Previous BRMS Releases

Find the BRMS features and enhancements by release

Older versions of BRMS that are no longer supported include:

Version 7.1 Overview

Graphical interface enhancements

• Support for the IBM Systems Director Web browser environment.
• Scheduling support for IBM Systems Director Navigator for i Web browser environment.
• High Availability independent auxiliary storage pools enhancement.
• Enhanced e-mail notification to support multiple e-mail addresses.
• Enhanced the BRMS log to provide the option to filter on control groups.
• BRMS maintenance feature in the Backup Policy now allows the user to run movement, expire partial volume sets and reorganize BRMS database files.
• Note: BRMS graphical interface refers to both the IBM i® Navigator BRMS plug-in and the IBM Systems Director Web environment BRMS plug-in.

Recovery enhancements

• New outfile support parameters have been added on the BRMS restore commands as well as the BRMS recovery policy.
• New *COMPATIBLE special value has been added for the Allow object differences parameter on BRMS restore commands.
• A new parameter Saved auxiliary storage pool (SAVASP) has been added on the BRMS restore commands to provide better control on the selection of which library or object was saved.
• On the work with object displays the "Objects saved" columns have been increased to support more than 999,999 objects.
• New Recovery report enhancements:
  • The "Verify System Information" step in the recovery report has been updated to include new instructions to use the Update System Information (UPDSYSINF) command.
  • The "Recover User Profiles" step in the recovery report, under the "Attention" section where the user is instructed what restore defaults to use, the user is asked to use *COMPATIBLE now for the Allow object differences prompt.
  • On the Start Recovery using BRM (STRRCYBRM) command, a new parameter Recovery element override has been added to allow the user to override specific sections on the recovery report.
  • Note: Currently only system data can be overridden with this new parameter.
  • The objects saved column on the recovery report has been increased to support more than 999,999 objects.

Media services enhancements

• Better handling of non-BRMS media when a customers inventory has a mixed media pool of BRMS media and non-BRMS media.
• Increased protection on backups saved to virtual media that have not been saved off to physical media.
• The Print Media Movement (PRTMOVBRM) command now includes media scheduled to move and media that are at the beginning of the media rotation.

Advanced Feature enhancements

• A new High Availability enhancement has been added for independent auxiliary storage pools.

Network enhancements

• Increased management of media information between the BRMS networked systems has been added.

Install enhancements

• For new installs of BRMS, the *SYSGRP control group will now have a new BRMS IFS list that contains all the IBM directory information.
• A new BRMS IFS list named QALLUSRLNK will be created on install. This list will have all of the IFS directory information except /QIBM/ProdData and /QOpenSys/QIBM/ProdData.

Version 6.1 

BRMS GUI

• Support for the IBM® Systems Director Navigator for i® Web browser environment.
• Ability to create and manage media policies (previous releases hid media policies).
• Support for DVD, CD-ROM, optical libraries, and virtual optical devices.
• Support for file or object level backup of Linux® or Windows® guest operating systems.
• Backup policy and archive policy renamed as backup control group and archive control group.
• Ability to manage and select media policies from the Backup Control Group and Archive Control Group Wizards, and from the Properties page.
• Backup control group and archive control group properties support for restoring and saving private authorities.
• Backup control group and archive control group properties support for disk pools and generic libraries.
• Backup and archive control groups properties support for software encryption, including tape libraries and stand-alone tapes.
  NOTES:
  • Save file encryption and optical media encryption are not supported.
  • If you are using encrypted independent auxiliary storage pools (ASPs) and want to have the data remain encrypted when you save them to tapes, you need to use the software encryption function provided in the backup and archive control groups to encrypt the data; otherwise, the data will be decrypted when you save them to tapes.

• Global policy properties support for restore operations from alternate media, use of SNA networking, and management of restricted state interfaces.

• Ability to balance media ownership to match the required number of media needed by systems within the BRMS network (network systems must be running IBM i 6.1 or later).

NOTE: BRMS graphical interface refers to both the IBM i™ Navigator BRMS plug-in and the IBM Systems Director Navigator for i Web environment BRMS plug-in. Enhancements to the BRMS functions are listed in the following sections.

