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What's New in Copy Services Manager 6.1.4

By Archive User posted Thu November 17, 2016 12:08 PM

  

Originally posted by: RandyBlea


On November 15, 2016 IBM announced the next version of IBM Copy Services Manager, version 6.1.4

 

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Copy Services Manager 6.1.4 Announcement

Copy Services 6.1.4 Download

 

 

IBM Copy Services Manager is a storage replication product that provides a single place to manage all the replication across your IBM storage environment.  With IBM Copy Services Manager customers can simplify the management of their replication solutions while providing disaster recovery and high availability to their applications.

 

 

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What's New in IBM Copy Services Manager 6.1.4?

 

We're very excited to provide the following key features being released in this new version.

 

  • Support for Extent Space Efficient (ESE) to standard volume Peer-to-Peer Copy (PPRC)
  • Support for FlashSystem A9000 and A9000R
  • Support for Ubuntu Linux distributions
  • DSCLI for z/OS installations included with Copy Services Manager for z/OS
  • Ability to setup SNMP and email notifications through the Copy Services Manager GUI
  • Single direction support in port pairing CSV file
  • New events for SVC auto restart solution
  • FlashCopy Manager for z/OS (delivered in Copy Services Manager 6.1.3)
  • Display and Export Pokeable information for DS8000 (delivered in Copy Services Manager 6.1.3 with DS8000 8.1.1 or later)

 

 

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Support for Extent Space Efficient (ESE) to standard volume Peer-to-Peer Copy (PPRC)

 

The DS8000 has announced support for remote replication from an Extent Space Efficient (ESE) volume to a standard volume and vice versa.  In Copy Services Manager 6.1.4 we have added support for this configuration.  When you create a session and add copy sets to that session, the session will now allow you to select Extent Space Efficient volumes for any role in DS8000 supported sessions. 

 

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Support for IBM FlashSystem A9000 and A9000R

 

IBM Flash Storage is the Future.  IBM FlashSystem A9000 and A9000R are the latest IBM offerings to meet your Flash Storage and Hybrid Cloud Storage needs.  With Copy Services Manager 6.1.4, you can now manage your replication needs for IBM FlashSystem A9000 and A9000R devices.  In the Add Storage System wizard from the Copy Services Manager GUI simply select the FlashSystem / Spectrum Accelerate storage system type and enter the connection credentials and you're off!

 

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Support for Ubuntu Linux distributions

 

IBM Copy Services Manager has supported Red Hat Enterprise as well as SUSE Linux installations for quite awhile now.  However, as Ubuntu has matured, more businesses have started to move to it for enterprise Linux.  With Copy Services Manager 6.1.4, customers can now install the product on a Ubuntu 15.04 LTS server or higher.  We are happy to be able to now support Ubuntu and continue to meet the changing needs for enterprise customers.

 

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DSCLI for z/OS installations included with Copy Services Manager for z/OS

 

IBM DS8000 storage and z/OS have go hand in hand and meet customer enterprise needs.  When managing DS8000 for mainframe environments automation can play a huge roll.  Customers desired the ability to setup batch jobs on z/OS that could invoke DSCLI commands in order to manage the hardware.  This could be manually setup if necessary but there has never been an official installer to install the DSCLI on a z/OS system.  Now, with the purchase of the IBM Copy Services Manager 6.1.4 Basic or Full license, customers have access to an official z/OS installation for the DS8000 DSCLI.  To access this customers that have purchased the Copy Services Manager Basic of Full license can go to shopZ and search for FMID HIWN61K.

 

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Ability to setup SNMP and email notifications through the Copy Services Manager GUI

 

ALWAYS stay in the know!  With the 6.1.2 release we added in the ability to setup email notifications for Copy Services Manager related events, however, you could only set that up using the CSMCLI.  With Copy Services Manager 6.1.4, you can now setup and manage alert notifications from the GUI as well.  From the main navigator select Settings->Alert Notifications and you can manage either email notifications or SNMP notifications.  For email notifications, define your email server and the list of email addresses you wish to be notified of Copy Services Manager events.  For SNMP notifications, specify the SNMP listener that the Copy Services Manager should send SNMP events to.  It's that EASY! 

 

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Single direction support in port pairing CSV file

 

Copy Services Manager has supported a CSV file for port pairing definitions in order to help a customer manage their PPRC paths easier.  The file defined which port pairs to use for various supported configurations.  The file however assumed that all port pairs were bi-directional, meaning that the customer would want the same port pairs if going from site 1 to site 2 as they would going from site 2 to site 1.  This however, is not always the case.  Sometimes customers want to use a different set of port pairs when replicating data in the opposite direction.  In addition, some third party vendors do not support bi-directional pathing.  Because of this, Copy Services Manager 6.1.4 has updated the support in the port pairing file to allow a customer to define port pairings based on a single direction. 

