Enhanced SYSCOPY maintenance

The MODIFY command can delete rows from SYSCOPY by age or date as the IBM Db2 MODIFY RECOVERY utility does. It also provides a number of other methods for determining deletions, such as maintaining a maximum number of copies or using a flexible, SQL-like WHERE clause.

You might need to remove individual rows. There might be an issue with a particular copy and it should be removed. This request is often related to restarting image copy jobs. After a copy is registered in SYSCOPY, it cannot be selectively removed, and the data set cannot be used for another copy. Deleting the issue row would solve some of the issues. For such situations, the BMC AMI Copy MODIFY command provides more options for SYSCOPY row deletion than IBM Db2 MODIFY RECOVERY.

• Provides wildcard support to ease regular maintenance

  Wildcard names give database administrators a quick mechanism for setting up jobs and eliminate the need to maintain jobs as spaces are created or dropped.

• Enables the registration of image copies and quiesce points

  Under special conditions, you might need to register an image copy not produced by a copy utility. For example, if a row was inadvertently deleted from SYSIBM.SYSCOPY, you might be able to re-insert it with MODIFY.

  MODIFY also registers to quiesce points. If quiesce points are found, they can be registered in SYSCOPY for use by the BMC AMI Recover and BMC AMI Recovery Manager for Db2 products.

• Enables the modification of the image copy information

  Some sites register only local copies even for use in disaster recovery. This practice might cause BMC AMI Recover or the IBM Db2 RECOVER utility to not use copies that are available, or it can cause performance issues due to forced fallback processing when customers use backup copies at the recovery site. MODIFY allows you to alter the ICBACKUP information that designates the site type and the order of use of the copy.

  Some organizations need to modify the DEVTYPE information for their recovery site. Copy utilities register with the generic name, and some sites need to use the esoteric name at the remote site. MODIFY provides a way to modify this type of information

• Provides improved performance

  Most sites run MODIFY as part of their backup cycle, either weekly or daily. The BMC AMI Copy MODIFY command provides significant CPU and elapsed time savings when deleting by age. This reduces the cost of SYSCOPY maintenance.

  Some sites are unable to run MODIFY because of long runtimes causing locking contention on the catalog. This often happens when regular maintenance of SYSCOPY is neglected. After SYSCOPY becomes large enough to get attention, cleaning it up often causes trouble. By enhancing the granularity of the deletions and providing the ability to commit more often, this situation is alleviated.

• Provides synchronization of the ICF catalog and SYSCOPY table

  Because SYSCOPY contains information about image copy data sets that are managed outside of Db2, there is always the chance that the two will get out of synchronization. Data sets might no longer exist on the system, but Db2 still has them registered. Analyzing and removing rows for which there is no actual data set is one mechanism for cleaning up SYSCOPY. Also, using a cleanup utility, such as the BMC AMI Copy MODIFY command, that optionally cleans up the ICF catalog at the same time is helpful. The MODIFY command can also verify that image copy data sets exist--a useful capability because a table space could be unrecoverable due to the lack of image copies, but Db2 and you would be unaware of the situation.

• Provides the verification of recoverability for auditing

  MODIFY can verify that spaces are recoverable by analyzing SYSCOPY. You can designate some rules for recoverability based on the number of copies, the number of days, or the number of logs available. An image copy can optionally be made if space is found to be unrecoverable or outside user-defined thresholds.

• Provides the verification of user-specified copy thresholds
• Enables the ability to interface to BMC AMI Copy to make copies when recoverability or user-specified thresholds require this
• Supports the maintenance of the BMC BMCXCOPY table, which handles copy registration for COPY NO indexes that have been copied by BMC AMI Copy (COPY YES indexes are registered in SYSCOPY) as well as Instant Snapshot copies made by BMC AMI Copy
• Includes support for BMC AMI Recovery Manager object sets
• Includes support for application-owned objects, such as those in SAP R/3
• Supports the use of SYSCOPY tables processed by the BMC AMI Copy MODIFY command in a recovery by the IBM Db2 RECOVER utility or the BMC AMI Recover product