Your administrator can schedule TSM to perform tasks automatically on a regular basis. For example, you can automatically back up files at the end of each day, or archive some of your files every Friday. This procedure, known as central scheduling, is a cooperative effort between the server and your client node. Your administrator associates clients with one or more schedules that are part of the policy domain maintained in the database. The administrator defines central scheduling on the server, and you start the client scheduler on your workstation. Once you start the client scheduler, further intervention is not necessary. With client scheduling, you can also:
You can modify scheduling options in the Preferences file or in the TSM Backup preference editor. However, if your administrator specifies a value for these options, that value overrides what you have in the client Preferences file.
For more information about scheduling options, changing the scheduling mode, or specifying the TCP/IP address or port number, see "Scheduling Options".
You can run scheduling services in either the daemon mode, or the standalone mode. The daemon mode permits two programs to work together to provide the scheduling service, while the standalone mode uses only the Scheduler program.
The scheduler daemon, a background application that operates in sleep mode until it is time to run a schedule, starts the Scheduler program. The Scheduler program then queries the server for the next schedule to run, and performs the scheduled action, such as a backup or restore, at the scheduled time. Using the scheduler daemon during sleep mode requires very little memory.
To start the scheduler in daemon mode, follow these steps:
Note: | An alias might already exist. |
Depending upon when your administrator defines your schedules to run, the scheduler might run while you work. Clicking on another running application places the scheduler in the background.
If you must stop the scheduler daemon, remove the alias from your Startup Items folder and restart, or use a utility, such as ProcessWatcher, to end the daemon process.
When using the scheduler in standalone mode, it continues to run until you stop it. This provides more control, but requires more memory.
To use the standalone mode, follow these steps:
Note: | You can also double-click the Scheduler icon, but it will not start up automatically the next time you restart your workstation. |
The scheduler runs in the background. When you bring it to the foreground, the Scheduler window displays either the amount of time remaining before the schedule runs, or the process status of a backup or archive. To quit the scheduler, select Quit on the File menu.
After scheduled work is performed, check the schedule log to verify that all work completed successfully. The schedule log continues to grow unless you prune it using the schedlogretention option. See "Specifying Scheduling Options" for more information.
The scheduler log file provides information about which schedule runs next and which files are processed. The default file name, TSM Scheduler Log, is created in the TSM application folder. Use the schedlogname option to change the location and name of this file and a text editor to view the file.
The schedule log continues to grow in size unless you prune it with the schedlogretention option.
When the scheduler queries the server for the next schedule, it sends the
schedule information to the log file. The following information is
logged:
Table 4. Schedule Log Information
Category | Description |
---|---|
Schedule name | Specifies the name the administrator assigns to the schedule. |
Action | Specifies the type of task to perform on the files listed in the Objects
field:
|
Objects | Names the volumes or files to process. If this field is empty for an incremental backup, then the default domain is used. |
Options | Overrides options that you set for scheduling in your Preferences file. See Specifying Scheduling Options for more information about scheduling options. |
Server window start | Specifies the date and time when the next schedule will run. If the server uses randomization for schedules, the schedule then runs after the specified time. |
Output from scheduled commands is sent to the log file. After scheduled work is performed, check the log to ensure the work completed successfully.
When a scheduled command is processed the schedule log may contain the following entry:
Scheduled event eventname completed successfully
This is merely an indication that TSM successfully issued the scheduled command associated with the eventname. No attempt is made to determine the success or failure of the command. You should assess the success or failure of the command by evaluating the return code from the scheduled command in the schedule log. The schedule log entry for the command's return code is prefaced with the following text:
Finished command. Return code is:
You can modify the scheduling options in your Preferences file if you do not like the current values. For more information about scheduling options, see Scheduling Options.