SupportConnect - BrightStor Storage Newsletter, Version 06.09
  

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E-News
BrightStor® Storage Newsletter
Version 06.09
September 18, 2006

In This Newsletter
Product News
> BrightStor® ARCserve® Backup r11.5 for Windows - Service Pack 2 Now Available
> BrightStor® VSAM Tools
> Help Improve the BrightStor® Mainframe Documentation
> Help Improve the BrightStor® Storage Management Documentation

Product Updates
> Assentor Discovery
> Assentor Compliance
> BrightStor® Portal
> BrightStor® ARCserve® Backup r11.5 for UNIX
> BrightStor® ARCserve® Backup r11.1 for Windows
> BrightStor® ARCserve® Backup r11.1 for Linux
> BrightStor® ARCserve® Backup v9.0 for Linux
> HIPERs: High Impact/Pervasive Problems (08/01 through 08/31)
BrightStor® CA-Disk™ Backup and Restore
BrightStor® CA-1® Tape Management

General Information
> BrightStor® ARCserve® Backup for Windows r11.5: Best Practices Guide for VMware ESX Server Backup
> BrightStor® Storage Resource Manager (BSRM) r11.5 LUN to Host Mapping
> BrightStor® Tape Encryption r12: Disaster Recovery of Your Cryptographic Environment on z/OS

Special Events
> Technical Update Webcast: BrightStor® CA-PDSMAN® PDS Library Management r7.6

Product News
BrightStor® ARCserve® Backup r11.5 for Windows - Service Pack 2 Now Available
Service Pack 2 will update BrightStor ARCserve Backup r11.5 or r11.5 SP1 for Windows to build 4232. Service Pack 2 contains all previously released patches and service packs, and is for all languages.

This update is available now at:
supportconnect.ca.com/sc/redir.jsp?reqPage=search&searchID=QO81201.

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BrightStor® VSAM Tools
CA continues our investment in the BrightStor VSAM Tools with powerful and useful product enhancements that add value to your business. These tools provide vital, automated ICF catalog and VSAM management capabilities for ensuring ICF catalog integrity and recoverability, substantially reducing execution times and CPU utilization for VSAM I/O and reduced job run times. The BrightStor VSAM Tools enhance VSAM performance and provide streamlined VSAM administration and fail-safe recovery.

As we develop and deliver product enhancements, the BrightStor VSAM Tools product team relies on dynamic relationships with you to ensure that our products continue to meet your requirements and expectations. We encourage you to work directly with us through all phases of our development cycle.

What's New This Month?
This month, we are excited to announce delivery of three new enhancements to the BrightStor VSAM Tools suite. The product team has implemented a powerful Move/Copy feature in BrightStor® CA-FAVER® VSAM Data Protection (BrightStor CA-FAVER), and a Master Catalog Alias Synchronizer and an ICF Catalog Rebuild Feature in BrightStor®
CA-CREWS® Catalog Recovery (BrightStor CA-CREWS).

These new enhancements are important additions to our products, adding additional functionality and flexibility to the current tool set.

BrightStor CA-FAVER Move/Copy Feature, Including Fast Re-Org
This new feature allows the move or copy of a VSAM dataset with a single pass of the data (VSAM to VSAM). Previously, in order to move or copy a VSAM dataset, it was necessary to perform a backup, reading from disk and writing to an output file, and then to read that output file and restoring to the new VSAM location. The Move/Copy feature will read the VSAM dataset and write it directly to another VSAM dataset with only a single pass of the data.

Inherent with this process you receive all the benefits normally realized from the current BrightStor CA-FAVER restore process. The Move/Copy performs automatic extent consolidation and automatic VSAM file re-org as a part of the move or copy operation. The Move feature can also be used as a Fast Re-Org since the VSAM data will automatically be reorganized with a single pass of the data.

For further details and how to obtain this BrightStor CA-FAVER enhancement, click here.

BrightStor CA-CREWS Master Catalog Alias Synchronizer (MCAS)
MCAS is utilized in multi-system, shared, ICF catalog environments where multiple master catalogs are sharing user catalogs to give a consistent catalog appearance from one system to the next. This type of catalog arrangement is quite typical in z/OS environments. In order for each system to present the same user catalog environment perspective to their user community, each master catalog must contain identical definitions for user catalogs and catalog aliases while maintaining unique entries for each respective system's control data sets. You can use MCAS to ensure all systems' master catalogs are presenting the same user catalog environment. The master catalogs to be analyzed must be connected to the master catalog of the system where the analysis is performed. MCAS will identify all catalog aliases and catalog definitions that are missing and also generate the control statements necessary to correct any conflicts encountered. MCAS will also identify and report on hazardous conflicts in catalog alias definitions.

