IBM Tivoli Storage Manager Components is the first section of three section of the IBM Tivoli Storage Manager Introduction (Day1). In this section we will cover up IBM Tivoli Storage Manager Components.

IBM Tivoli Storage Manager have 9 Components. Six of these components reside on the TSM Server it self & another 3 are a part of the solution, but does not reside on the TSM Server. The first Six components in the list below are the TSM Components which reside on the TSM Server, where the last 3 components which has been colored in red are components which does not reside on the TSM Server.

TSM Components:

1. Administrative Interface
2. Tivoli Storage Manager Server
3. Scheduler
4. Tivoli Storage Manager Database
5. Tivoli Storage Manager Recovery Log
6. Policy-Based Management
7. Storage Pools
8. Tape Library
9. Backup-Archive Client (BA Client)

Now you at least know the name of the TSM Server components, you start to wonder what each of these components mean. That’s exactly what we will discover next. Below I will give a brief explanation of each of these components.

1- Administrative Interface:

Unlike many other backup software, TSM offers multiple management interfaces.  Below is a brief of each

• Administration Center GUI:   It is the main GUI interface of TSM. It integrate into the Integrated Solutions Consonle. From it you can do most of the TSM tasks including Managing storage devices, Domain Policies, Schedules, users, and health monitor, and many more tasks. Its your full management through the GUI. If you are a GUI lover then this is the interface for you.
• TSM Server Command Line:  It’s the command line interface equivelant of the administration center. Its the most powerfull TSM interface & a great interface for command line lovers. This interface is accessed by running dsmcadmc at the command line.
• Backup-Archive Client GUI: it is the GUI interface used to run a manual backup or restore on a certain client, or to create a customized options for a certain client.  Backup-Archive Client is installed and run on the client server not the TSM Server. It can be accessed by running dsm on Windows or by running dmsj on Unix.
• Web Client GUI: Well this is nothing more than a web interface access to the Backup-Archive Client GUI. It actually look exactly the same as the Backup-Archive Client GUI, beside of being running in a web browser.
• BA Client Command Line: If you don’t like the GUI & prefer command line then this is the interface to perform all the tasks managed by the Backup-Archive Client GUI, though using command line. This can be accessed by running dsmc at the windows command line.

OK, these were the main management interfaces in TSM. Though I find it the norm for new commers who just started with TSM to confuse the interfaces command due to their similarity. So as my gift to my readers I will try to clear it early.

dsmadmc: is to call the TSM Server Command line. You will need this interface when you are planning to perform administration tasks on the TSM Server.

dsmc:  to  call the BA Client Command Line to perform tasks on the client server (the servers you want to backup).

dsm: to call the BA Client GUI. Again to perform tasks on the client server (the server you want to backup).

So dsm & dsmc is interfaces which manage tasks on the client (the server you want to backup) where dsmadmc is to manage tasks on the TSM Server. Please make sure to get this straighten up before proceeding as this will make your life a lot easier while switching between these interfaces in future chapters

2- Tivoli Storage Manager Server:

TSM Server main functionality is to move the backup & archive data from the BA Client to the storage media (Storage or Tape Library). TSM Server keep all of the users, administrators, policy management objects, & client nodes data into a special database. An important thing to note a common mistake that people reffer to the physical system running TSM Server as the TSM Server, but that is not correct. As TSM Server is actually only an instance of the TSM Server software running on that system. As you can run multiple instance of TSM Server on the same system.

3- Scheduler:

Tivoli Storage Manager offers an advanced scheduling capabilities for most of its tasks. This has been made possible by the scheduler part integrated into both the TSM Server & BA Client.

4- Tivoli Storage Manager Database:

TSM Keep up information of every file, raw logical volume, or database that it backup, archive, or migrate. The database of TSM is required for it to operate. A loss of database usually mean a full loss of backed up & archived data. So you better take a good care of your TSM Database, as its the the heart of your Tivoli Storage Manager.

5-  Tivoli Storage Manager Recovery Log:

Just like any other database in the market today, TSM Database keeps track of each new transaction in its recovery logs. In case of suddent outage of the TSM server, recovery logs is the first resort to revert back changes & get the database back to an operational stage.

6- Policy-Based Management:

BA Clients is managed by the TSM Server by a centralized policies stored in the TSM Server Database. These policies all the administrator to meet business requirements by defining which files to backup & archive. The expiry of the files & how many copies to keep.

7- Storage Pools:

Storage Pools are collections of like media that provide storage for backup. TSM allow you to build a hierarchy of storage pools to where you send your backup, archive, and migrate data. You can automate the movement of data between different level of the storage pools hirarchy or establish a copy of them.

8- Tape Library:

IBM Tivoli Storage Manager support many tape libraries, which is usually the final destination of the backup. For a full list of the supported tape libraries check out TSM Supported Tape Libraries

9- Backup-Archive Client (BA Client):

The TSM Backup-Archive Clinet (BA Client) is a service that send & retrive data from the TSM Server. BA Client must be installed on every server to be backed up or archived by TSM.