1) What are your daily activities ?

Ans) TSM Server DB and Log size monitoring, client and admin schedule monitoring
and library media management. I also have to install and configure TSM BA clien
ts whenever required, and troubleshoot backup/restore issues if any.
The following list describes some of the items that are important to monitor dai
ly. Instructions for monitoring these items, and other monitoring tasks can be f
ound in the topics in this section. Not all of these tasks apply to all environm
ents.
Verify that the database file system has enough space.
Examine the database percent utilization, available free space, and free-pages.
Verify that there is enough disk space in the file systems that contain these lo
g files.
o
Active log
o
Archive log
o
Mirror log
o
Archive failover log
Verify that the instance directory file system has enough space.
Verify that the database backups completed successfully, and that they are runni
ng frequently enough.
Check the database and recovery log statistics.
Verify that you have current backup files for device configuration and volume hi
story information. You can find the file names for the backups by looking in the
dsmserv.opt file for the DEVCONFIG and VOLUMEHISTORY options. Ensure that file
systems where the files are stored have sufficient space.
Search the summary table for failed processes.
Search the activity log for error messages.
For storage pools that have deduplication enabled, ensure that processes are com
pleting successfully.
Check the status of your storage pools to ensure that there is enough space avai
lable.
Check for any failed storage pool migrations.
Check the status of sequential access storage pools.
Check how many scratch volumes are available.
Determine if there are any tape drives offline, or their paths that are offline.
Determine if there are any libraries offline, or their paths that are offline.
Verify that all of the tapes have the appropriate write-access.
Verify the status and settings for disaster recovery manager (DRM).
Check for failed or missed schedules.
Check the summary table for scheduled client operations such as backup, restore,
archive, and retrieve.
Check the summary table for scheduled server operations such as migration, recla
mation, and expiration.
2) What are first * and second * in the "Query Event * *" ?
Ans) First * is Domain name, second * is schedule name
3) How to check admin schedules status ?
Ans) Query Event * t=a
4) Where/How will you see, if errors occurred in the tapes ?
Ans)
1. We can check it in actlog for hardware/media & read write errors by using com
mand - "q actlog se=errors"
2. To determine read/write errors for a particular volume run the command "q vol
ume <volumename> f=d".
This output will show the number of read/write errors occurred to that particula
r volume.
5) What is your DB size in your environment ?
Ans) Approximately 60 GB.

Tip: size depends on your environment

6) What is your tape model ?
Ans) HP LTO4 tape - capacity 800 GB, speed is 120 MB/Sec.
7) Have you done DR test ?
Ans) Yes, In our environment we should do DR drills for every 6 months to ensure
we are ready for any disaster recovery.
8) Have you done library configuration ?
Ans) Yess, I did it once.
9) What is your library model ?
Ans) Specify Library models and number of drives
Ex: IBM 3584 library model with 4 drives
11) What is the use of maximum number of mount points parameter ?
Ans) Maxnummp parameter is used to increase/decrease the client backup/restore s
essions. This parameter value should not be greater than available tape drives.
12) What are the TSM server tuning parameters ?
Ans) DBMEMPERCENT
EXPINTERVAL
MAXSESSIONS
MOVEBATCHSIZE and MOVESIZETHRESH
RESTOREINTERVAL
TCPNODELAY
TCPWINDOWSIZE
TXNGROUPMAX
13) What is collocation? Where will you update it?
Ans) Collocation is the process of keeping the client backed up data in a minimu
m number of tapes. Collocation can be done by nodes, node groups and by Filespac
e. We will update collocation while defining or updating storage pool definition
s.
update stgpool <stgpoolname> colloc=node
14) What is cloptset ? Where will you update it ?
Ans) Cloptset is used to define a name for a set of options which you can assign
to clients for archive, backup, restore, and retrieve operations. We should fir
st define a clioptset name by using "define cloptset" command and then define ea
ch client options to that cloptset by using "define clientopt" command. Then you
should use this cloptset name while defining any client node. Generally, clopts
et is used to assign extra client options for any particular node from TSM Serve
r end without logging into client machine.
15) Have you performed TSM DB restoration ?
Ans) Yes,
16) How will you see the errors in the tape ?
Ans) To determine read/write errors for a particular volume run "q volume <volum
ename> f=d". This output will show the number of read/write errors occurred to t
hat particular volume.
17) What will you do if u find errors in the tapes ?
Ans) First we have to figure it out the source of the error, whether tape drive
has caused the error or tape itself has some problems. If tape drive is the culp
rit make sure no other tapes are mounted on that particular tape. If tape itself
has problems, then audit that tape by using "audit volume fix=no" command. This