 

The entry for the port pairs are bi-directional unless the last comma separated entry on the line is the string "onedir".  This means that a line that has systemA:systemB is equivalent to a line that has systemB:systemA and the last entry in the file will take precedence.


If the string "onedir" is the last entry in the line as in the following example,
#        2107.04131:2107.01532,0x0331:0x0024,0x0330:0x0100,0x0331:0x000C,onedir
then the entry will not be considered as bi-directional and the port pairings will only be used if the first box listed (2107:04131) is the source of the pair and the second box listed (2107.01532) is the target of the pair.  


NOTE: You can specify the "onedir" tag on any of the supported formats for port pairs however, if there is also an entry for the same set of boxes without the "onedir" tag the entry without the "onedir" tag may take precedence.

Example Session format:
2107.ZA811:2107.BAY81:myMM,0x0133:0x0332,onedir
2107.BAY81:2107.ZA811:myMM,0x0033:0x0030,onedir
The above indicates that session "myMM" will used 0x0133:0x0332 for any establishes from ZA811 to BAY81 but will use 0x0033:0x0030 for any establishes from BAY81 to ZA811.

Example LSS to LSS format:
2107.ZA811:0xD0:2107.BAY81:0xD0,0x0133:0x0332,onedir   
2107.BAY81:0xD0:2107.ZA811:0xD0,0x0033:0x0030,onedir
The above indicates ports 0x0133:0x0332 will be used for any establishes from ZA811 LSS 0xD0 to BAY81 LSS 0xD0 but ports 0x0033:0x0030 will be used from BAY81 LSS 0xD0 to ZA811 LSS 0XD0

Example Box to Box format:
2107.ZA811:2107.BAY81,0x0133:0x0332,onedir
2107.BAY81:2107.ZA811,0x0033:0x0030,onedir
The above indicates ports 0x0133:0x0332 will be used for any establishes from ZA811 to BAY81 but 0x0033:0x0030 will be used for any establishes from BAY81 to ZA811. 

 

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New events for SVC auto restart solution

 

One of the new features that Copy Services Manager offers over the previous Tivoli Productivity Center for Replication product, is the ability to auto-restart a session if a suspend 1720/1920 error occurs.  There are however, certain conditions where the restart might not occur.  For example, in order to protect the customer from an endless cycle of suspend and restarts which could end up impacting production i/o, Copy Services Manager will track the number of restarts and then fail to do the restart if we've attempted too many restarts in a specified amount of time. While the Copy Services Manager server sends out an alert on the state of a session when it goes to a Suspended state, as well as when a auto restart causes the session to go to a Preparing/Prepared state, there were no events that indicated if an auto restart failed to occur.  There are customers however, that have automation in place that needs to know if a ticket should be opened to have someone take a closer look at the issue.  With Copy Services Manager 6.1.4 we have added not only an event indicating that an auto restart has occurred, but also an event indicating if an auto restart failed to occur.  This event is supported for both SNMP as well as email notifications. 

 

SNMP

1.3.6.1.4.1.2.6.208.0.28 A suspend event occurred triggering the auto restart feature for session ibmTPCRsession.  The session will be restarted in ibmTPCRdelaytime seconds.

EMAIL

IWNR1961I [Aug 9, 2016 1:52:33 PM] A suspend event occurred triggering the auto restart feature for session session_name. The session will be restarted in delay_time seconds. 

 

SNMP
1.3.6.1.4.1.2.6.208.0.29 Session ibmTPCRsession was enabled for auto restart however the session could not be restarted

EMAIL

IWNR1962E [Aug 9, 2016 1:52:39 PM] Session session_name was enabled for auto restart however a failure occurred attempting to restart the session.

 

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FlashCopy Manager for z/OS (delivered in Copy Services Manager 6.1.3)

 

On August 5, 2016 Copy Services Manager 6.1.3 GA'd.  With this release the CSM for z/OS solution released the CSM FlashCopy Manager for z/OS solution.   This solution was designed to provide greater ease of use and to provide faster integration of IBM DS8000 FlashCopy into System z production batch environments.  It was also designed to provide significant System z FlashCopy performance enhancements.  Using any existing JOB scheduler, customers can exploit IBM Copy Services into the existing z/OS or System z batch environment. 

Some of the functions include: 

  • Dynamically interrogate, discover and build FlashCopy configurations for invocation from the batch environment
  • Provides range of mix and match capabilities based on wild card, DFSMS specifications, VOLSER, etc

 

Customers that have purchased the Copy Services Manager Basic or Full license can access the solution from shopZseries using FMID HIWN61F.

 

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Display and Export Pokeable information for DS8000 (delivered in Copy Services Manager 6.1.3 with DS8000 8.1.1 or later)

 

Customers working with copy services and a DS8000 system may be told at times to modify certain tuning values on the storage system known as pokeables.  These settings may not be kept across actions such as microcode upgrades, however there was no easy way for the customer to view what the current settings were.  With IBM Copy Services Manager 6.1.3, a customer can now view and export the current pokeable settings for the storage system.  While on the Storage Systems panel, select a storage system and then from the actions drop down you can select View Advanced Settings for the storage system.  The View Advanced Settings option will only appear on DS8000 8.1.1 systems or higher.  This will bring up a dialog that shows you all values that are something other than the default as well as provide a mechanism for you to export the current settings to a CSV file.  These settings cannot not be modified through the Copy Services Manager interface and should only be modified based off of direct feedback from IBM support.

