IBM Tivoli Storage Manager

This page provides a guide to configuring an IBM TSM storage as a Storage Target in Verba.

TSM is an alternative to the traditional optical "write once, read many" (WORM) data. The file retention policy can be managed on TSM side via Management Classes. TSM does not support direct CIFS/SMB access to the stored files, limiting some Verba functionalities, therefore we recommend to use it as a long term archive storage. The following features are not supported:

Speech analytics
Screen capture multiplexing
In-place transcoding storage policies

For a general description of storage targets, please refer to Storage and export targets.

Please refer to the official TSM guide to deploy and configure the TSM system.

Prerequisites

Verba uses the TSM Backup-Archive Client API and the related API runtime must be installed on all Verba servers accessing TSM (Media Repository/Combo, Recorder servers if media is directly to be uploaded to TSM). The latest client framework can be downloaded from here:

ftp://public.dhe.ibm.com/storage/tivoli-storage-management/maintenance/client/v8r1/Windows/x64/v8122

During installation, the x86 API component must be selected and installed

Configuring TSM client

Provision client node in TSM server

Via dsmadmc you should create a new node for each Verba server that accesses the TSM server.

Use the following command: register node [nodename] [password]

Create a configuration file for TSM server

TSM client is configured via configuration files located under default path: c:\Program Files\Tivoli\TSM\config. When a TSM storage target is created in Verba then a configuration file must be referred based on which the server address, authentication credential.... is specified for the client.

Here is an example config file content:

file: dsm_sample_node.opt:

commmethod tcpip
TCPServeraddress 192.168.1.149
tcpport 1500
traceflags api
tracefile c:\tivoli.log
NODENAME SAMPLE
PASsword password

With this configuration Verba will connect to the 192.168.1.149:1500 server via TCP using the "SAMPLE" node with the "password" password (see client node provisioning section).

Creating a TSM target

Follow the steps below to create a new Verba Storage target for TSM:

Step 1 - Open the Verba Web interface then select Policies > Storage targets from the top menu.

Step 2 - Click on Add New Storage Target

Step 3 - Fill in the configuration form according to the requirements in the following table.

Configuration item	Description
Name	Name your storage target. This name will identify this target across the system.
Type	Select Tivoli Storage Manager
File Space	Specify the filespace for the files. If filespace does not exists Verba tries to create it
Management class	Specify the Management Class to be applied to the files (determines retention time)
Configuration file path	Path of TSM client configuration related to current target
Retention Period	If Management Class forces data retention, then the number of days of the retention period***

*** Please note there is no possibility via the API to access management policy's retention config. To enforce proper retention management in Verba, the retention period configured with the management class must be explicitly configured.

Step 4 - Click Save to save the settings