will show if there are any damaged files. IF there are no damaged files move th
e data from that tape to another tape, if there are any damaged files then we sh
ould restore the contents of that tape from copy storage pool.
18) Have you done manual backup ?
Ans) Yes, We can do it by BA client command line and also through BA client GUI.
19) How will you login into the client machine do you have any credentials for y
ou separately ?
Ans) Yes, I have client login credentials with limited privileges.
20) How many servers in your environment ?
Ans) Specify number of TSM servers in your environment ex:3 TSM Servers
21) What is the TSM library manager ?
Ans) TSM Library Manager
22) On which TSM Server you will define tape drives in a shared tape library env
ironment?
Ans) We have to define all the drives on both Library Manager and Library client
s.
23) How will you see the lanfree backup process in the server side?
Ans)
1. By running "storageagentname:q session"
2. Quering act log for "ANR0415I" message which says that "session 101 was proxi
es by storage agent S1 for node N1"
3. You can also check the backup report for total lanfree bytes transferred.
24) How will you clean the drive
Ans) Generally tape library will
mount that drive through Library
" command, this will also mounts
starts cleaning.

?
have separate cleaning drives, we have to just
GUI. OR From TSM Server we can run "clean drive
the cleaning cartridge/tape onto the drive and

25) How to label the volume ?

Ans) If new tapes are kept in I/O exit port, run this below command
label libvol <libraryname> search=bulk labelsource=barcode checkin=scratch
Troubleshooting tape library
26) What are the parameters in the copy group ?
Ans) version exist, version deleted, retention extra, retention only, serializat
ion, destination, mode, frequency
etc.
27) What is the use of reclamation ?
Ans) Reclamation makes the fragmented space on volumes usable again by moving an
y remaining files from one volume to another volume. This action makes the origi
nal volume available for reuse.
28) Is there any chance of moving inactive data from one volume to another using
reclamation ?
Ans) No, reclamation will move both active and inactive data.
29) What is audit volume ?
Ans) Audit volume command is used to check the inconsistencies between database
information and a storage pool volume.
30) What is fix=yes/no in audit volume command ?
Ans)
Fix --- Specifies how the server resolves inconsistencies between the database i

nventory and the specified storage pool volume.

Fix=No --- Tivoli Storage Manager reports, but does not delete, database records
.
Fix=Yes --- The server fixes any inconsistencies as they are detected
31) what is migration ? use of migration ?
Ans) Migration is used to move client files from one storage pool to the next st
orage pool in the storage hierarchy. Migration will make some empty space in dis
k pools which can be used for taking backup of the client machine.
32) Have you done upgradation ? which method you have used ?
Ans) Yes, we used Same System Media Method
33) Have you done upgradation for client machine ?
Ans) Yes, First we have to copy all the important client configuration files, di
sconnect the connection with TSM Server and then uninstall/install new client ve
rsion.
34) Have you done installation of TSM server ? tell me the procedure ?
Ans) TSM Server 6.3 Installation steps
35) Explain the log flow in the 6.3 ?
Ans) Recoverylog in TSM version 6.3
36) What are the details available in the dsmsched.log and dsmerror.log ?
Ans) dsmsched.log & dsmerror.log will contains the client schedule status detail
s and any schedule error details.
37) Will the lanfree data go to the disk pool ?
Ans) No, Lanfree data will go directly to tape/tapepools. If we have a disk libr
ary in a SAN, then we can send lanfree to disks but we need another supporting s
oftwares.
1) How to see the DB size ?
Ans) Query db f=d
2) How to check the paths ?
Ans) query path f=d
3) How to update path ?
Ans) update path sourcename destinationname srctype=server desttype=drive/librar
y device=devicename online=yes
4) What is difference between search=yes and search=bulk in LABEL command ?
Ans)
YES - Specifies that the server labels only volumes that are stored in the libra
ry
BULK - Specifies that the server searches the library entry/exit ports for usabl
e volumes to label
5) In tdpsql what does tdpsql.cfg file contains ?
Ans) It contains all the tdpsql performance monitoring parameters like Buffers,
Buffers size, sql buffers, sql buffer size, data stripes, and log file etc.
6) How to install tdpsql in the client machine ?
Ans) Install and configuration of IBM TDPSQL
7) Any idea on TSM Offsite Reclamation ?
Ans) offsite reclamation process

8) What is the use of storage pool backup (copy stgpools) ?

Ans) If there are any read/write errors on the primary pool volumes, we can rest
ore them from copy pool volumes.
9) Explain how to do Lanfree configuration ?
Ans) Steps to install and configure TSM Storageagent
10) Explain about policy management ?
Ans) TSM Policy Management basics & Policy structure
11) What are the parameters in the copy group ?
Ans) version exist, version deleted, retention extra, retention only, serializat
ion, destination, mode, frequency
etc
12) Explain about Serialization ?
Ans) It specifies how Tivoli Storage Manager processes files or directories when
they are modified during backup processing.
1) What is your company setup?
Ans) We have total 4 TSM servers connected to 2 tape libraries........ etc.
2) How to do labeling?
Ans) TSM Labelling
3) Have done up-gradation?
Ans) Yes
5) What is your team size ?
Ans) 3
6) What are the servers in your environment ?
Ans) AIX & Windows
7) How many clients ?