotbs01.dbf
channel spp3: copied datafile copy of datafile 00004
output file name=/home/SPP/data/undotbs01.dbf RECID=0 STAMP=0
channel spp3: restoring datafile 00007

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input datafile copy RECID=5 STAMP=1071670217 file

name=/mnt/spp/vsnap/vpool1/fs123/10_0_240_223/SPP/data_D-SPP_I-2016102274_TS-USERS
_FNO-7_06vu0fqs
destination for restore of datafile 00007: /home/SPP/data/users01.dbf
channel spp3: copied datafile copy of datafile 00007
output file name=/home/SPP/data/users01.dbf RECID=0 STAMP=0
channel spp2: copied datafile copy of datafile 00003
output file name=/home/SPP/data/sysaux01.dbf RECID=0 STAMP=0
channel spp1: copied datafile copy of datafile 00001
output file name=/home/SPP/data/system01.dbf RECID=0 STAMP=0
Finished restore at 04-MAY-21

released channel: spp1

released channel: spp2

released channel: spp3

Recovery Manager complete.

....

However, If either the Instance Name or Path is modified (see Figure 2-5), then the process is
using the operating system copy command “cp”. In the latter case, the recovery will use only
one parallel copy stream (see Example 2-7 on page 33).

Figure 2-5 Spectrum Protect Plus Oracle production redirect restore wizard

Example 2-7 shows the kind of command you will observe when doing a restore of the SPP
instance to an alternate location, here in the /home/ORA2 path, as specified in the Restore
wizard shown in Figure 2-5.

Example 2-7 oracle redirect restore using cp command (not RMAN)

root 28029 27877 0 14:43 ? 00:00:00 sudo -n cp -p
/mnt/spp/vsnap/vpool1/fs126/10_0_240_223/SPP/data_D-SPP_I-2016102274_TS-SYSTEM_FNO
-1_02vu0fqo /home/ORA2/data/system01.dbf

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Note the following options about the test restore:

򐂰 Test restore can be done to the original Oracle server or an alternate server.
򐂰 The production database can be restored using a specific backup, or any intermediate
point-in-time (time stamp or SCN).

Note related to Test and Production restore:

It is possible to perform a PIT restore of the Oracle database based on a time stamp or on
a SCN. To recover a database PIT both sources are required, the datafiles and the archive
log files. SPP performs a roll forward recovery of the target database.

Therefore, the most recent datafiles are needed that were created in the past relatively to
the PIT (SCN). In addition the archive log data is needed that contains the PIT (SCN).
Because of this dependency the most recent vSnap snapshot that was taken from the
datafiles, in the past relatively to the PIT (SCN) is used for recovery and the next vSnap
snapshot that was taken from the archive log backup in the future relatively to the PIT
(SCN).

Oracle Instant Access processing

Spectrum Protect Plus can perform an Instant Access which is in fact an Instant storage
mount from the vSnap backup repository to allow the user to access the files stored in any
recovery point. The instant access process restores both snapshots. The one for the datafiles
and the one for the archive log will both be used from the same snapshot time.

The instant access restore method is meant to have the ability to verify the backup, but not
the recovery of the database.

The user can then perform any custom recovery action using those files, such as manually
copy some files or use RMAN catalog to be able to work with these file and do further specific
recovery, which you cannot do with other Spectrum Protect Plus restore modes.

A good use case for Instant Access could be to retrieve a specific file, such as control file, as
illustrated in Example 2-8, or to execute “CATALOG START WITH <mount point>” to make
RMAN scan the contents of the Instant Access mount, then perform any RMAN supported
granular restore operation.

Figure 2-6 shows the wizard Review menu when doing an Oracle instant access process.
This operation can be done through Create Job → Restore from the Manage Protection →
Databases → Oracle menu, for example.

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Figure 2-6 Oracle Instant Access wizard - review screen

From the Oracle system side, an NFS share is mounted and can be browsed with regular
operating system commands. You can then read or copy any of the desired files back to your
environment.

Example 2-8 Instant access allows you to access file directly from the Spectrum Protect Plus backup
itso-oracle:~ # df |grep vsnap
10.0.240.223:/vsnap/vpool1/fs181 95060480 195456 94865024 1%
/mnt/spp/vsnap/vpool1/fs181/10_0_240_223
10.0.240.223:/vsnap/vpool1/fs243 96222976 1357952 94865024 2%
/mnt/spp/vsnap/vpool1/fs243/10_0_240_223

itso-oracle:~ # ls -l /mnt/spp/vsnap/vpool1/fs243/10_0_240_223
total 21
drwxr-xr-x 3 oracle oinstall 10 Jun 1 08:06 ORATST
drwxr-xr-x 3 oracle oinstall 10 Jun 1 08:06 SPP

itso-oracle:~ # cp /mnt/spp/vsnap/vpool1/fs243/10_0_240_223/ORATST/controlfile.txt
/tmp/restore_controlefile.txt

itso-oracle:~ # head /tmp/restore_controlefile.txt

-- The following are current System-scope REDO Log Archival related
-- parameters and can be included in the database initialization file.
--
-- LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST=''
-- LOG_ARCHIVE_DUPLEX_DEST=''
--
-- LOG_ARCHIVE_FORMAT=%t_%s_%r.dbf
--
-- DB_UNIQUE_NAME="ORATST"
--
....

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Restore use cases

Among the three possible restore methods, you must obviously choose the one that best
addresses your needs.

Here are the few restore use cases along with the suggested Spectrum Protect Plus restore
mode.

Restore for data validation:

For Oracle, as there are no corruption checks being done at backup time, there is an
interesting scenario which consists of scheduling a regular ‘Test mode’ recovery. Using this
mode mounts the database to any Oracle environment, not necessarily the same as the
backup source, allowing the database administrator to run a validation script against the
backup copy of the database.

Database duplication
Native RMAN provides a function called RMAN duplicate, Production restore mode of
Spectrum Protect Plus can be used to create a PIT clone of an existing Oracle database.

Database build standby

That same production restore mode from Spectrum Protect Plus can also provide an
equivalent to the RMAN Target Database for Standby to create build a standby database,
although the relationship between the production and the standby must be built manually after
the restore has finished.

2.1.6 Troubleshooting hints

This section provides some troubleshooting guidance.

Access the Job log

For each job, IBM Spectrum Protect Plus records the commands that it uses to handle the
database (including SQL and RMAN commands) in a command.log file. The following options
are available to access these log files:
򐂰 Select Download.zip in the Jobs and Operations menu to download the collection of logs
for a specific job. The .zip file contains folders that are named application/<uuid> where
<uuid> matches the last portion of the log dir location. Check the command.log files in
these folders.
򐂰 Check the /data/log/guestdeployer/<date> subdirectories on the IBM Spectrum Protect
Plus appliance, which also stores the command.log files.

for more information about requirements, IBM Spectrum Protect Plus Installation and User’s
Guide.

NFS troubleshooting during log backups

SPP uses a NFS mount to perform log backup. What happens when the NFS mount fails
while the log backup is ongoing?

The NFS mount failure can have multiple root causes. For example:
򐂰 Network issues
򐂰 vSnap goes down for maintenance
򐂰 vSnap error

Depending on when the NFS mount failure occurs, the result can be different:

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򐂰 When the database processes the log backup the vSnap share is already invalid (vSnap
down). This situation will cause an alert in SPP, but SPP won't lose log backup data.
򐂰 When the database processes the log backup, the vSnap goes down in the middle of the
log backup processing, which will cause an alert in SPP and log data can get lost. If the
log files or metadata files are damaged or incomplete, SPP loses log backup data. In this
case PIT restores will fail.
򐂰 When the database has finished the log backup the vSnap goes down before it takes a
snapshot on the log volume, the data was save written to disk and the snapshot will be
taken later depending on the next snapshot schedule.

Note: If the vSnap server goes down for any reason, such as maintenance for example,
the persistent NFS mount point for log backup becomes invalid and must be unmounted.
The next backup (either SLA or log backup) would mount the NFS share again.

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Chapter 3. Backing up and restoring

MongoDB databases
In this chapter, we describe backing and restoring MongoDB databases.

This chapter includes the following topics:

򐂰 3.1, “IBM Spectrum Protect Plus requirements for MongoDB” on page 40
򐂰 3.2, “MongoDB backup and restore with Spectrum Protect Plus” on page 44

Note: Although database configuration and handling is widely similar for databases in IBM
Spectrum Protect Plus, some differences exist for the supported database systems. We
describe that information in Chapter 4, “Backing up and restoring Db2 databases” on
page 51, and Chapter 5, “Backing up and restoring SQL Server” on page 69

For more information about generic test restore or DevOps use cases, see Chapter 1.,
“Protecting database applications” on page 1. This chapter also describes database
backup, restore, and DevOps use cases in general, but refers specifically to an Oracle
database whenever necessary.

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3.1 IBM Spectrum Protect Plus requirements for MongoDB

This chapter describes specific IBM Spectrum Protect Plus requirements for MongoDB
databases. For more information about the latest list, check the MongoDB requirements
section of the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus Installation and User’s Guide, which is available at
IBM Documentation.

3.1.1 Fundamental IBM Spectrum Protect Plus requirements for MongoDB

This section provides an overview of important IBM Spectrum Protect Plus requirements in
MongoDB environments. See IBM Spectrum Protect Plus Installation and User’s Guide for a
complete list of up-to-date support information, which is available at IBM Documentation.

Operating system support

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus supports MongoDB environments on Linux systems, including
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), CentOS, and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.

Logical Volume Manager

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus requires that logical volumes of MongoDB data and log paths are
managed by Linux Logical Volume Manager (LVM2). LVM2 is used for creating temporary
volume snapshots. The database files and the journal must be on a single volume.

Operating system user

The initial discovery of MongoDB databases on an IBM Spectrum Protect Plus server
requires an operating system user (called the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus agent user) with the
following permissions:
򐂰 Run commands as the root user and as the MongoDB software owner user by using sudo.
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus requires this privilege for tasks, such as discovering storage
layouts, mounting and unmounting disks, and managing databases. Example 3-1 shows
an appropriate /etc/sudoers entry for a user named mosuser.
򐂰 Read, write, and execute permissions for the database directories. The MongoDB default
database directory is /data/db.

Example 3-1 An entry for mosuser

Defaults:mosuser !requiretty
mosuser ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL

Current restrictions
In IBM Spectrum Protect Plus version 10.1.6, MongoDB is configured as a stand-alone
instance or replica set. Currently, IBM Spectrum Protect Plus does not support backup
operations of MongoDB shared cluster instances. A backup always includes all databases in
the instance.

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3.1.2 MongoDB databases without authentication

After installing the MongoDB software, you can immediately start the MongoDB daemon
(mongod) or service on your operating system and access a (default) database. On Linux
operating systems, a default database is created on the data path /data/db. However, such a
database is open to anybody in your network, or even the internet. Therefore, we strictly
recommend that you secure your MongoDb databases more carefully.

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus offers a two-stage process to access a MongoDB database. First,
you register the database server with an IP name or address, an operating system user, and
a corresponding password. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus initiates a database discovery job on
this server. If you run your MongoDB without authentication, the database registration in IBM
Spectrum Protect Plus is complete at this point.

Also, if you secured your databases on the database level, you specify more user credentials
for each secured database that IBM Spectrum Protect Plus discovered.

3.1.3, “MongoDB databases with authentication enabled” on page 41 describes how to

enable MongoDB authentication.

3.1.4, “Register a MongoDB server” on page 43 describes the MongoDB registration in IBM
Spectrum Protect Plus.

3.1.3 MongoDB databases with authentication enabled

This section describes more configuration steps for a MongoDB database that runs with
authentication enabled.

If your MongoDB database is configured without credentials, you should secure it. There
are many MongoDB databases open on the internet, providing the opportunity for massive
data breaches.

For more information about available authentication options, see the MongoDB manuals,
which are available at this website.

MongoDB authentication requires the definition of at least one MongoDB user. If database
authentication is enabled, IBM Spectrum Protect Plus must provide a user name and a
password to run backup and restore activities.

For each MongoDB user that you plan to use for backup and restore with IBM Spectrum
Protect Plus, specify MongoDB access roles by using the db.grantRolesToUser() command,
as shown in Example 3-2.

Example 3-2 Grant permissions to an existing MongoDB user

> use admin
switched to db admin

> db.grantRolesToUser("mdbuser",
[ { role: "hostManager", db: "admin" },
{ role: "clusterMonitor", db: "admin" } ] )

> db.grantRolesToUser("mdbuser",
[ { role: "clusterManager", db: "admin" } ] )

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The MongoDB hostManager and clusterMonitor roles provide access to MongoDB

commands that IBM Spectrum Protect Plus requires to monitor, read the state of, and handle
the databases including:
򐂰 getCmdLineOpts
򐂰 serverVersion
򐂰 replSetGetConfig
򐂰 replSetGetStatus
򐂰 shutdown

The clusterManager role is required only for running test restore operations of replica sets.

