Part I: Introduction

Imprint

Any form of reproduction, duplication or distribution of the contents, in part or in whole, is allowed only with the express written permission of SEP AG. When compiling and designing user documentation SEP AG uses great diligence and attempts to provide accurate and correct information. However, the information in the SEP sesam user documentation is subject to change without notice due to continuous product development. SEP AG cannot guarantee the accuracy of the explanation and shall not be liable for the use of the provided information and product implementation.

In SEP sesam user documentation, external links are provided with the best intentions to help access additional resources. However, since these are external sites, SEP AG cannot guarantee that the links or their content remain unchanged or accessible. If a link is no longer available, SEP recommends users search for the relevant information independently.

SEP sesam and SEP-related modules are trademarks of SEP AG. All other trademarks used at this site are the property of their respective owners.

Contact

Germany	USA
SEP AG	SEP USA
Konrad-Zuse-Straße 5	1630 Welton Street, Suite 801
D-83607 Holzkirchen	Denver, CO 80202
Tel +49 8024 46331-0	Tel +1 303.449.0100
Fax +49 8024 46331-666	Fax: +1 877.611.1211
E-mail: info@sep.de	Email: info@sepusa.com

Welcome to SEP sesam

Backup | Restore | Disaster Recovery

SEP sesam is an automatic data backup system for diverse computing environments. It provides powerful and comprehensive enterprise-critical data backup and recovery solutions for a wide range of environments of any size or complexity. From single data servers to large, complex data centers with large databases and scalable storage area networks.

Specifically designed for the server/client environment, SEP sesam's modular design and flexibility allow it to be completely tailored to the needs of any company or organization, regardless of size or backup strategy.

Extremely efficient, patented algorithms, whose implementation requires only limited processor overheads, combined with high transfer rates ensure that SEP sesam delivers some of the best performance in the industry.

SEP sesam's platform-independent architecture supports Linux, Microsoft Windows, and various UNIX systems, and all standard tape drives, disk drives and auto loading devices. A platform-independent graphical user interface (GUI) and a browser-based Web UI enable backup and restore remotely via WAN, VPN, etc., or to the network.

SEP sesam Features

SEP sesam provides the following features and functionality:

Powerful administration

Fast and easy installation on standard O/S configurations. Less than one minute on SUSE and RedHat!
Selection of optimal data paths throughout the network
User configurable Command Line Interfaces (Alarm, Pre/Post, Notify, Disaster, etc.)
Powerful REST API for data extraction and configuration
Powerful scheduling tool allows development of flexible media strategies to avoid delays and missed backups

Comprehensive backup & restore

SEP sesam creates a test backup and restore upon installation to verify that the system is running.
Full, Differential, Incremental and Copy (for off-site storage) backups
Scheduled backups using user/administrator selected events
Full and selective restore to original paths or newly-created directories with original path structure preserved
Fast data restore via effective administration of backup savesets and implementation of well-designed search algorithms
Authentication and authorization to define user roles and access permissions
Integrated Si3 software deduplication with extremely efficient deduplication rates based on variable block-length. The in-memory technology achieves best performance figures. Si3 deduplication is the basis for target and source side deduplication, replication, cloud backup and SiS (SEP Immutable Storage).

SEP NEWDAY

SEP NEWDAY allows extensive backups to be recorded on the same calendar day
For example, backups started on a Friday and ending before 8 am the following Monday can be recorded onto the same backup day

Multiplex streaming

SEP sesam's true multi-stream/multiplexed backup feature allows large amounts of data to be backed up in the shortest possible time.
Multi-stream backup handles from five up to several hundered data streams to serve any size of data center and amount of data
Opening up multiple streams for backups minimizes system resource usage for data backup tasks

Online modules

Online modules for the most widely-used database and groupware solutions allow backups to be performed while the applications are active, providing the highest data availability possible
For MS SQL, Exchange, Oracle, SAP (NetWeaver, MaxDB, HANA), DB2, HCL DOMINO, MySQL/MariaDB, POSTGRES/ENTERPRISEDB, INFORMIX and all OES TSA-based services (have a look at our SEP sesam OS and Database Support Matrix)
Restores can also be performed while the apps are running, including the option of restoring single mail boxes and individual mail files

Graphical user interface (GUI)

Platform-independent JAVA-based graphical user interface (GUI)
Master GUI design provides full access to clients and servers
Easy task selection, flexible media strategy and setup via GUI or Master GUI

Browser-based WebUI

Uses HTML5 and json objects by using REST API calls
Can be used as a self service restore assistant, for reporting and monitoring as well as restarting tasks
Considers authentication and autorization configurations
Offers more features than the GUI (e.g. cross-platform mount) and is continuously improved and enhanced

Device support & functionality

Supports all standard backup devices, disks, tapes, tape autoloaders and tape libraries, and cloud APIs
Supports HPE StoreOnce via Catalyst (Catalyst Copy, bandwidth optimized, application side backup, Cloud Bank Storage and HPE Cloud Volumes)
Disk-to-Disk-to-Tape (D2D2T) functionality delivers further enduring security for maximum performance by backup and restore

Extensive platform support

Backup server on most Linux distributions (including OES) and on Windows
Clients for Linux, Windows, UNIX derivatives
Supports several HW architectures like x64, AMD and IBM Power

Part II: Architecture Overview

SEP sesam Requirements

SEP sesam Requirements/en

Directory layout

Directory Layout/en

SEP sesam Components

SEP sesam Components/en

Licensing

Licensing/en

Part III: SEP sesam GUI

SEP sesam GUI overview

The SEP sesam graphical user interface (GUI) provides centralized administration and easy access to configuration and management of SEP sesam and its environment. SEP sesam GUI is platform independent – it is based on Java and requires a Java Runtime Environment. For details on the required Java version and installation, see Java Compatibility Matrix and Installing and Managing Java.

The SEP sesam GUI has been redesigned with additional functionality to improve usability and provide better access to SEP sesam objects. It provides built-in filtering with different filter types to facilitate searching for specific content items (task, client, data store, etc.). The GUI icons have also been redesigned and additional icons and symbols have been added. For details, see SEP sesam Icons Legend.

SEP sesam features a GUI that provides several ways to customize GUI look and feel, e.g., by changing the fonts, view and layout of GUI elements, select appropriate GUI mode, set up authentication, update GUI client, and change the language. Authorized users can monitor SEP sesam operations online by using Web UI (dashboard) or perform the restores online by using the restore assistant. For details, see Managing GUI.

	Note
	In v. ≥ 5.0.0 Jaglion, the operations and options available after login may vary depending on the user type. See Available interface options according to user type. Further restrictions on the GUI display may depend on user-defined roles with specific permissions and the UI mode.

GUI components

When SEP sesam GUI is started, it creates a connection to the SEP sesam database. Once the connection is established, the main GUI screen appears. This screen controls all SEP sesam procedures and operations.

	Tip
	When running the SEP sesam GUI as administrator, the new SEP sesam Web UI landing page opens by default (with access to the Web UI, links to documentation, etc.). To prevent it from opening automatically when SEP sesam GUI is started, in the GUI menu bar -> Configuration -> Defaults -> General tab, clear the check box Show SEP sesam web client landing page on startup.

SEP sesam allows you to adjust the GUI layout by undocking, repositioning and rescaling the individual panes of the GUI window. For details, see Customizing GUI.

Menu bar

The menu bar contains provides the options File, Activities, Configuration, Window and Help. Clicking on a drop-down menu or pressing Alt + the underlined letter activates the menu. A function, action or command can then be selected from the listed sub-items. Sub-items can also be activated in a similar manner (mouse click or Alt + the underlined letter) to open input masks for additional or more specific actions.

Toolbar

The toolbar enables you to trigger the tasks and get the status overview with just one click. It contains the following icons: Dashboard, Immediate start: Backup, Restore assistant (opens the online restore assistant in the external web browser), Restore Wizard, Backups (index of backups by status), Calendar Sheet, and About SEP sesam (SEP sesam version information). For details, see Toolbar.

Navigation pane – Main Selection

The navigation pane is located on the left side of the GUI window and called Main Selection. It allows you to navigate through the components of the SEP sesam system. Clicking on the sub-menus (the + sign of each component, or right-click to Expand all) expands the tree to access detailed information. Selecting a component in the Main Selection pane opens the corresponding object in the Content pane.

Content pane

The Content pane, located in the middle of the GUI window, displays the corresponding content for the selected component. For example, locations and clients can be configured under the Components -> Topology.

Properties pane

The Properties pane, located on the right side of the GUI window, shows the properties of the object selected in the Content pane.

Filter pane

The Filter pane, located on the right side of the GUI window, enables you to quickly find the relevant objects.

Activities display

The Activities display is located at the bottom of the GUI and shows the messages and log file protocols for the selected drives or activities. It contains the following tabs:

Current messages: The Current messages display shows drives, related current sessions and drive status. Last view shows the result of the last activity. If the option Cyclic is enabled, the messages are cyclically refreshed without user intervention.

Performance: The Performance display allows you to monitor and control selected drives. It displays the amount of data being backed up and the transfer rate of individual SMS channels for each of the selected drives.

Master GUI

If the SEP sesam environment consist of more SEP sesam Servers, a powerful Master GUI is used to manage them. Master GUI enables the administrators to utilize multiple GUIs and manage local and remote locations from a single console.

This mode can be activated by connecting additional SEP sesam Servers by clicking Configuration -> Remote server in the menu bar and setting the connection to On. Inaccessible servers will be displayed in the table view. The GUI client must be authorized to administer additional SEP sesam Servers.

After an additional SEP sesam Server is configured and a connection is established, a server selection window opens in the upper right corner, showing a list of available servers. The data relating to the media, calendar sheet, current messages and logs components as well as the monitoring sub-components corresponds to the server selected in this window.

The object trees displayed within the Content pane of a Master GUI show all available SEP sesam Servers and their objects. This includes a view of the Job state filters, which can be set to the selected server (Client), location or to all active SEP sesam servers.

Customizing GUI

Customizing GUI/en

GUI: Components

Topology

Topology represents the SEP sesam backup environment including the hardware, computers, backup devices, etc.

All interconnected computers – SEP sesam Clients and SEP sesam Servers – can be logically grouped into locations and sub-locations. You can use locations to group your clients according to their OS, data type, different geographical location, etc.

The menu item Topology shows all SEP sesam locations, clients, loaders, and drives known to the Master Server as well as the media within the devices. By clicking the symbols they can be expanded into the subordinate structures via a function tree. Each client is assigned to a location and each loader and drive to a client. You can open their properties by double-clicking the relevant component (location, client or drive).

Such grouping enables large organizations at different locations to be managed and represented as a group with separate, centrally-managed units (using a tree view). Locations can be hierarchically organized - multiple sub-locations can be summarized under one Location.

A Master Sesam at the highest level presents all currently accessible regular SEP sesam computers. With a mouse click their individual data can be viewed.

A regular SEP sesam Server shows one node only, namely itself.

With v. 4.4.3. Beefalo, SEP sesam provides additional View Mode button that enables you to switch between the table view and the tree view with grouped objects.

Tree view: SEP sesam default view shows the status of individual locations grouped together in a hierarchical view.

Table view: A simple flat view that shows the status of individual locations one after another.

To create a new location independent of another location or a sub-location, click Topology, and click the button New Location. A client is always assigned to and created within a location. For details, see Configuring Location.

Updating client(s)

As of v. 4.4.3 Beefalo V2, the sm_update_client command has been extended to automatically install service packs on the SEP sesam Server. Now you can check in the SEP sesam GUI if an update for your clients is available, see Checking update status. If this is the case, the icon with the orange arrow is shown. For details on the GUI icons, Client status icons.

You can update all clients within the location at once by right-clicking the location and selecting Update all clients. You can also select to update only the clients running on Windows or Linux by using Update all Linux/Windows Clients. This will update all Windows or Linux clients, respectively, within the selected location. For details, see Performing mass update.

If you want to update an individual client rather than all clients within the location, right-click it and select Update Client. You may want to exclude a particular client from being updated; in this case, double-click it to open its properties and select Do not update this client check box. Note that this setting applies in general for all possible updates.

If you have new Windows clients and would like to install either a SEP sesam Client, RDS (with GUI), GUI (with SEP sesam Client), or a SEP sesam Server on the selected client (with or without BSR), you only need to specify a user name and password (OS access) when selecting Install SEP sesam. For the Exchange and Hyper-V clients, the selected package will be installed by providing the credentials used to connect to the host computer. You can also uninstall SEP sesam from the respective client by clicking Uninstall SEP sesam.

Location properties

Locations are defined as a group of clients and/or further sub-locations. This should help you to organize larger networks so that computers in a building, an external office, etc., can be managed and represented in the separate units.

You can configure new locations from a SEP sesam Server or from an existing location (sub-location). SEP sesam sets up a tree-structure for all locations (e.g., USA-Colorado-Boulder-SEP Software) offering greater visibility. For details, see Configuring Location.

You can also edit the existing location or sub-location settings by double-clicking a relevant location/sub-location to open its Properties.

Location tab

Name: Name of the location
in: Superordinated location (relevant for sub-locations)
Description: More exact description of the location
Contact: Contact person at this location
Note: Additional information

OS Access tab

When configuring a new location, you can enter the credentials that will apply to all clients within a location, instead of specifying it for each client individually. In this case, enter the credentials as an administrator to access the respective systems. You can edit your credentials in the location properties. You have to use DOMAIN\USER format for the domain accounts or HOST\USER for the local accounts.

Permissions tab

Under the Permissions tab, you can configure permissions (ACLs) for your locations, if you have the admin rights. For details, see Using Access Control Lists.

Client properties

Clients are the computers in the network (including the SEP sesam Server) that you want to back up and restore.

The following screenshot shows the input fields and functions of the clients (the options may differ depending on your SEP sesam version).

	Note
	The client properties are slightly different if you are configuring a new client or when the client is already added and configured and you edit its properties. The Platform is only available when configuring a new client, while tabs for specifying additional settings are only available for the already configured client in its properties.

Client tab

Name: Enter the name of the client – this has to be the network host name of the computer. The name has to be resolvable either by DNS or etc/hosts file.
Location: Predefined location. A client must always be assigned a location.
Virtual machine (≥ 5.0.0 Jaglion): Previously referred to as Client is a virtual machine. If you select this option, you can edit the VM server name (host) and the VM name. These values are used to identify the backup client as a VM in a virtual environment.
Platform: Select the relevant platform of the client (LINUX, WINDOWS, UNIX, NDMP, VMS, or NETWARE). Depending on the platform, tabs for special access parameters are displayed. The Platform is only available when configuring a new client.
Operating system: Select the operating system version of the computer you are adding as a client.
Access mode: Select the appropriate access method for server-client communication. The Access mode option is only available in Advanced or Expert UI mode. So if you run the GUI in Basic UI mode, you first have to change the mode to Advanced or Expert, as described in Selecting UI mode.
- SMSSH: Default access mode. SEP sesam SSH-based control communication. SSL libraries include libmicrohttpd, libcurl, and libopenssl. See also FAQ: access permissions.
- PROXY: Access mode for a hypervisor or other systems without an installed backup client. The data transfer is executed via vendor specific protocols and the client is accessed via the mandatory data mover. For details, see What is a SEP sesam data mover. The following protocols are supported: vSphere (vCenter Server), Citrix Xen Server, Nutanix, NetApp, NDMP and Novell SMS for NetWare 5.1/6.0/6.5.
- VIRTUAL: Access mode for a virtual machine (VM) without an installed backup client, where there is no direct remote access to this VM. Note that VIRTUAL access mode is similar to PROXY, but is specifically intended for managing VMs as clients by allowing configuration of ACLs for VMs. This means that the administrator can allow explicit restore access to a virtual client while preventing access to the hypervisor server. For details on how to configure permissions (ACLs) for clients, see Using Access Control Lists.
- SSH: This communication mode is based on a key-pair operation of the SSH implementation of the operating system used.
- RSH: Remote Shell; this option is deprecated and rarely used.
VM server type: If the client should be managed as a VM server, select the relevant type. This enables, for example, browsing the virtual environment when creating backup tasks.
Last SEP sesam message: The most recent system status message for the existing client.
Last successful access: The last successful access to the existing client.
Notes: Optional comment.
Interfaces:

	Note
	Only edit this field if a client is a SEP sesam Server or Remote Device Server (RDS).

If there is an additional network for backups available, the resolvable and changed DNS-name of a second network card of the SEP sesam Server can be entered into a new line. If several network cards are available, they need to be known to the DNS otherwise the connection to SEP sesam Server will fail.

The network protocols for data transfer can be set by using the common prefixes ftp:// (default), http:// or https://. For each protocol one interface has to be added in the interfaces box separated by single spaces. One interface for the HTTP protocol http://<hostname>:11000 and one interface for the HTTPS protocol https://<hostname>:11088.

You can set the default interface for a drive group in Main Selection -> Components -> Drives. Double-click the drive group you want to modify and select the required interface in the Default interface drop-down list. All events that do not have an interface set and are using the drives in this drive group will use the interface, selected for the drive group as default.

SEP sesam version: This field shows the SBC (SEP sesam backup Client) version of the installation.
Additional options

Virtual machine (Client is a virtual machine in ≤ 4.4.3. Beefalo V2): If you select this option, you can edit the VM host (name of the VM Server) and the VM name. These values are used to identify the backup client as a VM in a virtual environment.
Do not update this client (≥ 4.4.3. Beefalo V2): Checking this option allows you to exclude a particular client from being updated. This setting applies in general for all possible updates.
Execution off: If a client needs to be excluded from the backup for technical or other reasons, you can deactivate it by checking this option.

