Reply To: Tivoli Backup of message save files

[Troy Morton]

Yes, unfortunately with AIX the SMAT files are locked and cannot be backed up while they are open.

We script a “cycle save” four times per day, then backup the .old SMAT files to an archive directory.

I know of at least one site that wrote their own OB-TPS proc to create SMAT files which can be backed up while the process is running.  The proc creates files that are exact duplicates of what Cloverleaf would create, so they are usable by the SMAT utility.  The only difference is they can be opened read-only while the engine process is running.

The interesting thing is that on other flavors of UNIX, the SMAT files are not locked from being opened read-only while the engine process is running.  On Solaris, for instance, you can open SMAT files with the SMAT utility or back them up while the engine process is running.

I don’t know what is different about AIX that makes the SMAT files behaive in this way.

Hope this helps!

Troy