If you decide to create a new or dedicated user for backup and restore purposes, you can use
the db.createUser() command, as shown in Example 3-3. According to the MongoDB
manuals, the ClusterAdmin role includes the clusterManager, clusterMonitor, and
hostManager roles.

Example 3-3 Create a MongoDB user with the permissions required by IBM Spectrum Protect Plus
> show dbs
admin 0.000GB
config 0.000GB
local 0.000GB
> use admin
switched to db admin
> db.createUser(
{
user: "mdbuser",
pwd: "mypasswd",
roles: [ "readWrite", "dbAdmin","clusterAdmin" ]
}
)

Use the db.getUsers() command to display users and their permissions.

Note: Enhanced database administration permissions are required to create users and
grant roles. The roles that are required for backup and restore with Spectrum Protect Plus
are not sufficient.

For MongoDB authentication to take effect, restart the MongoDB daemon (mongod) with the
“--auth” option. Example Example 3-4 on page 42 shows how to start the daemon on a Linux
command line.

Example 3-4 Starting mongod on Linux

mongod --bind_ip_all --auth &

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3.1.4 Register a MongoDB server

This section describes the tasks required to register a MongoDB server.

Create identities
Based on your decision to run your MongoDB database with or without authentication, one or
two user definitions are required: an operating system user and optionally a MongoDB user.
You can specify the users in the Add application server menu, but we recommend explicitly
creating a so-called Identity with a customized name first. Figure 3-1 and Figure 3-2 show
Identities for an operating system and a MongoDB user. The two user names can be identical.

Figure 3-1 Identity definition for an operating system user

Figure 3-2 Identity definition for a MongoDB user

Add an application server

In the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus GUI, select Manage Protection → Databases →
MongoDB. Then, click Manage application servers, and finally, click Add application
servers to register the database server. Enter the database server IP name or address and
select an existing identity. Alternatively, enter a user name and a password.

If you want to start a database discovery job on the server, click Get Instances. If IBM
Spectrum Protect Plus discovers databases, it shows the connection data for these
databases: IP name or address, and IP port.

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Important: If you run your MongoDB database without authentication, the registration
procedure is complete. However, you should secure your database. If your database is
secured, you must specify more user credentials to access the database. The IBM
Spectrum Protect Plus GUI provides a Set Credential option for the discovered databases
(see Figure 3-3).

For more information about handling of MongoDB databases with authentication, see
section 3.1.3, “MongoDB databases with authentication enabled”.

Figure 3-3 Add a MongoDB server

For more information about required configuration steps and parameters, see IBM Spectrum
Protect Plus Installation and User’s Guide, which is available at IBM Knowledge Center.

3.2 MongoDB backup and restore with Spectrum Protect Plus

In this chapter, we describe MongoDB database backup and restore. The sample restore in
this chapter is a restore to the original destination.

For more information about the configuration of other use cases, see 1.2, “IBM Spectrum
Protect Plus database restore and data reuse” on page 7.

3.2.1 MongoDB backup

This section describes the tasks that are required to register and back up a MongoDB server.

Assigning an SLA policy

After a MongoDB instance is defined in IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, assign an SLA policy to
the instance. In general, we recommend creating dedicated SLA policies for single databases
or groups of logically related databases.

After you set up an SLA policy for your MongoDB backup job, you can choose to configure
extra options for that job. More SLA options include running scripts, and forcing a full base
backup.

For more information, see 1.4, “Database backup with pre-script and post-script” on page 16.

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Starting the database backup

The SLA policy that you assigned to your database (see Figure 3-4) defines the schedule
time for the first backup. If you did not define a schedule or do not want to wait for the first
automatic backup schedule, click Run or scroll down to the SLA policy that you provided for
this database and select Actions to start the database backup.

Now, you also decide whether to perform a backup of a single database (click Run), use the
Create Job wizard, or perform a backup of all applications that are included in the SLA policy
(click Actions).

Figure 3-4 MongoDB instance discovered by IBM Spectrum Protect Plus with an SLA policy assigned

Wait until a backup is automatically scheduled or scroll down to the SLA policy section in the
window and select Actions → Start to manually start a backup. This process is IBM
Spectrum Protect Plus standard handling, and not specific to MongoDB environments.

To run an on-demand backup job for multiple MongoDB databases that are associated with
an SLA policy, click Create job, select Ad hoc backup, and follow the instructions.

Note: Do not run inventory jobs at the same time that MongoDB backup jobs are
scheduled.

Figure 3-5 Manually start a database backup

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IBM Spectrum Protect Plus mounts a vSnap server directory to the database server to copy
the backup data (see Example 3-5). During the initial backup operation, IBM Spectrum
Protect Plus creates a vSnap server volume and NFS share.

Example 3-5 A vSnap server directory mounted on the database server

t6-vm-lx:~ # df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda2 40G 14G 26G 35% /
devtmpfs 1.9G 8.0K 1.9G 1% /dev
...
/dev/mapper/mongovg-mongolv 15G 410M 14G 3% /data
10.0.250.48:/vsnap/vpool1/fs11 49G 128K 49G 1% /mnt/spp/vsnap/vpool1/fs11

During incremental backups, the created volume is reused. The IBM Spectrum Protect Plus
MongoDB agent mounts the share on the MongoDB server where the backup is performed.

Switch to the Jobs and Operations menu to display the job protocol and optionally download
the job logs and command files.

3.2.2 MongoDB restore

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus offers several restore methods for databases: Production restore,
test restore, and instant access. You can select between restore to the original or an
alternative destination with or without overwriting an existing database. These features are
available for all supported databases.

In this chapter, we demonstrate a MongoDB database restore to the original destination.

For more information about the configuration of other use cases, see 1.2, “IBM Spectrum
Protect Plus database restore and data reuse” on page 7.

Restoring a MongoDB database to the original destination

In the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus restore wizard, the following parameters start a traditional
database restore that overwrites the existing database:
򐂰 Type Restore: On-Demand Snapshot
򐂰 Restore method: Production
򐂰 Destination: Original Instance

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First, select the database instance and an associated database backup, as shown in
Figure 3-6. Select the available Source Snapshot that needs to be restored, as shown in
Figure 3-7.

Figure 3-6 Select the source for a database restore

Figure 3-7 Select a site from which to restore the database

The next two selections express what we are trying to achieve: A production restore to the
original instance, as shown in Figure 3-8 and Figure 3-9 on page 48.

Figure 3-8 Select the restore method

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Figure 3-9 Select the restore destination

For an on-demand snapshot restore of a production database, the IBM Spectrum Protect
Plus restore wizard assumes a subsequent database roll forward to the end of logs included
in the backup (see Figure 3-10).

Figure 3-10 Select database overwrite and other restore options

You must also decide about overwriting a database. IBM Spectrum Protect Snapshot provides
an auxiliary protection against an unintended data overwrite; that is, if the database still exists
and you do not select the overwrite option, the restore job fails.

In IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, an on-demand snapshot restore is not scheduled. Spectrum
Protect Plus runs it only once, as shown in Example 3-11.

Figure 3-11 Information about a job schedule

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Carefully review the job summary that IBM Spectrum Protect Plus displays. If the information
describes what you trying to achieve, run the restore job.

Finally, switch to the Job and Operations menu to check the job results (see Figure 3-12).

Figure 3-12 Job status view

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Chapter 4. Backing up and restoring Db2

databases
This chapter describes the management of Db2 databases with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus.
Backup, restore, and recovery of single-partitioned and multi-partitioned Db2 databases are
supported.

This chapter includes the following topics:

򐂰 4.1, “IBM Spectrum Protect Plus Db2 features” on page 52
򐂰 4.2, “Prerequisites for Db2 databases” on page 52
򐂰 4.3, “Protecting Db2 databases” on page 55

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4.1 IBM Spectrum Protect Plus Db2 features

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus supports the following features with Db2 databases:
򐂰 Automatic discovery of Db2 installations on registered machines in IBM Spectrum Protect
Plus.
򐂰 Backup, restore, and recovery of single- and multi-partitioned Db2 databases.
򐂰 IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is performing software snapshot-based online backups using
LVM2 or journaled file system (JFS2) and the Db2 Advanced Copy Services (ACS)
interface.
򐂰 IBM Spectrum Protect Plus uses a custom incremental-copying algorithm for data
movement from snapshot to vSnap server repository. This algorithm is effective for
incremental forever backups.
򐂰 Multiple restore methods are available. Production Restore (database is restored by
copying data), Test Restore (database is restored in-place without data movement) and
Instant Access (IBM Spectrum Protect Plus only mounts the backup volume).
򐂰 IBM Spectrum Protect Plus supports continuous Db2 archive log backup. This feature can
be used optionally for a backup.
򐂰 For Db2, various recovery (transaction roll forward) modes are available in IBM Spectrum
Protect Plus, which includes point-in-time recovery by using the archive logs.

4.2 Prerequisites for Db2 databases

The supported operating systems for IBM Spectrum Protect Plus with Db2 are:
򐂰 On PowerPC: IBM AIX 7.1, 7.2, and later fixpack and modification levels (64-bit kernel)
򐂰 On Linux x86_x64: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.8, 7, 11.0 SP4, and 12.0 SP1; SUSE Linux
Enterprise Server 11.0 SP4 and 12.0 SP1 and later maintenance and modification levels
򐂰 On Linux on Power Systems (little endian): Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.1, SUSE Linux
Enterprise Server 12.0 SP1 and later maintenance and modification levels.

IBM Db2 Version 10.5, 11.1, 11.5 and later maintenance levels: Enterprise Server Edition are
supported at the time of this writing.

To manage Db2 databases with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus the following prerequisites must
be met:
򐂰 Define a dedicated IBM Spectrum Protect Plus agent user, for example sppagent, on every
Db2 server with the required privileges for sudo, as shown in Example 4-1.

Example 4-1 A sudoers file with sppagent user

Defaults:sppagent !requiretty
sppagent ALL=(ALL)
NOPASSWD:ALL

򐂰 Db2 archive logging is activated and Db2 is in recoverable mode, which requires that at
least LOGRETAIN is enabled.

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򐂰 Logical volumes holding IBM Db2 table spaces (data and temporary table spaces), the
local database directory, and IBM Db2 log files are managed by Logical Volume
Management system (LVM2) on Linux and by the Journaled File System (JFS2) on AIX.
LVM2 on Linux and JFS2 on AIX are used for creating temporary volume snapshots.
Ensure that there is at least 10% free capacity for logical volume snapshots.
򐂰 Each Db2 host has to be registered in IBM Spectrum Protect Plus. In a Db2 DPF
environment with multiple hosts, every Db2 host has to be registered in IBM Spectrum
Protect Plus.

In this publication, the Db2 database example consists of a multi-partitioned Db2 Database
Partitioning Feature (DPF) database version 10.5 that is running on two Red Hat Enterprise
Linux Server hosts, as shown in Figure 4-1.

Figure 4-1 Db2 DPF environment

In our example, the Db2 partitions 0, 1, 2, and 3 are spread over the two servers kansasprod1
and floridaprod1, as shown in the db2nodes.cfg file in Example 4-2.

Example 4-2 The db2nodes.cfg file

bash-4.1$ cat sqllib/db2nodes.cfg
0 kansasprod1 0
1 kansasprod1 1
2 floridaprod1 0
3 floridaprod1 1

To be able to manage the Db2 DPF database with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus the parallel
backup mode, as shown in Figure 4-2 has to be enabled. To run parallel backup processing of
partitions in your Db2 environment, ensure that one of the following prerequisites is met:
򐂰 The Db2 registry variable DB2_PARALLEL_ACS is set to YES, for example: db2set
DB2_PARALLEL_ACS=YES
򐂰 In earlier versions of Db2, the backup mode is determined by the Db2 registry variable
DB2_WORKLOAD. To enable parallel backup mode, run the Db2 command db2set
Db2_WORKLOAD=SAP. Check with the Db2 command db2set -all Db2_WORKLOAD.

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Note: Db2 serial backup mode is not supported with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus because
of the fact that logs included in the backup can be inconsistent across partitions.

Figure 4-2 Parallel backup mode with Db2 Advanced Copy Services (ACS)

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus triggers the Db2 agent once per host, and if there is more than
one partition on the host, Db2 will trigger ACS for each partition individually. A dedicated
protocol file is available per partition that is later stored on the vSnap server volume. The Db2
agent can handle the multiple invocations of its ACS scripted part through Db2.

