Frequently Asked Questions about the GUI and BRMS

The FAQ about using the GUI and BRMS

What differences are there in terminology between the green screens and the BRMS Client?

You will find these differences between BRMS Client and green screen terminology.

The BRMS Client term Backup Policy refers to the combined attributes of a green screen backup control group and a media policy. Note that from V6R1M0 and above the Backup Policies are called Backup Control Groups.
The BRMS Client term Changes only backup is the same as a Cumulative backup in the green screens.
The BRMS Client term Media pool is the same as a Media Class in the the green screens.
The BRMS Client term Disk pool is the same as an Auxiliary storage pool in the green screens.
The BRMS Client term Global Properties is the same as the System policy in the green screens.

What functions are available through the BRMS Client?

The BRMS Client functions are fully documented in the student guides. A summary of these functions by release is as follows:

Version 5 Release 1

If you currently use the green screen interface, you will not find the robust function in the BRMS IBM i Navigator client that you are used to. For this version of the BRMS client you will be able to perform the following tasks:

Create and run a backup policy
Restore individual items
Schedule items to be backed up and restored
Print a system recovery report
View the backup history (media information in the green screen)
Run BRMS maintenance activities
Run policies that are shipped with BRMS
Add media
View the backup and recovery log
Display and manage tape media

Functions that are not available are:

Creating and running move policies
Managing advanced functions, such as hierarchical storage management
Creating backup policies using:
- Media libraries
- Parallel devices
- Save files
- Tivoli Storage Manager servers
Managing the BRMS Network

Version 5 Release 2

The BRMS IBM i Navigator client was significantly enhanced with V5R2. These enhancements include:

A Move Policy wizard and move policy properties to help you create and maintain move policies and to optionally create new locations. In addition, media functions and tasks were added to enable you to perform and verify media movement operations.
New backup policy properties allow you to specify media libraries, save files and TSM servers as backup devices with options to enable and specify parallel device backups. You can now specify the days of the week when running commands before and after the backup, or add special actions (exits) to be performed during backups. You can also define the type of incremental backup to use, what subsystems should be ended and/or restarted, and what job queues are to be held and/or released. You can also specify whether backup items are to be saved using save-while-active.
New functions were added to the Backup Policies folder which allows you to create, update and manage your backup lists, and to save your backups saved to save files.
New function was added to the Move Policies folder which allows you to create, update and manage your locations.
A new Media Pools folder was added to the Media folder with functions provided for creating, updating and maintaining your media pools (classes).
The Backup History Include panel has been enhanced with new options so you can filter the backup history based on expiration date, saved system, and disk pool name or number.
The Volumes Include panel has been enhanced with new options so you can filter the volumes based on location, container, owning system, as well as, volumes marked for duplication, duplicated volumes, or secured volumes.
Options were added to Run maintenance and cleanup so that you can now select the specific maintenance functions you want to run.
Options were added to Print reports so that you can now select one or more BRMS reports of various types for printing on the IBM i server.
Global properties were added to the plug-in. These properties let you specify whether TCP/IP is to be used for BRMS network operations. You can also specify notification controls, signoff exception and IPL controls using these global properties.
The Restore wizard was enhanced to allow you to perform point-in-time recoveries of objects saved using online incremental Lotus ® server backups. In addition, the Restore wizard now supports restore of objects saved to TSM servers, objects saved to parallel devices, and objects saved to save files.

Are the BRMS Client Backup Policies (Control groups V6R1M0) viewable and runnable from green screen?

The Backup Policies (Control groups V6R1M0) created by the BRMS Client can be viewed and run from the green screens.

Backup control groups and the assigned media policies can be viewed from Backup Policy properties by the BRMS Client. However, it is not recommended that green screen created backup control groups be modified using the BRMS Client unless the user is aware of certain modifications which will be made to conform to the BRMS Client design. A message will be presented to the user if a green screen backup control group is about to be modified by the BRMS Client. The user will have the opportunity to cancel the operation or continue.

What modifications does the BRMS Client make to the green screen created backup control group, and are the changes compatible?

NOTE: If your current green screen Control Groups do not reference the System Policy (*SYSPCY), Backup Policy (*BKYPCY), and do not share Media Policies among Control Groups, then using the BRMS plug-in to IBM i Navigator (BRMS plug-in/client) to edit Backup Policies should have no functional impacts to your green screen created Control Groups. If this is not true, continue reading.

The backup policies (Control groups V6R1M0) created by the BRMS plug-in can be viewed and run from the green screen. Also, control groups created from the green screen can be viewed and edited via the BRMS plug-in Backup Policy Properties. However, changing control groups created on the green screen using the BRMS plug-in is not recommended unless you understand the following (note, a message will be presented to the user when a green screen created or edited control group is about to be changed by the BRMS plug-in; the user will have the opportunity to cancel the operation or continue):

The BRMS plug-in backup policies (Control groups V6R1M0) are designed to be independent of each other. Thus, if you make changes to one policy, it will not affect the others. To ensure this independence, Control Groups updated with the BRMS plug-in will have all references to the green screen system policy (*SYSPCY) and backup policy (*BKYPCY) removed. These references will be resolved and replaced with the actual values when the backup policy is saved by the BRMS plug-in. Therefore, any attributes you change in the green screen backup policy or system policy do not affect Backup Policies created or edited by the BRMS plug-in. The exceptions to this are the Sign off exceptions and Subsystem to check controls in the system policy, which are used by the BRMS plug-in.
Prior to V6R1, the BRMS plug-in hides the Media Policy from the user (no BRMS plug-in functions exist to show or edit Media Policies). Media Policy attributes are indirectly shown and edited via Backup Policy properties. As mentioned earlier, the BRMS plug-in Backup Policies are designed to be independent of each other. To ensure this, the BRMS plug-in will create a new Media Policy based on the currently used one if the Control Group being edited contains a Media Policy that is used by other Control Groups or is a shipped BRMS Media Policy, If a new Media Policy is created, the Control Group will be changed to use the new one. This is no longer true in V6R1 and future releases due to a design change to expose the Media Policies on the user interface.
When you create a new backup or archive policy using the BRMS plug-in, it will use new Media policies that are dynamically created.

