Managing backup devices

The PSM uses the directory backups under the installation directory (<Installation-Directory>/backups in Linux/UNIX) to store backup objects.

In most cases you will want to move or change this location to a more suitable place, either one with more space or in a safer, less volatile location.

Use the onpsm utility (option -D) to manage (add, delete, update, scan, purge or list) devices in the PSM.

Scan devices

The PSM stores backup objects in its devices and keeps track of them in its catalog. In order to retrieve any backup object from PSM, it is not enough to have the backup devices but also they must be cataloged. If for some reason the PSM catalog is lost, or if you need to copy the devices to another machine (ie to create a test machine based in a backup from the production machine), you can do so by copying the whole directory structure of the device and copy it into a new empty device in the new location, then perform a scan operation on that device to catalog all the objects.

It is recommended that you do not take objects from multiple PSM installations into a single one, as the object identifier for each object cannot be duplicated. Once an object id is taken for a specific object, another object cannot be created with the same id. If a scan operation attempts to catalog an object that has an object id already in our catalog, then the scan of that object will fail.

Purge devices

Under normal circumstances, objects are removed from the PSM using the del action in the object sub-menu (option -O) or by expiring objects using the onsmsync utility.

However, if for some reason an backup object is physically removed from the backups device and you also want to remove it from the catalog, you can do so by using the purge action of the device sub-menu.

Note: Scan and Purge operations are only supported in FILE and CLOUD type devices.