In parallel backup mode, which is the default mode for an SAP Db2 database, all partitions
are suspended before Db2 issues snapshot requests. The requests are then performed in
parallel on all partitions, as shown in Figure 4-2. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus runs the Db2
backup command on the Db2 catalog partition. The main Db2 ACS processes are:
1. Prepare phase: The write operations of the database are suspended; that is, WRITE
SUSPEND is set automatically on the database. Db2 prepares the file systems, checks
space requirements in the storage system and does other things to keep the database
consistent.
2. Snapshot phase: Db2 instructs the Db2 agent to perform a software snapshot on each
partition in parallel. The snapshot request is done by taking software snapshots of the
corresponding volumes.
3. Verify phase: Db2 checks if the snapshot was taken successfully. If the snapshot is
correct, the data is moved to the vSnap server by the Db2 agent.

For more information about updates to the Db2 database prerequisites, see Spectrum Protect
Plus- All Requirements, which is available at this web page.

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4.3 Protecting Db2 databases

To protect Db2 with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, the database servers have to be registered
so that IBM Spectrum Protect Plus can discover the Db2 databases. To start the backup, the
Db2 database always has to be assigned to an SLA policy.

4.3.1 Registering the Db2 database server

Before IBM Spectrum Protect Plus can manage the Db2 database, the Db2 servers have to
be registered in IBM Spectrum Protect Plus. To register a Db2 database server, complete the
following steps:
1. In the navigation pane, click Manage Protection → Databases → Db2.
2. Click Manage Application Servers → Add Application Server. Enter the required login
credentials for the Db2 server, as shown in Figure 4-3.

Note: Pre-define the sppagent username as an Identity in Accounts → Identity → Add

Identity before you enter the login credentials of the db2 server. Otherwise, IBM Spectrum
Protect Plus will append the ip-address or FQDN to the sppagent username to make it a
dedicated user. Especially if you have to change the sppagent password, it makes it easier
for the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus admin when the sappagent user can be reused for
multiple Db2 servers.

Figure 4-3 Add Db2 application server pane

Test connection to a Db2 server

The IBM Spectrum Protect Plus test function verifies communication with the Db2 host and
tests Domain Name System (DNS) settings between IBM Spectrum Protect Plus and the
host. It also tests that certain services are enabled, and that the specified user has sudo
privileges. To start the test, select the host and click Actions → Test. A pop-up window
displays, as shown in Figure 4-4 on page 56.

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Figure 4-4 Test result pop-up

4.3.2 Backup Db2 data

Before starting a backup of Db2, the Db2 database must be assigned to one or more SLA
policies.

Defining a Db2 backup job

Assign the selected Db2 database to a SLA policy to create a backup job. Db2 backups run in
a “Base-Once-Incremental-Forever” scheme. During the initial base (full) backup, IBM
Spectrum Protect Plus creates a vSnap server volume and mounts it to the Db2server by
using NFS.

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After assigning the Db2 database to an SLA policy, as shown in Figure 4-5, you can optionally
click the Select Options button, to enable Log Backup, as shown in Figure 4-6, “Select
options to enable log backup of Db2” on page 58. With log backup enabled, IBM Spectrum
Protect Plus will automatically create a log backup volume and mount it to the application
server.

Figure 4-5 Assign a SLA policy to the database

Enable Log backup

Archived logs for databases contain committed transaction data. This transaction data can be
used to run a roll forward data recovery when you are running a restore operation. The use of
archive log backups enhances the recovery point objective for your data.

For IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, the Db2 archive logging must be enabled and Db2 must be in
recoverable mode. If log backup is enabled in IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, one of the Db2
parameters, LOGARCHMETH1 or LOGARCHMETH2, is updated with the path of the vSnap
pool for the log files, as shown in Example 4-3. Therefore, it is important that one of the
LOGARCHMETH parameters includes the value OFF and can be used for a vSnap log
volume assignment.

Example 4-3 Log backup enabled in IBM Spectrum Protect Plus

[db2inst1@spp-db2-01 ~]$ db2 get database configuration for SPPDB | grep LOGAR* -i
First log archive method (LOGARCHMETH1) = DISK:/mnt/spp/vsnap/vpool1/fs20/
Archive compression for logarchmeth1 (LOGARCHCOMPR1) = OFF
Options for logarchmeth1 (LOGARCHOPT1) =
Second log archive method (LOGARCHMETH2) = DISK:/mnt/spp/vsnap/vpool1/fs148/192_168_5_234/
Archive compression for logarchmeth2 (LOGARCHCOMPR2) = OFF
Options for logarchmeth2 (LOGARCHOPT2) =

Note: To successfully enable Db2 log backup in Spectrum Protect Plus, the Db2 agent
expects (and verifies) that all partitions have unique settings for logarchmeth1 and
logarchmeth2.

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In the Db2 Backup window, select the Db2 database and click Select Options → Enable Log
Backup → Save, as shown in Figure 4-6, to allow roll forward recovery when you set up a
backup job or SLA policy. When selected for the first time, you must run a backup job for the
SLA policy to activate log archiving to Spectrum Protect Plus on the database.

Figure 4-6 Select options to enable log backup of Db2

vSnap commands used to manage Db2 Logs

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus agent creates a separate volume on the vSnap server repository,
which is mounted by NFS shared persistently on the Db2 application server. The backup
process updates the LOGARCHMETH1 or LOGARCHMETH2 parameters to point to that
volume for log archiving purposes. The volume is kept mounted on the Db2 server unless the
Enable Log Backup option is cleared and a new backup job is run.

Log backup transaction files are copied to this share according to the schedule created for log
backup.

If the DB2 backup job is running, we can see an NFS share on the file system that is
associated with the SLA. As shown in Example 4-4, running the vSnap CLI command vsnap
share show lists the active share, in which the Volume ID 3671 and the share name
/vsnap/vpool1/fs148 can be identified.

Example 4-4 Active share

[serveradmin@vsnap fs114]$ vsnap share show
ID | TYPE | PARENT VOL | PARTNER ID | NAME
-----------------------------------------------------------
2733 | smb | 81 | N/A | vpool1_fs81
3557 | nfs | 113 | N/A | /vsnap/vpool1/fs113
3558 | nfs | 114 | N/A | /vsnap/vpool1/fs114
3671 | nfs | 148 | N/A | /vsnap/vpool1/fs148

[serveradmin@vsnap fs114]$ vsnap share show --id 3671

ID: 3671
NAME: /vsnap/vpool1/fs148
SHARE TYPE: nfs
VOLUME ID: 148
PARTNER ID: N/A
CREATED: 2020-06-30 11:58:46 UTC
UPDATED: 2020-06-30 11:58:46 UTC
SHARE OPTIONS:

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ALLOWED HOSTS:
192.168.122.1
192.168.5.94
READ ONLY: No

The share is used to transfer the backup data from the database to the vSnap server.

After the backup of the log completes, log backup transaction files are copied to this share
according to the schedule that was created for log backup, as shown in Example 4-5.

Example 4-5 Log backup transaction files copied into NFS shared VSnap in DB2 guest spp-db2-01
[root@spp-db2-01 ~]# df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/rhel-root 38G 9.8G 28G 27% /
devtmpfs 1.9G 0 1.9G 0% /dev
tmpfs 1.9G 12K 1.9G 1% /dev/shm
tmpfs 1.9G 25M 1.9G 2% /run
tmpfs 1.9G 0 1.9G 0% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/sda1 1014M 143M 872M 15% /boot
/dev/mapper/rhel-home 19G 844M 18G 5% /home
/dev/mapper/db2-data 15G 240M 14G 2% /db2_data
/dev/mapper/db2-log 9.8G 116M 9.1G 2% /db2_log
tmpfs 380M 12K 380M 1% /run/user/42
192.168.5.234:/vsnap/vpool1/fs148 898G 128K 898G 1% /mnt/spp/vsnap/vpool1/fs148/192_168_5_234
tmpfs 380M 0 380M 0% /run/user/0

[root@spp-db2-01 ~]# cd /mnt/spp/vsnap/vpool1/fs148/192_168_5_234

[root@spp-db2-01 192_168_5_234]# ls -lrt
total 1
drwxr-x---. 3 db2inst1 db2iadm1 3 Jun 30 07:59 db2inst1
[root@spp-db2-01 192_168_5_234]# cd db2inst1
[root@spp-db2-01 db2inst1]# ls -lrt
total 1
drwxr-x---. 3 db2inst1 db2iadm1 3 Jun 30 07:59 SPPDB
[root@spp-db2-01 db2inst1]# cd SPPDB
[root@spp-db2-01 SPPDB]# ls -lrt
total 1
drwxr-x---. 3 db2inst1 db2iadm1 3 Jun 30 07:59 NODE0000
[root@spp-db2-01 SPPDB]# cd NODE0000/
[root@spp-db2-01 NODE0000]# ls -lrt
total 1
drwxr-x---. 3 db2inst1 db2iadm1 3 Jun 30 07:59 LOGSTREAM0000
[root@spp-db2-01 NODE0000]# cd LOGSTREAM0000/
[root@spp-db2-01 LOGSTREAM0000]# ls -lrt
total 1
drwxr-x---. 2 db2inst1 db2iadm1 4 Jun 30 08:01 C0000000
[root@spp-db2-01 LOGSTREAM0000]# cd C0000000/
[root@spp-db2-01 C0000000]# ls -lrt
total 3
-rw-r-----. 1 db2inst1 db2iadm1 12288 Jun 30 08:00 S0002034.LOG
-rw-r-----. 1 db2inst1 db2iadm1 12288 Jun 30 08:01 S0002035.LOG

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Performing a single Db2 Backup

Start the Db2 SLA Policy Backup by clicking Run in the Db2 backup window, as shown in
Figure 4-7. The Db2 backup of the selected database then starts.

Note: The Run button is enabled only for a single database backup. Also, the database
must have an SLA policy applied.

To run an on-demand backup job for multiple Db2 databases that are associated with an SLA
policy, click Create job. Then, select Ad hoc backup and follow the instructions.

Figure 4-7 Start the Db2 backup

Log in to one of the Db2 database server by using SSH and check where the backup is
created. Run the df -h command, as shown in Example 4-6, and review the vSnap server
volumes.

Example 4-6 vSnap server volumes for data and log backup
[root@spp-db2-01 C0000000]# df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/rhel-root 38G 9.8G 28G 27% /
devtmpfs 1.9G 0 1.9G 0% /dev
tmpfs 1.9G 12K 1.9G 1% /dev/shm
tmpfs 1.9G 26M 1.9G 2% /run
tmpfs 1.9G 0 1.9G 0% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/sda1 1014M 143M 872M 15% /boot
/dev/mapper/rhel-home 19G 989M 18G 6% /home
/dev/mapper/db2-data 15G 240M 14G 2% /db2_data
/dev/mapper/db2-log 9.8G 116M 9.1G 2% /db2_log
tmpfs 380M 12K 380M 1% /run/user/42
192.168.5.234:/vsnap/vpool1/fs148 898G 128K 898G 1% /mnt/spp/vsnap/vpool1/fs148/192_168_5_234
tmpfs 380M 0 380M 0% /run/user/0
tmpfs 380M 0 380M 0% /run/user/1003
192.168.5.234:/vsnap/vpool1/fs113 898G 25M 898G 1% /mnt/spp/vsnap/vpool1/fs113/192_168_5_234

One vSnap server log volume is used for multiple Db2 partitions. A single log archive volume
on vSnap server is sufficient because the log paths are orthogonal because of the Db2
NODEXXXX element in each of the log paths. Log volumes stay mounted on the Db2
application server. When the backup completes, you \ see the status Completed, as shown in
Figure 4-8 on page 61.

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Figure 4-8 Db2 backup job completed

After you select an SLA policy for your Db2 backup job, you can choose to configure extra
options for that job. Other SLA options include running scripts and forcing a full base backup.

For more information, see 1.4, “Database backup with pre-script and post-script” on page 16.

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus automatically deletes older transactional logs after a successful
database backup. This action ensures that the capacity of the log archive volume is not
compromised by retention of older log files. These truncated log files are stored in the vSnap
server repository until the corresponding backup expires and is deleted. The retention period
of database backups is defined in the assigned SLA policy.

4.3.3 Restoring Db2 databases

IBM Spectrum Protect features a restore wizard (see Figure 4-9) that simplifies the restore for
virtual machines (VMware and Hyper-V) and application data (Db2, Exchange, MongoDB,
Oracle, and SQL) to ensure that you can meet all of your recovery and reuse scenarios. Start
the restore wizard by clicking Jobs and Operations → Create Job → Restore → Db2.

