June, 2021

Verifying if NLO Files are Being Backed up by BRMS
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By June 22, 2021 Comment»

Customers that have their Domino servers running on the IBM i commonly use the Backup Recovery and Media Services (BRMS) software to do their backups. BRMS allows for on-line backups, making it quite popular as there is no server down-time when saving data.

I recently received a question from a customer who wanted to verify their nightly BRMS backups were backing up their .NLO files. Below are the steps I used to do this verification.

  • The first step is locating the ‘Volume Identifier’ to use when searching with WRKMEDBRM to see what specifically is backed up. This is accomplished by entering the following:
    • go brms -> 10. Scheduling -> 1. Work with all BRM scheduled jobs -> Option 5 to Work With next to STRMNTBRM -> Option 8 to Work with last submission -> Option 4 to Work with spooled files
    • Option 5 to Display next to file QP1ARCY which is the backup recovery report
  • Position to where the Domino saves start by doing a search with ‘WRKDOMSVR’.
  • Locate the ‘Volume Identifier’ and also the ‘File Sequence’ that contains a large number of objects as that is where the .NLO files will be located. In the example below the ‘Volume Identifier’ is “CD1423” and the ‘Sequence Number’ is “164”. Note the large number of objects in this volume sequence: 22,511 saved objects.
  • Enter the WRKMEDBRM command specifying the Volume Identifier located in the QP1ARCY file.
    • WRKMEDBRM VOL(CD1423)
  • Select option 13. Display contents next to the Volume Serial that is listed.
  • Scroll to the Domino server where the .NLO files are located.
  • Take option 9. Work with saved objects next to each Domino server entry that matches the ‘File Sequence’ identified above.  In our case next to File Sequence ‘164’.
  • Here we see the /DAOS directory and its contents listed as being backed up.
  • Take Option 9. Work with directory information on the ‘Work with Link Information’ screen.
  • Select Option 9. Work with Objects on the next screen, ‘Work with Directory Information’, to see the contents of the directory to verify the individual .NLO files are indeed being backed up.

Happy BRMS Backup Verification!