Backup enhancements

• Ability to view and print backup statistics report to monitor backup activities.
• Capability to encrypt the data saved to removable media for both backup and archive activities.
• Ability to save specific objects across many libraries generically.
• Ability to save private authorities at an object level.
• Ability to override the device, parallel resources, media class, move policy, and media retention that is set in a control group at the time when running the backup control group.
• Ability to select the type of parallel save you would like to have run with a specific entry in a control group.
• Support for FlashCopy® environment.
• Support for missing object control groups for integrated file system objects.
• Support for multiple job save-while-active function.

Recovery enhancements

• Support for point-in-time recovery for objects using remote journals.
• Better journal management needed for recovery.
• Ability to restore private authorities at an object level.
• Capacity to determine what full or incremental save operations need to be restored.
• Ability to sort the saved items in a certain priority order in a recovery report so they will not be forced to recover alphabetically.
• Ability to exclude one or more locations in the recovery report.

Media services enhancements

• Support for automatic duplication, which allows you to immediately duplicate data from a save operation to other media using multiple devices.
• Ability to balance the number of scratch volumes owned by each system in a BRMS network.
• Support for the media append rules to select based on the most current expiration date.
• Move Media retention capability, which enables you to move media to a location where it is needed, and then after a specified amount of time, move back to its original location without affecting its movement schedule.
• Media status marked with *INZ (Initialize), *EXP (Expired), and *ACT (Active).

Hierarchical Storage Manager (HSM) enhancements

• Ability to copy archive and backup control groups to remote systems.

Device enhancements

• Tape Library 35xx and TS3400 enhancement, which synchronizes media status of tape library to all systems in BRMS network.
• Support for DVD/optical devices. BRMS provides you with a single interface to manage all the removable media storage devices.

Network enhancements

• Ability to choose the network communication method.
• Support for IPv6 TCP/IP interfaces.
• Support multiple TCP/IP interfaces, including virtual and physical interfaces.

Install enhancements

• Ability to preserve the current print files attributes and create new print files when upgrading BRMS.

New BRMS APIs

• Create Control Group (q1aCrtCg)
• Create Control Group Based On (q1aCrtCgBO)
• Delete Control Group (q1aDltCg)
• Add Control Group Entry (q1aAddCgE)
• Remove Control Group Entry (q1aRmvCgE)
• Add Control Group Entry Object Omit (q1aAddCgEO)
• Remove Control Group Entry Object Omit (q1aRmvCgEO)
• Create List (q1aCrtLst)
• Delete List (q1aDltLst)
• Add List Entry (q1aAddLstE)
• Remove List Entry (q1aRmvLstE)

Version V5R4M0 

BRMS for V5R4M0 continues to extend existing capability and provide new functions for improving automation, minimizing backup windows, and providing additional backup, recovery, and media management flexibility.

Enhancements include:

• Duplication of history items
• Improved duplication media and device error recovery
• Virtual tape devices and virtual media
• Support for IBM Data Retention (DR) 450 and DR 550 servers
• Native save/restore of spooled files
• New system spooled file management using expiration
• Parallel save/restore of Integrated File System (IFS)
• New backup options and improved system recovery
• Electronic messaging using e-mail
• More BRMS IBM i Navigator client functions
• BRMS integration with SAN for FlashCopy solution

Version V5R3M0 

V5R3 provides the following new and enhanced functions that make BRMS more powerful and easier to use.

BRMS Server:

• Optimized incremental save-while-active backup of libraries
• Remote duplication of media using the BRMS Network feature
• Reclamation of fragmented media
• Enhanced expiration of volumes in a media set
• Integrated backup and recovery of objects saved with pending transactions
• Restricted state TCP/IP and aliasing for the BRMS Network feature
• Saves of spooled files on independent auxiliary storage pools
• Library, object and folder omits for individual backup control groups
• True restricted state saves in batch
• Additional BRMS Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) client functions
• Better integration with TSM/PASE (Portable Application Solutions Environment)
• Still more System Recovery Report improvements
• Improved install times and reduced storage requirement

The BRMS IBM i Navigator client continues to improve functions for managing your backups, media, backup history, and recoveries using a highly accessible GUI.