Db2 database restore with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus supports several restore methods that
are explained in the following sections.

The following parameters control the restore or data reuse activity:

򐂰 Type of Restore:
– On-Demand Snapshot
– On-Demand Point in Time
– Recurring
򐂰 Restore Method:
– A production restore overwrites the original database or creates a database copy on an
alternate host. Production is the only restore method that is available for restore
operations to the original location.
– A test restore mounts the vSnap server directories with a database backup to an
alternative database server, recovers and opens the database. You can choose to
rename the database.
– An instant access restore also mounts the vSnap server directories with a database
backup to a database server, but does not recover or open the database
򐂰 Destination:
– Restore to the original instance on original host.
– Restore to the original instance on alternate host, optionally with a new database
name.

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– Restore to an alternate instance on an alternate host with alternate database name. It

is required to specify a new name for the database and the original instance must exist
on the target host.

Important: For all restore operations, Db2 must be at the same version level on the source
and target hosts. In addition to that requirement, you must ensure that an instance with the
same name as the instance that is being restored exists on each host. This requirement
applies when the target instance has the same name, and when the names are different. In
order for the restore operation to succeed, both instances must be provisioned, one with
original name and the other with the new name.

The combination of these selections define which action to perform, including the following
examples:
򐂰 Restore a database restore and optionally overwrite an existing database
򐂰 Establish a copy of a previously backed up database (DevOps)
򐂰 Get access to the database files (data and metadata) of a previous backup

In this example scenario, a production restore is performed on a multi partitioned Db2

database version 10.5. In Figure 4-9, the first page of the restore wizard is displayed and the
user has to choose Db2.

Note: When you are restoring a multi-partitioned database to an alternate location, ensure
that the target instance is configured with the same partition numbers as the original
instance. All of those partitions must be on a single host.

For more information about database examples that show a test restore or instant access,
see “IBM Spectrum Protect Plus database restore and data reuse” on page 7.

As shown in Figure 4-9, the user must select the Db2 database that requires a restore.

Figure 4-9 Spectrum Protect Plus restore wizard

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By selecting the blue plus sign, a backup is associated with the database, as shown in
Figure 4-10.

Figure 4-10 Db2 source database

In the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus restore wizard, the following parameters must be selected
to start a traditional database restore that overwrites the database:
򐂰 Restore type: On-Demand Point in Time
򐂰 Restore location type and location can vary. Here, we use Site and Primary.
򐂰 Restore method: Production
򐂰 Destination: Restore to original Instance
򐂰 Restore Method: Production
򐂰 Job options: Overwrite existing database

The next step is to select the type of restore, as shown in Figure 4-11. Here, On-demand
Point in Time was selected.

Figure 4-11 Select type of restore: On-Demand: Point in Time

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Then, choose a restore location, as shown in Figure 4-12. These settings depend on your
specific environment, which can include an object storage or vSnap server location, or a
secondary site that you use for replication. In our example, we chose Site and Primary, as
shown in Figure 4-12.

Figure 4-12 Select restore location type

There are three restore methods available, as shown in Figure 4-13. In our scenario we are
choosing a Production restore.

Production restore
A production restore either overwrites the original database or creates a database copy on an
alternate host and optionally in an alternate database instance.

Figure 4-13 Select restore method

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As shown in Figure 4-14, click Restore to original instance to restore to the Db2 production
server.

Figure 4-14 Select destination for the restore

For Devops scenarios, it is possible to create a restore job that runs periodically at a specific
time. In our scenario, we create an on-demand restore job that runs only once. As a further
restore job option, we select Overwrite existing databases, as shown in Figure 4-15.

Figure 4-15 Specify restore job options: Overwrite existing databases

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Another option, as shown in Figure 4-16, is to provide pre- and post-scripts that perform
specific actions before and after the Db2 restore. Those scripts must be uploaded to IBM
Spectrum Protect Plus before creating the restore job.

Figure 4-16 Specify scripts for the restore job

Finally, the Review page is displayed and after checking all values, the on-demand restore job
can be submitted. See Figure 4-16. To start the on-demand restore job, click Submit.

Figure 4-17 Review of restore job parameters.

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The restore job can be monitored by selecting Jobs and Operations → Running Jobs, as
shown in Figure 4-18. When the restore job finishes, it is removed from the Running Jobs list.

Figure 4-18 Monitor the Db2 restore job

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Chapter 5. Backing up and restoring SQL

Server
This chapter describes the management of Microsoft SQL Server databases with IBM
Spectrum Protect Plus. Microsoft SQL Server is supported as a stand-alone/failover cluster
and Always On Availability Groups (AAGs) database.

This chapter includes the following topics:

򐂰 5.1, “IBM Spectrum Protect Plus SQL Server features” on page 70
򐂰 5.2, “Prerequisites for SQL Server databases” on page 70
򐂰 5.3, “Protecting SQL Server databases” on page 72
򐂰 5.4, “Restoring SQL Server databases” on page 84

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5.1 IBM Spectrum Protect Plus SQL Server features

In this section, we describe the features of IBM Spectrum Protect Plus with Microsoft SQL
Server. As of July 2020, the following features are supported:
򐂰 Backup, restore, and recovery of stand-alone/failover cluster and AlwaysOn Availability
Groups (AAGs)
򐂰 Incremental forever database and log backups, including log truncation
򐂰 Automatic discovery of SQL installations on registered servers
򐂰 Parallel ad-hoc SQL database backups
򐂰 Production restore (database is restored by copying data):
– To original location
– To alternative location (that is, alternative source path)
򐂰 Test restore (database is restored in-place without data movement)
򐂰 Instant access restore (database is restored, but not opened)
򐂰 Restore to alternate instance and / or database name
򐂰 No recovery (does not require log backup being enabled)
򐂰 Recover to specific point-in-time (requires log backups enabled)
򐂰 Recover until end of backup (does not require log backup enabled)
򐂰 Recover standby mode (requires log backups enabled)
򐂰 Microsoft SQL Server restore with file renaming

5.2 Prerequisites for SQL Server databases

Before protecting the SQL Server environment with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, check that all
the prerequisites for IBM Spectrum Protect Plus are fulfilled. The main prerequisites must be
met:
򐂰 A supported Microsoft SQL Server versions (Standalone and Enterprise editions):
– SQL Server 2008 R2 SP3
– SQL Server 2012
– SQL Server 2012 SP2
– SQL Server 2014, SQL Server 2016, SQL Server 2017, SQL Server 2019
򐂰 A supported version of the Windows operating system: Windows Server 2012 R2,
Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019

The following conditions and settings are also important prerequisites:

򐂰 The Windows Remote Management (WinRM) must be enabled by running the command
winrm quickconfig in a Windows command line session on the guest Microsoft SQL
Server system, as shown in Figure 5-1.

Figure 5-1 Windows Remote Shell configured into Microsoft SQL Server

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򐂰 A Microsoft iSCSI Initiator service must be enabled and running on the Microsoft SQL
server system, as shown in Figure 5-2.

Figure 5-2 Microsoft iSCSI Initiator running on MIcrosoft SQL Server

򐂰 An IBM Spectrum Protect Plus agent user must have “Log on as a service” rights on the
SQL application server.
򐂰 The login credentials must have public and sysadmin permissions enabled, plus
permission to access cluster resources in a SQL Server AAGs environment.
򐂰 To perform log backups, the SQL Server agent service user must be a local Windows
administrator and must have the sysadmin permission enabled to manage SQL Server
agent jobs.
򐂰 The host name of the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus appliance should be resolvable from the
SQL application servers.
򐂰 The Microsoft SQL Server Guest Network Adapter Backup must have the option “Client for
Microsoft Networks” enabled to prevent CIFS share issues, when Databases SQL Backup
Logs are defined and configured, as shown in Figure 5-3.

Figure 5-3 Client for Microsoft Networks option enabled into MIcrosoft SQL Server

For more information about the SQL Server database prerequisites, see IBM Spectrum
Protect Plus- All Requirements, which is available at this web page.

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5.3 Protecting SQL Server databases

To protect SQL Server with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus the database server has to be
registered in IBM Spectrum Protect Plus so that IBM Spectrum Protect Plus can discover the
SQL Server databases. To start the backup, the SQL Server database always has to be
assigned to an SLA policy.

5.3.1 Register the SQL Server

Before IBM Spectrum Protect Plus can manage a SQL Server database, the SQL application
server has to be registered in IBM Spectrum Protect Plus. To register a SQL application
server, complete the following steps:

In the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus GUI navigation pane, click Manage Protection →
Databases → SQL → Manage Application Servers → Add Application Server.

Enter the required login credentials for the SQL application server, as shown in Figure 5-4. In
this example, the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus admin includes predefined the SQL Server
Admin in Accounts → Identity → Add Identity.

Figure 5-4 Register SQL application server

Perform a configuration test of the newly assigned SQL Server in IBM Spectrum Protect Plus,
as shown in Figure 5-5 on page 73.

If SQL application servers are attached to a domain, a user name in the format domain\Name
must be used. If a user is a local administrator, the format .\<local administrator> must be
used.

For failover clusters and AAGs, each node must be registered by name or IP address. If fully
qualified domain names are used, they must be resolvable and routeable from IBM Spectrum
Protect Plus.

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Figure 5-5 SQL Server configuration test results

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5.3.2 Defining an SQL Server backup job

Before starting a backup of an SQL Server database, the SQL Server database has to be
assigned to one or more SLA policies. There are four predefined policies (Demo, Gold, Silver,
and Bronze) available for selection. You can use these policies or specify new policies that
meet specific requirements.

Assign the selected SQL Server database to an SLA policy to create a backup job. SQL
Server backups run in a “Base-Once-Incremental-Forever” scheme. During the initial base
(full) backup, IBM Spectrum Protect Plus creates a vSnap server volume and mounts it to the
SQL application server over iSCSI.

Note: An iSCSI route must be enabled between the SQL Server and vSnap server. For
more information, see this web page.

Optionally, the SQL Server admin can click the Select Options button to enable Log Backup,
as shown in Figure 5-6. With log backup enabled, IBM Spectrum Protect Plus manages the
log backup by using the SQL Server agent service.

To complete log backups, the SQL Server Agent service user must be a local Windows
administrator and must have the sysadmin permission enabled to manage SQL Server agent
jobs. Also, the SQL VSS Writer service running on the local SQL Server system must be
started from a local system user.

The agent uses the administrator account to enable and access log backup jobs. The IBM
Spectrum Protect Plus SQL Server agent service user must also be the same as the SQL
Server service and SQL Server agent service account for every SQL Server instance to be
protected.

Figure 5-6 Enable SQL Server log backup

Set the maximum number of data streams per database to the backup storage. This setting
applies to each database in the job definition. Databases can be backed up in parallel if the
value of the option is set to 1. Multiple parallel streams might improve backup speed, but high
bandwidth consumption might affect overall system performance.

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The SQL Server backup job status can be monitored in the Jobs and Operations →
Schedule panel, as shown in Figure 5-7.

Figure 5-7 SQL Server backup job with Status: Running

It also can be monitored by selecting Jobs and Operations → Running Jobs → Progress,
as shown in Figure 5-8.

Figure 5-8 SQL Server Databases Backup Status: Running

Note: The Microsoft SQL Server agent sets the VSS backup type to COPY_ONLY for all
database backups.

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SQL Server backup workflow

Some readers might be interested in the detailed workflow of a SQL Server base backup.
Here are the internal steps of the backup workflow:
1. Discover the SQL Server client to get the current SQL Server instance, database
information, cluster information, availability group information (for AlwaysOn), disk, and
volume information.
2. Request the SQL Server iSCSI initiator information. Create an iSCSI LUN on vSnap
server, map the LUN to the SQL Server client iSCSI initiator.
3. Prepare vSnap server LUN for Backup:
a. Rescan SQL Server.
b. Identify the iSCSI LUN provisioned as backup target.
c. Clear the readonly flag.
d. Bring disk online.
e. Initialize the disk.
f. Create GPT partition table.
g. Create a primary partition.
h. Bring the partition online.
i. Quick format the volume.
j. Label the volume with "SPPB_*".
k. Collect the volume GUID, serial number information for cataloging.
l. Mount the backup target volume to a volume mount point on
C:\ProgramData\SPP\mnt\subfolder.
4. Check and enable USN Journaling for block level incremental capability.
5. Backup: VSS Snapshots
a. Start a VSS backup request & get VSS writer metadata.
b. Collect the source volume information of the selected SQL Server databases.
c. Add the instance and database to the application backup list. Add covering the
volumes to the snapshot set.
d. Commit snapshot set.
e. Copy the database files from the VSS shadow copy to vSnap server iSCSI backup
target.
f. Notify the writer of the backup status, save the backup document.
g. Report the backup status and backup metadata.
6. For incremental backups, use USN Journal to identify changed blocks since the last
successful snapshot. Copy changed blocks from the VSS shadow copy to vSnap server
iSCSI backup target.
7. Merge those changes into the last snapshot in the vSnap server.
8. Unmount “C:\ProgramData\SPP\mnt\subfolder” and Unmap the iSCSI LUN.
9. Rescan on SQL server and ensure cleanup was successful.
10.Take vSnap server snapshot of backup volume and log share volume (if applicable).
11.Catalog the backup metadata to the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus Server.