 

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Additional Information about IBM Copy Services Manager 6.1.4

 

Copy Services Manager on the DS8000 HMC does not currently support z/OS Host connections for HyperSwap management

A Copy Services Manager server has the ability to specify the IP/hostname and credentials for a z/OS System and connect to it via IP for the purposes of managing the z/OS HyperSwap or Hardened Freeze features from a remote server.  However, while this IP connection currently requires a secure connection to the hardware via SSL/TLS.  SSL/TLS connections require a certificate be loaded on the Copy Services Manager server so that the connection to the z/OS System can be authenticated.  The DS8000 HMC is a locked down system that does not allow a customer the ability to access the file system and thus there is currently no way to support z/OS connections from a Copy Services Manager server running on the HMC.  We are looking at ways to add this as an officially supported solution in a future release of Copy Services Manager. 

 

 When running Copy Services Manager on the DS8000 HMC the following features are supported without a license

  • Enabling LDAP for DS8000 authentication - Customers can log into the Copy Services Manager server running on the HMC and setup and LDAP configuration.  This server can then be used for external authentication on that DS8000.
  • Connect and View Storage - Customers can log into the Copy Services Manager GUI and add storage system connections.  This allows them to verify access to those storage systems as well as see the volumes defined on the storage systems.
  • Easy Tier Heat Map Transfer - After a DS8000 Storage connection is made, a customer can access the Easy Tier Heat Map Transfer capabilities built into the Copy Services Manager GUI.  Transferring the learned data from a primary storage system to a secondary storage system means that after a failover event the secondary can quickly use Easy Tier features.
  • View and Export Pokeable - For DS8000 8.1.1 or higher systems, a customer can use the Copy Services Manager GUI to view or export the current pokeable settings for copy services.
  • View and Manage PPRC paths - Using the Copy Services Manager GUI a customer can view and manage DS8000 remote copy paths.

 

Setting up a Copy Services Manager to z/OS Host Connection without a secure connection

Setting up a Copy Services Manager connection to a z/OS Host via an IP connection currently requires a secure connection.  This means that security must be setup properly on the z/OS side and a certificate needs to be created so that all commands that are sent between the z/OS System and the Copy Services Manager server are encrypted.  Setting up security properly on the z/OS side can be quite challenging depending on the environment, though we have attempted to document this and are currently working on updates to the RedBook.  If however a POC needs to be executed quickly and a secure connection cannot be setup, it is possible to setup the connection without SSL/TLS.  Before doing this a customer needs to be aware that all communication will not be encrypted.  

 

To remote the requirement for an SSL/TLS connection do the following:

Create the file zosclient.properties.  This should be placed in the directory:
<path_prefix>/opt/IBM/CSM/wlp/usr/servers/csmServer/properties  

Then add the following property to disable encryption:
com.ibm.ess.api.client.zos.ip.ZOSSocketConnectionMonitor.ENCRYPTION=false
 

 

 

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See What's New in Copy Services Manager 6.1.4 Video

 

 

 

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RFE support for Copy Services Manager

 

If you wish to open a new Request for Enhancement on IBM Copy Services Manager, you can now do so through the following link.

https://ibm.biz/Bd4Zxj

 

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#DS8000
3 comments
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Comments

Wed November 23, 2016 11:52 AM

Originally posted by: Nick Clayton


CSM provides a replication management solution for mainframe and distributed systems including DS8000 as well as other storage systems and replication technologies. However it does not provide additional functionality beyond replication management. GDPS provides server and sysplex management capabilities to provide a complete end-to-end DR solution as well as providing similar replication management to that performed by CSM. CSM supports HyperSwap in a z/OS environment but GDPS additionally supports HyperSwap for Linux and zVM so if you were interested in extending your solution to include zVM and Linux this could also be another reason to look at GDPS.

Wed November 23, 2016 11:20 AM

Originally posted by: RandyBlea


CSM is an IBM Product focusing strictly on Replication Storage management across Distributed and Mainframe environments. GDPS is a Service Offering aimed at providing a full end to end solution for customers which includes the automation around restarting the applications at the remote site. There are a number of factors in choosing the right solution including cost. I would be more than happy to have a meeting to discuss the requirements to see if CSM can fit the needs of the mono-plex environment. Feel free to email me or send me a message in Connections and we can discuss further.

Wed November 23, 2016 01:21 AM

Originally posted by: tlxy9999


Whats the difference between CSM and GDPS? Can someone explain why I would want GDPS given CSM for a mono-plex disaster recovery replication strategy?