For further details and how to obtain this BrightStor CA-CREWS enhancement, click here.

BrightStor CA-CREWS Catalog Rebuild Feature
The Catalog Rebuild feature has been added to BrightStor CA-CREWS to provide you with the ability to correct and rebuild physically corrupted ICF catalogs. Previously, BrightStor
CA-CREWS did not contain support to correct physically corrupted ICF catalogs where data and/or indexes were incorrect, had been corrupted, or were in an out-of-sync condition. This new feature has been provided to read the input user catalog, rebuild the data and index components, and then write the user catalog back to disk.

This is an important addition to the BrightStor CA-CREWS product as it enables you to correct and rebuild an ICF catalog which has become physically corrupted and will allow you to rebuild an ICF user catalog where the data and index components are in an out-of-sync condition.

For further details and how to obtain this BrightStor CA-CREWS enhancement, click here.

What's Coming?
The BrightStor VSAM Tools product team is working on more enhancements to BrightStor
CA-CREWS:

  • A new ICF catalog merge feature that provides merge functionality of individual ICF catalogs, providing more streamlined catalog maintenance
  • A new product GUI, providing a direct link between BrightStor CA-CREWS and BrightStor® CA-Vantage™
If you are interested in previewing our product enhancements and providing direct feedback to us, call your Technical Support Representative and a member of the BrightStor VSAM Tools product team will contact you.

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Help Improve the BrightStor® Mainframe Documentation
In our continuing efforts to improve our product, we are asking BrightStor mainframe customers to provide feedback about our documentation. To facilitate the process, we have developed a short survey to help us create documentation that best meets your needs.

The results of this survey will be carefully reviewed and analyzed by the BrightStor documentation team. We will try to incorporate as many comments and suggestions as possible.

Your participation is very important to us.

Please click on the product link to begin this brief survey.

Product Survey Link
BrightStor® CA-1® www.casurveys.com/wsb.dll/166/CA-1_Survey.htm
BrightStor® CA-Allocate™ www.casurveys.com/wsb.dll/166/AllocateSurvey.htm
BrightStor® CA-Disk™ for MSP www.casurveys.com/wsb.dll/166/CA-Disk-MSP-Survey.htm
BrightStor® CA-Disk™ for VOS3 www.casurveys.com/wsb.dll/166/CA-Disk-VOS3-Survey.htm
BrightStor® CA-Disk™ for z/OS www.casurveys.com/wsb.dll/166/CA-DiskSurvey.htm
BrightStor® CA-Dynam®/TLMS www.casurveys.com/wsb.dll/166/TLMSSurvey.htm
BrightStor® Tape Encryption www.casurveys.com/wsb.dll/166/BTEDocSurvey.htm
BrightStor® CA-Vantage™ www.casurveys.com/wsb.dll/166/VantageSurvey.htm
BrightStor® CA-Vtape™ www.casurveys.com/wsb.dll/166/CA_VtapeSurvey.htm

Thank you for your time and assistance. Please forward this email to any other BrightStor users in your organization.

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Help Improve the BrightStor® Storage Management Documentation
In our continuing efforts to improve our product, we are asking BrightStor Storage Management customers to provide feedback about our documentation. To facilitate the process, we have developed a short survey to help us create documentation that best meets your needs.

The results of this survey will be carefully reviewed and analyzed by the BrightStor documentation team. We will try to incorporate as many comments and suggestions as possible.

Your participation is very important to us.

Please click on the product link to begin this brief survey.

Product Survey Link
BrightStor® HSM www.casurveys.com/wsb.dll/166/BHSMDocSurvey.htm
BrightStor® SAN Designer www.casurveys.com/wsb.dll/166/SANDsgSurvey.htm
BrightStor® SAN Manager www.casurveys.com/wsb.dll/166/SANManSurvey.htm
BrightStor® Storage Command Center www.casurveys.com/wsb.dll/166/SCCSurvey.htm
BrightStor® Storage Resource Manager www.casurveys.com/wsb.dll/166/SRMSurvey.htm

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Product Updates
Assentor Discovery
Hot fix rollups for Assentor Discovery 2.0 updates, and SP 1 Hot Fix Rollup for Assentor Discovery 1.0.6 updates have been posted at:
supportconnectw.ca.com/public/assentor/downloads/assentdisc-solpatch.asp.

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Assentor Compliance
Hot Fix Rollup for 3.4 Assentor Compliance updates and Service Pack 1 Hot Fix Rollup for Assentor Compliance 3.3.0.10 have been posted at:
supportconnectw.ca.com/public/assentor/downloads/assentcomp-solpatch.asp.

