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Managed System for SAN is a feature of Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) that enables LAN-free TSM client data movement. The TSM client data moves directly to and from a storage device attached to a Storage Area Network (SAN), thereby off-loading the data movement from the LAN and from the Tivoli Storage Manager server. The storage agent is installed on the client machine and shares storage resources with the Tivoli Storage Manager server. The storage agent can write directly to storage media in a format that is consistent with that used by the server. The TSM server or servers control the storage devices and keep track of the data that the client has stored. TSM continues to use a LAN connection to exchange control information, such as policy information and data about the objects that are backed up. Using the SAN for client data movement decreases the load on the TSM server and allows the server to support a greater number of simultaneous client connections. See Figure 1.
Figure 1. SAN Data Movement. Solid lines indicate data movement. Broken lines indicate movement of control information and metadata.
To use Managed System for SAN you must install a storage agent on the client system. The storage agent communicates with the server to obtain and store database information and to coordinate device and volume access. The server determines if the client is requesting access to storage for which the client has a SAN path defined. If a SAN path is defined, the client (by means of the storage agent) transfers data on that path. If a failure occurs on the SAN path, failover occurs and the client uses its LAN connection to the TSM server and moves the client data over the LAN.
TSM supports SAN-attached device sharing in one of the following ways:
For additional information about these configurations, see Types of Configurations.