Goodbye to IBM TSM Version 5

Posted on: 26/06/14

IBM Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) V5 officially became end of support on the 30th April 2014; 

so if you are still running these versions of TSM servers or clients it is now time to upgrade.

There are a number of good reasons to upgrade as the current versions of TSM offer a more 

robust and feature rich environment over the older, version but for many, the process can 

appear daunting and raises questions over hardware and application support.

Unsurprisingly, TSM V6.4 requires more server resources in the way of CPU, memory and 

disk space when compared to TSM 5.5, so customers may need to factor in system upgrades 

or provision a new server to support the new environment. TSM V5 may have ran happily on 

Windows 2003 with 4GB of RAM but to upgrade to V6.4 would require a minimum of Windows 

2008 R2, 12GB of RAM and 64 bit processor.

A key difference with TSM V6 is the move to using DB2 as the central TSM database. Luckily all

 the database management is built into TSM so you do not need to be a DB2 DBA to maintain 

your systems, but sound planning is important for trouble free operation.

The TSM V6 upgrade, or installation, wizard guides you through the process of creating various 

server folders for the DB2 database components. Where possible all these folders should be 

on independent physical disk arrays with the database and log volumes on the fastest disks 

available. The installation will require you to specify:

Database folder(s) – Create one or more folders to hold TSM database files. Multiple folders 

on different disks improve database I/O

Active Log folder – Contains in flight database transactions. This log requires a predetermined 

size to be defined when it is created but it is important to ensure it is large enough to cope with 

the concurrent activity that the server typically handles otherwise TSM will crash if the log fills up.

Archive Log folder – Contains committed transactions. The archive log is used for roll 

forward recovery of the TSM database and is cleared down when a full database backup is taken.

Active Log mirror folder (optional) – A mirror copy of the active log. TSM will use this if the 

primary log is unavailable.

IBM offers the upgrade tools and wizards to make the process as simple as possible but it is 

important to ensure that all of the prerequisites are met, and that all of the pre and post update 

tasks are completed to ensure all goes smoothly, enabling you to recover if there are 

any issues encountered. The IBM support pages and forums offer the best place to look for compatibility,

 sizing and upgrade documentation.

Depending on your requirements, you can choose to perform an in-place upgrade of the current 

server if suitable, or carry out a migration to a new server if not. There are pros and cons to both 

methods, however, an in-place upgrade is more straight forward, as there are no additional 

tasks required, such as connecting tape libraries or the need to perform fabric zoning that would 

be required with a new server. Using the migration upgrade method to new hardware is quicker and 

simpler to recover from if there are problems, as you can revert back to the old server and attempt the

 process again.

Another factor to consider is the time required to perform the database data import stage of the 

upgrade. IBM estimates the data ingest rate of between 5GB and 10GB per hour, so a 100GB 

TSM V5 database could take between 10 and 20 hours to convert to V6.4 plus a few more hours 

to run the integrity check which is something to plan for.

When considering your server upgrade it is important not to overlook your TSM clients. The oldest BA 

client version officially supported with TSM server is version 6.4 is client version 6.2 .

A useful server query statement to show your client versions and when they last access the sever is:

SELECT node_name, platform_name, domain_name, TRIM(CHAR(client_version))||'.'||TRIM(CHAR(client_release))||'.'||- TRIM(CHAR(client_level))||'-'||TRIM(CHAR(client_sublevel)) as "TSM Client Version", DATE(lastacc_time) AS LASTACC_TIME FROM nodes

Identifying old and redundant clients and removing the backup data can reduced the size of the database and speed up the upgrade process.

So if you are still running TSM Server V5 the time is now to start planning your upgrade!

Should you require any advice on upgrading your version of Tivoli Storage Manager, please do not hesitate to contact your Celerity representative.

David King, Technical Consultant, Celerity Limited

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BYOD with Endpoint Manager

In today’s world everyone has their own smart devices and everyone expects to be able to use them to send and receive corporate emails. A bring your own device (BYOD) policy can save an organisation money as they no longer need to supply these devices. However, securing these devices so that they can access corporate systems is a new challenge. With IBM’s Endpoint Manager for Mobile Devices IBM Endpoint Manager extends from managing and securing servers, desktops and laptops to include smartphones and tablets running iOS, Android, and Windows operating systems, which allows you to integrate everything into one management structure.