	Note
	If this option is set, the client will not be backed up until it is unlocked again even if it is scheduled for backup.

Options tab

By default, SEP sesam uses random ports that are assigned by the operating system for its data connections. However, if you want to back up a client which is behind a firewall, you must manually define the ports. The available options depend on the client type.

Access options: The default communication port on the backup client is 11301. If a port other than 11301 is used, it must be configured in the client's sm.ini file. In this field, enter the port over which the client is reachable (e.g., -p 17301).
STPD options: The STPD options are used to define the backports from the clients to the SEP sesam Server, e.g. 11003-11006. These ports are then used to carry data during backups and restores. For each backup that runs parallel 2 ports of a client are needed.
Listen port: The default STPD-port for Remote Device Servers (incl. SEP sesam Server) is 11001.
Wake on LAN: For more information, see WOL - wake on LAN of a SEP sesam client.

	Note
	In SEP sesam v. ≥ 4.4.3, SEP Si3 source-side deduplication (Si3S) backup does not work if the STPD service TCP port on the client side (in `sm.ini` and/or `stpd.ini`) is changed from the default port. With Jaglion you can avoid this issue by setting the STPD service TCP port to the new TCP port in the client properties -> Options tab -> Listen port.

For details, see List of Ports Used by SEP sesam.

OS Access tab

When configuring a new client, you have to enter the credentials as an administrator to access the respective systems. You can also edit your credentials in the client properties. You have to use DOMAIN\USER format for domain accounts or HOST\USER for local accounts.

Additional tabs

In the client properties two additional tabs are available for specifying additional settings.

Under the Permissions tab, you can add the relevant permissions (ACLs) for your client. For details, see Using Access Control Lists.

If you are configuring clients that must be backed up by special task types, additional settings must be specified. A fifth tab is available for the following task types: Micro Focus Open Enterprise Server (formerly Novell OES), VMware, Citrix XEN, MySQL, PostgreSQL, NetApp, RHV. For example, for Micro Focus OES or NetWare server backup you have to specify the login data for the eDirectory and select the appropriate data mover. For Micro Focus, this is a SEP sesam Micro Focus (formerly Novell) Client which is installed on Linux computer with Micro Focus Storage Management Services (SMS).

For more information on specific task type, see the respective wiki articles under Extensions.

Clients

The Clients component provides a list of all interconnected, in SEP sesam configured computers – SEP sesam Clients – and their properties, e.g., assigned location, operating system, access mode, SBC version, etc. Double-clicking a client opens its properties where you can edit the client's settings. For details, see Client properties.

Right-clicking a client opens the shortcut menu, from which you can select the desired action, such as New Client to add your computer to SEP sesam environment. A client is always assigned to and created within a location. You can also create a client-related report, check whether a client is accessible, update UI server, and cancel current running activities related to the selected client. You can delete a client by right-clicking it and selecting Delete.

As of v. 4.4.3 Beefalo V2, the sm_update_client command has been extended. Now you can check in the SEP sesam GUI if an update for your clients is available. You can update all clients within the location at once or update only the selected client. You can also exclude a particular client from being updated or install SEP sesam component(s) on new Windows clients. For details, see Updating client(s).

You can see more details of the clients' list by scrolling the list with the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom, or by widening the content pane by closing or moving the Filter window.

Right-clicking the table header opens a menu that allows you to auto-resize a column or all columns, to hide a column that you are not interested in, and to control which columns are visible by user. Choosing Column Selection enables to select the properties that will be displayed for the clients' list.

Client status icons

As of v. 4.4.3 Beefalo, SEP sesam GUI is redesigned to be more user-friendly. To improve usability, the GUI icons have been redesigned and are now accompanied with additional icons and symbols. The following table shows the client status icons with their description.

Icon	Description
	The backup execution is disabled on the client.
	The client is not accessible.
	The system checks if the update is available for the client.
	An update is available for the client (may be any of the following: a new SEP sesam package, a service pack or in case of a SEP sesam Server, a UI server update).
	The update of the client failed due to an error during installation. Details are available in the GUI Clients view in columns Update status and Update message.
	The backup execution is disabled on the server.
	The server is not accessible.
	The backup execution is disabled on the RDS.
	The RDS is not accessible.

4 4 3 Beefalo:Data Store/en

Loaders

Loaders are devices that consist of drive(s), a magazine with slots for media and a robotic mechanism that moves media between the slots and drives thus enabling automated backups. There is no dependency in SEP sesam to use specific manufacturer's devices or device types. A list of supported hardware is available at Supported Storage Hardware.

Identifying storage devices and their configuration

SEP sesam can detect and automatically configure storage hardware in your environment if the hardware is supported and recognized by the operating system (it must be listed in the OS device driver directory), where the SEP sesam Server or Remote Device Server is installed.

	Note
	Verify that the operating system properly detects the storage device. On Windows, the hardware must be recognized correctly by the operating system in the Windows Device Manager (must not be shown as Unknown Medium Changer) before SEP sesam is installed! For details, see Checking hardware configuration on Windows.

During SEP sesam Server installation, SEP sesam checks the SCSI API of the operating system for connected storage devices and enters working device files (SCSI address) into SEP sesam database. This auto-detection works for most devices, but for certain types of loaders the connection between a loader and the drives cannot be recognized automatically. Such devices must be manually verified and entered into the configuration. Note that procedure differs depending on your operating system (Linux or Windows).

	Note
	If you are adding a loader later, e.g., for remote devices, you also have to configure your storage hardware manually. How you configure a loader depends on its type. For details on how to manually configure tape devices, enable persistent naming and use SEP sesam SCSI tool `slu topology` for detecting devices, see Manually configuring loaders and drives.

The menu item Loaders shows the configured loaders with their drives. You can add a new loader, inspect the contents of the loader, run archive adjustment, and import/export or load/unload the tape cartridges.

Loader properties

The following settings are configured automatically if a storage device is recognized by the operating system.

Device name: SCSI device filename of the loader; enter the SCSI address of the physical device on Windows systems, for example Changer0, or a device filename on Linux systems, for example /dev/sg2. You can check if the devices are used correctly by SEP sesam and detect available SCSI addresses by running a slu topology command.

slu topology

FAQ: What happens when I set a profile?

slu topology

Using slu topology for detecting devices

Device name

Device server: Remote Device Server (RDS) where the loader is installed.
Device Server refers to the server where the loader is connected. In small environments, the loader or disk array is usually installed directly on the SEP sesam Server. However, more complex backup environments use RDS instead. RDS receives data during backup and writes it to the attached tape device.
Type: The device type.
Ctrl: The loader type – there are four types of loaders available:

DIR_SLU: All loaders, which are connected by SAS/iSCSI/FC to the SEP sesam Server or RDS, and provide a robotic control of tape media.
DIR_VIRT: A virtual loader. Only one virtual loader can exist in the entire SEP sesam configuration. This loader type is always configured with the number 0 (zero), and it serves all DISK_HARD drives and DISK_CHNG drives. Even though media are not actually moved, there are entries in specific files to control the data streams.
DIR_DISK: Enables you to control a pool of several hard disks. The hard disks have to be addressable by single device ID in the operating system.
DIR_ACSLS (≥ 4.4.3 Beefalo V2): ACSLS loader used for the tape libraries controlled by StorageTek Automated Cartridge System Library Software (ACSLS) as SEP sesam backup devices.

Slots: Number of slots in the loader.
Ports: Number of mail slots in the loader. The port/mailslot allows you to insert/remove a single tape without having to remove the entire magazine.
Barcode: Depending on whether the loader has a barcode reader or not, select yes or no.
Auto unload function: Almost all autoloaders and tape libraries allow explicit commands to transport tapes to and from the loader mechanism. It is strongly recommended to disable Auto unload function by setting it to No and allow the manufacturer's drive settings to perform as designed.

Frequently there will be other applications also using media in the loader, especially in the case of large tape libraries. In such case, you have to know which subset of media is reserved for SEP sesam (media that are added to the SEP sesam media pool). When running an archive adjustment (scanning a loader to update the SEP sesam information about the tapes in the device), you can limit the scanning to specific SEP sesam loader areas. If the media have barcode labels, this is taken into account for the backup process.

If available, the barcode labels are scanned and synchronized. Otherwise, the media labels are used. You can also verify only specific media labels.

The archive adjustment can be performed for inventory purposes to provide an overview of the media available in the loader, irrespective of which media pool was selected for the adjustment.

You can also perform Loader Action to achieve direct access to disk and loader controls. See the below section Loader action.

Legend: The following table lists the icons used for displaying various media and loader status.

Barcode as Label: If available, a barcode will be used instead of the media label.

Archive Adjustment

An archive adjustment makes a comparison between media in the loader carousel or magazine and the SEP sesam media archive database. It is mandatory whenever the contents of a loader carousel have been altered. Typically, it must be performed after inserting new media or used media that have not yet been registered (initialized) by SEP sesam. It must be run after successful installation of a loader, as described in the following section First archive adjustment after new loader installation. For more details on archive adjustment and how to create a media event for it to run automatically, see Setting up Archive Adjustment.

	Note
	When selecting the option Archive Adjustment, make sure that the autoloader being realigned is selected in the GUI window, i.e., that the target device is at the top of the adjustment task. When using the command line, the task must include the name of the target autoloader or tape device.

Media pool: Select a media pool where you want to perform the archive adjustment.
Storagepool: If the selected media pool has storage pools assigned to it, you can select it from the drop-down list.
Drive group: The drive group is automatically defined by the media pool.
Drive (opt.): Optionally, you can select a single drive.
Slot range: You can limit synchronization to the specified loader segment by entering the number of the first and last slot.
Automatic introduction: If unknown media (without SEP sesam label) are found within the loader, they will be added from the tape library to the specified media pool.

Tape type: Select the relevant tape type from the drop-down list.
Select the preferred way for Handling of unknown SEP sesam media:

Accept without initialization: Foreign SEP sesam media, e.g., from another SEP sesam Server, will be automatically inserted into the new media pool without initialization.
Overwrite: A tape with unknown SEP sesam label (which is not in the SEP sesam DB) is initialized and added to the selected media pool.

	Note
	Any media from a competitive manufacturer will be entered into the target media pool and will be overwritten! In other words, any media not recognized by the SEP sesam Server will be overwritten and a new media pool label will be written to the tape.

Check label on tape: Every tape label is re-read and verified, while the barcode information is ignored.
Adjustment by barcode only: SEP sesam scans only the tapes which are in slots, while the tapes in the drives are not scanned.

First archive adjustment after new loader installation

After the complete installation of the loader, the tapes must first be included in the media pool (to be able to use them) by running the archive adjustment. For details, see Media - Data Carriers.

First, configure a media pool that will be used for backing up directly to tapes which are assigned to this media pool. For details, see Configuring media pools for loaders.
Insert new tapes into the slots of the loader; in our example, we use the slots 3-6.
Start the archive adjustment with the following settings:
- Select the media pool to which you want to assign the tapes.
- Specify the slot range for the newly introduced tapes, e.g., 3-6.
- Select the check box Automatic introduction that the tapes will be added from the tape library to the specified media pool.
- By default, Accept without initialization is enabled under the option Handling of unknown SEP sesam media. Select the check box Overwrite only if the respective tape has already been registered by SEP sesam.
- Click Start to start your archive adjustment immediately.

Running archive adjustment results in automatically adding the tapes to the specified media pool, which can now be used for backups.

Loader Action

Selecting Loader Action is the simplest (limited) way to achieve direct access to disk and loader controls. The import or export (load/unload) of a single tape can be initialized in the SEP GUI as well as the sorting of the media within the library. The use of port slots depends on the installed hardware.

Action

Import from port: Transport of the tape cartridge through the input/output port into the magazine.
Export to port: Transport of the tape cartridge from the magazine through the input/output port – exit from loader.
Load from slot: Move the tape cartridge from the specified magazine slot into the specified drive.
Load via label: Move the tape cartridge with certain ID (e.g., S00001) into the specified drive.
Unload: Move the tape cartridge from the specified drive back into its slot.
Loader number: Selection of the loader.
Drive Number: Selection of the drive (within the loader).
Label: When loading via label, selection of the label instead of the slot number.
Start: Start the corresponding action.
Cancel: Cancels the dialog without performing any action.

Drive Action

By clicking the drive within the loader and selecting the Drive Action, you can manage the specific drive and media in the drive.

Identify label: Shows the label of the medium in the drive.
Mount media: Mount is a special reservation of the tape media to prevent unnecessary spooling.
Dismount media: Cancels the mount status.
Dismount and unload media: Cancels the mount status and unloads the tape.

	Warning
	If you have manually removed or inserted the tape from/into the drive, the drive must be dismounted. Dismount and unload media should not be confused with unloading from an auto-loader. While the loader can re-acquire the tape and re-enter it (option Unload via Loader), this option only means that the tape in the drive will be released and ejected.

Release drive: Cancels all activities that are running on the drive.
Release drive group: Cancels all jobs that are running on the drives that belong to the respective drive group.

The execution and progress of the activity are shown in the cyclically updated Current Messages window.

Drives

Drives are devices used for data storage that read from or write data to media. They are either local drives, connected to the SEP sesam Server, or remote drives, connected to another computer on the local or wide area network. These can be tape devices with removable tape cartridges or disk-based storage devices. Remote drives enable the storage devices, which are used by SEP sesam, to be distributed over WAN.

	Tip
	It is recommended that SEP sesam auto-configures backup devices, but even for the automatically configured tape devices you should check their configuration and in some cases enable persistent naming to avoid errors in SEP sesam operation. For details, see Enabling persistent naming for tape devices.

Shared drives

SEP sesam provides dynamic drive sharing option in SAN environments. Note that a proper SEP sesam SAN Dynamic Drive Sharing (SDD) license is required for each drive you intend to share. For more information, see Licensing.

Drive sharing option allows the drives to be available to multiple Remote Device Servers (RDS) at any time. A physical drive can be seen by any number of RDSs and can be used by relevant systems to store data. Shared drives can be defined by a unique drive designation. This means that multiple drives are labeled with the same device identifier, which is specific SCSI designation, for example: /dev/nst0 (Linux ), Tape0 (Windows). While executing SEP sesam tasks, such as backup and restore, the drives are being shared by multiple servers based on a shared timing.

Drive groups

SEP sesam enforces you to organize drives into different groups. Grouping the drives of the same type into one group facilitates and optimizes backup operation. SEP sesam selects which drive from the group will be used for running a backup job. A backup is performed automatically on the drive that is currently free. In the event of a drive failure, each backup is automatically executed on other available drives.

Even in case you have only one standalone drive, you have to create a drive group first and attach a drive to it. The drive group is directly connected to the media pool. By connecting a media pool to the drive group, you specify where to SEP sesam saves the backup. Later in the process when configuring a backup, you select a target media pool (which is already connected to the drive group) to which the data will be backed up by creating a backup event (where the connected drive group is determined automatically by media pool selection). For details on backup configuration, see Standard Backup Procedure.

By double-clicking the drive group or selected drive, its properties are shown and can be modified.

	Tip
	You can double-click the drive group to change it or to set a default interface for it. If you set the default interface, it will be used automatically when you start a task by immediate start and when you create a new backup event under a schedule.

New drive group

The option New Group is used to configure a new group.

Name: A meaningful name for the new drive group which is easily recognizable by administrators, support personnel, and users. This should be part of a general design that can be referred to and expanded at any time.

Description: Additional information for the user, e.g., input of the loader's location and the relevant employee contact for assistance.

New drive

The option New Drive is used to configure a new drive. Each drive must be assigned to a drive group, therefore a drive group must be created first.

In the New Drive window, the following fields are available:

Drive number: The number is automatically assigned by SEP sesam and determines internal number of the drive.
Drive name: Optional description, e.g., logical identifier of a drive. In case of a shared drive within SAN, the name must be the same for all client shared drives, e.g., SAN-Drive-LUN-0.
Drive type: Depending on storage type, the relevant drive type must be selected from the drop-down list.

For tape drives, select the relevant tape type (LTO, DLT, SLR etc.).
If you plan to use the drive in the virtual disk storage, select DISK_STORE. The data will be stored to SEP sesam data store.
If the drive is removable media, select DISK_CHNG.

Loader: Available options are No loader, 0, 1, and ASCLS (≥ 4.4.3 Beefalo V2). If the drive belongs to the loader, select 1. If it is a single tape drive, select No loader option. Number 0 defines the virtual loader. As of 4.4.3 Beefalo V2, you can also select ACSLS , see Configuring ACSLS-Managed Libraries.
Drive no. in loader: Determines how the drives are used within the loader. It is set automatically by saving the new drive configuration. It can also be set manually, but it is strongly advised not to; this order depends on the hardware vendor's numbering scheme for all installed drives. If the order is entered incorrectly, SEP sesam will not be able to access the correct drive.
Device server: The name of the server or RDS to which the drive is connected. The drop-down list displays all available hosts.
Drive group: The relevant drive group have to be selected from the drop-down list of all available drive groups.