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BrightStor® Portal
QO81648 - Fix for drill down reports not working, and other report related problems.
This is available for download at:
supportconnect.ca.com/sc/redir.jsp?reqPage=search&searchID=QO81648.

QO81528 - Fix for login information and settings not being saved on RDC connections.
This is available for download at:
supportconnect.ca.com/sc/redir.jsp?reqPage=search&searchID=QO81528.

QO81526 - Corrects a problem during installations that results in iPush ignoring custom installation paths.
This is available for download at:
supportconnect.ca.com/sc/redir.jsp?reqPage=search&searchID=QO81526.

QO81525 - Update to address a problem with iGateway 4.0 not being found during discovery.
This is available for download at:
supportconnect.ca.com/sc/redir.jsp?reqPage=search&searchID=QO81525.

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BrightStor® ARCserve® Backup r11.5 for UNIX
QO81200 - Tape engine/added device support update. Adds support for additional devices and addresses tape engine-related issues.
This is available for download at:
supportconnect.ca.com/sc/redir.jsp?reqPage=search&searchID=QO81200.

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BrightStor® ARCserve® Backup r11.1 for Windows
QO81964 - Tape engine/added device support update. Adds support for additional devices and addresses tape engine-related issues.
This is available for download at:
supportconnect.ca.com/sc/redir.jsp?reqPage=search&searchID=QO81964.

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BrightStor® ARCserve® Backup r11.1 for Linux
QO81235 - Fix for one hour differences between system time, and time in the GUI of BrightStor ARCserve Backup.
This is available for download at:
supportconnect.ca.com/sc/redir.jsp?reqPage=search&searchID=QO81235.

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BrightStor® ARCserve® Backup v9.0 for Linux
QO81236 - Fix for one hour differences between system time, and time in the GUI of BrightStor ARCserve Backup.
This is available for download at:
supportconnect.ca.com/sc/redir.jsp?reqPage=search&searchID=QO81236.

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HIPERs: High Impact/Pervasive Problems (08/01 through 08/31)
BrightStor® CA-Disk™ Backup and Restore
Release: 11.5
QI80510
supportconnect.ca.com/sc/redir.jsp?reqPage=search&searchID=QI80510
QO80272
supportconnect.ca.com/sc/redir.jsp?reqPage=search&searchID=QO80272

BrightStor® CA-1® Tape Management
Release: 11.0 and 11.5
QI81378
supportconnect.ca.com/sc/redir.jsp?reqPage=search&searchID=QI81378
QI81379
supportconnect.ca.com/sc/redir.jsp?reqPage=search&searchID=QI81379

BrightStor CA-1 Tape Management
Release: 11.5
QO81371
supportconnect.ca.com/sc/redir.jsp?reqPage=search&searchID=QO81371

BrightStor CA-1 Tape Management
Release: 11.0
QO81368
supportconnect.ca.com/sc/redir.jsp?reqPage=search&searchID=QO81368

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General Information
BrightStor® ARCserve® Backup for Windows r11.5: Best Practices Guide for VMware ESX Server Backup
A new best practices guide for VMware ESX Server backups is now available - this guide present solutions to help ensure that virtual machines (VMs) are protected as securely as any physical machine using BrightStor ARCserve Backup. VMware ESX Server 2.5.X and BrightStor ARCserve Backup have flexible capabilities that lead to many backup scenarios. This document will not cover all possible VM backup scenarios outside the scope of this Best Practices Guide. However, this document will cover the most common methods used for data backups on virtual machines, and any considerations relating to the different methods.

For information, please go to:
supportconnect.ca.com/sc/redir.jsp?reqPage=search&searchID=TEC404082.

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BrightStor® Storage Resource Manager (BSRM) r11.5 LUN to Host Mapping
The best way to accomplish LUN to Host mapping is via the BSRM-BSM integration available in the r11.5 Storage Management Suite.

First, check that the disk array model and provider versions are fully supported in BSM's and BSRM's CDLs on SupportConnectSM.

Next, take the following steps in both products in the order described below. Perform all BSM steps first.

BSM Pre-Req's:
  1. Discover all Servers with SAN-attached Storage that will be part of the report.
  2. Properly configure the SAN Proxies on all servers from Step #1 and perform SAN Discovery.
  3. Register the Disk Array(s) in Storage Administrator.
BSRM Pre-Req's:
  1. Register all Servers with SAN-attached Storage that will be part of the report.
  2. Register the Disk Array(s).
  3. Register BSM.
After these steps have been followed correctly, you should now be able to see which of the various hosts' volumes are SAN-attached. The value that you will want to look for is "IS_SAN_ATTACHED" in the Physical Disk Table. When this field is populated correctly, it is possible to generate reports such "show how Oracle may be utilizing SAN-attached storage."