IBM’s Endpoint Manager for Mobile Devices allows you to protect up to a quarter of a million endpoints from a single management server. It gives an organisation the ability to recommend apps from an Enterprise Apps Store based on a user’s devices specification, or a user’s role within the organisation by integration with Active Directory or LDAP. Even an organisation’s own internally developed apps can be pushed (or pulled when requested) out. Details of the mobile device such as manufacturer, model, and OS version are reported back, and even storage information, battery level and installed apps too. This allows any security issues to be flagged and patched in the same way that Endpoint Manager would secure a computer. It can also limit the availability of some apps to older devices that might not be deemed secure enough.

Lost or stolen devices can be remotely locked, and even partially or fully wiped, protecting corporate and personal data. Password policies and device encryption can be enforced to stop unauthorised access to data and the last reported device location can be tracked and displayed in Google Maps. Jailbroken or rooted devices can be blocked and, if it is company policy, cameras can be disabled so no unauthorised photos can be taken. Wi-Fi and VPN configuration information can be distributed automatically to help keep the corporate network secure. Roaming can be disabled to reduce costs if a user takes their device on holiday. All of this is configured by an administrator from the IBM’s Endpoint Manager for Mobile Devices console with very little user interaction (all aside from setting a password to meet the policy) so not to confuse new users who might not be technically minded.

With IBM Endpoint Manager securing all aspects of IT in an organisation, regardless of platform, you can reduce security management complexity and operating costs, at the same time as increasing workers’ productivity and giving everyone peace of mind.

John Carson, Technical Consultant, Celerity Limited

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IBM Power 8 - The Models

IBM’s POWER 8 Processor

A sliver of silicon with 15 metal layers that measures just one square inch. It is embedded with over 4 billion microscopic transistors and more than 11 miles of high-speed copper wiring

I recently attended an IBM POWER 8 gathering where I gained some insight into the new servers leveraging this innovative processor technology that I would like to share with you.

Announced a month ago, and available generally from 10 June, let us take a look at what is on offer…

These are the S812L, S822L, S822, S814 and the S824

All models start with ‘S’. This indicates that all are scale-out servers. As you have probably guessed, the second character, ‘8’, signifies the system is running POWER 8. Next is the number of sockets – either 1 or 2. The fourth character shows the number of U rack space the server uses. Not all have a fifth character, but if you see an ‘L’ here, it means that it is a Linux-only system. Models without an ‘L’ can run AIX, IBM i or Linux – with exception of the S822 which is both an AIX and Linux friendly variant.

Taking the S812L model as an example, you can interpret that it is a scale-out server running POWER 8. It has one socket and uses 2U of rack space, running Linux.

 Specifications at a Glance

• S812L – A 1U, one socketed server comprising either ten (3.42 GHz) or twelve (3.02 GHz) cores with up to 512 GB of memory. There are six PCIe Gen 3 slots with this model. It comes with the industry recognised enterprise virtualisation offerings of either PowerVM or PowerKVM and is capable of running a choice of Linux distributions.

• S822 / S822L – These 2U, two socket models are capable of different configurations depending on whether or not you decide to populate both sockets. With one socket occupied, you can have six or twelve (3.89 GHz) cores, with up to 512 GB of memory. There are six PCIe Gen 3 low-profile hot plug adapter slots in this configuration. If you have both sockets populated, you can have ten or twenty (3.42 GHz) cores, with up to 1 TB of memory. Nine PCIe Gen3 low-profile hot plug adapter slots are included in this arrangement. You can run the PowerVM hypervisor with AIX or a selection of Linux variants.

The S822L can have twenty (3.42 GHz) or twenty four (3.02 GHz) cores, with up to 1 TB of memory and nine PCIe Gen 3 low-profile hot plug adapter slots. With the choice of either PowerVM or PowerKVM virtualisations, you may only run Linux distributions on this machine.

• S814 - A one socket, 4U system available in either a 4U or desk-form factor. It comes with either six (3.02 GHz) or eight (3.72 GHz) cores and 512 GB of memory. With seven PCIe Gen 3 full-high hot plug adapter slots, you can run PowerVM with AIX, IBM i or Linux flavours.

• S824 - A two socket, 4U server. If you populate one socket you can have the same specs as the S814, but if you populate both sockets you can get 12 (3.89 GHz), 16 (4.15 GHz) or 24 (3.52 GHz) cores with up to 1 TB of memory. With up to eleven PCIe Gen 3 full-high hot plug adapter slots, this machine can run PowerVM with AIX, IBM i or Linux distributions.

What’s Next?

The release date for the Enterprise POWER 8 server range has been set, however, at the time of writing, IBM were unable to make this information public knowledge.

Should you require any further information regarding changes to IBM POWER 8 please do not hesitate to contact your Celerity Representative

Chris Lang, Technical Consultant, Celerity Limited

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