Device (non-rewinding): Operating system specific SCSI designation for the device, for example: on Linux (/dev/nst0), on Windows (Tape0). If the drive is installed properly, you can determine its SCSI ID by using a SCSI loader utility slu topology which shows information about the loaders and drives connected to the system as well as their relation. To list all attached SCSI devices, run slu topology: <SESAM_BIN>/sesam/slu topology. For details on its usage, see Using slu topology for detecting devices.

Tip

It is recommended that SEP sesam auto-configures backup devices, but even for the automatically configured backup devices you should check their configuration by using slu topology. SCSI addresses may be changed during reboots, especially in environments with several tape libraries attached to a server, and the operating system might mix the SCSI addresses between different loaders and library tape drives. Consequently, SEP sesam may have problems accessing devices. In such cases, consider enabling persistent naming. For details, see Configuring Loaders and Drives.

Device Block Size: As of v. 4.4.3 Beefalo V2, it is possible to change the default write density for tapes to achieve better tape performance by using the Device Block Size option; see the below section Setting device block size.
Tape in drive: If a medium is loaded into the drive, SEP sesam label is displayed.
Information: If indicated, the messages from the drive hardware are displayed.
Max. channels: The number of parallel streams that can be used during backup to the backup drive. The number of data streams available for backup depends on license.
For example, with SEP sesam ONE Server license only one backup stream is active. Multiple backup tasks are scheduled to start simultaneously, but will be performed one after another because of only one backup stream. In another example, SEP sesam Standard Server license is purchased for the environment that has has one disk drive and two tape drives attached. The SMS channels are connected to all drives. Multiple backup jobs (e.g., 10) are scheduled to start simultaneously. Backups may run in parallel to either one or both tape drives, but only 5 data streams are open for data transfer.
Encryption capable: For already configured drives, it shows whether they are encryption capable. The field is shaded for new drives. Note that SEP sesam provides native support for managing LTO-based encryption; the LTO encryption of tape drives can be enabled on a media pool level. For details, see LTO Encryption.
Click OK to configure the drive.

	Note
	With some drive types, such as DISK_CHNG, the name is automatically assigned based on disk + drive number.

Setting device block size

As of v. 4.4.3 Beefalo V2, it is possible to change the default write density for tapes to achieve better tape performance by using the Device Block Size option in the drive properties. You can increase the tape block size if you are using LTO Ultrium tape drives and your backup environment supports larger tape blocks. Setting the device block size only applies to the LTO tapes when they are initialized; changing this setting cannot be applied for tapes that are still used for backups. For example, once EOM is reached, another tape is required and can be initialized by setting the desired tape block size (0 -> default block size).

The default block size value is 64 KB. If the Device Block Size option is set to 0, then the default block size is determined as follows:

On Windows, the value is retrieved from the tape device driver.
On Linux, the value is mapped to the LTO drive type, as shown in the table.

LTO drive type	Value
LTO-1	128 KB
LTO-2	128 KB
LTO-3	128 KB
LTO-4	128 KB
LTO-5	128 KB
LTO-6	128 KB
LTO-7	256 KB
LTO-M8	256 KB
LTO-8	512 KB
LTO-9	512 KB

To set the tape block size, double-click the tape drive to open its properties. Then select the block size value from the Device Block Size drop-down list. You can increase the block size up to 1024 KB.

Manage multiple drives

Manage multiple drives option enables you to easier change drives properties (e.g., maximum number of parallel streams (max channels), delete drives, create new drives, etc). It lists all configured drives and allows you to change the properties settings of multiple drives, after which SEP sesam restarts the drives automatically. Whether only the modified drives will be restarted, depends on the drive type.

If a data store drives are being reconfigured, only the modified drives are restarted.
Any change of a tape device drive results in restarting all configured tape drives.

Configure all drives

It is possible to reconfigure all drives by using Configure all drives option. Note that this action aborts all running backups, restores and migrations.

Media pools

A media pool is a group of media of the same type that you use for backups. You can have different types of media pools for different types of backup data, backup sources (e.g., file backup, DB backup), or drive types. How you configure a media pool depends on the type of storage device you are using, i.e. tape or disk storage. With loaders, you set up a media pool to be used for backups directly to tapes. For backups to disks or cloud (disk storage, S3 cloud storage), you have to set up a data store first, but still create one or more dedicated media pools for it. You can also configure a spare pool as an additional source of media of the same type that can be used if all tape media in a pool are in use. For details, see Configuring a Media Pool.

Media labels

Once a media pool is configured, SEP sesam automatically provides each media with a unique media label during initialization. The media labels are stored in the SEP sesam database. The labels consist of the pool name (e.g., Day_, Week_, Month_) and a 5-digit number assigned by SEP sesam within the pool. For example, if the media pool name is LTO_month, the media label for media in that pool would consist of the prefix LTO_month followed by an ascending number, e.g., 00001 – the first media label would be LTO_month00001. The next medium would have the media label LTO_month00002, and so on.

Data stores

While media pools are a traditional way of organizing data storage and are typically used for backups directly to tapes, SEP sesam uses a data store for backups to disks (disk storage). Even though the data is still primarily backed up to a media pool, a data store is used underneath to save the data directly to one or more configured storage locations – in the file system. For details, see Data Stores.

Backup strategy

Media pools are the basis for building a backup strategy. Each media pool represents a set of media designated for a specific purpose. For example, media pools can be created and managed for workdays, weekends, specific locations, specific types, databases, etc.

It is possible to configure special GFS media pools for storing data on tape according to the classic GFS (Grandfather-Father-Son) backup rotation strategy. However, there are several backup strategies to protect your environment that can be easily implemented with SEP sesam. For more information, see Backup Strategy Best Practices and GFS Backup Retention Strategy.

You can create a new media pool from Main Selection -> Media Pools -> New Media Pool. For details, see Configuring a Media Pool.

Media pool properties

Double-clicking a media pool opens its properties, where you can modify the media pool's settings. The media pool properties differ depending on the media pool type (for tape or disk storage). The following example shows the properties for the media pool used for backups on tapes, with two additional tabs: Readability Check and Options.

In the case of LTO tapes, an additional Encryption tab is displayed where you can enable LTO encryption of tape drives at the media pool level. For details, see LTO Encryption.

Name: The name of a media pool; it must not end with five numbers because this form is used for media labeling.
Description: Optional description of the pool, e.g., Monthly backup.
Drive Group: Selection of the drive group to which a media pool is attached (e.g, Tape_Drives, RDS_LTO_Dives, etc.).
Type: If configured, the media pool type (e.g., clone) is displayed.
Retention time [days]: The time period for which all media in the respective media pool are protected after the data has been written to the media, thus preserving the savesets and keeping them available for restore. The retention time period starts with the date a saveset is written to the media and lasts for the period defined by the media pool's retention time (in days). The expiration date of the retention time is the EOL of the saveset. When a saveset is stored on tape, every stored saveset has its own saveset EOL; however, the tape expiration date is the maximum retention time (the longest EOL) identified on the tape. For details, see Automatic Retention (EOL) Management.
Set media pool inactive: If selected, a media pool is deactivated, so it is not available for use.

Note

In the case of a clone media pool, the option Set media pool inactive controls not only whether a media pool is available for use, but consequently whether the upload – synchronization with the S3 cloud - is performed. If you deactivate a clone media pool by selecting the option Set media pool inactive, the data is no longer synchronized with the S3 cloud. For details, see S3 Cloud Replication.

Readability Check

This is a process that checks the readability of the data on the tape and its structure, and ensures that the backup sets on the tape are recorded in the database and vice versa. The results are displayed in the log.

Readability check is configured by a special media event. For details, see Creating a Media Event.

Readability check limit [days]: By default, the value is 0 (zero) and readability check is disabled. If a number > 0 is set, a medium is checked after the specified number of days and marked with the status Readability check required. Readability check can only be applied if a Media EOL has not expired and is not applicable for EOL-free media. For details, see Configuring a Readability Check.
Expiration of read check overdue [days]: The number of days after which a readability check is overdue. It is calculated based on the readability check limit [days] and the value of expiration overdue.
Repeat rate for readability check [times]: If Unlimited is selected, the media are checked according to the specified frequency. If Execute is selected, the check is repeated as many times as specified.

	Note
	To perform the readability check, you have to set up a schedule and link a media event to it. For details, see Creating a Media Event.

Options

You can configure a number of options (depending on your strategy) to enable media sharing across media pools.

May use empty, foreign media: SEP sesam will use unknown or blank tapes for the backup if no tapes are available in the respective pool. (A newly purchased media that has never been used is also considered 'unknown' in this context).
May use EOL free media: Media with expired EOL from the same media pool can be used for backup. If this option is not selected, the use of a specific medium can be forced.
May use SPARE media: If there is no media (tapes) available in the target media pool, but the SPARE_ media pool is configured, SEP sesam automatically uses the media from the SPARE pool.
May use media from another pool: SEP sesam uses available tapes from other media pools if no tapes are available in the target media pool.
Another media pool may use media from this pool: A media pool that has run out of its own tapes can use the available tapes from this media pool.

If the data on the tapes is no longer needed, the metadata on the tape media in the media pools can be removed:

Delete all metadata of tape media, once the tape becomes EOL free: Data on tapes can only be deleted when their EOL has expired. If you enable this option, the metadata of tapes that are no longer write-protected will be deleted.
Delete all metadata of tape media and re-initialize the tape, once the tape becomes EOL free: Enabling this option erases all metadata on the tape media and reinitializes the tape (provided the tape is available to SEP sesam) by loading the tape into a drive and physically erasing it, thus removing access to all existing data on the tape.

	Note
	Media sharing strategies are based on acquiring media from the different pools, which means that such media are transferred from the original to the respective pool, and are no longer available in the source pool. You should take this into account when planning your media strategy. For details, see Media Strategy.

Permissions (in v. ≥ 5.0.0 Jaglion)

As of. v. 5.0.0 Jaglion, you can specify the required permissions (ACLs) for the media pool under the new Permissions tab. For details, see Using Access Control Lists.

Tasks by clients

Tasks by Clients shows a list of configured locations with their clients and configured tasks.

The backup task status is shown with the following icons:

Icon	Description
	The backup task is active.
	The backup task has been cancelled.
	The backup failed with an error.
	The backup task is in queue.
	The backup has been completed successfully.
	A warning occurs during the backup.
	EOL (Backup/Saveset) has expired. The saveset will be deleted with the next purge.
	EOL (Backup/Saveset) has not yet expired. If the Backup EOL has not yet expired (blue circle) but the Saveset EOL has expired (gray circle), the saveset with the expired Saveset EOL will be deleted. In this example another backup saveset (migrated or replicated) still exists, therefore the backup is not lost.

Clicking Properties or double-clicking the backup task displays all details of the selected task.

	Note
	You can disable a particular task or a whole task group without deleting it permanently and without cancelling all other events related to the same schedule. For details, see Disabling and Enabling Backup Task and Disabling and Enabling Task Group.

By right-clicking the backup task the following options appears:

Properties: Shows the details of the backup task.
Results: Shows the last backup details for this task, see Properties of a finished backup.
Immediate Start: Allows you to initiate a process manually, see Immediate start.
Copy (available only for backup task): Copies the selected backup task.
New Location: Opens a dialog for configuring a new location, see Configuring Location.
New Client: Opens a dialog for configuring a new client, see Configuring Clients.
New Backup Task: Opens a dialog for configuring a new backup task.
New Restore Task: Opens a dialog for configuring a new restore task. The New Restore Task option opens the restore wizard, as described in Restore. If you select the restore from this location certain parameters will be pre-set. A task name will also be automatically assigned.
Delete: Deletes a task from SEP sesam.

Creating a new backup task

When creating a new backup task, specify the following settings:

Task name: Enter the name for the backup task. When specifying the source by browsing, the task name is set automatically.
Task type: Select the relevant task type from the drop-down list. The default task type is Path backup (files, directories). When specifying the source by browsing, the task type is set automatically.
Client: Select the host (client) that should be backed up.
Source: Use the browse button to specify the Source and select what you want to back up. If you want to back up individual files, you can either browse for directories and files that you want to include in the backup or enter their names followed by a comma (C:/Program Files/SEPsesam/var/db,C:\Users\AA\Documents\references). Typically, by selecting the source the task type and task name are set automatically. A few special task types are rare exceptions and thus require a manual selection of the relevant type and specifying the task name.

	Note
	When using a Netware NSS file systems on Linux OES the NSS volumes are normally found below the Linux path `/media/nss`.

Exclude list: Optionally, specify the filenames or patterns which you do not want to back up in the Exclude list. For details on various exclude options, see Creating Exclude List.

	Note
	If you want to suppress a specific directory, you should enter the complete path name. Multiple excludes are delimited with commas.

The simplest way to include or exclude the specific files or folders for/from the backup is by using the big browse button (next to the fields Source and Exclude list) and selecting your backup source or source for exclude in the Client File View window.

The client browser is a kind of cross-platform file explorer. It does not only show files and directories in tree view, but also databases, pipes, sockets, character or block devices if they are relevant for data backup. A progress bar is included for supervising the resulting character string in case of an overflowing enumeration or rather exclude listing. By the Legend button a dialog with a short description of the icons appears.

Comment: Optionally, add additional information about the backup.
Create New: You can create more than one task for this client.
Execution off: If this task needs to be excluded from the backup for technical or other reasons, you can deactivate it by checking this option. If this option is set, the backup of this task will not start until it is unlocked again even if it is scheduled for the backup. For details, see Disabling and Enabling Backup Task.
Descend directories on other file systems: Only valid for Unix systems. Other partitions, which are mounted to the file system by symbolic links, are accessible.
Save data mounted by NFS: Valid for Linux systems. Follows and saves mount points, which reside on another host system by NFS.
Backup with LVM: Automatically triggers a snapshot when the backup source is on a LVM volume. Used to perform consistent backups of open files on Linux. For details, see SEP sesam Logical Volume Manager (LVM) for Linux.
Do not report deleted or modified files as errors: As of SEP sesam v. 5.0.0 Jaglion, you can set that deleted or modified files are not reported as errors on Linux systems.
Backup with VSS: Activates the using of Microsoft Volume Shadowcopy Service. It works only on Windows operating systems with installed VSS services. For details, see SEP sesam Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS).

Options

Pre/post options provide a choice to specify a predefined pre/post operation for backup and restore. Setting pre/post actions for backup and/or recovery on or off is applied globally.

Pre/post are SEP sesam configurable interfaces, intended for system administrators. They are executed on the SEP sesam Client (note that SEP sesam Server is always a backup client too) and perform additional actions (such as exporting a database, restarting a database, sending emails) before a backup or restore is started or after a backup or restore is finished according to the user specified commands.

Note

To use a pre/post interface, you have to activate it first and create your own commands. Interfaces can be activated in GUI: in the menu bar, click Configuration -> Interfaces -> select the interface you want to activate and the client. The interface script window opens, allowing you to configure the desired action. Once done, click Save to activate the interface. The interface is saved to the <SESAM_ROOT>/bin/sesam directory. For more details, see Using Pre and Post Scripts.

Pre/Post: Backup

Execute pre: Executes pre script before the backup is started.
Ignore pre error: Forces a backup job to start even if the pre-commands were not properly executed.
Execute post: Executes post script after the backup is finished.
Ignore backup error: Forces the post script to execute after a faulty backup.

Pre/Post: Restore

Execute pre: Executes pre script before the restore is started.
Start restore in spite of pre error: Forces a restore task to complete even if the pre-command script was not properly executed.
Execute post: Executes post script after the restore is finished.
Start post in spite of restore error: Forces the post script to execute after a faulty restore, e.g., a paused database will be restored even though the restore task has failed.

Additional call arguments

Under the Additional call arguments -> Backup options/Restore options, you can specify additional parameters which differ from the standard backup/restore procedure (e.g., -v 3 for the higher log level).

Encryption & Compression

Encryption & Compression enables you to select the type of encryption and specify whether you want your data to be compressed.

Cryptography

Encryption: Select it if the data stream should be encrypted. You can select between 64-bit Blowfish or 256-bit AES encryption. Keep in mind that the data is encrypted by the client, so it has to carry the (processor) load. The encryption will also slow down the data transfer. You can decide if the password hash will be stored in the SEP sesam database. If it should not be stored in the database, SEP sesam will ask to enter the password for every restore event related to the task.

Information: Information regarding the setting of the encryption key.

New keyword: Specify your encryption password.
Repeat keyword: Re-enter your encryption password - type it manually, do not copy and paste.

	Note
	The password/keyword must be at least one (1) character and maximum 27 characters in length. It cannot include any special characters or spaces.

Compression (only available for Windows)

Compression is enabled on tape drives by default. If the hardware is not able to perform compression, you can enable software compression here.

OS Access

As of SEP sesam 4.4.3 Beefalo V2, the OS Access tab is used for specifying the credentials to access the resources on the target client. If you have already specified the credentials when configuring the client or its location, select an existing credential set from the drop-down list. Otherwise, click New and enter the credentials for the target client. Use the DOMAIN\USER format for domain accounts or HOST\USER for local accounts.
You can modify the existing credentials by clicking the Edit button.

Task Groups

Under the Task Group tab, you can directly add a task to one or more of the already configured task groups.

Task Groups show the list of all existing task groups in your SEP sesam environment. If you want to add a task to one or more task groups, click the checkmark next to the target task group. Organizing related tasks into groups can simplify your backup scheduling. For details, see Adding a Task to the Task Group.

Schedules

Under the Schedules tab, you can directly add a task to one or more of the already configured schedules.