This article can be found online at:
supportconnect.ca.com/sc/redir.jsp?reqPage=search&searchID=TEC403029.

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BrightStor® Tape Encryption r12: Disaster Recovery of Your Cryptographic Environment on z/OS
This article is the fourth in a series highlighting the functionality in the new BrightStor Tape Encryption (BTE) product which went GA on April 18, 2006.

BrightStor Tape Encryption was designed with disaster recovery in mind and can even help to address some of the issues with disaster recovery where IBM's Integrated Cryptographic Service Facility (ICSF) keys database (a.k.a. the CKDS) may be involved. As many have learned through experience, moving the CKDS from one system to another is not as simple as a backup and restore of a normal database.

Consider the following. The IBM ICSF CKDS key database is not available for z/890, z/990, and z9 processors unless there is at least one of the optional IBM cryptographic co-processor cards active in the system; either the PCIXCC or Crypto Express 2 (CEX2C). For customers who maintain their own disaster recovery hot-sites, this means they would need to purchase extra (very expensive) cryptographic cards for their hot-sites as well as their production sites. And whether you are using a DR Service company or an internal hot-site, these cryptographic cards must be initialized with a binary hexadecimal-format master cryptographic key at DR time which must be identical to the key you were running with prior to the disaster; a potential disaster in and of itself if you do not have the proper binary key value. If the cryptographic card is not loaded with the correct master key, you cannot bring your CKDS on line and you will not have access to your cryptographic keys.

BrightStor Tape Encryption can use the CKDS for storing cryptographic keys if one is available and is selected as the BTE key repository, but BTE also has its own secure database where keys may be stored. The BTE database is secured through multiple layers of encryption that is based primarily upon a simple word or phrase (pass phrase) that is provided by the BTE customer at initialization time.

In addition to the pass phrase, BTE also uses the CPU serial number and model number to generate another cryptographic key layer that is part of the multi-layered protection of the BTE database. Using these unique layers of protection, BTE can sense when it is being run on a new CPU and will require that the correct pass phrase currently protecting the database be entered each time the product is run on a new CPU. Once the correct pass phrase has been entered, the CPU is authorized to the BTE database for as long as the pass phrase is valid (any authorized CPU can change the pass phrase, at which point, all CPU's sharing the same BTE database will be automatically prompted to re-enter the new pass phrase).

For disaster recovery of BTE, bringing up the BTE database is as easy as entering in the correct pass phrase. And as this pass phase is set by the customer and is entered in simple words or phrases rather than a binary string of hexadecimal digits, it is much less likely that there will be problems at your DR site. Furthermore, once you have run BTE at your DR site and have brought a backup of the BTE database back from your DR site, BTE will remember your DR CPU so that there will be no need to re-enter the pass phrase ever again at your DR site for as long as the pass phrase remains unchanged.

And if that were not enough, BTE can also help the problems and costs associated with using the CKDS at your production site. With BTE, you can "migrate" your keys to and from the CKDS and the BTE database with simple console commands or through a batch utility program (so that you can automate the process inside of your disaster recovery backup jobs).

What this means is that you can copy all of your BTE cryptographic keys from the CKDS into the BTE database as part of your disaster recovery backup jobs prior to backing up the BTE database itself. Then at any time you can restore your BTE database at a DR site and run with the keys in the BTE database; there is no need for a CKDS at the DR site and therefore no requirement for the relatively expensive IBM cryptographic co-processor cards. Of course if you do have access to a CKDS at your DR site, BTE will allow you to optionally migrate your keys from the BTE database back into your DR CKDS.

One more unique feature of BTE that makes disaster recovery a breeze is its ability to pre-generate cryptographic keys weeks, months, or even years in advance. This ensures that your cryptographic keys will always be available to you in a disaster, even if you are forced to go with a backup of the BTE database that is weeks or even months old.

Did I say that BrightStor Tape Encryption was designed with disaster recovery in mind?

This article can be found online at:
supportconnect.ca.com/sc/redir.jsp?reqPage=search&searchID=TEC405148.

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Special Events
Technical Update Webcast: BrightStor® CA-PDSMAN® PDS Library Management r7.6
BrightStor CA-PDSMAN provides a comprehensive solution for z/OS partitioned library management, making you more productive, reducing DASD storage utilization, saving processor cycles, and providing you with a centralized location for monitoring and viewing the status of partitioned resources. To learn about BrightStor CA-PDSMAN and features found in BrightStor CA-PDSMAN r7.6, including the new LLA Synchronization Management Facility, enhancements to the FastCopy Facility, and much more, click here.

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