Configuring the DS-System : Configuring the activity priority schedule
 
Configuring the activity priority schedule
This is an advanced feature. Administrators should not adjust any of these settings unless they are very familiar with the DS-Client activity patterns on the DS-System. This feature adjusts the priority of individual activities on the DS-System. These changes can be applied to all DS-Client accounts, or to individual DS-Client accounts as required.
Since a backup set can only be processed by one activity at a time, each activity on the DS-System has a priority level which resolves conflicts when more than one activity tries to process the same backup set. This determines the order in which activities can access and lock a backup set for processing.
The default activity priorities are listed in the following table. You can use the activity priority schedule to adjust the level of any of these activities to a value in the corresponding valid range.
 
 
Activity
Iock_type 1
Default Priority Level (Lower # is higher priority)
Valid Range
1
System Compression
lock_type=12
1
1-10
2
Disaster Recovery
lock_type=15
1
1-2
3
Replication Receive
lock_type=22
1
1-10
4
Replication Delete
lock_type=23
1
1-10
5
Backup
lock_type=1
2
2-10
6
Restore
lock_type=3
2
2-10
7
Delete
lock_type=4
2
2-10
8
Retention
lock_type=5
2
2-10
9
Synchronization
lock_type=6
2
2-10
10
Validation
lock_type=7
2
2-10
11
Migration
lock_type=8
2
2-10
12
BLM Archiving
lock_type=9
2
2-10
13
Replication Send
lock_type=21
3
2-10
14
Replication Send - Repair
lock_type=32
3
2-10
15
Retire Storage
lock_type=16
4
2-10
16
Storage Scan
lock_type=17
5
2-10
17
System Validation
lock_type=13
6
2-10
18
File optimization
lock_type=14
6
2-10
19
Group Admin
lock_type=19
7
2-10
20
Deactivate DS-Client
lock_type=28
9
1-20
21
System Admin
lock_type=10
10
2-12
22
System Autonomic Healing
lock_type=11
11
2-12
23
CDP backup
lock_type=2
12
2-12
24
System Backup
lock_type=25
13
10-20
25
Storage Statistics
lock_type=18
14
10-20
26
Clean Libraries
lock_type=26
15
2-20
27
Clean Logs
lock_type=30
16
2-20
28
Empty Trash
lock_type=31
17
10-20
1 The lock_type number refers to the ID that is displayed in the System Status - Backup Set Locks tab (DS-Operator > Setup menu > System Activities: System).

To change activity priority, you use an Activity Priority Schedule. Each Activity Priority Schedule contains a list of Schedule Details, which are the day(s) and time window(s) when the activities have specific priority.
Initially, there is one <DEFAULT> Activity Priority Schedule and all DS-Client accounts are assigned to it. (New DS-Client accounts are automatically assigned to the <DEFAULT> schedule.)
The <DEFAULT> Activity Priority Schedule has two Schedule Details:
• The first Detail covers the entire week (7-days / 24-hours) and contains a list of all the activities, which are initially set to the “factory default settings”. This list is provided for your convenience to see the default activity priority values and any changes you make to them. If you delete this Detail (or any activities in the Activity Priority list), any new Details created will still work ‘against’ the factory default priority settings.
• The second Detail covers regular business hours (08:00-18:00 Monday to Friday) and contains (initially) one activity: CDP. Its priority is increased (with respect to its default setting) from “12” to “2”. The effect is that during business hours, CDP backup sets that are protecting high value data changes will not be interrupted by activities like System Admin, autonomic healing, replication, etc.
NOTE:  These default settings work well, and you should only consider altering them for very specific situations or requirements.
NOTE:  To change the activity priorities for all DS-Client accounts at the same time, you can adjust the <DEFAULT> schedule.
For DS-Client accounts with special requirements, you can create a special “Activity Priority Schedule” and assign those DS-Clients to it.
• Each new Schedule you create contains the same Schedule Details as the <DEFAULT> schedule.
• You can alter, delete, or add to these Details as required.
• Once the Schedule is ready, you can assign the DS-Client accounts you want to it. This allows you to provide very specific activity priorities to individual DS-Client accounts, if required.
The following considerations should be made when assigning priority levels:
• Activity Priority is the internal DS-System level assigned to different activities that can run on the DS-System. (Activities occur at the backup set level.)
• When a higher priority activity locks a backup set, it prevents any lower priority activities from accessing it until that activity has finished. Similarly, a lower priority activity that is processing a backup set will be interrupted at a higher priority activity’s request.
• Activities that are at the same priority level cannot interrupt one another, therefore the first activity to lock a backup set will maintain the lock until it has finished.
• Lower priority activities must always wait for higher priority activities to finish with a backup set. Similarly, they can be interrupted if a higher priority activity requests access to a backup set they are working on.
For example: The most common priority request is for CDP backups to increase from its default level of “12” during the working day (08:00-18:00 Monday to Friday) in order for protected backups to not be interrupted by System Admin, autonomic healing, replication, or other activities. This is addressed by the second detail in the <DEFAULT> schedule.
How the Schedule Details are applied:
• Only one detail can apply at any specific time.
• For each activity that is about to start, the DS-System checks which Activity Priority should apply at that day and time.
• If any details overlap (start at the same time on the same day), DS-System will select the one that ends sooner (closer to the current time on DS-System). If two details start and end at the same time on the same day, the latest (bottom / lowest) one in the Schedule Detail list will apply.
To configure activity priority:
1. On the Setup menu, click Activity Priority Schedule.
F1 Help: "Activity Priority Schedule"
2. To add a new schedule, in the Activity Priority Schedule section, click New.
To edit an existing schedule, in the Activity Priority Schedule section, select the schedule and click Modify.
F1 Help: "New / Modify Activity Priority Schedule"
3. In the Priority Schedule Name box, type the name you want and click OK.
Newly created schedules will have the same schedule details as the <DEFAULT> schedule.
4. In the Schedule Details section, configure the list of details to set the activity priorities at the various time periods during the week.
• To create a new detail, click New.
• To edit a detail, select it from the list and click Modify.
5. The New / Modify Schedule Detail dialog box appears. Select the days and the time window when the detail will apply, then click OK.
F1 Help: "New / Modify Schedule Detail"
Newly created details will have a blank Activity Priority list.
6. In the detail’s Activity Priority section, configure the list of activities that will change priority.
a) To add an activity, click New.
To edit an activity, select it in the list and click Edit.
F1 Help: "New / Modify Activity Priority"
b) Select the activity (if applicable) and the priority level it will have, then click OK.
c) Continue for as many activities as you require for this schedule detail.
7. The <DEFAULT> schedule is automatically assigned to all new DS-Client accounts. It will also initially contain all existing DS-Clients.
To re-assign DS-Clients:
a) In the DS-Clients assigned to this activity priority schedule section, click Assign to DS-Client. The Activity Priority Management dialog box appears.
F1 Help: "Activity Priority Management"
b) Select the DS-Clients you want to assign to the this activity priority schedule, and click Set. Your changes take effect immediately.
You can also access the Activity Priority Management dialog box from the Customer menu (at DS-System level or customer level).
IMPORTANT:  The <DEFAULT> schedule’s initial settings are the recommended activity priorities for any DS-System. Any changes in this dialog box will alter the DS-System behavior. The Restore Defaults button allows you to reset the entire DS-System’s activity priorities to the original factory default settings.