Schedules show the list of all configured schedules in your SEP sesam environment. If you want to add a task to one or more of the already configured schedules, first click the checkmark next to the target schedule, and then select the target media pool from the drop-down list. For details, see About Scheduling.

Additional tabs in the backup task properties

In the properties of the backup task, additional tabs can be displayed depending on the client's task type (e.g., Micro Focus SMS, Exchange Access, Citrix XenServer, PostgreSQL, etc.). As of v. 5.0.0 Jaglion, these tabs are also available when creating a backup task.

The Micro Focus SMS tab is only shown on Linux clients that can be used as a data mover for Micro Focus Open Enterprise Server (formerly Novell OES) Clients. It is possible to grant every backup task a different login to the eDirectory.

With Jaglion, you can also configure permissions (ACLs) for the backup task with fine-grained access rights under the new Permissions tab. For details, see Using Access Control Lists.

Tasks by groups

From Main Selection -> Tasks -> By Groups, you can add multiple tasks to one or more groups. You can also see all tasks assigned to a specific group.

A single event will activate all tasks within the task group. The tasks will then be executed depending on the number of SMS channels available. The remaining tasks remain in the execution queue and are started in chronological order.

	Note
	It is possible to disable a specific task or a whole task group without deleting them permanently and without canceling all other events related to the same schedule. For details, see Disabling and Enabling Backup Task and Disabling and Enabling Task Group.

Right-clicking the task group displays the following options. (The order of the available options may vary depending on the version, but the availability of the options does not change).

Properties: Displays the details of the task group, see Task group properties.
Immediate Start: Allows you to start the backup manually, see Immediate start.
Results: Displays the details of the last backup for this task group.
New task group: Opens a dialog box for configuring a task group. For more information, see Adding a Task to the Task Group.
New task: Opens a dialog box for configuring a new backup task in a group. For more information, see Creating a Backup Task.
Delete: Deletes a task group from SEP sesam. For details, see Deleting a Task Group.

Task group properties

Tasks bundled into task groups can be executed at the same (specified) time. If possible, the tasks are executed simultaneously on the drives. The other tasks are dynamically assigned to the backup devices by SEP sesam. The last backup status of the whole task group is also displayed.

Note

The Customize Task List button is available when creating a task group or in the task group properties. Clicking it opens the PRE interface script, which is executed before the backup of the task group. It contains suggestions for automatically modifying the list of tasks, e.g., for VM tasks, if there are new VMs in the VM server or those that have been deleted and therefore no longer need to be backed up. See Automatic task generation.

Group name: Task task group name.
Note: Additional information of the user.

The > selector assigns a single task to the selected group and >> selector allocates all available tasks. Selector < removes single- and << removes all tasks. You can change the order in which SEP sesam starts tasks using the ↓ and ↑ arrows.

The Execution off option below the list of tasks allows you to temporarily disable a task group (and re-enable it if needed).
Hide backup tasks already associated with a backup group: This option allows you to filter the tasks according to whether they are already included in a group or not.

Schedules

A task group has to be associated with a schedule that has a corresponding event attached to it. For more information on creating the entire setup for scheduled events, see Standard Backup Procedure.

If you already have a configured schedule, you can link your task group to it by using the Schedules tab. Then, select the checkbox next to the desired schedule, and then select a media pool by clicking the Media Pool field in the selected schedule row. Once the media pool is selected, you can also select the drive and interface by clicking the corresponding field.

Permissions

As of. v. 5.0.0 Jaglion, the Permissions tab is available where you can set the required permissions (ACLs) for the task group with fine-grained access rights. For details, see Using Access Control Lists.

Backup plans

The Backup Plans (Main Selection -> Tasks -> Backup Plans) provides an overview of all configured tasks, task groups, migrations, and replications assigned to a schedule. By default, the displayed backup plans also include unscheduled tasks. To prevent unscheduled tasks from being displayed, use the Hide Unscheduled Tasks option.
With SEP sesam v. 5.0.0 Jaglion, the option Hide Unscheduled Tasks has been replaced with quick filtering. With the new Quick Filter, you can show/hide unscheduled tasks and filter the results by type (backup, backup group, etc.) and/or level (Copy, Full, etc.).

Properties: Shows information about the selected object, e.g., task, task group, migration, or replication.
New Backup Event: By selecting a backup task or a task group and clicking New Backup Event, you can configure a new backup event, as described in Creating a Backup Event.

Migration tasks

About migration

Migration is the process of copying backed-up data from one media pool to another, for example, from a disk to a tape. Backed-up files are organized as savesets that are copied from the source to the target media pool, typically in a disk-to-disk-to-tape (D2D2T) sequence.

This allows for duplication of the savesets. To optimize migration performance, you cannot migrate savesets with errors. It is possible to migrate:

savesets with status successful
savesets with warnings (status successful or with warnings) or
partially restorable savesets (with data from aborted backups).

Provided that the media in the source and target media pools are available after migration, the saveset is duplicated. However, a saveset is considered migrated when it is deleted from the source media pool. Both, the source and target savesets can be accessed using the restore wizard. If only the migrated saveset exists, it will be required in the case of a restore.

Migration tasks are managed under Main selection -> Tasks -> Migration tasks.

Configuring migration

Configuring a migration job consists of 3 steps: creating a migration task, creating a migration schedule, and creating a migration event.

You can start a configured migration task from the GUI immediately. For more details on configuration, see Configuring Migration.

Migration options

When configuring a migration task, you can set the following options:

Name: Enter a meaningful for the migration task, e.g., MIG_Si3_mly_to_mig_3mly (max. 50 characters).
Media pool: Specification of the source media pool.
- Pool: Select the source media pool from which the data will be migrated, e.g., source_mediapool (mandatory field).
- Drive: Drive number of the drive that will be used to read the data. By selecting the source media pool, the drive number is set automatically. However, you can select another drive from the drop-down list (mandatory field).
- Interface: Optionally, specify the network interface of the server through which the data transfer will be executed, e.g., the name of the Remote Device Server (RDS).
Destination: Specification of the target for the migration.
- Pool: Select the target media pool to which the data will be migrated, e.g., target_mediapool (mandatory field).
- Drive: Optionally, select the drive number of the drive that will be used to write the data. Typically, you use this if you have configured additional drives and want to assign dedicated drives for migration jobs. For details, see the option Create second drive in Configuring a Data Store.
- Interface: Optionally, specify the network interface of the server through which the data transfer will be executed, e.g., the name of the Remote Device Server (RDS).
Backup date: The time frame of the backups that will be migrated.
- To define the time frame of the backups to be migrated, you can either specify it by Date or select the option Relative backup date. With the values entered in the from/to fields of the Relative backup date you define the number of days in the past that are considered for data migration, i.e. all data in the source media pool that was backed up within a given period of time is going to be migrated to the target pool. For example, to migrate all data from the past week including the current Sesam day, the Relative backup date is set to -7 while to is set to 0. Or, to migrate all data from the last 10 days, specify the relative time frame from -10 to 0.
- In the drop-down list Based on, the Sesam days option is selected by default. Sesam day is a backup day you define according to your backup routines. For example, your backups can run after midnight but retain the backup date of the prior day. Sesam day/backup day is defined by the time specified in the NEWDAY event. For details, see SEPuler: SEP sesam backup day.
Backup State: Select the backup completion status of the savesets you want to migrate: Successfully or with warnings (default), Only successful or Partially restorable (containing data from cancelled backups).
- Allow copying of existing migrations (previously Copy migrated saveset again): If selected, a previously migrated saveset can be migrated again.
- Delete after successful migration: If selected, a saveset is deleted after successful migration.
Backup level: Select the backup level you want to migrate (COPY, FULL, DIFF, INC): C F D I G, where G stands for a special backup level generation. Backup level G allows you to migrate a complete backup cycle in one step, giving you everything you need for a disaster recovery. For example, combining the selected backup levels I and G within the specified time frame -1 to 0 in the Relative backup date would migrate all incremental backups from yesterday up to today, as well as all dependent incremental and differential backups of the respective backup chain, including the last associated full backup. This ensures all required backups are available on the storage media in the case of a disaster recovery. .
Number of copies: Select how many times may the backed up data be migrated. The default value is 0, which means that data migration is unlimited.
Object: Select one of the following objects as the migration source.
- Task: If you select a particular backup task as the source, only this task within the defined time frame is migrated.
- Task group: If you select a task group as a source, only the tasks of this task group within the defined time frame are migrated.
- Client: If you select a particular client, only the backups for this client within the defined time frame are migrated.
Special filter:
- Start media: Optionally, you can select only one medium from the source media pool to be migrated. You should take special care not to break a backup chain that could span across multiple media. If you select only one medium for migration, only the backups stored on that medium will be migrated, whether or not they belong to a wider backup set.
- Saveset: Optionally, you can select only one saveset to be migrated according to its ID.
- Paralell migration: Select (default) or clear the check box Parallel migration. If selected, the data can be migrated concurrently using multiple streams, thus improving the migration speed.
Note: Optionally, add additional information about the migration.

After you configure your migration task, click Save or Cancel.

Schedules

A migration task can be associated with a schedule that has a corresponding event attached to it. For more information on creating the entire setup for migration, see Configuring Migration.

If you already have a configured schedule, you can link your migration task to it by using the Schedules tab. Then select the check box next to the schedule you want to use. You can also change its priority.

Replication tasks (Si3)

About replication

Replication is the process of copying data from one host to another (between backup-to-disk devices capable of replication) in a block-level, incremental fashion and is an important subset of the larger disaster recovery (DR) effort.

SEP sesam provides different replication types. SEP Si3 replication enables you to replicate data between SEP sesam Server and SEP sesam Remote Device Server (RDS) or between two RDSs. You can also use HPE Catalyst stores and HPE Cloud Bank Storage, or S3 cloud storage as replication targets. For details, see About Replication.

Replication tasks are managed under Main selection -> Tasks -> Replication Tasks (previously Si3 Replications).

Configuring replication

Configuring replication is quite simple and does not differ significantly between replication types. The first step in configuring replication is to configure the data stores. Depending on the replication type, configure the appropriate data store type:

Si3 deduplication store

HPE StoreOnce Catalyst store or

HPE StoreOnce Cloud Bank store.

Then you need to create media pools, test your backups, and create the relevant replication task:

For detailed explanations of replication configuration, its benefits and limitations, see Configuring replication.

Replication options

When configuring a replication task, you can set the following options:

Name: Enter a meaningful name for the replication task, e.g., rep-source_mediapool-to-target_mediapool.
Media pool: Specification of the source media pool.

Pool: Select the source media pool from which the data will be replicated, e.g., source_mediapool.
Drive: Select the drive number of the drive that will be used to read the data. Selecting the source media pool automatically sets the drive number. However, you can also select another drive from the drop-down list (mandatory field).
Interface: Optionally, specify the network interface of the RDS through which the data transfer will be executed, e.g., the name of the RDS.

Destination: Specification of the target for the replication.

Pool: Select the target media pool to which the data will be replicated, e.g., target_mediapool.
Drive: Select the drive number of the drive that will be used to read the data (mandatory field).
Interface: Optionally, specify the network interface of the RDS through which the data transfer will be executed, e.g., the name of the RDS.

Backup date: Specify the time frame of the backups that are to be replicated.

Date: Set the time frame of the backups to be replicated. It is recommended to use the option Relative backup date instead.
Relative backup date: Define the time frame of the backups to be replicated by specifying appropriate values for the from/to fields. These fields specify the number of days in the past that are considered for replication, meaning all data in the source media pool that was backed up within a given period of time is going to be considered for replication to the remote pool. For example, to replicate all data from the past week, set the Relative backup date to -7 and to to 0. Since only new data blocks are ever replicated during replication, you can specify a very high number in the from field, such as -99.999. This way, all backups since the initial replication are always checked, but only the changed data is replicated.

	Note
	You cannot replicate savesets with errors. It is possible to replicate savesets with status successful, savesets with warnings (status successful or with warnings) or partially restorable savesets (with data from aborted backups).

Based on
The Sesam days option is selected by default. The Sesam day is a backup day you define according to your backup routines. For example, your backups can run after midnight but retain the backup date of the prior day. The Sesam day/backup day is defined by the time specified in the NEWDAY event. For details, see NEWDAY Event.

Note: Optionally, add additional information about replication.

After you configure your replication task, click Save or Cancel.

Schedules

A replication task can be associated with a schedule that has a corresponding event attached to it. For more information on creating the entire setup for replication, see Configuring replication.

If you already have a configured schedule, you can link your replication task to it by using the Schedules tab. Then select the check box next to the schedule you want to use. You can also change its priority.

Tasks as list

The menu item Tasks as list shows a list of all configured backup tasks and their properties, such as task type, location and client, source and excludes.

By double-clicking a backup task (or clicking Properties), you can check the details of the selected task and you can also edit the existing settings.

By right-clicking on the task, the following options are shown:

Properties: Shows the details of the backup task.
Results: Shows the last backup details for this task, see Properties of a finished backup.
Immediate Start: Allows you to initiate a process manually, see Immediate start.
Copy (available only for backup task): Copies the selected backup task.
New Location: Opens a dialog for configuring a new location, see Configuring Location.
New Client: Opens a dialog for configuring a new client, see Configuring Clients.
New Backup Task: Opens a dialog for configuring a new backup task.
New Restore Task: Opens a dialog for configuring a new restore task. The New Restore Task option opens the restore wizard, as described in Restore. If you select the restore from this location certain parameters will be pre-set. A task name will also be automatically assigned.
Delete: Deletes a task from SEP sesam.

You can add additional task properties to the list by right-clicking on the table header and selecting the relevant columns. The new columns will only be applied if you have clicked the Save view button.

You can also print a list by clicking the Print button.

GUI: Scheduling

Schedules overview

SEP sesam establishes schedules as a frame, to which you link different events, such as backup, migration, replication, etc. Schedules always contain one predefined task: a NEWDAY schedule. Linked to it is a NEWDAY event which is used by SEP sesam to reorder its database, enable undisturbed activity of the SEP sesam processes as well as to define a new backup day.

Do not deactivate a NEWDAY event or delete a NEWDAY schedule, because this will cause SEP sesam to stop working properly! For details, see NEWDAY Event.

A schedule defines the recurrence of an event and may be executed in minutes, hours, days, months or years. It can be set up to start periodically or to be executed just once. It can be used for any number of events, and a particular task (backup, restore, migration, etc.) can have events in several schedules. All schedules and related jobs are configured and run in the time zone of the SEP sesam Server.

This window shows an overview of the configured schedules and related events. By using toolbar buttons you can configure the chronology of all processes in SEP sesam. You can create a new schedule or edit an existing one. Then you create a new event for the specific schedule and define its job. The job is run at specified time and, if defined as recurring, executed at specified time interval.

You can also use Without Schedule option, which is available, if you set the value for enable_gui_events_without_schedule in the Defaults window (Configuration -> Defaults -> Settings tab) to 1 manually.

It shows all backup events which are not assigned to a schedule due to the following possible reasons:

Events were deliberately created without a schedule for external backups, such as SAP HANA, where the external applications manage the backup scheduling.
Events were first linked to a schedule and then disconnected from it by opening the event and selecting the option Without Schedule, as shown in the screenshot below.

	Note
	You should only delete events without a schedule if you are sure that they will not be used for an external backup.

You can create a new schedule from Main Selection -> Scheduling -> Schedules -> New Schedule. For details, see Creating a Schedule.

After you have created a schedule, you can link a specific event to it (backup, restore, migration, etc.). In the Main Selection -> Scheduling -> Schedules, right-click on the schedule, and select the event which you want to create, e.g., new backup event.

Schedule properties

Clicking Properties or double-clicking the schedule displays all details of the selected schedule. You can also edit the existing schedule settings.

Execution off: Execution is enabled by default. Use this option to disable the schedule. If you select it all events that are linked to this schedule will be deactivated. The schedule will still be displayed as shaded in the list of schedules, but the related jobs will not run.
Name: The name of the schedule.
Start: The start date and time for the schedule. By default, the current date is already entered in the first (date) field. In the next (hour) field, specify the start time <hh:mm> for a job to begin. The schedule will be activated on the specified date and time.
Expiration date: Set the validity of the schedule. If the schedule should only be valid for a limited period of time, e.g., until the end of the year, select the check box and enter the date of its suspension. Clicking the arrow displays a calendar. The schedule will be deleted after the Expiration date criterium is met.
By default, this option is disabled and the schedule will be repeated in perpetuity.
Selection of time intervals: Configure the time intervals for scheduled jobs. Jobs can occur once, or recur daily, monthly, yearly, or as defined (custom calendar).
- Once: no repetition, single run
- Daily: repetition in days, hours or minutes
- Weekly: repetition in weeks or weekdays
- Monthly: repetition on absolute or relative dates: 1st/2nd... or Mon/Tue...
- Yearly: repetition on absolute or relative dates
- User Defined: Option for setting up a custom calendar. For details, see Creating Custom calendar.
Advanced settings: Allows you to further refine your schedule.
- Start time frame: Select the check box if you want to specify maximum allowed actual startup time for your event (the amount of time an event can be in the queue). Specify the startup time in days and/or hours. The actual start time depends on the processor load of the system. At the starting time of the event, every event is forwarded to the queue, where it may have to wait until jobs with higher priorities are completed. For jobs with the same priority, the FIFO rule (first in first out) applies. If this option is set and the event cannot be executed within the specified time frame, it will not be executed at all.
- Repeat task: Select the check box if you want to repeat the event. Choose how often (in hours or minutes) the task should be repeated.
- For a duration of: Available if the Repeat task check box is selected. You can specify for how long should the event be repeated in days and/or hours.
- Stop task if it runs longer than: Select the check box if you want to set the amount of time (days and/or hours) following the event's scheduled start time after which the event will be cancelled.