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5.3.3 SQL database backups logs

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus version 10.1.6 allows archiving of log files for databases that
contain committed transactions log data. Transactions data can be used to run a roll forward
recovery process as part of a restore operation. The use of archive log backups enhances the
recovery point objective for data.

Depending on what type of SQL backup log is required, it can be configured by using one of
the following methods:
򐂰 With Truncate SQL Logs option activated on Virtualized Systems wizard

Note: If you multiple backup solutions are performing log truncation, you can establish
discontinuity in the log chain. It must be ensured that the log truncation occurs only once
during a backup.

With this option activated, logs might be truncated during the VM Backup as a result of log
clearing. In this case, you can restore a VM only; a roll forward of the transaction log data
cannot be performed.
The option to truncate SQL logs can be defined under Manage Protection → Virtualized
Systems → VMware or Hyper-V → Select VM Server → Select Options, as shown in
Figure 5-9.

Figure 5-9 Selected options for VM Server

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Under Agent Options, select the Truncate SQL Logs option, as shown in Figure 5-10. Click
Save.

Figure 5-10 Truncate SQL Logs Option Enabled

Note: For more information about how to enable Log Truncation, see Protecting Virtualized
Systems - Backing up Vmware / Hyper-V data Guides, which is available at IBM
Knowledge Center:
򐂰 Backing up VMware data
򐂰 Backing up Hyper-V data

򐂰 Enable Log Backup option

You can configure log backups by using database SQL backup. The use of archive log
backups enhances the recovery point objective for your data. Enabling this option allows
roll forward recovery when you restore Microsoft SQL Server data.

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The option to enable SQL log backup can be defined under Manage Protection →
Databases → SQL → Select SQL Instance → Select Options, as shown in Figure 5-11.

Figure 5-11 Select Options for SQL Instance

Under Options, select Enable Log Backup and define a Log Backup Frequency, as
shown in Figure 5-12.

Figure 5-12 Enable Log Backup option enabled

The enabled SQL log backup schedule option can also be reviewed in the Microsoft SQL
Server system, as shown in Figure 5-13 on page 80 under Task Scheduler → Task
Scheduler Library → IBM → SPP Windows Agent.

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Figure 5-13 SQL Log Backup Scheduler in Microsoft SQL Server

Note: To run the Windows log backup task, the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus agent user
must have the Log On As Batch Job assignment privilege.

Note: For more information about how to enable Log backup, see Backing Up SQL Server
Data Guide, which available at IBM Knowledge Center.

5.3.4 vSnap commands used to manage SQL database backups logs

The IBM Spectrum Protect Plus agent maps the LUN to the SQL server and mounts the
NTFS volume to perform the backup. If log backups are enabled, IBM Spectrum Protect Plus
creates a separate vSnap server volume and creates a CIFS share on that volume. Log
backup transaction files are copied to this share according to the schedule that was created
for the log backup.

If the SQL backup SLA job is running, you can see a share smb on the file system, which is
associated with the SLA. The vSnap CLI command vsnap share show, as shown in
Example 5-1, lists the active share where the Volume ID 1 and the file system name
/vpool1_fs2 can be identified.

Example 5-1 Active Share

[vsnapadmin@t4-spp-vsnap vsnap]$ vsnap share show
ID | TYPE | PARENT VOL | PARTNER ID | NAME
------------------------------------------------
1 | smb | 2 | N/A | vpool1_fs2

[vsnapadmin@t4-spp-vsnap vsnap]$ vsnap share show --id 1

ID: 1
NAME: vpool1_fs2
SHARE TYPE: smb
VOLUME ID: 2
PARTNER ID: N/A
CREATED: 2020-06-03 12:06:15 UTC
UPDATED: 2020-06-18 06:00:57 UTC
SHARE OPTIONS:
ALLOWED HOSTS:
10.0.250.46

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READ ONLY: No

The shared volume is used to transfer the backup data from the database to the vSnap
server.

After the log backup completes, log backup transaction files are copied to this share, as
shown in Example 5-2.

Example 5-2 Log Backup Transaction Files Copied into VSnap

[vsnapadmin@t4-spp-vsnap vsnap]$ df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
devtmpfs 16G 0 16G 0% /dev
tmpfs 16G 0 16G 0% /dev/shm
tmpfs 16G 1.1G 15G 7% /run
tmpfs 16G 0 16G 0% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/mapper/lg_os-lv_root 35G 3.5G 31G 11% /
/dev/mapper/lg_data-lv_home 997M 33M 965M 4% /home
/dev/mapper/vsnapdata-vsnapdatalv 126G 33M 126G 1% /opt/vsnap-data
/dev/mapper/lg_os-lv_tmp 9.8G 33M 9.8G 1% /tmp
/dev/sda1 969M 166M 737M 19% /boot
/dev/mapper/lg_os-lv_var 12G 116M 12G 1% /var
/dev/mapper/lg_os-lv_var_log 3.0G 145M 2.8G 5% /var/log
/dev/mapper/lg_os-lv_var_log_audit 497M 61M 436M 13% /var/log/audit
/dev/mapper/lg_os-lv_var_tmp 997M 33M 965M 4% /var/tmp
tmpfs 3.1G 0 3.1G 0% /run/user/1001
vpool1 79G 128K 79G 1% /vsnap/vpool1
vpool1/fs1 79G 128K 79G 1% /vsnap/vpool1/fs1
vpool1/fs2 79G 128K 79G 1% /vsnap/vpool1/fs2
vpool1/fn3 79G 15M 79G 1% /vsnap/vpool1/fn3
vpool1/fs6 97G 18G 79G 19% /vsnap/vpool1/fs6
[vsnapadmin@t4-spp-vsnap vsnap]$ cd /vsnap/vpool1/fs2

[vsnapadmin@t4-spp-vsnap fs2]$ ls -lrt

total 3
drwxrwxrwx. 2 vsnap vsnap 10 Jun 18 09:59 T4-VM-SQL_ESCC
drwxrwxrwx. 2 vsnap vsnap 10 Jun 18 09:59 T4-VM-SQL_IBM2
[vsnapadmin@t4-spp-vsnap fs2]$ cd T4-VM-SQL_ESCC

[vsnapadmin@t4-spp-vsnap T4-VM-SQL_ESCC]$ ls -lrt

total 32
-rw-r--r--. 1 vsnap vsnap 86528 Jun 17 09:59 T4-VM-SQL_ESCC_log_z_1592388001.trn
-rw-r--r--. 1 vsnap vsnap 86528 Jun 17 13:59 T4-VM-SQL_ESCC_log_z_1592402401.trn
-rw-r--r--. 1 vsnap vsnap 86528 Jun 17 17:59 T4-VM-SQL_ESCC_log_z_1592416801.trn
-rw-r--r--. 1 vsnap vsnap 86528 Jun 17 21:59 T4-VM-SQL_ESCC_log_z_1592431201.trn
-rw-r--r--. 1 vsnap vsnap 86528 Jun 18 01:59 T4-VM-SQL_ESCC_log_z_1592445601.trn
-rw-r--r--. 1 vsnap vsnap 86528 Jun 18 05:59 T4-VM-SQL_ESCC_log_z_1592460001.trn
-rw-r--r--. 1 vsnap vsnap 86528 Jun 18 09:59 T4-VM-SQL_ESCC_log_z_1592474401.trn
-rw-r--r--. 1 vsnap vsnap 73 Jun 18 09:59 lsn.json
[vsnapadmin@t4-spp-vsnap T4-VM-SQL_ESCC]$

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5.3.5 Parallel ad-hoc SQL database backups

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus version 10.1.6 introduces a new ad-hoc backup wizard that
simplifies the process of performing individual backups of one database without starting the
complete SLA job. The wizard guides you through the backup selection. It shows the new
settings options that allow you to select one or more databases with the same SLA and do
their backup concurrently without collision, and synchronizes the operations at various steps.

One ad-hoc job can be started from Manage Protection → Databases → SQL → Create
Job → Ad hoc Backup → Select SLA Policy → Select Source, as shown in Figure 5-14.

Figure 5-14 Ad Hoc SQL Backup showing Name, Location and SLA Policy

Multiple sessions from the same SLA policy can be started from Manage Protection →
Databases → SQL → Create Job → Ad hoc Backup → Select SLA Policy → Select
Source. The sessions can be monitored from Jobs and Operation → Running Jobs, as
shown in Figure 5-15.

Figure 5-15 Multiple running sessions from the same SLA policy

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5.3.6 SQL Server global preferences

The Global Preferences panel contains default values for parameters that apply to all IBM
Spectrum Protect Plus operations. To change parameters, select System Configuration →
Global Preferences → Application, as shown in Figure 5-16

The following options are available for SQL Server:

Note: Only users with administrator credentials can manage global preferences.

򐂰 Enable SQL Server databases restored in test mode eligible for backup
When this option is selected, SQL Server databases that were restored in test mode are
available for selection in the SQL Backup pane or ad hoc backup wizard.
򐂰 Allow SQL database backup when transaction log backup chain is broken
Run a database SLA backup job when IBM Spectrum Protect Plus detects a break in the
log backup chain for a database.
򐂰 Rename SQL data and log files when database is restored in production mode with new
name
This options allows to rename SQL database and log files files during a production or test
restore job. This field applies only when a new database name is provided during an SQL
database restore job.

Figure 5-16 Global Preferences SQL Application Options

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5.4 Restoring SQL Server databases

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus features a restore wizard that simplifies restores for virtual
machines and databases. The wizard guides you through the configuration of restore types
and parameters and optionally schedules a job that performs the restore.

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus treats data reuse and data recovery as a restore activity. In both
cases, you must create a restore job. A restore job can be started by making one of the
following selections in IBM Spectrum Protect Plus:
򐂰 Manage Protection → Databases → SQL → Create Restore Job
򐂰 Jobs and Operations → Create Restore Job → Restore

The parameters that you select during backup job creation define which is performed.

The following main parameters control the final restore or data reuse activity:
򐂰 Type of Restore:
– On-Demand Snapshot
– On-Demand Point in Time
– Recurring
򐂰 Restore Method:
– A production restore either overwrites the original database or creates a database copy
with a different database name. In the latter case you must specify a new database
name and the destination paths.
– A test restore mounts the vSnap server directories with a database backup to a
database server, recovers and opens the database. You can chose to rename the
database.
– An instant access restore also mounts the vSnap server directories with a database
backup to a database server, but does not recover or open the database. An instant
access restore of an Always On database is restored to the local destination instance.

Note: The SQL Server system databases (master, msdb, model) can be restored only
with Instant Access mode in IBM Spectrum Protect Plus.

򐂰 Destination:
– Restore to the original instance
– Restore to an alternate instance

The combination of these selections define which action to perform, including the following
examples:
򐂰 Perform a database restore and optionally overwrite an existing database
򐂰 Establish a copy of a previously backed up database (DevOps)
򐂰 Get access to the database files (data and metadata) of a previous backup

In the first example scenario, a Production restore of a SQL Server stand-alone database is
performed by using SQL Server version 2012. As shown in Figure 5-17 on page 85, the
databases ESCC and IBM2 are selected for the restore. By selecting the blue plus sign, a
backup is associated with the database.

For more information about database examples that show a test restore or instant access,
see “IBM Spectrum Protect Plus database restore and data reuse” on page 7.

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Figure 5-17 Select the SQL Server backup source

Other restore parameters that must be specified are shown in Figure 5-18:
򐂰 Restore type: On-Demand: Snapshot
Runs a one-time restore job from a database snapshot. The restore job starts immediately
upon the completion of the wizard.
򐂰 Restore location type: Site
The site where snapshots were backed up. The site is predefined in IBM Spectrum Protect
Plus.
򐂰 Location = Primary
The primary site location from which to restore snapshots.

