Channel takeaway:IBM's Tivoli storage manager offers VARs another option to store information in a database. By only backing up information that has been altered, the configuration management database (CMDB) can speed up data deduplication for a company and keep information easily accessible.
IBM Tivoli storage manager progressive incremental backups
IBM's progressive incremental (a.k.a. incremental forever) architecture is probably the best known differentiator. The basic concept is that once a file is backed up, it will never be backed up again by IBM's Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) unless it has changed. The first time a file server is backed up, all files are copied, since they have never been backed up to TSM. From that point on, only files that have changed are subsequently backed up. The main goal is to reduce the amount of data that is transferred across the network.
When restoring last night's backup for instance, TSM will only restore files as they were at that time, whether backed up the night before or six months ago.
Tivoli storage manager storage pool hierarchy
TSM stores backup objects in storage pools. Backup objects are directed to storage pools, which in turn, are associated with specific device classes (disk, tape, optical). Storage pools can use random access devices (disk) or sequential access devices, such as tape, optical, file, etc. Primary storage pools are organized in a hierarchy, meaning that a storage pool can point to another pool as "next storage pool" allowing data to be automatically migrated when a user-defined capacity threshold is reached. The most common configuration consists in a disk pool pointing to a tape pool where backup data is initially stored on disk and later migrated to tape. TSM also supports the association of a "server" device class with a storage pool, meaning backup data can be transparently migrated from a local storage device to a remote TSM server.
Read more about Tivoli at SearchStorage.com.