As of. v. 5.0.0 Jaglion, new Permissions tab enables you to set the required permissions (ACLs) for the schedule. For details, see Using Access Control Lists.

New backup event

Backup event represents the last step in the process of configuring a backup job. First a backup task is created by selecting the task type and source. Next is a backup schedule, to which a backup event is linked. For details, see Creating a Backup Event.

The button New Backup Event opens the following window:

Name: You can change the displayed backup event name.

Sequence Control

Priority: The priority of your backup event. Default priority level is 1, which is the lowest priority (the highest is 99). The only exceptions are schedules with priority 0, which override all other priorities and are always executed. See Setting event priorities.
Blocking date: A blocking event is any type of event with a higher priority that obstructs another event. A blocking event only affects other events with the same name when schedules are overlapping. For details, see Blocking Events.

Object

Task: Select the task to which you want to link this event.
Task group: Select the task group (instead of task) to which you want to link this event.

Parameter

Backup level: Select between the backup levels FULL, DIFF, INC, COPY.
Hot/Cold backup: You can set execution parameter, e.g., for database backups.
Media Pool: Select the target media pool to which the data will be backed up. If you want to enable source-side deduplication, you have to select the media pool which is combined with an Si3 deduplication store backend.
SEP Si3 Source Side Deduplication: Source-side deduplication (Si3S) requires a special license and a configured Si3 deduplication store. If the specified target media pool is combined with an Si3 deduplication store backend, the option SEP Si3 Source Side Deduplication is shown and can be enabled.
Drive group: (non-editable parameter) The drive group which is specified in the media pool. This field changes depending on the media pool selection.
Drive (opt.): Optionally, specify the drive number of the drive that will be used to write the data.
Interface (opt.): Selection of an alternate (configured) name of the TCP/IP-name of the client. This can be used to direct the data flow over a particular network connection in order to enable smooth execution of backups or restores without blocking another network activities.
Follow up: You can configure events that are triggered on the SEP sesam Server once the initial event has completed. For details, see Follow-up Events.
Migration task: You can select a follow-up migration task from the drop-down list.

New restore event

The button New Restore Event opens the New restore event window with the Parameter tab selected. The first tab is Schedule, as explained in the section above. For more details, see Scheduling Restore.

Parameter

Restore task: Select the restore task from the drop-down list for which the event is going to be configured.

Backup selection

Select As defined in task option if you want to run the restore exactly as defined by the task parameters using the same backup saveset. If you want to adjust the restore task, for example to use the most recent backup saveset, select the Custom option. In the latter case, you can define the following settings:

Relative backup day: from - to as a relative indication of the number of days that have passed since the backup. Negative numbers specify days in the past, while positive numbers specify days in the future. For example, 2 weeks ago until now: from date = -14 to date = 0.
State: You can select the condition of the backup that will be used for restore:
- Successful or with warnings (default)
- Only successful
- Only with warnings
- Partially restorable (cancelled backups)
Selection: Provides the criteria according to which the backup saveset to be restored is defined:
- Youngest: The most recent backup in the range of the relative backup day will be used for restore.
- Oldest: The eldest backup in the range of the relative backup day will be used for restore.
Backup level: You can select the level of the backup which will be restored (C, F, D or I).
Pool restriction: You can define that a saveset must come from the specified media pool.

Sequence control

Priority: The priority of your restore event. Default priority level is 1, which is the lowest priority (the highest is 99). The only exceptions are schedules with priority 0, which override all other priorities and are always executed. See Setting event priorities.
Blocking date: Used together with high priority for special events. See Blocking events.

Destination parameter

Drive: Optionally, specify the drive number of the drive that will be used to write the data.

New migration event

Migration event represents the last step in a migration job configuration. First a migration task is created by selecting the backed up data, source and target media pool. Next is a migration schedule, to which a migration event is linked.

Creating a migration event consists of reviewing migration task execution parameters and (optionally) setting event priority. For details, see Configuring Migration.

Task name: Name of the migration task, e.g., MIG_Si3_mly_to_mig_3mly.

Sequence control

Priority: Event priority is used for resolving scheduling conflicts. Priorities can be assigned to schedules, from lowest (1, default) to highest (99). For details, see Event Priority.
Blocking date: A blocking event is any type of event with a higher priority that obstructs another event. A blocking event only affects other events with the same name when schedules are overlapping. For details, see Blocking Events.

Media pool

Pool: The source media pool from which the data will be migrated, e.g., source_mediapool (non-editable parameter).
Drive: Drive number of the drive that will be used to read the data (non-editable parameter).
Interface: The network interface of the server through which the data transfer will be executed, e.g., the name of the Remote Device Server (RDS) (non-editable parameter).

Destination

Pool: You can change the target media pool to which the data will be migrated, e.g., target_mediapool.
Drive: Optionally, change the drive number of the drive that will be used to write the data. Typically, you use this if you have configured additional drives and you want to assign dedicated drives for migration jobs. For details, see the option Create second drive in Configuring a Data Store.
Interface: Optionally, specify the network interface of the server through which the data transfer will be executed, e.g., the name of the Remote Device Server (RDS).

Backup date

To define the time frame of the backups that will be migrated, you can specify it either according to dates – Date or select the option Relative backup date. With values entered in the from/to fields of the Relative backup date you define the number of days in the past that are considered for data migration, meaning all data in the source media pool that was backed up within a given period of time is going to be migrated to the target pool. For example, to migrate all data from the past week including the current Sesam day, the Relative backup date is set to -7 while to is set to 0. Or, to migrate all data from the last 10 days, specify the relative time frame from -10 to 0.
In the drop-down list Based on, the Sesam days option is selected by default. Sesam day is a backup day you define according to your backup routines. For example, your backups can run after midnight but retain the backup date of the prior day. Sesam day/backup day is defined by time set in the NEWDAY event. For details, see SEPuler: SEP sesam backup day.

Backup State

You can select the backup completion status of the savesets you want to migrate: Successfully or with warnings (default), Only successful or partially restorable (containing data from cancelled backups).
Copy migrated savesets again: If selected, a saveset that has already been migrated can be migrated again.
Delete after successful migration: If selected, a saveset will be deleted after successful migration.

Backup level

Select the backup level you want to migrate (COPY, FULL, DIFF, INC): C F D I G, where G means a special backup level generation. The G backup level enables you to migrate a complete backup cycle in one step thus providing everything you need for disaster recovery. For example, the combination of selected backup levels I and G within the specified time frame -1 to 0 in the Relative backup date would migrate all incremental backups from yesterday up to today as well as all dependent incremental and differential backups of the respective backup chain including the last associated full backup. This ensures that in need of disaster recovery all required backups are available on the storage media.

Number of copies

Copies: Select how many times may the backed up data be migrated. Default is 0, meaning that data migration is unlimited.

Object

Task: If you select a particular backup task as a source, only this task within the defined time frame is migrated.
Task group: If you select a task group as a source, only the tasks of this task group within the defined time frame are migrated.
Client: If you select a particular client, only the backups for this client within the defined time frame are migrated.

Special filter

Start media: Standard is "*" for all media. Optionally, you can select only one medium from the source media pool to be migrated. You should pay special attention in order not to break a backup chain that might span across more media. If you select to migrate solely one medium, then only the backups that are stored on this medium are migrated regardless whether they belong to a wider backup set or not.
Saveset: Standard is "*" for all savesets. Optionally, you can select only one saveset to be migrated according to its ID.
Paralell migration: Select (default) or deselect the check box Parallel migration. If selected, data can be migrated concurrently using multiple streams, thus improving the migration speed.
Note: Optionally, add additional information about the migration.

New replication event

Creating a replication event consists of reviewing replication task execution parameters and (optionally) setting event priority. For details, see Replication.

Name: The name of the replication task, e.g., rep-source_mediapool-to-target_mediapool.

Sequence control

Priority: Event priority is used for resolving scheduling conflicts. Priorities can be assigned to schedules, from lowest (1, default) to highest (99). For details, see Event Priority.
Blocking date: A blocking event is any type of event with a higher priority that obstructs another event. A blocking event only affects other events with the same name when schedules are overlapping. For details, see Blocking Events.

Media pool

Pool: The name of the source media pool from which the data will be replicated, e.g., source_mediapool (non-editable parameter).
Drive: The drive number of the drive that will be used to read the data (non-editable parameter).
Interface: The network interface of the RDS through which the data transfer will be executed, e.g., the name of the RDS (non-editable parameter).

Destination

Pool: The name of the target media pool to which the data will be replicated, e.g., target_mediapool (non-editable parameter).
Drive: The drive number of the drive that will be used to read the data (non-editable parameter).
Interface: The network interface of the RDS through which the data transfer will be executed, e.g., the name of the RDS (non-editable parameter).

Backup date

Date: You can define the time frame of the backups that will be replicated. It is recommended that you use the option Relative backup date instead.
Relative backup date: You can define the time frame of the backups that will be replicated by specifying appropriate values for the from/to fields. These fields specify the number of days in the past that are considered for replication, meaning all data in the source media pool that was backed up within a given period of time is going to be considered for replication to the remote pool. For example, to replicate all data from the past week, the Relative backup date is set to -7 while to is set to 0. Because the replication will always replicate only new blocks of data, you can specify a really high number in the from field, such as -99.999. This way all backups since the initial replication will always be checked, but only the changed data is going to be replicated.

	Note
	Only the savesets with status successful and with warnings are selected for replication, while savesets with errors and only partially restorable savesets (containing data from cancelled backups) are not replicated.

Based on
The Sesam days option is selected by default. Sesam day is a backup day you define according to your backup routines. For example, your backups can run after midnight but retain the backup date of the prior day. Sesam day/backup day is defined by time set in the NEWDAY event. For details, see NEWDAY Event.
Note: Optionally, add additional information about the replication.

New media event

No longer available in the ≥ Jaglion version. The following explanation is therefore only relevant for versions ≤ Beefalo V2.

A media event can be a user-defined event or an internal event created by SEP sesam. For example, if the specified media are unavailable at the start of a backup or if the end of media (EOM) is reached during data transfer, SEP sesam creates an internal media event which determines the next media for the backup. If no other media events are conﬁgured in the schedule, only internal media events are executed. For details, see Creating a Media Event.

Sequence control

Priority: Event priority is used for resolving scheduling conflicts. Priorities can be assigned to schedules, from lowest (1, default) to highest (99). For details, see Event Priority.
Blocking date: A blocking event is any type of event with a higher priority that obstructs another event. A blocking event only affects other events with the same name when schedules are overlapping. For details, see Blocking Events.

Media actions

Initialize: Initializing media prepares it for use with SEP sesam. Initialization process rewrites the tape label. Any existing information on tape are deleted. A media event prepares the medium of the selected pool to be used for backup.
Readability check: The readability check tests the backup data readability. During the check the data on medium is read in blocks, and the structure of tape is checked and recorded. For details, see Configuring a Readability Check.
Archive adjustment: An archive adjustment scans media in selected loader to update SEP sesam information about the media in the loader. It is required if the media in the loader have changed, for example if new media are added. For details, see Setting up Archive Adjustment.
Close tape: Closing the tape means that EOM (End of Media) is created on tape regardless of whether it is full or not. Such a tape can no longer be used for storing the data.

Under the Parameter, depending on previously chosen media event, some or all of the following options may be available:

Media pool: Defines the media pool that is used for the media event.
Drive: Optionally, you can define a specific drive for the event execution. If a drive is not selected, SEP sesam Server automatically selects one of the available drives.
Media: Optionally, you can select the medium that you want to use. If no medium is selected, SEP sesam Server automatically assigns the medium with the oldest EOL. For details on GET_OLDEST strategy, see Media Strategy.
Options: If required, set additional execution options.
Drive group: Displays the name of the drive group that belong to the media pool.
Loader, First slot, Last slot, etc.: Archive adjustment-related parameters. For details on all archive adjustment-related options, see Creating a Media Event.

New command event

The command event can be scheduled to be executed automatically.

	Note
	The procedure for creating command events is version dependent. Be sure to follow the appropriate instructions: Creating a Command Event in ≥ 5.0.0 Jaglion Creating a Command Event in ≤ Beefalo V2

The following screenshot and the explanation of the options show the command event in SEP sesam version Beefalo V2.

Sequence control

Priority: Define a priority of your command event. SEPuler always executes the schedules with higher priority first. Default priority level is 1, which is the lowest priority (the highest is 99). The only exception are the schedules with priority 0, which override all other priorities and are always executed. For details, see Event Priority.
Blocking date: This should be used together with high priority for special events. If checked, the blocking event will block events of the same type of a lower priority, ensuring the command event to be processed in case other command events are scheduled at the same time. See Blocking Events.

Parameter

Name: Enter a name for the new event or search for and select an already existing command event. Searching for command opens a new window, where you can add a new command event, copy an already existing command event, select which existing command event you want to use again by clicking the Select button, and change or delete an existing command event.

Client: Select a client, on which the command will be executed.
User: Enter the user name of a user with sufficient access to execute the command on the client.
Retention time: Specify for how long (in days) the command event results and logs will be kept.
Command: Enter the complete command.
Add to command: Optionally, add additional parameters to command, e.g., sm_sho.

	Tip
	You can also access the configured commands from the menu bar -> Configuration -> Command.

Access limitation of command events

Command event starts any executable command on the chosen client. Since there are certain security issues to consider, not every command can be implemented by each user on specific clients. Without additional entries only commands entered in the system directory at <SESAM_ROOT>/bin/sesam are allowed. Within these commands, e.g., a shell script, any desired commands can be released to selected users.

If a command should be started from another directory before the regular backup starts, this must be entered/permitted at the target client.

UNIX

External commands are executed only if the user and command are inserted into the file /etc/sesam_cmdusers.allow on the client computer. Therefore, if necessary, the template from path <SESAM-BIN>/skel/templates must be copied to /etc and adapted accordingly.

Format: 'user command|*  ( * = all commands can be started)

Windows

External commands are only executed if the user and command are inserted into the registry on the client computer at key //HKLM/SOFTWARE/SEP Elektronik GmbH/sesam/CommandEvents/<user>/<command>.

Command	Execution
*	all instructions
`cmd /c`	all DOS instructions (`dir`, etc.)
`DOS command (e.g., dir)`	only specific DOS command (e.g., `dir`)
`specific command (e.g., ping)`	only specific command (e.g., `ping`)

Additionally on the client computer the entry CTRLD_Path=ID/bin/sesam;ID/bin/sms in the file ID/var/ini/sm.ini in section [CTRLD_Server] must be extended with the directories where the desired programs reside.

	Note
	Many errors are made when setting up the desired user permissions and allowed commands: The necessary entries are not entered in the target client directories, not entered in the server or are entered incorrectly. Instead of entering the command as a key it is entered as a character string.

New Newday event

SEP sesam Newday is a predefined SEP sesam daily event that resets the backup event calendar and is managed by the SEPuler. It is used by SEP sesam to reorder its database and enable uninterrupted activity of SEP sesam processes, therefore it must never be completely deactivated or it will cause SEP sesam to stop working properly. For details, see NEWDAY Event.

Events

Shows an overview of the configured backup, restore, migration, replication, media, command and Newday events. These are the events that SEPuler permanently checks and executes (if the start time is reached) in chronological order. For details, see SEP sesam Events.

	Note
	You can check the status of all events online by using new Web UI. For details, see SEP sesam Web UI. In v. ≥ 5.0.0 Jaglion, you can use the new quick filter when using the GUI to show/hide unscheduled tasks, tasks in the task groups, and filter the results by type (backup, backup group, etc.) and/or level (copy, full, etc.).

The View Mode button allows you to switch between the table view and the tree view with grouped objects.

Tree view: The default view of SEP sesam shows the status of individual locations grouped in a hierarchical view.

Table view: A simple flat view that shows the status of individual locations one by one.

Calendar Sheet

An overview of scheduled as well as completed, expired events and their current status is provided by Calendar sheet from the Main selection -> Scheduling -> Calendar Sheet. All events are recorded by SEPuler.

You can check your backup-, restore-, migration-, replication-, media-, command- and Newday events. For details, see SEP sesam Events.

	Note
	As of 4.4.3 Beefalo V2, you can also check the status of your events online by using new Web UI. For details, see SEP sesam Web UI.

SEP sesam calculates 14 days offline in advance. Therefore this information can be displayed very quickly. Days further out in the future are calculated online, but this may take some time.

You can refresh the calendar immediately (Refresh option), or every 10 seconds automatically (Auto update option).

Changes in schedules are also updated online, thus the user can immediately see the updated calendar.

GUI: Job State

All Results by State

From Main Selection -> Job State -> All Results, you can check the details of all jobs (backups, restores, migrations, etc.). You can filter the results by Date range and clients (by time, by client and/or by location), by State (in progress, failed, successful, all states) and by Type (event type and backup level).

As of 4.4.3 Beefalo V2, you can also check the details of your jobs online by using new Web UI. For details, see SEP sesam Web UI.