Figure 5-18 Restore parameters

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In production mode, the agent first restores the files from the vSnap server volume back to
primary storage and then creates the new database by using the restored files. Select
Production, as shown in Figure 5-19 and then, click Next.

Figure 5-19 Select the restore method

When selecting production mode, you can also specify a new folder for the restored database
by expanding the database section and entering a new folder name.

In our setup, we perform an on-demand restore to the original instance, as shown in

Figure 5-20.

Figure 5-20 Select the restore destination

Enable the restore job to overwrite the selected database. By default, this option is not
enabled, as shown in Figure 5-21 on page 87.

Note: Before you run restore operations in an SQL Server Always On environment by
using the production mode with the Overwrite existing databases option, ensure that the
database is not present on the replicas of the target availability group. As a prerequisite,
manually clean up the original databases (to be overwritten) from all replicas of the target
availability group.

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Figure 5-21 Select restore job options

In the Review page, check all entered restore job parameters, as shown in Figure 5-22. Click
Submit to start the on-demand restore job.

Figure 5-22 SQL Server restore summary

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus mounts the vSnap server backup volume at the SQL application
server and copies the backup data to the source.

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In our example that is shown in Figure 5-23, the vSnap server backup volume is mounted as
Disk1 during the restore job.

Figure 5-23 Mount of vSnap server volume for the restore on the SQL application server

In the following example scenario, a Production restore of a SQL Server stand-alone

database is performed with the new Standby mode. After the restore, IBM Spectrum Protect
Plus keeps the database in read-only mode. This option permits:
򐂰 Uncommitted transactions are saved in an undo file
򐂰 The undo file can be used for bringing the database online

As shown in Figure 5-24, we select the new Standby mode Job Options and perform the
restore similar to the previous example.

Figure 5-24 Select restore Standby mode job options

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus mounts the vSnap server backup volume at the SQL application
server and copies the backup data to the source. Figure 5-25 shows that the new Database
IBM2_TEST was restored with Standby/Read-Only mode.

Figure 5-25 Database in standby mode after the restore

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Chapter 6. Backing up and restoring

Microsoft Exchange data
Microsoft Exchange is a widely used mailing solution. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus can be
used to protect Microsoft Exchange data, which provides restore functions at a database or
single item (mail, contact, or calendar entry) level.

This chapter describes how to set up IBM Spectrum Protect Plus to protect Microsoft
Exchange Servers, and explores common scenarios and best practices. It includes the
following topics:
򐂰 6.1, “Microsoft Exchange server” on page 92
򐂰 6.2, “Prerequisites for protection in IBM Spectrum Protect Plus” on page 94
򐂰 6.3, “IBM Spectrum Protect Plus configuration for Exchange” on page 101
򐂰 6.4, “Backup jobs overview” on page 103
򐂰 6.5, “Restore jobs” on page 111

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6.1 Microsoft Exchange server

Microsoft Exchange is an enterprise Groupware and Mail Transport product. Most Exchange
servers use database availability groups (DAG) to replicate the mailbox databases between
different servers or sites. This approach ensures that every mailbox database has more than
one copy to avoid data loss because of a server outage or corruption.

For more information about DAG, see this web page.

6.1.1 Server roles

Depending on the Microsoft Exchange release, different server roles are available that must
be protected, as listed in Table 6-1.

Table 6-1 Microsoft Exchange Server roles

Role or Version Exchange 2013 Exchange 2016 Exchange 2019

Edge/Transport X X X

Client Access X

Mailbox X X X

The Edge/Transport role is used to transport mail from external sources into the Exchange
infrastructure. A server with installed Edge/Transport is usually placed in a specific secured
firewall zone because it is directly connected to the internet. If this role is the only role that is
installed on the server, the server needs no Exchange-specific protection (because it has no
persistent user data; it acts only as a proxy).

When implemented as a VMware or Hyper-V virtual server, it can be protected by hypervisor

backup in IBM Spectrum Protect. When implemented as a physical server, it can be protected
with the Windows File System backup component of IBM Spectrum Protect Plus.

The Client Access role is a separate role in Exchange 2013 and was merged into the mailbox
role in Exchange 2016 and 2019. If a server is installed with Client Access Server role only,
the same type of protection applies that is used for Edge/Transport only servers.

Only Microsoft Exchange servers with installed Mailbox role are protected by IBM Spectrum
Protect Plus Backup and Restore for Microsoft Exchange. These servers are usually called
mailbox servers. In the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus GUI, they are referred to as Application
Servers.

6.1.2 Stand-alone or availability group databases

Every Mailbox database in Exchange is created and hosted on at least one Exchange server.
A Mailbox database is used to store user or service account mailboxes. Every Exchange
account is served by only one mailbox database. The maximum size of a Mailbox database is
2 TB.

To provide high availability at a database level, Mailbox databases can be configured in

availability groups.

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Database Availability Groups (DAG) are a group of Mailbox Servers in the same Exchange
domain that share multiple copies of Mailbox databases. Up to 16 copies of a single
Exchange database can exist. However, only one copy is active, meaning that users are
working on this copy and changes are applied to this copy. The other copies are updated by
shipping the committed Exchange log files from the active copy to the other copies. The
inactive copies are showing a healthy status if the log replication is working.

A ReplayLagTime and TruncationLagTime can be defined for every copy to ensure that the
copy does not commit or truncate the replicated logs before the ReplayLagTime and
TruncationLagTime are reached. The default value of these two parameters is 0 seconds and
the maximum value is 14 days.

A database copy with default settings is a nearly real-time copy (there is always the gap of the
active log file, which is not shipped to inactive copy yet) of the active copy.

For example, a database copy with a ReplayLagTime of 7 days is a copy that lags the active
copy by 7 days. A lagged copy ensures that if the active database copy becomes corrupted, a
working copy (7 days back in time) is still available that can be used to fix the corruption or be
used as a new base to apply the logs until the corruption occurred.

6.1.3 Mailbox movement

Every Exchange mailbox is hosted in a single Exchange mailbox database and, if applicable,
on corresponding copies of this database (Database Availability Groups). Nevertheless, the
Exchange Administrator can move Exchange mailboxes from one Mailbox database to
another. Common use cases are to move a mailbox to a Mailbox database on faster or more
reliable storage when the current database is hitting the recommended maximum size of 2 TB
per database, or the user is switching to a different department when location and Mailbox
databases are defined by department or location rules.

6.1.4 Microsoft built-in data loss prevention

Microsoft Exchange offers the following built-in data loss prevention options:
򐂰 Deleted item retention
Whenever a user permanently deletes items in their mailbox database, these items are not
purged immediately. Depending on the deleted item retention of the Mailbox Database
(default 14 days) this deleted item is still kept in the Mailbox Database and available for
self-service restores.
򐂰 Deleted User retention
Comparable to the deleted item retention, user mailboxes that are deleted from a Mailbox
Databases are still kept for a specific number of days in this Mailbox Database (default 20
days).
򐂰 Database availability groups
Database availability groups are a great feature to avoid service interruption if a Mailbox
Server needs a downtime, is corrupted, or even lost. In this case, the Mailbox database is
activated on another copy and the users can access their mailboxes without any
interruption.

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus adds data protection capabilities that can be used whenever the
built-in solutions are not satisfying or in case of a disaster.

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6.2 Prerequisites for protection in IBM Spectrum Protect Plus

Ensure that all prerequisites for your Microsoft Exchange application are met before you start
protecting Exchange databases with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus.

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is a zero touch data protection product; therefore, no installation
on the Exchange Mailbox Servers is needed. However, some requirements must be met to
enable IBM Spectrum Protect Plus to access Exchange Mailbox Servers and perform backup
or restore tasks.

For more information about these requirements, see IBM Documentation.

6.2.1 Granular restore remote package installation

To perform granular Mailbox restore requests, an installation of the Spectrum Protect Plus
Microsoft Management Console (MMC) GUI on a Microsoft Windows system where Outlook
2016 or later 32-bit edition is required.

This Windows system can be one of the Exchange Mailbox servers, but Microsoft advises
against installing Outlook on an Exchange Mailbox Server. Therefore, it is best to use a
separate Windows server.

To use the remote management features, you must first install and enable Windows
PowerShell 3.0, or later, on all IBM Spectrum Protect Plus protected Exchange servers and
the remote server from which you intend to run the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus MMC GUI.

To download, install, and enable the software, follow the instructions in Microsoft Windows
Management Framework 3.0 Downloads. The remote server and Application server must be
in the same domain.

This installation is called Granular remote package. The installation steps be found in the
readme file for the Spectrum Protect Plus MMC GUI, which we included here for
convenience.

Installation steps
Deploy the granular restore package to a remote server that has Microsoft Outlook installed.

The following installation steps are performed only once. After the granular restore package is
installed, you can continue to use it to perform later granular restore operations:
1. Copy the granular restore package, which is in C:\Program Files\IBM\IBM Spectrum
Protect Plus\tools\exchange\imr\<version>TIV-TSMEXC-Win.ex, from the Application
Server to the remote server from where you manage the granular restore operations. Also,
note that <version> indicates the version.
2. On the remote server, run the following commands to install the package (these
commands assume that you copied to the C:\temp directory):
a. Create the installation diagnostic folder:
mkdir C:\temp\diag
b. Install MMC GUI and granular components:
C:\temp\imr\install_imr.bat *-TIV-TSMEXC-Win.exe 10.1.7 c:\temp
Where * is the MMC GUI version.

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3. Configure the remote connection between the remote server and Application server:
a. Verify that the Windows Firewall allows inbound connections on the remote server.
b. Set the hostnames for the remote server and respective for the Application server.
The Application server runs the Exchange server and the remote server performs the
granular restore operation.
$remote_server_host_name = "outlook1.domain.org"
$app_server_host_name = "exchange1.domain.org"
4. Enable remote management for the MMC GUI that is deployed with IBM Spectrum Protect
Plus entering the following Windows PowerShell command:
Enable-PSRemoting -Force
Depending on your environment, you might need to add trusted hosts to the Exchange
Server and server where the MMC GUI is deployed:
a. Add the Application Server and remote server to the trusted hosts list by running the
following command on each system:
Set-Item WSMan:\localhost\Client\TrustedHosts -Value
“$remote_server_host_name,$app_server_host_name” -Force
b. Restart the winrm service by running the following command:
Restart-Service winrm
5. Enable the Windows PowerShell Remoting feature with Credential Security Support
Provider (CredSSP) authentication. Complete the following steps:
a. On the remote server, run the following command to enable the Windows PowerShell
Remoting feature with CredSSP:
Enable-WsmanCredSsp -Role Client -DelegateComputer $app_server_host_name
-Force
b. On the Application Server that runs the granular restore operation, run the following
command to enable the Windows PowerShell Remoting feature with CredSSP:
Enable-WsmanCredSsp -Role Server -Force
6. Verify that the Windows PowerShell Remoting feature is configured by using one of the
following methods: (use the Test-WSMan cmdlet to test whether the WinRM service is
running on the remote computer):
a. On the remote server, run the following cmdlet to verify that the Windows PowerShell
Remoting feature is configured correctly:
Test-WSMan $app_server_host_name
b. On the Application Server, run the following cmdlet to verify that the Windows
PowerShell Remoting feature is configured correctly:
Test-WSMan $remote_server_host_name

Optionally, for more remote configuration verification, complete the following steps:
1. Set the credentials object you used. Usually, this credential is a domain administrator:
$creds = Get-Credential
a. On the Application Server and remote server, run the following cmdlet to verify basic
remote connection:
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $remote_server_host_name -ScriptBlock { pwd }
-Credential $creds

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Invoke-Command -ComputerName $app_server_host_name -ScriptBlock { pwd }

-Credential $creds
b. On the Application Server and remote server, run the following cmdlet to verify
(CredSSP) authentication is enabled:
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $remote_server_host_name -ScriptBlock { pwd }
-Credential $creds -Authentication CredSsp
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $app_server_host_name -ScriptBlock { pwd }
-Credential $creds -Authentication CredSsp

For our example, we show the commands that run in our test environment, which consists of
the following servers:
򐂰 Windows 10 server ("windows10.xxxxxxx.lab,192.168.111.66"), as shown in
Example 6-1
򐂰 Exchange server ("epc-exchange.xxxxxxx.lab,192.168.111.167"), as shown in
Example 6-2 on page 97

Example 6-1 PowerShell commands on the Windows 10 server

PS C:\Users\Administrator> Set-Item WSMan:\localhost\Client\TrustedHosts -Value
"epc-exchange.xxxxxxx.lab,192.168.111.167"
WinRM Security Configuration.
This command modifies the TrustedHosts list for the WinRM client. The computers in
the TrustedHosts list might not be
authenticated. The client might send credential information to these computers.
Are you sure that you want to modify
this list?
[Y] Yes [N] No [S] Suspend [?] Help (default is "Y"): y
PS C:\Users\Administrator> Get-Item WSMan:\localhost\Client\TrustedHosts
WSManConfig: Microsoft.WSMan.Management\WSMan::localhost\Client

