Adding a System to My BRMS Network

Owned by Kathy Kurth
Last updated: Jan 12, 2022 by Aaron Fistler
13 min read

This example shows how to establish a BRMS network between two IBM® i platforms, SYSTEM01 and SYSTEM02. To achieve the best performance, follow the steps in the order in which they appear, and complete each step before you move on to the next step. Be sure that you perform all of the steps when you set up your network. Complete all the steps on one system before adding additional systems to the BRMS network.

  1. Save library QUSRBRM on SYSTEM01.
     

  2. Save library QUSRBRM on SYSTEM02.
     

  3. Ensure that the communications link on SYSTEM01 for SYSTEM02 is active. (PING and DDM)
     

  4. Designate SYSTEM01 to be your initial system.
     

  5. Ensure that there is no BRMS activity on either system.
     

  6. On SYSTEM01, type WRKPCYBRM *SYS to get to the system policy menu. Then, take the following steps:

    • Select option 4 (Change Network Group) and press Enter.

    • Set the Communication method field to *RDB. If you want BRMS to use a different communication method, then change it to the appropriate value.

    • To add SYSTEM02 to the master system to create the network, type SYSTEM02 in the Remote location field. Then, type the name of the remote network in the Remote Network ID column.

      Change Network Group SYSTEM01 APPN Network group . . . . : *MEDINV Position to . . . . : FlashCopy state . . . : *ENDPRC Communication method : *RDB *AVAIL, *IP, *SNA, *NONE, *RDB Notify period . . . . : 30 30-99999 seconds Type options, press Enter. 1=Add 4=Remove Remote Local Remote System Network Opt Location Name Network ID Status Status 1 SYSTEM02 APPN Offline Inactive More... F3=Exit F5=Refresh F11=BRMS Media Information F12=Cancel

    • Press Enter. BRMS searches the network for the system name that you specified. Depending on the network configuration and the number of systems in the network, this can take a few minutes. When BRMS finds the system name (in this example, SYSTEM02), BRMS adds it to *MEDINV (the BRMS network group name). SYSTEM02 is still an inactive member of the network group and does not share its media inventory with other active systems in the network. To change the inactive status to active, media inventory must be copied to the system that is being added to the network group. The process to copy the media inventory and media history information occurs in Step 9.
       

  7.  On SYSTEM02, use the CPYMEDIBRM OPTION(*TOFILE) (Copy Media Information to file) command to copy the contents of the media inventory file. You can copy the information to a temporary file (QA1AMED) or to a file name you create. BRMS creates this temporary file in your Current Library. Use the default value of *NO for the Copy media information parameter.
     

  8. Now activate SYSTEM01 in the BRMS network with SYSTEM02. Enter the following command from SYSTEM02:

    • INZBRM OPTION(*NETSYS) FROMSYS(APPN.SYSTEM01)

  9. BRMS clears the media management files on the inactive system (SYSTEM02) during the copy process and replaces them with the network media management files. BRMS sends a message when it overwrites the SYSTEM02 files with files that come from SYSTEM01.

    Display Program Messages Job 047122/A960103D/QPADEV0001 started on 05/31/99 at 09:15:55 in subsystem: Entries exist for Media. (R I C) Entries exist for Media policy. (R I C) Entries exist for Media class. (R I C) Entries exist for Location. (R I C) Entries exist for Move policy. (R I C) Type reply, press Enter. Reply . . .________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________

    BRMS copies the following media management files to the inactive system:

    • QA1ACN: Container status inventory

    • QA1ACT: Container class

    • QA1ADXR: Media duplication reference

    • QA1AMM: Media inventory

    • QA1AMP: Move policies

    • QA1AME: Media policy attributes

    • QA1AMT: Media class attributes

    • QA1ASL: Storage locations

    • QA1ARMT: Network group

    • QA1A1MP: Move policy entries

    • QA1A1RMT: Remote system name entries
       

    After BRMS copies the network media inventory to the inactive system (SYSTEM02), the status of the inactive system changes to active. Then, its media inventory becomes part of the network media inventory. On SYSTEM02, select the option to ignore all of the messages by replying with an "I." These messages indicate that you are about to overwrite files on SYSTEM02.
       
    NOTES:

    • After you add the new system to the network, the Network Status for SYSTEM01 shows active status indicating that it has been activated on the network, and the System Status for SYSTEM01 shows online status after a few minutes if SYSTEM02 and SYSTEM01 are communicating.

    •  Because this example uses only two systems, you can only see the status for the system you are currently adding, in this case SYSTEM01. This display does not show an entry for the system you are on.

      Change Network Group SYSTEM02 APPN Network group . . . . : *MEDINV Position to . . . . : FlashCopy state . . . : *ENDPRC Communication method : *RDB *AVAIL, *IP, *SNA, *NONE, *RDB Notify period . . . . : 30 30-99999 seconds Type options, press Enter. 1=Add 4=Remove Remote Local Remote System Network Opt Location Name Network ID Status Status SYSTEM01 APPN Online Active Bottom

      In addition, the process of connecting the two systems automatically starts a new subsystem that is called Q1ABRMNET. You can find a description of Q1ABRMNET in library QBRM. BRMS also adds an autostart job entry for this subsystem to the QSYSWRK library on both systems.
       

      When BRMS networking is working, these physical files are journaled to QUSRBRM/QJ1ACM *JRN. These files should never be journaled to any other library or journal.You need to ensure that the QBRMS and QUSER user profiles are not in a *DISABLED state. Communication entries in subsystem Q1ABRMNET use the QBRMS user profile, and if it is disabled, you cannot establish a DDM connection.
       

    • Go to SYSTEM02. Now you can merge the media inventory data that BRMS saved prior to adding the system to the network under Step 9. Enter the following command on SYSTEM02:
                CPYMEDIBRM OPTION(*FROMFILE)
      IMPORTANT: You must perform this step if the old system contained BRMS media inventory.
       

    • Enter the WRKMEDBRM command on SYSTEM02. There you can see the media inventory for SYSTEM01 and SYSTEM02.
       

    • Enter the WRKMEDBRM command on SYSTEM01. There you can see the media inventory for SYSTEM02 and SYSTEM01.

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