	Note
	You can use a force refresh by clicking Shift and Refresh button to clear the GUI cache memory. In some cases clicking only the Refresh button won't show the updated view.

The following information is displayed:

Job ID
Event Type: backup, restore, media, etc.
State: successful, active, error, etc.
Object: The name of the object being processed.
Task: The name of the task.
Start/Stop time: Recorded start and stop time of the job.
Sesam date: Sesam day is a backup day you define according to your backup routines. For example, your backups can run after midnight but retain the backup date of the prior day. Sesam day/backup day is defined by time set in the NEWDAY event. For details, see SEPuler: SEP sesam backup day.
Saveset: Backup copy ID.
Client: The name of the client.
Backup EOL: The expiry date for all data that belongs to the same backup.
Drive: The number of the drive used by a job.
Data size: The size of the data specified in KiB, MiB.
Throughput: Average throughput of the process.
Duration: Duration of the job.
Session ID: SEP sesam session ID.
Pool: The name of the used media pool.
Message: Information of the performed action, e.g., Backup completed successfully.
Note: Comment of the user.

Backups by state

From Job State -> Backups, you can check the details of all performed backups, such as status, backup EOL, data size, throughput, etc. You can filter backup operations by time, by client or location, by their status and/or by event type.

	Note
	You can check the details of your backups online by using Web UI. For details, see SEP sesam Web UI.

You can change the order of the columns by dragging-and-dropping the selected columns. By selecting a task and clicking the button Properties or by simply double-clicking the task you can view its details. An active task can be canceled by selecting it and clicking the button Cancel.

By right-clicking a column header the following pop-up menu appears:

It enables you to resize the columns, to show all hidden columns or to set up displayed columns. By selecting Column Selection, you can simply select the relevant check boxes to set up which columns will be displayed.

View Mode

The View Mode button enables you to switch between table view and tree view and group the same backup task states in one item.

Tree view: SEP sesam default view shows the status of individual backup tasks grouped in a hierarchical view.
Table view: A simple flat view shows the status of each backup task in turn.
Group by: You can group the same backup tasks in one item (by task, by task and date or by task and subgroup by date) and view their current status. Grouping allows you to quickly check the success of backup jobs (useful for backups that run several times a day and generate a large number of backup jobs in one day, such as SAP HANA or Oracle). You can identify the status of a grouped task by the color of the State column. If the grouping contains backup jobs with different states, the icon is displayed in two colors. For example, a square with green at the top and red at the bottom means that the last run of the task was successful, while a previous run ended with errors.

	Tip
	In some cases, clicking the Refresh button is not enough to display the updated view. You can clear the GUI cache memory by using a force refresh: press the Shift and Refresh buttons to reload the view.

Filter

The Filter is located at the top right of the window. You can filter the jobs by date, by client or location, by their status, by task name, and/or by event type.

	Note
	The control window all servers is only visible for the SEP sesam Master GUI. With this option, the system administrator can manage specific SEP sesam Servers from a single location.

Filter: Date range and clients

Use Date range and clients to filter backup jobs by date, by client and/or by location.

Date (Sesam Date): Use the date range specification from/to to specify the date range for the displayed backups.

Filter:

Location: Filters the backups according to the specified location.
Client: Filters the backups according to the selected individual client.
All servers: This switch is only available in a Master GUI environment. It is used by the system administrator to display the backups of all servers that are managed with the Master GUI.

Filter: State

Use the State filter to display or hide the backups according to one or more selected states.

In Progress

In queue: If the start time of a task is reached, but SEP sesam is still busy with other jobs, the task is placed to a job queue and executed by SEPuler according to its priority.
Active: The backup job is currently running.

Failed

Canceled: Backup job is canceled by user.
Error: Fatal error occurred during the backup, therefore the backup has failed.

Successful

Successful: Backup has finished successfully.
Warning: A warning occurs during the backup.

All states

On: If selected, all backup jobs are displayed regardless of their status.

Filter: Type

You can filter the jobs by event type, such as backup, command, etc., and further refine the displayed results by backup level (when applicable; Full, Diff, Inc, Copy).

Events

Newday: Shows predefined SEP sesam daily event (NEWDAY) which is used to define a new backup day.
Backup: Shows all backup events.
Migrations (available in v. ≤ 4.4.3 Beefalo V2): If turned on, the migrations are displayed next to the backups. This can be useful when periodic dependencies should be compared.
Startup: Shows startup events that are running after the SEP sesam Server is restarted. These events are not running regularly; they are triggered automatically by server startup.

Command: Shows all command events.
Group: This is a placeholder for grouping of single tasks and can be turned on/off.

Filter: Task name

You can filter the backup tasks by their name. They are displayed under the search field. You can select one or more tasks by holding down the CTRL-key and clicking the name(s).

Filter: Filter settings

In the Filter settings you can activate or deactivate the automatic refresh of the result table.

Properties of a finished backup

You can view the details of a specific task by selecting and double-clicking it (or by clicking the Properties button).

Info 1

Displays information about saveset, level, drives, backup EOL, etc.

Saveset: The name of the saveset.
Location: The location of the client.
Media pool: The name of the media pool used for the backup.
Drive: The number of the used drive for backup.
Start/Stop time: Recorded start and stop time of the backup job.
Backup EOL: You can click the drop-down list for the Backup EOL and modify the expiry date for all data that belongs to the same backup. Note that modifying backup EOL will affect all backups in a backup chain, if a saveset with adjusted backup EOL is a part of it. For details, see Changing Retention (EOL).
State: Status of the backup (Successful, Error, etc.)
Client: The name of the backup client.
Level: Backup level (F=Full, C=Copy, I=Incremental, D=Differential).
Size: The size of the backed up data specified in bytes.
Throughput: Average throughput of the process.
Overall duration: Duration of the backup.
Locked: Savesets of this backup must not be deleted.

Note

In SEP sesam ≤ 4.4.3 Beefalo V2, the backup locked status is only applied to the selected backup, so you need to manually lock all backups in a backup chain as well as migrated and replicated backups. With v. 5.0.0 Jaglion, the locked status is automatically applied to all savesets of a backup (backup chain, migrated and replicated savesets). You can also lock your backups in SEP sesam Web UI.

Storage Location: All backup task related storage details, e.g., media, saveset EOL, etc.
Message: Detailed information about the backup status.

Info 2

Information about media number, system backup, backup source, SBC start and runtime, status of encryption and compression, etc.

Main Log

Main log is the log of the SEP sesam Client (SBC) processing. It records the events that occur during a backup process (startup/shutdown information, errors, etc.) depending on the configured log level. Every time the EOL is modified, the corresponding information is shown in the main log. Note that as an advanced user it is possible to set up a higher log level than default to get more information about the specific backup. See Setting Log Level.

The new Download button enables you to download a current main log file or the archive with all files included.

Trace Log

Trace log (lgc log) is the log of the SEP sesam kernel modules. It records detailed information about the backup process depending on the configured log level. Trace logs are typically used for analysis and debugging purposes.

	Note
	The Trace log tab is only available in advanced UI mode (formerly expert GUI mode). To check the Trace log, make sure your UI mode is set to advanced. For details, see Selecting UI mode.

Running SEP sesam with a higher log level than default might be useful when you want to get more information about specific events or modules or when asked by support in the course of diagnosing your specific problem. Note that increasing the log level increases the amount of information being logged and may negatively affect the performance of SEP sesam. For details, see Setting log level globally for SEP sesam kernel modules.

The new Download button enables you to download a current trace log file or the archive with all files included.

Pre Log

Pre log is only shown if you have activated a Pre interface (automatically via GUI: Configuration -> Interfaces) to perform the specific operation before a backup job is started, e.g., stop a database or an antivirus service before the backup. For details, see Using Pre and Post Scripts.

Post Log

Post log is only shown if you have activated a Post interface (automatically via GUI: Configuration -> Interfaces) to perform a specific operation when the backup session stops, e.g., starting a database or shutting down a computer after the backup. For details, see Using Pre and Post Scripts.

Savesets

The Savesets tab lists all currently saved backups. For details on how to check backup chain dependencies, see Backup Chain Dependencies.

Restores by state

From Job State -> Restores, you can check all performed restores and their details, such as status, data size, media pool, start/stop time, etc. Restore operations can be filtered by time, by client, by location and by status (successfull, canceled, active, etc.). For detailed description of the filter options, see State Filter.

	Tip
	You can also check the details of your restores online by using Web UI. For details, see SEP sesam Web UI.

You can change the order of the columns by dragging-and-dropping the selected columns. By selecting a task and clicking the button Properties or by simply double-clicking the task you can view its details. An active task can be canceled by selecting it and clicking the button Cancel. Note that any data transferred before canceling the restore job stays on the target system.

With the button View Mode you can switch between the table view and the tree view.

Tree view: SEP sesam default view shows the status of individual restore tasks grouped together in a hierarchical view.
Table view: A simple flat view that shows the status of individual restore tasks one after another.

	Tip
	In some cases clicking only the Refresh button won't show the updated view. You can clear the GUI cache memory by using a force refresh: press both Shift and Refresh button to reload the view.

Properties of a finished restore

You can view the details of a specific task by selecting and double-clicking it (or by clicking the Properties button).

Info 1

Displays information about restore size, restore settings, restore status, etc.

ID: The saveset ID.
Saveset: The name of the saveset.
User: The name of the user running the restore.
Size: The size of the restored data specified in GiB.
Restore type: Complete, generation or selective restore
Tree type: Hierarchical or flat
Mode: Specified execution option for the restore, e.g., Overwrite.
Used labels: List of the used media.
Message: Detailed status report, e.g., Restore completed successfully.

Info 2

Displays information about the restore status, target client, target path, etc.

State: Restore status, e.g., Successful, Error, etc.
Backup task: The name of the backup task used for the restore.
Interfaces: If selected the name of the server from which the files have been restored. This is either a Remote Device Server (RDS) or SEP sesam Server.
Location: The location of the target client.
Client: The name of the target system.
Drive: The number of the used disk drive for restore.
Backup count: The number of the used backup task.
Start/Stop time: Recorded start and stop time of the restore job.
Target: Specified target path for restore.
Comment: Additional information.

Info 3

Shows the expert options which may have been specified in the restore wizard, if the restore was configured in the advanced UI mode (formerly expert GUI mode).

	Note
	The Expert Options button for specifying advanced restore options is available only in advanced UI mode (formerly expert GUI mode). To use Expert Options, make sure your UI mode is set to advanced. For details, see Selecting UI mode.

Options: Specified advanced SEP sesam options, e.g., for setting a higher log level: -v 3.
Reduction path: Specified new target location for the restore (by relocation).
File filter: If specified, only the data that matches the filter criteria is restored.

Main Log

Main log is the log of the SEP sesam Client (SBC) processing. It records the events that occur during a restore process (startup/shutdown information, errors, etc.) depending on the configured log level for the restore. Note that as an advanced user it is possible to set up a higher log level than default to get more information about specific restore. See Setting Log Level.

The new Download button enables you to download a current main log file or the archive with all files included.

Trace Log

Trace log (lgc log) is the log of the SEP sesam kernel modules. It records detailed information about the restore process depending on the configured log level. Trace logs are typically used for analysis and debugging purposes.

	Note
	The Trace log tab is displayed only in advanced UI mode (formerly expert GUI mode). To check the trace log, make sure your UI mode is set to advanced. For details, see Selecting UI mode.

Running SEP sesam with a higher log level than default might be useful when you want to get more information about specific events or modules or when asked by support in the course of diagnosing your specific problem. Note that increasing the log level increases the amount of information being logged and may negatively affect the performance of SEP sesam. For details, see Setting log level globally for SEP sesam kernel modules.

The new Download button enables you to download a current trace log file or the archive with all files included.

Pre Log

Pre log is only shown if you have activated a Pre interface (automatically via GUI: Configuration -> Interfaces) to perform the specific operation before a restore job is started, e.g., stop an antivirus service before the restore. For details, see Using Pre and Post Scripts.

Post Log

Post log is only shown if you have activated a Post interface (automatically via GUI: Configuration -> Interfaces) to perform the specific operation when the restore session stops, e.g., shutting down a computer after the restore. For details, see Using Pre and Post Scripts.

Migrations and replications

Migration is the process of copying backed-up data from one media pool to another, for example, from disk to tape. You can check the status of your migration or replication job from Main selection -> Job State -> Migrations and Replications.

	Note
	As of 4.4.3 Beefalo V2, you can check the details of your migrations and replications online by using new Web UI. For details, see SEP sesam Web UI.

Migration and replication use similar filters and selections as does SEP sesam backup system, for details see Backups by State.

The columns provide details on status, start and stop time, media pools, etc., used for the migration or replication task.

You can also examine the progress of the replication and see how much data is being transferred; you can check data size, physical and nominal data in the columns Data Size, Transferred, Transferred (Brutto) and Progress, respectively. For details, see Checking replication status.

With v. 4.4.3. Beefalo, SEP sesam provides additional View Mode button that enables you to switch between the table and tree view.

Tree view: SEP sesam default view shows the status of individual migration or replication tasks grouped together in a hierarchical view.
Table view: A simple flat view that shows the status of individual migration or replication tasks one after another.

	Note
	You can use a force refresh by clicking Shift and Refresh button to clear the GUI cache memory. In some cases clicking only the Refresh button won't show the updated view.

Properties of the migration or replication

You can view the details of a specific migration or replication task by double-clicking it (or by clicking the Properties button).

Information tab

Displays information about migration or replication status, pool, size, etc.

Migration task: The name of the migration or replication task.
ID: Unique ID of the task.
Sesam day: Sesam day is a backup day you define according to your backup routines. Sesam day/backup day is defined by time set in the NEWDAY event. For details, see SEPuler: SEP sesam backup day.
Source pool: Media pool from which the data will be migrated or replicated, e.g., disk.
Source/target drive: The number of the source or target drive used by a job.
Start/Stop time: Recorded start and stop time of the migration or replication.
State: Displays the status of the migration or replication, e.g., Successful.
Size: Size of the saveset.
Target pool: Media pool to which the data will be migrated or replicated, e.g., tape.
Throughput: The average throughput of the entire check process.

Other details show the client and task name, saveset ID, interface, backup state, etc.

To display the status of a single copy job in a migration task the same dialog is used as for the normal migration task, but the displayed fields are slightly different.

You can check the migration main log under the Main Log tab. The log of a migration copy job is a subset of Restores by State.

Media actions

Media actions provides an overview of all media actions, such as introduction in the SEP sesam environment, initialization, readability check, purge, etc., within the specified time frame. By default, all media actions of the last backup day are displayed. By using Filter, you can filter operations by date range and/or media action and status. Filter settings remain in effect even if you switch to another tab and are dismissed when the Media actions tab is closed.

	Note
	As of 4.4.3 Beefalo V2, you can check the details of your media actions online by using new Web UI. For details, see SEP sesam Web UI.

The following media actions might be displayed:

Introduce (intro): A new medium is registered in the SEP sesam environment.
Initialize (init): A process that validates if a medium is available for backup. If a medium meets the requirements (e.g., its EOL has expired and it is not write-protected – locked), it can then be initialized, deleting all data contained on it and preparing it for use again.
Inventory: A process that scans media in the device and updates SEP sesam information about the media in the tape library.
Check (read check): A process that verifies the readability of the backup on tape media.
Purge: A data store related process. When the upper value for the used disk space on the data store – HWM is reached, a data store purge process is started for all EOL-free savesets. The oldest free savesets are deleted first.
Fsck: Is a file system consistency check on Unix, Linux, MacOS and FreeBSD.
Check space: A process that checks available space on the medium.

There are also other media actions which might be displayed, e.g., Ballance, Remove, Write protect, Sync, etc.

With v. 4.4.3. Beefalo, SEP sesam provides additional View Mode button that enables you to switch between the table and tree view.

Tree view: SEP sesam default view shows the status of individual media action grouped together in a hierarchical view.
Table view: A simple flat view that shows the status of individual media action one after another.

	Note
	You can use a force refresh by clicking Shift and Refresh button to clear the GUI cache memory. In some cases clicking only the Refresh button won't show the updated view.

Properties of the media actions

You can view the details of each listed media action by double-clicking the desired action (or by selecting a table row and clicking the button Properties). Depending on the media action, the following tabs might be displayed.

Info tab

Depending on the media action, the following information might be displayed:

Action: The type of the media action, e.g., purge.
State: Current status of the performed action, e.g., OK, Error, Active ...
Label: (If relevant) A SEP sesam identifier of the medium.
Data store: The name of the data store.
Start/Stop time: Recorded start and stop time of the media action.
Message: Additional information about the operation's status.
ID: SEP sesam unique ID of the action.
Planned for: The scheduled start date and time of the media action.
Run: The total number of runs for the media action in question.
Prio: Priority of the media action.
Pool: Media pool that contains the medium.
Drive: The drive that added the medium.
Device: On physical drives, this is the device ID of the operating system. On virtual drives, this is the SEP sesam logical drive number.
Throughput: (If relevant) The average throughput of the operation.
Session ID: (If relevant) SEP sesam session ID.
Size: (If relevant) Number of the read 64 kByte blocks.

Main Log tab

The main log contains log entries for the respective media action. The messages shown in the log depend on media action.

For example, the readability check protocol of a medium contains the following information:

When the readability check was executed.
On which device the medium was checked.
The SEP sesam label of the medium.
The last time the medium was initialized.
The read throughput every minute.
Information of the stored savesets on the medium.
Display all segment marks of the tape.
State of the readability check at the end of the protocol.