Type Name SourceOfValue Value

---- ---- ------------- -----
System.String TrustedHosts
epc-exchange.xxxxxxx.lab,192.168.111.167

PS C:\Users\Administrator> Restart-Service winrm

PS C:\Users\Administrator> Test-WSMan 192.168.111.167

wsmid : http://schemas.dmtf.org/wbem/wsman/identity/1/wsmanidentity.xsd
ProtocolVersion : http://schemas.dmtf.org/wbem/wsman/1/wsman.xsd
ProductVendor : Microsoft Corporation
ProductVersion : OS: 0.0.0 SP: 0.0 Stack: 3.0

PS C:\Users\Administrator> Test-WSMan epc-exchange.xxxxxxx.lab

wsmid : http://schemas.dmtf.org/wbem/wsman/identity/1/wsmanidentity.xsd
ProtocolVersion : http://schemas.dmtf.org/wbem/wsman/1/wsman.xsd
ProductVendor : Microsoft Corporation
ProductVersion : OS: 0.0.0 SP: 0.0 Stack: 3.0

PS C:\Users\Administrator> enable-wsmancredssp -role client -delegatecomputer

epc-exchange.xxxxxxx.lab

CredSSP Authentication Configuration for WS-Management

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CredSSP authentication allows the user credentials on this computer to be sent to

a remote computer. If you use CredSSP
authentication for a connection to a malicious or compromised computer, that
computer will have access to your user
name and password. For more information, see the Enable-WSManCredSSP Help topic.
Do you want to enable CredSSP authentication?
[Y] Yes [N] No [S] Suspend [?] Help (default is "Y"): y

cfg : http://schemas.microsoft.com/wbem/wsman/1/config/client/auth
lang : en-US
Basic : true
Digest : true
Kerberos : true
Negotiate : true
Certificate : true
CredSSP : true

PS C:\Users\Administrator> invoke-command -computername epc-exchange.xxxxxxx.lab

-scriptblock {pwd}

Path PSComputerName
---- --------------
C:\Users\Administrator.xxxxxxx\Documents epc-exchange.xxxxxxx.lab

PS C:\Users\Administrator> $cred = get-credential

cmdlet Get-Credential at command pipeline position 1

Supply values for the following parameters:
Credential
PS C:\Users\Administrator> invoke-command -computername epc-exchange.xxxxxxx.lab
-Authentication Credssp -credential $cred -scriptblock {pwd}

Path PSComputerName
---- --------------
C:\Users\spp\Documents epc-exchange.xxxxxxx.lab

Example 6-2 PowerShell commands on the Exchange Server

PS C:\Windows\system32> Set-Item WSMan:\localhost\Client\TrustedHosts -Value
"windows10.xxxxxxx.lab,192.168.111.66"
WinRM Security Configuration.
This command modifies the TrustedHosts list for the WinRM client. The computers in the
TrustedHosts list might not be
authenticated. The client might send credential information to these computers. Are you
sure that you want to modify
this list?
[Y] Yes [N] No [S] Suspend [?] Help (default is "Y"): y
PS C:\Windows\system32> Get-Item WSMan:\localhost\Client\TrustedHosts

WSManConfig: Microsoft.WSMan.Management\WSMan::localhost\Client

Type Name SourceOfValue Value

---- ---- ------------- -----

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System.String TrustedHosts
windows10.xxxxxxx.lab,192.168.111.66

PS C:\Windows\system32> Test-WSMan 192.168.111.66

wsmid : http://schemas.dmtf.org/wbem/wsman/identity/1/wsmanidentity.xsd
ProtocolVersion : http://schemas.dmtf.org/wbem/wsman/1/wsman.xsd
ProductVendor : Microsoft Corporation
ProductVersion : OS: 0.0.0 SP: 0.0 Stack: 3.0

PS C:\Windows\system32> Test-WSMan windows10.xxxxxxx.lab

wsmid : http://schemas.dmtf.org/wbem/wsman/identity/1/wsmanidentity.xsd
ProtocolVersion : http://schemas.dmtf.org/wbem/wsman/1/wsman.xsd
ProductVendor : Microsoft Corporation
ProductVersion : OS: 0.0.0 SP: 0.0 Stack: 3.0

PS C:\Windows\system32> enable-wsmancredssp -role server

CredSSP Authentication Configuration for WS-Management

CredSSP authentication allows the server to accept user credentials from a remote computer.
If you enable CredSSP
authentication on the server, the server will have access to the user name and password of
the client computer if the
client computer sends them. For more information, see the Enable-WSManCredSSP Help topic.
Do you want to enable CredSSP authentication?
[Y] Yes [N] No [S] Suspend [?] Help (default is "Y"): y

cfg : http://schemas.microsoft.com/wbem/wsman/1/config/service/auth
lang : en-US
Basic : false
Kerberos : true
Negotiate : true
Certificate : false
CredSSP : true
CbtHardeningLevel : Relaxed

PS C:\Windows\system32> invoke-command -computername windows10.xxxxxxx.lab -scriptblock

{pwd}

Path PSComputerName
---- --------------
C:\Users\spp\Documents windows10.xxxxxxx.lab

PS C:\Windows\system32> $cred = get-credential

cmdlet Get-Credential at command pipeline position 1

Supply values for the following parameters:
Credential
PS C:\Windows\system32> invoke-command -computername windows10.xxxxxxx.lab -Authentication
Credssp -credential $cred -scriptblock {pwd}

Path PSComputerName
---- --------------
C:\Users\Administrator\Documents windows10.xxxxxxx.lab

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Running the MMC GUI on the remote server to perform granular restore
To perform a granular restore by using the MMC GUI, complete the following steps:
1. Start the MMC GUI application:
C:\Program Files\Tivoli\FlashCopyManager\FlashCopyManager.exe
2. To add the Application Server in MMC GUI, click Actions → Manage Computers to open
Manage Computers window.
Click the plus-sign icon (+) in the Computers pane and enter an Application Server name.
Click Set Account and enter user credentials for the Application Server, as shown in
Figure 6-1.

Figure 6-1 Adding the Application Server

Use the same credentials as used by Spectrum Protect Plus GUI. Select Manage
Protection → Databases → Exchange → Backup → Manage Application Servers →
Add Application Server.

Figure 6-2 Managing credentials

3. Test the connection to the Application Server. Select Application Server node and then,
click the Test Connection tab.

Figure 6-3 Testing the connection

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The verify connection status of “Connected successfully” is shown in the Message

column. More information can be displayed by clicking the hyperlink, as shown in
Figure 6-4.

Figure 6-4 Successful connection details

From this output, consider the information about CredSSP, which indicates that the
configuration is successful and a connection is possible.
4. Click OK to close the Manage Computers window.

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6.3 IBM Spectrum Protect Plus configuration for Exchange

Every Exchange Mailbox server is referred to as Application Server in IBM Spectrum Protect
Plus.

To configure an exchange server in IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, start the IBM Spectrum
Protect Plus Server GUI and log in to the dashboard.

Select Manage Protection → Databases → Exchange. Click Manage Application

Server → Add Application Server

Figure 6-5 shows how to add or edit an Application Server. The Host address can be the
Server name or IP address. The User ID must be entered for the first Exchange Server with
the domain or user ID and password. For any other Application Servers, the same user ID can
be used by selecting the Use existing user option and then, selecting it from the drop-down
menu.

Figure 6-5 Edit Application Properties window

The Maximum concurrent database number (default: 10) is used to reduce or raise the
number of mailbox databases that are backed up concurrently. In production environments,
the default of 10 is a good starting point and is raised incrementally only to avoid overloading
the Microsoft Exchange Server.

After the Application Server is registered, the Mailbox databases on the server can be
browsed and SLAs can be assigned.

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Figure 6-6 shows an example of a Microsoft Exchange server with two Mailbox databases
that are not part of a Database Availability Group (DAG). These databases can be selected
and assigned to an SLA individually.

Figure 6-6 Exchange Backup menu

The Run Inventory button can be used to immediately query the Microsoft Exchange Server
for a list of databases and their status. The list also indicates whether the Mailbox database is
using circular logging or not. Databases with disabled circular logging are flagged with Yes in
the Eligible for Log backup column. Databases can also be filtered by using the Search box or
the view can be switched from Standalone/Failover Cluster to a list of DAG enabled Mailbox
databases.

6.3.1 Log backup

By clicking Select Options, the Log Backup menu opens, as shown in Figure 6-7. In this
window, a periodic log backup of the Exchange Mailbox Database log can be defined. This
option ensures that multiple restore points are used during the day without the need to back
up the Exchange Mailbox database. A log backup also enables the Microsoft Exchange
server to purge the backed-up log files and free up space in the log directory of this mailbox
database.

Figure 6-7 Log Back up menu

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6.3.2 Database Availability Groups

DAG-enabled Mailbox databases can be protected by backing up only one database copy.

To configure the protection of DAG-enabled Mailbox databases, the view must be changed to
“Database Availability Groups”.

By default, the backup is performed on the active copy, which might interfere with the
Exchange user workload. To switch the protection to a passive copy in Options, select the
Backup preferred node. This option can be pointed to the Exchange Mailbox Server with the
lowest activation preference. This setting ensures that the backup is performed on the
passive copy, which is the last copy to take over the Active copy role in the cluster.

6.4 Backup jobs overview

This section describes how to protect Microsoft Exchange Mailbox databases with IBM
Spectrum Protect Plus.

6.4.1 Assigning an SLA policy

Before you can run a backup job, you must define an SLA policy. You can use an existing
policy or define specific policies.

Generally, it is preferred to create dedicated SLA policies for single databases or for groups of
logically related databases.

6.4.2 Backup types

The following backup jobs are available for Microsoft Exchange Applications:
򐂰 Scheduled
򐂰 Ad hoc

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6.4.3 Scheduled backup

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus supports single or multiple Exchange databases per Exchange
backup job. Multiple database backup jobs run sequentially.

In the navigation pane, select Manage Protection → Databases → Exchange as shown in

Figure 6-8.

Figure 6-8 Defining a backup job

Select an Exchange instance to back up all the data in that instance. Optionally, you can click
an instance name and then, select individual databases that you want to back up.

Three choices are available: Run, Select an SLA policy, and Select options, as shown in
Figure 6-9.

Figure 6-9 Selecting an instance or database

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Click Select an SLA Policy. Predefined choices are: Gold, Silver, and Bronze. Each choice
includes different frequencies and retention rates, as shown in Figure 6-10.

Figure 6-10 Custom SLA policy Exchange_Silver

Gold is the most frequent with the shortest retention rate. You can also create a custom SLA
policy or edit a policy, as we did by selecting the Exchange_Silver SLA policy, as shown in
Figure 6-10. Click Save to confirm your choice.

Now, the SLA selection can be verified and options can be defined for the scheduled backup
job by clicking Select Options, as shown in Figure 6-11.

Figure 6-11 Checking SLA selection and selecting options

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You can define options for your backup, such as enabling log backups for future recovery and
specifying the parallel streams to reduce the time necessary to back up large databases (see
Figure 6-12). Click Save.

Figure 6-12 Selecting options

Configure the SLA policy by clicking the icon in the Policy Options column of the SLA Policy
Status table, as shown in Figure 6-13.

Figure 6-13 Configuring SLA policy

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After clicking the icon, a pop-up window appears, as shown in Figure 6-14, in which you can
configure more policy options.

Figure 6-14 Configuring SLA options

To run the policy outside of the scheduled job, select the instance or database and then, click
Actions → Start.

The status changes to Running for your chosen SLA. To pause the schedule, click Actions →
Pause Schedule. To cancel a job after it starts, click Actions → Cancel (see Figure 6-15).

Figure 6-15 Running Jobs and actions

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6.4.4 Ad hoc backup

An ad hoc backup is performed from the Jobs and Operations window.

Complete the following steps:

1. Click Create Job, as shown in Figure 6-16.

Figure 6-16 Creating a Job

2. You are presented with a choice for Ad hoc backup or Restore. Select Ad hoc backup
(see Figure 6-17).

Figure 6-17 Ad hoc backup

3. In the Database selection, select Exchange, as shown in Figure 6-18.

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Figure 6-18 Definition diagram and selection

4. Select a predefined SLA policy. After clicking the SLA policy, the defined values for that
policy are shown (see Figure 6-19).