Do the BRMS Client Backup Policies (Control groups V6R1M0) support all the attributes and functions of green screen backup control groups?

Yes - all green screen backup control group functions are provided with the Version 5 Release 2 BRMS client

Does the BRMS Client provide functions that the green screens do not?

The BRMS Client has several functions not available as attributes of green screen backup control groups. These functions include:

Ending Integrated Windows servers before backup.
Ending hosted logical partitions before backup.
Unmounting of user-defined file systems (UDFSs) before backup
Starting Integrated Windows servers after backup
Starting hosted logical partitions after backup.

What save media does the BRMS Client support?

With Version 5 Release 2, the BRMS Client allows you to create Backup Policies using standalone tape devices, media libraries, save files, and Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) servers as the save media. The BRMS Client supports specifying use of parallel devices when saving libraries to tape devices or media libraries. This is the same level of function provided by green screens.

Where can I find my media policies in the BRMS Client?

The BRMS Client does not externalize green screen media policies until V6R1M0. The attributes of the media policies are displayed as a subset of the BRMS Client Backup Policy properties. The BRMS Client still creates a full and incremental media policy on behalf of the user. These media policy can be viewed from the green screens. The naming convention for the automatically created media policies is Zyymmddnnn.

Does the BRMS Client use any green screen Backup Policy attributes?

Backup Policies (Control groups V6R1M0) created or modified by the BRMS Client use these elements found in the green screen Backup Policy.

Items to Omit from Backup

Does the BRMS Client use any green screen System Policy attributes?

Backup Policies created or modified by the BRMS Client use these elements found in the green screen System Policy.

Home location for media
Output queue/library
Day start time
Media monitor
Shared inventory delay
Auto enroll media
Trace
Default usage
Network group

Does the BRMS Client support Archive and Retrieve operations?

Archive and retrieve operations are supported by the BRMS Client from V6R1M0 and above.

Do BRMS Client Backup Policies (Control groups V6R1M0) use the green screen global omits list?

It depends: If no omits were added to the Client Backup Policy (i.e., green screen Control Group) via the BRMS Client Backup Policy Properties, the green screen global omits list will be used. If an omit is added via the Client Backup Policy Properties (Control groups V6R1M0), then the green screen global omits list is not used or processed when the Client Backup Policy/Control Group is run. Note, this is true even when the Control Group that contains the BRMS Client added omit is run via green screen. Also, note that omits added via the Client Backup Policy Properties are added to the selected entry within a Client Backup Policy/Control Group and are not added to the global green screen omits list.

Install BRMS Plug-in into "IBM Systems Director Navigator for i" (L1C) Web Environment:

Starting with IBM i release V6R1, BRMS supports a web interface via the IBM Systems Director Navigator i (a.k.a. L1C). The plug-in is automatically installed when the BRMS product is installed. It is also removed when the BRMS product is removed.

NOTE: The IBM i HTTP *admin servers must be stopped and restarted after the BRMS product is installed to enable the BRMS web plug-in.

How to install the BRMS web plug-in to IBM Systems Director Navigator (L2C)

Starting with IBM i release 7.1, BRMS supports a web interface via the IBM Systems Director 6.1.x and 6.2 (a.k.a. L2C).

Install the BRMS plug-in for IBM Systems Director 6.1.x and 6.2 using the following steps:

Stop the L2C server:
- On Windows, from a Command Prompt, run: net stop dirserver
- On Linux, from a terminal or command entry screen, run: /opt/ibm/director/bin/smstop
The BRMS plug-in for the IBM System Director is in a zip file called webbrms_IscL2cAll.zip. FTP, download or copy the BRMS plug-in for IBM Systems Director server (not running on IBM i). It is available from the BRMS product web site or on an IBM i 7.1 system with BRMS installed; the plug-in will be in IBM i directory /qibm/ProdData/Brms/Gui/webbrmsIscL2c.
Expand webbrms_IscL2cAll.zip into the IBM Director Eclipse plug-in install path using an unzip tool:

<IBM System Director parent director>/lwi/runtime/director/eclipse/plugins

Example of MS Windows default Director install path:

C:\Program Files\IBM\Director\lwi\runtime\director\eclipse\plugins

Example of Linux default Director install path:

/opt/ibm/director/lwi/runtime/director/eclipse/plugins

Example of expanding webbrms_IscL2cAll.zip into IBM Systems Director using the Java Jar utility. Note, most Linux systems have the Java “jar” utility available in the default command path. These same steps will work in other environments, too, as long as the jar utility is available:
1. Copy or download webbrms_IscL2cAll.zip to <IBM System Director parent director>/lwi/runtime/director/eclipse/plugins (e.g., /opt/ibm/director/lwi/runtime/director/eclipse/plugins).
2. Open a terminal or command window.
3. Change the directory to <IBM System Director parent director>/lwi/runtime/director/eclipse/plugins (e.g., /opt/ibm/director/lwi/runtime/director/eclipse/plugins)
4. Enter the following command: jar xf webbrms_IscL2cAll.zip
5. The file webbrms_IscL2cAll.zip is no longer needed, so it can be deleted.
Start the L2C server:
- On Windows from a Command Prompt: net start dirserver
- On Linux from a terminal or command entry screen: /opt/ibm/director/bin/smstart