Si3 State, HPE Catalyst Store State and HPE Cloud Bank Store State tabs

Provide an overview of Si3 deduplication, HPE Catalyst store or HPE Cloud Bank store status. You can check the status of the processes, encryption status, saved storage space, etc.

GUI: Monitoring

Last backup state

In this view you can check previously executed jobs with their last backup state. Furthermore, you can see jobs which have never been backed up. You can filter the results by date range, states, tasks and event types.

As of 4.4.3 Beefalo V2, you can check the details of your jobs online by using new Web UI. For details, see SEP sesam Web UI.

The last backup state window shows the last run of a backup event in order to find possible errors and fix them.

Right-clicking on the successful backup opens the context menu that provides quick access to several functions (properties, immediate start, etc.). Note that the options for canceled or failed backup are slightly different from the options for a successful backup (shown in the screenshot below).

Processes

From Main Selection -> Monitoring -> Processes, you can check the status of SEP sesam processes on the SEP sesam Server.

	Note
	As of 4.4.3 Beefalo V2, you can also monitor your processes online by using new Web UI. For details, see SEP sesam Web UI.

You can also use the command line to display all processes and daemons with the following command:

sm_main status

The following output appears:

2020-01-25 13:11:07: sm_main[11897] started	
2020-01-25 13:11:07: Arguments: sm_main status	
2020-01-25 13:11:07: qm [ 19672]: online	
2020-01-25 13:11:07: Found job: 1 db 1 19680 11:46 2019-12-27	
2020-01-25 13:11:09: db [ 19680]: online	
2020-01-25 13:11:09: Found job: 447 passd 1 7970 09:30 2020-01-25	
2020-01-25 13:11:09: passd [ 7970]: online	
2020-01-25 13:11:09: Found job: 448 sms 1 7979 09:30 2020-01-25	
2020-01-25 13:11:09: sms [ 7979]: online	
2020-01-25 13:11:09: Found job: 446 stpd 1 7961 09:30 2020-01-25	
2020-01-25 13:11:09: stpd [ 7961]: online	
2020-01-25 13:11:09: Found job: 5 ctrl 1 19808 11:46 2019-12-27	
2020-01-25 13:11:09: ctrl [ 19808]: online	
2020-01-25 13:11:09: Found job: 6 sepuler 1 19813 11:47 2019-12-27	
2020-01-25 13:11:09: sepuler [ 19813]: online	
2020-01-25 13:11:09: Found job: 329 rmi 1 13672 12:43 2020-01-18	
2020-01-25 13:11:09: rmi [ 13672]: online	
STATUS=SUCCESS MSG=All deamons online

For example, if the rmi demon is not available the following output would be displayed:

2020-01-25 13:11:09: rmi [13672]: offline

If a process/daemon is offline, it can be restarted by using the command line.

Example for rmi:

sm_main reload rmi

Monitoring drives

Monitoring drives shows the drive queue. By selecting all (*) or selecting the desired drive number from the drop-down list, and clicking the Refresh button, the information about the queue is displayed.

A queue is managed by a queue manager (QM). SEPuler and some other internal processes send their tasks as jobs to the queue manager which coordinates the execution. The jobs are processed according to their priority. The required queues are created by SEP sesam during the configuration of drives.

First, initialization of queues takes place. Then it is determined which job in a queue will first get access (submit) to a busy device. The job limit (channels) of the queue defines the amount of simultaneously running tasks. At the time a task is scheduled to run, it is placed in a queue and executed according to its priority. If the scheduled task cannot run because of the job limit of the queue, it is put in a pending state. For more details on priorities and what happens with pending tasks, see the SEPuler.

GUI: Logging

State

SEP sesam creates a state log. One line is written for each backup in chronological order. This information is saved as files in <SESAM_VAR>/prot and can also be used for further processing (print, email).

	Note
	As of 4.4.3 Beefalo V2, you can also check your system logs online by using new Web UI. For details, see SEP sesam Web UI.

Options

From - To: The date selection allows filtering of the output. By clicking Refresh the updated view is displayed.

	Note
	A backup day is defined by two Newday events. For details, see Newday Event.

Today, Yesterday: Shows logs from today or yesterday.
Help: Online help.
Send: Emails the log to your support service or any other predefined address.
Print: Prints the log by using the default printer.
Search: Enables searching for specific backups.

Day log

SEP sesam writes a continuous protocol for each backup day. All modules write messages with a time stamp attached to it. Each message contains a unique code consisting of message type (I=information, W=warning, E=error ), number and originating module.

You can filter the day log by using date selection (the from and to date) and search. By clicking Refresh, the updated view is displayed immediately.

Day log protocols are the first and most important starting point for problem analysis. You can find detailed help for problems and error messages in the Error Messages Guide. These errors and a PuTTy copy of the log file can be sent to SEP sesam support to provide detailed information on SEP sesam operations.

	Note
	As of 4.4.3 Beefalo V2, you can also check your system logs online by using new Web UI. For details, see SEP sesam Web UI.

Error log

The error log contains a record of critical errors that occurred during the backup day. It is a subset of the entire day log where only error messages are recorded.

	Note
	As of 4.4.3 Beefalo V2, you can also check your system logs online by using new Web UI. For details, see SEP sesam Web UI.

You can filter the error log by using date selection (the from and to date) and search. By clicking Refresh, the updated view is displayed immediately. You can send the log to SEP sesam support to provide detailed information on failures.

SEP sesam interface logs

From Main Selection -> Interfaces, you can check the log information of the SEP sesam Server interfaces (sm_alarm, sm_disaster and sm_notify).

	Tip
	As of 4.4.3 Beefalo V2, you can also check your system logs online by using new Web UI. For details, see SEP sesam Web UI.

You can filter the selected interface by using date selection (the from and to date) and search. By clicking Refresh, the updated view is displayed immediately. The logs can be printed or sent by email.

	Tip
	It is recommended that you configure the interfaces (Alarm, Disaster and/or Notify) to automate sending email reports of errors and license violations, log files, and to help carry out the disaster recovery process in case of a SEP sesam Server breakdown. For details, see Configuring interfaces.

GUI: Toolbar

The toolbar enables you to trigger the tasks and get the status overview with just one click. It contains the following icons:

Dashboard allows you to handily check SEP sesam operations and their status, and provides key metrics about your backup environment.
Immediate Start: Backup displays the backup dialog where you can select a task including all other parameters and start the backup immediately.
Restore Assistant opens the online restore assistant in the external web browser.
Restore Wizard opens the wizard that enables you to start the restore immediately.
Backups displays the list of all performed backups and their status.
Calendar Sheet displays an overview of all scheduled, completed and expired events with their current status.
About SEP sesam displays the SEP sesam version information.

By activating the option Docking Mode (Menu bar -> Window -> Manage layouts), this toolbar can be moved freely and can also be detached from the main window.

GUI: Menu

File

From the menu bar -> File, you can update SEP sesam GUI and import or export the SEP sesam database.

GUI Update: Get the latest GUI version from SEP sesam Server if the current version is out of date.

Import SEP sesam Database: Replace the current SEP sesam database. You can import the SEP sesam bootstrap database file which was attached in the email sent by the disaster interface. For details on how to prepare for SEP sesam Server self-recovery, see SEP sesam Server Disaster Recovery.

Export SEP sesam Database: Execute export of the entire SEP sesam database. In addition to the recommended periodical export of the SEP sesam database, performed as part of the SEP sesam self-backup, you can manually export the SEP sesam database.

Exit: Close all open windows. Running processes, such as backup and restore, are not affected.

GUI configuration options

You can access the configuration options from the menu bar -> Configuration. Configuration provides different settings and parameters that define SEP sesam look and feel as well as its behavior. The following functions are available by selecting the Configuration option in the menu bar.

Defaults

The options in the Defaults window allow you to change UI mode, customize GUI font and tables, set the preferred date format, retention periods for logs and restore tasks, define advanced settings (Extras), configure default permissions, and add or modify SEP sesam keys in the global settings.

General tab

Common (available in ≥ SEP sesam 4.4.3 Beefalo V2):
- Show SEP sesam web client landing page on startup: By default, SEP sesam Web UI landing page is opened when the GUI is started. Deselect the check box to prevent it from opening automatically when starting SEP sesam GUI.
- Use HTTPS for opening links in the external browser: By default, SEP sesam GUI opens the external links by using the HTTP protocol. By selecting the check box, you can enforce the usage of HTTPS protocol for external links. In this case, you have to accept the Sesam REST server security certificate.
UI Mode: You can select the appropriate UI mode: simple or advanced. (The former advanced GUI mode is now replaced by simple mode, while the former expert mode is replaced by advanced mode.) The appearance of the user interface does not change depending on the mode, but simple mode hides complex features and shows the user only a basic subset of options. Advanced mode provides all the features of SEP sesam, such as expert restore options, log level setting, etc. For details, see Selecting UI mode.
Restore Settings: You can select the Restore mode – restore interfaces that are available for restore and displayed in the context menu and toolbar (as of ≥ 5.0.0 Jaglion V2). It is recommended to use the web-based Restore Assistant instead of the Legacy restore (deprecated) option, which refers to the GUI restore wizard. Compared to the GUI restore wizard, the online Restore Assistant provides some additional advanced restore options and allows you to restore your data from anywhere with the appropriate permissions. You can also keep both interfaces available by selecting Display both possibilities.
Filter panels: You can select that filters are displayed/visible the whole time by enabling the option Show filter panels by default.
Help: The field Link to WEB help file sets the path to the SEP sesam Wiki main page, thus providing the latest updated version of help topics online. Use the Test It button to check the access to help files.

Fonts and Tables tab

You can customize your SEP sesam GUI appearance by changing:

Font: The predefined GUI font is plain. You can select Choose button to change the default font, font style and/or size.

	Tip
	You can reset GUI font settings to SEP sesam default at any time by using the Reset to Default button.

Font used in tables and trees: You can change the default font (proportional) to non-proportional (monospaced).
Table Striping: You can change the appearance of GUI tables by selecting one of the zebra striping tables from the drop-down list.
Date range (available in ≥ SEP sesam 4.4.3 Beefalo V2): You can set the date range for the displayed data by specifying the Maximum number of days for which the SEP sesam GUI will show the data. By default, it is set to -1 = unlimited.

Display Format tab

Under the tab Display Format, you can change the default setting for the date format as well as default setting for data size units. The data size can be specified either with decimal (KB, MB, GB, TB) or binary prefix (KiB, MiB, GiB, TiB, etc.). For details, see Changing data size units.

Install/Update tab

The tab Install/Update allows you to set the desired Update mode. By default, SEP sesam does not check, download and install updates. An icon (yellow ↓) notifying the user that an update is available is shown for the respective client and a popup notification on hover suggests that there is a new version available.

Depending on SEP sesam version (Beefalo V1 or v. ≥ Beefalo V2), the following options are available:

Turn off (hide from all users) (available in ≥ Beefalo V2): If selected, the install and update feature is not shown in the GUI. No install/update options are visible for any of the users, not even the administrator until this mode is switched on.
Do not check or install automatically (default) (in Beefalo V1: Do not download or install any updates): If selected, updates are not checked, downloaded nor installed when a new version is available.
Check automatically, but install manually (in Beefalo V1: Download updates automatically, but install manually): If selected, updates are checked by using index.txt from SEP Download Center to get the list of all available packages, but you have to download and install them manually.
Check, download and install automatically (in Beefalo V1: Download and install updates automatically): If selected, updates are automatically checked, downloaded and installed, based on SEP sesam NEWDAY, when a new version is available in the SEP Download Center. This option may not be recommended depending on the configuration of your SEP sesam environment and its activity.

You can also update your SEP sesam Clients by using a SEP sesam custom package source which may be stored locally, on the network drive, or is available at specified URL. The advantage of using a custom package is that you have full control over the version that is getting installed. For details, see Using custom SEP sesam package source.

Retention Periods tab

You can set up the retention period in days for SEP sesam logs, readability check logs, calendar sheet entries and restore tasks. The retention period is the time period for which the SEP sesam retaines specified data. Once the retention period expires, the data is removed from the database and is no longer available. Click the arrows to increase or decrease the predefined retention time per file.

SEP sesam logs: The default value for preserving the SEP sesam log files is 7 days.

Readability check logs: The default value for preserving the readability check log files is 2190 days.

Calendar sheet entries: The default retention time for old calendar sheet entries is 35 days.

Restore tasks: The default retention time for old restore tasks is 7 days.

Extras tab

Under the Extras tab, the following settings can be activated:

Switch off the scrolling for warning "30 days remaining for maintenance authorization": You can switch off the scrolling for notification about the pending expiration of updates. If there is no update permission, the notification never appears. After installing update, this option is reset.
Provide selection of "broken backups" in the restore wizard: If this option is checked, you are allowed to perform a restore from incomplete, broken, or interrupted backups. By default, this selection is not provided.
Number of trace log lines to display: The default value for trace log lines is 60. Click the arrows to increase or decrease the number of lines.
RSS notification polling interval: The default polling interval for RSS notification is 720 minutes. Click the arrows to increase or decrease the polling interval.
Compress LIS files: By default, the LIS files are compressed after 14 days. You can change the number of days after which the LIS files are compressed or deactivate the checkbox to prevent compression of LIS files.
Globally activate Changed Block Tracking (CBT): By default, the CBT is enabled to provide change tracking thus saving disk space with optimized block level incremental and differential backups of VMDKs. Note that disabling CBT globally will affect your backup performance and use more disk space. For more details, see Changed Block Tracking (CBT).
Log Download: In SEP sesam ≥ 4.4.3 Beefalo V2, you can set the maximum size of the log files archive. The default is 25 MiB (0 = unlimited).
Task name template: You can configure your own template to define the desired syntax of the backup task name. The backup task name is then generated automatically according to the new template whenever you create a new backup task. The template applies to all backup task types, except in the case that a different template has been entered directly into the SEP sesam database to be applied to the specific task type. For more details on template usage, see Task Name Template – Backup.

Permissions tab

You can configure the default permissons (ACLs) for all top level locations by simply selecting or adding the relevant user or group (ADMIN, OPERATOR, BACKUP or RESTORE), and enabling or disabling access (to locations) per user/group. For details on how to configure ACLs for a specific location or client, see Using Access Control Lists.

Settings tab

The Settings tab displays an overview of all internal GUI settings. You can insert or modify the keys, for example, to set up customized retention policy. For details, see Customizing retention policy.

Media types

Media Types window lists all media types defined in SEP sesam. Entries in black font are the media types currently used. They were set up in the database at the installation of SEP sesam and – contrary to the user defined media types (green font) – cannot be erased nor changed.

Media Type: Shows SEP sesam internal identification of the media type.
Drive Type: Shows SEP sesam internal drive types.
Capacity: Presents storage capacity of allowed media and drive combination. This combination determines which media can be inserted into which drives.

Command

You can create and define your own commands to be used for various tasks within SEP sesam environment.

When configuring a new command, you have to define the following:

Name: Enter the name for a new command.
Client: Select a client, on which the command will be executed.
User: Enter a user name of the user with sufficient access to execute the command on the client.
Command: Enter the complete command (and parameters, if required), e.g., eventlog.ps1.

Optionally, you can specify additional parameters for the command, which are appended to the end of the command line. Note that additional parameters for a command can also be specified when creating a command event.

As of version ≥ 5.0.0.15 Jaglion V2, you can also specify an abort command. Abort command will be run if the command event is cancelled during its execution. You can pass special parameters to the abort command using the placeholders $PID and $CMD. They will be replaced with the process ID, or the command parameters of the original command.

You can cancel a command event in Web UI (Monitoring -> All Results) or in the GUI (Main Selection -> Job State -> All Results). Select the active command event and then click Cancel in the menu bar.

	Warning
	Be careful with the abort command. It must not disturb or abort important processes or SEP sesam executions.

	Note
	When defining your own commands, some security considerations apply and are explained in Access restriction of command events.

Remote server (Master GUI only)

This option is used for the server administration of the Master GUI. It is possible to both configure or remove SEP sesam Servers or add new servers to the backup tree (menu bar -> Configuration -> Remote Server).

	Note
	The Remote Server option is only available in the SEP sesam Master GUI.

Server Name: The name of the SEP sesam Server in the network.
Connection: Shows if the Server is connected to the network (green = ON, red = broken, gray = OFF).
GUI Build: Displays the GUI version.
Operating System: OS of the SEP sesam Server.

The Master GUI allows the administrator to control all SEP sesam Servers in the SEP sesam environment.

When adding a new server to the SEP sesam Master GUI, the following parameters must be set.

Server name: Enter the name of the SEP sesam remote Server that you want to administer by using the master GUI.
Connection: You can set the connection to the server (ON or OFF).
Port: Define the port number for the client-server connection.
Note: Optionally, you can add a comment.

User Permissions

The User Permissions item is only visible if policy-based authentication is activated (default). For details, see Configuring Policy-Based Authentication.

In the User Permissions you can configure the user authorization. Options are admin (the only user role with full control over the SEP sesam), operator (monitors the SEP sesam Server backup status), backup (only allowed to start backups) and restore (only allowed to start restores). The assignment of permissions is user- and client-specific. If a non-authorized user or non-authorized client tries to create a GUI connection, it is rejected.