Figure 6-19 Selected SLA policy

5. Select the database to back up. If many databases are available, use the search function
to easily find the wanted database. Now, the database can be added to the backup job list
by clicking the blue plus sign (+), as shown in Figure 6-20.

Figure 6-20 Choosing databases for ad hoc backup

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6. Review the backup job options. Then, click Submit to start the job, as shown in
Figure 6-21.

Figure 6-21 Ad hoc backup preview

7. As shown in Figure 6-22, a message is displayed to confirm that the job was submitted.
Click OK to close the message.

Figure 6-22 Job submission confirmation

The Ad hoc backup job can be monitored under the Jobs and Operations pane, as
shown in Figure 6-23.

Figure 6-23 Running ad hoc backup

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6.5 Restore jobs

The following types of restore jobs available in IBM Spectrum Protect Plus:
򐂰 On-demand: Snapshot: Runs a one-time restore operation. The restore job starts
immediately upon the completion of the wizard.
򐂰 On-demand: Point in Time: Runs a one-time restore job from a point-in-time backup of a
database. The restore job starts immediately upon the completion of the wizard.
򐂰 Recurring: Creates a repeating point-in-time restore job that runs on a schedule.

Two options are available to restore Microsoft Exchange data. It is possible to recover a
complete Exchange Database into any database or Recovery Database (RDB) or to recover
individual items, such as mailboxes or individual emails.

In both cases, you find the entry point for the procedure in the Jobs and Operations panel or
the Manage Protection panel, as shown in Figure 6-24.

Figure 6-24 Creating Restore job

To create the restore job, select Create Job in the Manage Protection - Exchange menu.
Then, select Restore, as shown in Figure 6-25.

Figure 6-25 Selecting Restore

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The restore dialog opens, as shown in Figure 6-26.

Figure 6-26 Selecting Restore items

Complete the following steps:

1. Select the object to restore. The Microsoft Exchange instance is displayed with the
relevant databases for selection. By clicking the blue plus sign (+), the corresponding
object is placed on the item list, also known as “job list”. Click Next to continue.
2. In the next panel, as shown in Figure 6-27, the type of restore can be selected.

Figure 6-27 Selecting source snapshot

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The following types are available:

– On-Demand Snapshot
In this case, select a Date/Time from the list of available backups, as shown in
Figure 6-28.

Figure 6-28 Setting date and time

– On-Demand Point-in-Time
In this case, the available restore location sites are: Demo, Primary, and Secondary
(see Figure 6-29).

Figure 6-29 Selecting a location for On-Demand Point-in-Time

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– Recurring
Choose a restore location type. As shown in Figure 6-30, different location types from
where the restore can be taken are also available: Site, Cloud service, Repository
server, Cloud service archive, and Repository server archive.

Figure 6-30 Recurring Restore location types

3. For our scenario, we select On-Demand: Snapshot. After selecting one of the available
backups, click Next. You are presented with the next step, which is to select amongst two
restore methods: Complete Restore or Item Recovery.

6.5.1 Complete Restore

This section describes how to restore the complete mailbox database and use it in instant
access, production and test (see Figure 6-31).

Figure 6-31 Restore method

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In Production or Test mode, enter a new database name. In the panel for production, the
destination path can be changed, as shown in Figure 6-32.

Figure 6-32 Restore method: Production

In our example, we proceed with the restore into production, as can be the case in a situation
where the source database is corrupted and must be replaced.

After clicking Next, set the destination and choose restore into the original instance, as shown
in Figure 6-33.

Figure 6-33 Setting destination

By clicking Next, other job options are available that are necessary for the recovery. The
choice here is: No Recovery or Recover until end of backup.

The options Recover until end of available logs and Recover until specific point-in-time
are not available for this type of restore because no log backups are available.

Only the following other options are available:

򐂰 Maximum Parallel Streams per Database
򐂰 Run cleanup immediately on job failure

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The job options are shown in Figure 6-34.

Figure 6-34 Job options

Click Next to proceed. The last panel displays a summary for review, as shown in
Figure 6-35. Click Submit to start the restore job.

Figure 6-35 Review and submit

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Under Jobs and Operations, you can follow the progress of the operation, as shown in
Figure 6-36.

Figure 6-36 Monitoring running job

After completion, the job information is moved into the Job History window, as shown in
Figure 6-37.

Figure 6-37 Restore Job history

6.5.2 Restoring individual items with granular restore

To recover single mailboxes or single mailbox items, such as individual mails, two methods
are available: granular restore by using an Exchange Server or granular restore by using a
Remote System.

Refer to the prerequisites, described in 6.2.1, “Granular restore remote package installation”
on page 94.

In both cases, the restore procedure is started as described in 6.5, “Restore jobs” on
page 111.

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Select Granular Restore as shown in Figure 6-39.

Figure 6-38 Granular restore method

This type of restore uses a Recovery Database (in our case, MDB1.RDB). The rest of the
procedure is similar to what is described in 6.5.1, “Complete Restore” in successively setting
destination and job options and then submitting the job.

After the restore job is started, it can be monitored in the Jobs and Operations panel.

The recovery database is created and the snapshot is mounted as Recovery Database
(RDB). An excerpt from the job login Example 6-3 shows the steps that are performed.

Example 6-3 Restore job process

Detail Jul 8, 2020 6:53:34 AM CTGGA2179 Granular restore databases: In progress
Info Jul 8, 2020 6:53:34 AM CTGGA1618 Granular restore for databases (MDB1)...
Detail Jul 8, 2020 6:54:04 AM CTGGA2245 SPP log dir:
/data/log/guestdeployer/2020-07-08/1594183634044/1594184014247/192.168.111.167
Detail Jul 8, 2020 6:54:26 AM CTGGG0000 [192.168.111.167] IBM Spectrum Protect
Plus Exchange Agent
Detail Jul 8, 2020 6:54:26 AM CTGGG1125 [192.168.111.167] The Exchange agent is
running as user ????\administrator, in group ???\Domain-User .
Detail Jul 8, 2020 6:54:26 AM CTGGG1103 [192.168.111.167] Starting restore
Detail Jul 8, 2020 6:54:26 AM CTGGG1104 [192.168.111.167] Starting granular
restore with recovery.
Detail Jul 8, 2020 6:54:26 AM CTGGG1014 [192.168.111.167] The restore operation
completed successfully.

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Information is summarized in the Active Resources tab, as shown in Figure 6-39.

Figure 6-39 Active Resources tab

Clicking the information icon (as indicated by the arrow in Figure 6-39) in the Type column
provides more information about how to start the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus MMC GUI. This
GUI is automatically installed during the restore procedure on the Exchange server (see
Figure 6-40).

Figure 6-40 Information how to start the IBM Spectrum Protect MMC GUI

You must decide which target to use to proceed with the item recovery: install the MMC GUI in
combination with Outlook 2016 on the Exchange Server or run it on a separate server.

Item Recovery by using an Exchange Server

To proceed with the recovery of individual mailbox items, complete the following steps:
1. Log on to the Exchange Server with a user IFD that has the suitable permissions.
2. Open a command window and enter the string that is provided by IBM Spectrum Protect
Plus. Usually, the command must be put in quotation marks, as shown in Figure 6-41.
I

Figure 6-41 Opening IBM Spectrum Protect Plus MMC GUI

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3. The IBM Spectrum Protect MMC GUI opens. The next step is to check with the wizard that
all prerequisites are fulfilled. Click IBM Spectrum Protect Plus → Dashboard →
Manage → Configuration and start the Configuration Wizard, as shown in Figure 6-42.

Figure 6-42 Starting the Configuration wizard

4. Click Wizards and the configuration option IBM Spectrum Protect Plus configuration is
shown. Click Start to run the wizard. The result should display failed: 0, as shown in
Figure 6-43.

Figure 6-43 IBM Spectrum Protect Configuration wizard

5. Click Next and the wizard proceed and completes the process.
The warning about VSS Provider Check can safely be ignored because no IBM VSS
Hardware Provider is installed and it is not necessary when restoring from IBM Spectrum
Protect Plus.

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The restart required warning often is caused by a pending restart (most likely after a
Windows patch update on the operating system).
6. After completing the configuration wizard, proceed to recover single mailbox items.
7. Expand the Protect and Recover Data tab and select the Exchange server. On the right
side of the display, three tabs are available: Protect, Recover, and Automate. Click the
Recover tab.
A Configuration Error appears, as shown in Figure 6-44. This error is shown because it is
not recommended to perform the recovery with the exchange server.

Figure 6-44 Protect and Recover Data

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8. Click ReadMe to see information that is similar to the information that was described in
6.2.1, “Granular restore remote package installation” on page 94 (see Figure 6-45).

Figure 6-45 Installing ReadMe Granular Restore remote package

9. The Recovery Database (RDB) opens, but no mailbox is selected. The mailboxes appear
as closed. Proceed with the recovery by selecting the Mailbox Restore Browser view, as
shown in Figure 6-46.

Figure 6-46 Mailbox Restore Browser

By clicking the mailbox icon (in our example, SPP), the mailbox is populated and the items
are provided for recovery. This process can take some time.

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10.The populated mailbox now shows the mailbox items, such as inbox (see Figure 6-47).
Click the inbox and all mail objects are shown. By selecting individual mail items, the
content is shown in the middle part of the window.

Figure 6-47 Item select

In the Actions column on the right side of the display, the choices for the recovery are
listed. The column is divided into Folder Actions and Message Actions sections. We can
recover folders or single messages.
11.Click the Restore Messages to Original Mailbox entry. The restore from the Recovery
Database (RDB) goes done into the active database. The restore progress and the result
are displayed in a separate window, as shown in Figure 6-48.

Figure 6-48 Restore progress: Restoring message

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After successful recovery, a cleanup procedure must be completed on the IBM Spectrum
Protect Plus Server. This cleanup can be done in Jobs and Operations → Active Jobs, by
cancelling the running job, as shown in Figure 6-49.

Figure 6-49 Cleanup in Jobs and Operations: Running Jobs

Item Recovery restore job also can be stopped is in Jobs and Operations → Active
Resources by clicking the three vertical dots and selecting Cancel job, as shown in
Figure 6-50.

Figure 6-50 Clean up in Jobs and Operations: Active Resources

The Job History Job Logs includes the detailed log of the cleanup procedure and is confirmed
with a success message, as shown in Figure 6-51.

Figure 6-51 Job History cleanup

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Item Recovery by using a Remote System

The restore of individual items with the IBM Spectrum Protect MMC GUI is done on a
separate Windows system, which is called Remote System.

The Exchange server must be added as a managed computer so that it appears in the
Group → Dashboard view, as shown in Figure 6-52.

Figure 6-52 Group Dashboard view

After expanding the Protect and Recover Data entry, the Mailbox Restore Browser shows the
available mailbox items in Recovery Database (RDB) that are connected to the Exchange
Server and provided through the PowerShell communication.

The recovery procedure on a remote system is identical to the recovery procedure on the
Exchange Server, as described in “Item Recovery by using an Exchange Server” on
page 119.

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Related publications

The publications listed in this section are considered particularly suitable for a more detailed
discussion of the topics covered in this paper.

IBM Redbooks
The following IBM Redbooks publications provide additional information about the topic in this
document. Note that some publications referenced in this list might be available in softcopy
only.
򐂰 IBM Spectrum Protect Plus Practical Guidance for Deployment, Configuration, and
Usage, REDP-5532.

You can search for, view, download or order these documents and other Redbooks,
Redpapers, Web Docs, draft and additional materials, at the following website:
ibm.com/redbooks

Online resources
The following websites are also relevant as further information sources:
򐂰 Featured Documents for IBM Spectrum Protect Plus:
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/featured-documents-ibm-spectrum-protect-plus
򐂰 IBM Spectrum Protect Plus BluePrints:
https://ibm.biz/IBMSpectrumProtectPlusBlueprints
򐂰 IBM Spectrum Protect Plus Documentation:
https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/spp
򐂰 IBM Spectrum Protect Plus Support:
https://www.ibm.com/mysupport/s/topic/0TO50000000IQWtGAO/spectrum-protect-plus?
language=en_US&productId=01t50000004uZGc
򐂰 IBM Spectrum Protect Plus - All Requirements Doc:
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/ibm-spectrum-protect-plus-all-requirements-do
c

Help from IBM

IBM Support and downloads
ibm.com/support

IBM Global Services

ibm.com/services

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2021. 127

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128 Spectrum Protect Plus Protecting Database Applications

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Draft Document for Review June 18, 2021 3:38 pm

REDP-5640-00

ISBN DocISBN

Printed in U.S.A.

®
ibm.com/redbooks