Note 1:

If the name resolution for the selected client is not complete (IP name and reverse lookup of the IP address), the connection is also rejected!

Note 2: Alternatively the SEP sesam program sm_setup can be utilized to assign user permissions:

Adding a user permission:
Removing a user permission:
View permissions of users or clients:

Permission Management

Introduced in v. 4.4.3, SEP sesam provides different authentication methods that are mutually exclusive. For details, see About Authentication and Authorization.

Depending on which authentication mode is active, one of the following options is shown:

Policy-based authentication is enabled by default. You can switch to database-based authentication by using the Activate Authentication button in the Permission Management window. If you choose not to activate the database-based authentication, policy-based authentication stays enabled. Policy-based authentication is configured in User Permissions (see previous menu option). For details, see Configuring Policy-Based Authentication.
When you turn on database-based authentication by using the Activate Authentication button, upon the restart of a GUI and SEP sesam client, you can use any of the 5 available tabs: Users, Groups, External Groups, Sources and Activation. You can create users, modify their settings, such as adding a user to the group or removing it from the group, delete users, create external groups and add the authentication sources for the LDAP/AD authentication. You can also deactivate the database-based authentication. For details on LDAP/AD authentication, see Configuring LDAP/AD Authentication.

Email Settings

The email settings allow to configure the email accounts that can be used for sending emails from the SEP sesam interface or from the command line. The default email account is sesam.

By clicking New, the Email Account window opens:

Account: Name of the account (mandatory)
Customer: Name of the customer
Sender: Email address of the sender
SMTP server: Name or IP address of the outgoing mail server
SMTP user: User name for SMTP server
Password: Password for the mail server. Password is mandatory if SMTP server requires authentication.
SMTP port: Optionally, specify the SMTP port.
Recipient: Email address of the recipient
CC: Email address for copy of the email
BCC: Email address for hidden copy of the email
SSL: Optionally, you can select to connect securely via SSL or TLS.

If no SMTP user name is specified, it is assumed that no authorization is required at the SMTP server.

Interfaces

User interfaces are configurable programs, intended for system administrators that can use them to create their own commands. They can be used to perform additional actions, such as exporting a database, restarting a database, and sending emails. The following interfaces are available: pre (sbc_pre), post (sbc_post), alarm (sm_alarm), disaster (sm_disaster) and notify (sm_notify). The pre/post-interface might affect backup execution; when creating a script, have in mind that any pre/post script should not take a long time to complete as it can delay the backup.

User interfaces can be programmed using any text editor. To use an interface, you have to activate it first and create your own commands. From the Interfaces menu, select the interface you want to activate; if you are configuring a pre/post interface, you have to select a client too since these two interfaces are created for each client individually and are only executed on the selected client. The interface script window opens, allowing you to configure the desired action. Once done, click Save to activate the interface. The interface is saved to the <SESAM_ROOT>/bin/sesam directory. For details, see Using Pre and Post Scripts.

Alternatively, you can activate the user interfaces by using the templates that are available in the SEP sesam directory <SESAM_ROOT>/skel/templates. To activate an interface, you have to copy its corresponding template file to the directory <SESAM_ROOT>/bin/sesam. The templates are only active and executed on the client.

If the email configuration is set, SEP sesam interfaces send messages by email. The default email account is sesam. For details, see How to configure Mail Notification.

SEP sesam allows the use of Pre-, Post-, Alarm-, Notify-, and Disaster interfaces to be combined into scripts.

PRE interface

Before a backup starts, an administrator can specify special actions to be executed before and during the backup activity. For example, the system can generate messages to quickly notify the administrator of either backup job success or failure. Pre-interface can be used to create commands that will stop or start the selected programs; for example, it may be used to stop the database before it is backed up.

POST interface

Once the backup is finished, some special actions may be required (e.g., notifications/messages, program end/start, restart databases etc.). These actions can be programmed by using the post-interface.

Alarm interface

The SEP sesam system needs no special administration during normal operation once SEP sesam Clients are set up and backup tasks are scheduled (except for the restore). If any functional errors occur, e.g., failure of a certain backup, this event is automatically passed on to the alarm interface. This interface is programmable to filter desired messages and their transmission to the authorized person.

If a license violation has occurred and the alarm interface is activated, an email with the license violation information is sent to the SEP sesam account. The license violations occur when you exceed the conditions set in your license, such as the maximum volume size, the maximum number of configured clients, not licensed backup task types (e.g., BSR), etc. The 16th day upon receiving the violation alarm SEP sesam backups are temporarily stopped until the issue is fixed, while the restores are still available. To avoid license violations, review your license; go to SEP sesam GUI -> Help -> License info. For details, see License administration.

	Note
	Do not use commands which require input from the user, such as OK buttons. Commands that require user interaction may cause interruption of backups during the night.

Notify interface

Similarly, there is a procedure for successful backups and restores which uses the sm_notify. This can be programmed as needed.

Disaster interface

The term disaster refers to a catastrophic failure or complete destruction of the SEP sesam Server and its data. The SEP sesam disaster interface must be properly configured to help carry out the disaster recovery process. To prepare for a possible breakdown of the SEP sesam Server, a self-backup of the SEP sesam installation must be performed. For details on how to prepare, see SEP sesam Server Disaster Recovery.

The disaster interface sends an email describing the recovery procedure in the event of disaster and an attachment containing the SEP sesam bootstrap database with all essential data for the disaster recovery. The sm_disaster file is located in:

Linux: <SESAM_BIN>/skel/templates/sm_disaster
Windows: <SESAM_BIN>/skel/templates/sm_disaster.ps1

As an alternative to using Interfaces in the GUI, the disaster interface file can also be copied to SESAM_BIN>/bin/sesam/sm_disaster and modified according to the needs of each environment. For details, see SEP sesam Server Disaster Recovery.

Window

The SEP sesam GUI can be rearranged almost without limitation. From the menu bar -> Window, you can show or hide different panels or windows and manage GUI layout.

By selecting Manage Layouts option, you can save and manage layouts.

To manage the layout, you have to open and arrange all windows and settings to your liking. Once you are satisfied, give the layout a name and save it. The layout identified with a green arrow is the current (new) layout. By clicking Set as Standard the selected layout will become the default layout (black check mark) and will be loaded automatically for the current user the next time the GUI is started.

The layout comprises the following settings:

Windows and frames: Windows that are open and the position of the windows and frames.
Current messages: Default settings, such as refresh interval, automatic refresh of the view (cyclic view on/off) and the selection of the displayed drives.
Object selection: Expanding the tree selection.
Toolbars: The arrangement and look of the toolbar, e.g., buttons with or without a label.

SEP sesam Help

The Help menu provides access to help topics online, email and link to SEP support, license information with an option to import new license, subscription to RSS feeds, and displays information about SEP sesam version.

Online manual

If a client is connected to the internet and has a web browser installed, clicking Online Manual opens the SEP sesam Wiki main page with the latest updated version of help topics online.

Contact support

Clicking Email opens a preset email with the email address of already loaded support. Email form provides the Attachment function, allowing you to attach log files to your emails directly from your SEP sesam Client.

To enable sending email with SEP sesam, you need to configure a valid email account (menu bar -> Configuration -> Email Settings). For details, see How to configure Mail Notification.

Clicking the button Attachment provides the list of log files for your SEP sesam Client. Select the relevant files and attach them to email when contacting support.

From the Directory drop-down list you can choose the needed directories from the SEP sesam Server. The log files are sorted chronologically in ascending order. The meanings of the tokens are described in the table below. All tokens start with the prefix gv_rw_ and all directories are under <SESAM_VAR>.

Token	Directory	Token	Directory
db	`./db`	glbv	`./glbv`
info	`./work/info`	lgc	`./log/lgc`
lis	`./lis`	not	`./not`
qm	`./qm`	prepost	`./prepost`
prot	`./prot`	sms	`./log/sms`
smslis	`./work/smslis`	stpd	`./log/sms`
sbc	`./log/sbc`	sbc_log	`./log/sbc`
sbc_times	`./times`	tmp	`./tmp`
work	`./work`	sel	`./sel`
ini	`./ini`

Clicking SEP Remote Support opens SEP online remote support page.

License information

Under License Info the local name of the computer and the TCP/IP address are shown as determined by the licensing module. This information is used to build a SEP sesam license.

You can also check the expiration date and upgrade validity of your license. Displayed are all licensed components which are currently in use.

To import a license, click the button Import New License. A new window opens prompting you to paste a valid license file sm_lic.ini from clipboard or by using the file manager to browse and select the required license as .ini or .zip file. After you pasted your license, click Apply to enable it.

SEP sesam version information

About SEP sesam shows the core build and version numbers, i.e., the GUI client, the GUI server and SEP sesam kernel.

Part IV: Web interface

Restore Assistant

There are two ways to restore your data in SEP sesam: by using GUI restore or through the web interface Restore Assistant. Even though most of the options are the same in both restore interfaces, the web Restore Assistant interface is designed to be more intuitive, offers additional advanced options, and makes it easy to restore your data.

You can use the web Restore Assistant to restore data from regular Path backups, NDMP and NSS file system Path backups, emails from Kopano backups, and virtual machines (Hyper-V, KVM/QEMU, OpenNebula, VMware vSphere, Citrix Hypervisor (XenServer), and Red Hat Virtualization (RHV)) to which you have been granted access.

Authentication required

Only authenticated users that have been granted the appropriate permissions are able to access the Restore Assistant and restore their data. These permissions are defined according to the user type. For details, see Configuring Database-Based Authentication.

Restoring encrypted backups

You can also perform an online restore of data from encrypted backups that are protected with a password. When restoring encrypted data with a password stored in the SEP sesam database, the password is automatically used for decryption during restore. However, if a password is not stored by SEP sesam, you will be prompted to enter it online. In the latter case, if you do not know the password, you won't be able to restore an encrypted backup and it will remain locked.

Basic and advanced web restore

With 4.4.3. Beefalo V2, the restore assistant provides basic and advanced features for online restore. Switching between the basic and advanced mode is available via Settings menu (-> UI mode), see Setting UI mode.

Restore features

Restore Assistant provides the following features:

As of 4.4.3. Beefalo V2, along with restoring data from regular Path backups, NDMP and NSS file system Path backups, emails from Kopano backups, and virtual machines you can now also restore KVM/QEMU VMs.
The newly introduced VMware Sandbox restore feature allows you to use a copy of the production environment for troubleshooting, testing and to verify the integrity of the VMs. For details, see VMware Sandbox Restore.
You can restore your data to the original or alternative location.
The flexibility to switch between basic and advanced restore mode allows more experienced users to fine-tune their restore.

Accessing Restore Assistant

You can access the Restore Assistant from the SEP sesam GUI (Activities -> Restore Assistant), from SEP sesam Web UI (left menu -> Restore Assistant) or by entering the following in the browser address bar:

http://[sesamserver]:11401/sep/ui/restore/

	Note
	If you cannot access the online Restore Assistant, check if you have been granted the appropriate permissions for online restore. For details, see About Authentication and Authorization.

Setting UI mode

As of ≥ 4.4.3 Beefalo V2, you can set your preferred UI mode by clicking the Settings icon located in the upper right corner and selecting Basic or Advanced UI mode. The basic restore mode is enabled by default.

The Settings menu also allows you to change the display language (German or English).

	Tip
	The Monitoring, Dashboard, Help and Account icons (located in the upper right corner) enable you to quickly check the status of all restore jobs (Monitoring -> Restores), access SEP sesam Dashboard and online help, and log in/log out from the Restore Assistant.

Online restore in basic UI mode

The basic restore options cover the most frequent restore cases and are the recommended method of performing a restore. The basic restore procedure involves selecting the savesets which you want to restore, the restore target, etc., and provides the step by step restore wizard depending on the type of data you want to restore.

Two different procedures can be used for restore according to the data type:

online restore from path or mail backups
online restore from VM backups

Restoring files, directories and emails

Open the Restore Assistant in the browser.
From the Start window, select the restore type: Restore files and directories or Groupware Applications -> Restore Kopano Mail. Click Next.

In the Source window, select your client. You can filter the clients by name, location or operating system. Click Next.

In the Backup window, under the Task selection select your backup task. A backup task defines the source data which was backed up from the client.

Then under the Backup selection select the exact backup version you want to restore. You can use the calendar function found in the upper right corner to filter a date range for the displayed backups. Click Next.

	Tip
	You can search for a file or a directory by entering your search term in the Search for files or directories in all backups.

In the Files window, select the files, directories or emails you want to restore. Click Next.

The options in the Target window differ slightly depending on whether you want to restore from path or mail backups.

Restore from path backups

Check the target client for restore.

The option Restore to original target path is enabled by default. Skip this option to restore the files to the original location. Deselect it if you want to restore your data to a new restore target and specify the new target path; you can enter or browse the path where you want to restore your data.

Under the Execution options you can set additional restore options:

Do not restore existing items:

Create new version:

Overwrite existing items:

Decide how you want your data to be restored (maintain the original tree structure or flat):

Keep original tree structure

Keep original tree structure

Restore all items flat in selected target directory:

Next

In the Finish window, review your restore task (restore type, client, backup level, restore options) and click Start restore.

Kopano mail restore

Check the target client for restore.

Under the Target mail folder and user, enter a new mail user (the option Change user to ) and/or folder (Change folder to option) if you want to restore mail(s) to a different user mailbox or folder. Skip this step to restore the mails to the original location (default).

Under the Execution options you can set additional restore options:

Do not restore existing folders and mails:

Overwrite existing folders and mails:

Next

In the Finish window, review your restore task (restore type, client, backup level, restore options) and click Start restore.

For additional restore options in the advanced UI mode, see Restoring files, directories and emails in advanced UI mode.

Restoring virtual machines

When you choose to restore a virtual machine (VM), you can select from a list of VM types what you want to restore. The basic restore procedure is almost the same for all VM types, except that some additional options are available for some VM types. The procedure differs slightly for the VMware instant recovery and VMware sandbox restore. For details, see VMware Sandbox Restore and VMware Instant Recovery.

Open the Restore Assistant in the browser.
In the Start window, select your target restore type: VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, Citrix Hypervisor, KVM/QEMU, Proxmox VE, Red Hat Virtualization (RHV), or OpenNebula. Click Next.

In the Source window, under Selection of the server select your target server.

Then, under Selection of the virtual machine select the VM you want to restore.

Next

In the Backup window, under the Task selection select your source task. A backup task defines the source data which was backed up from the client.

Then under the Backup selection select the exact backup version you want to restore. You can use the calendar function found in the upper right corner to filter a date range for the displayed backups. Click Next.

In the Backup window, under the Virtual machine from backup review, check or uncheck the target saveset you want to restore.

Next

In the Target window, under the Target selection select your target environment for restore. You can use the drop-down list to select or filter VMs by name.

Set additional restore options under the Execution options:

Do not restore an existing virtual machine:

Restore an existing virtual machine with a new name:

Overwrite an existing virtual machine:

Next

In the Options window, select the data mover and then under the Recovery options select if you want to start VM after restore or not.

	Note
	As of v. 4.4.3 Beefalo V2, in case of VMware restore you can also select the desired transport mode from the list of available transport modes (HOTADD, SAN, NBD, or NBDSSL); click the displayed transport mode and rearrange the modes according to your preferences.

Click the option Target options of the virtual machine to set additional target options, e.g., target server, data store, network interface(s), folder, and Resource pool/vApp.

Next

In the last step, review your restore task and click Start restore.

There are some additional restore options available in the advanced UI mode, see Restoring VMs in advanced UI mode.

Online restore in advanced UI mode

For more experienced users, some additional restore options are available in the advanced UI mode (v. ≥ Beefalo V2). For example, in the Start window you can restore backups and VMs to the file system or write your backups and VMs into dump files. If you are restoring VMs, you can select among more specific VM restore types.

As with the basic options, the advanced options also differ depending on the type of restore:

online restore from path or mail backups
online restore from VM backups

Restoring files, directories and emails in advanced UI mode

The following additional restore options are available when restoring files, directories or emails in the advanced UI mode:

In the Start window, you can restore backups to the file system or write backups into dump files. Although the restore procedure in such cases is similar, some options may not be available (e.g., the Source windows).

write your backups into dump files

Target

In the Backup window, you can select whether you want to perform a Generation, Selective or Complete restore.

In the Options window (step 5 in the advanced mode of the restore dialog) you can set the following options:

Optional data source selection

preferred media pool

drive

used media|barcode

interface

Advanced restore options

Use the Include/Exclude Filter tab to specify which files or directories you want to include or exclude from restoring, e.g., enter *.docx to the relevant filter to include or exclude all MS Word *.docx files from restore.

Use the EOL, Generation, Pre/Post tab if you want to specify the EOL parameter for restore (how long (in days) the restore task will be kept), enable/disable a generation restore, and specify whether any pre- or post script should be applied for the restore task, see Pre/Post options.

Use the Log, Special Options tab to change the log level for your particular restore, see Setting Log Level. You can specify additional commands for restore, which can be helpful for special options of the sbc command. For details on commands, see SBC CLI.

Restoring virtual machines in advanced UI mode

If you turn on the advanced UI mode, you can set additional restore options. It is recommended that the advanced mode is only used by expert users as the basic options are sufficient to address most restore use cases. The following additional options are provided by using the Advanced UI mode.

In the Start window, you can restore virtual machines to a file system, or write virtual machines into dump files:
- If you want to restore VMs to a file system, the restore procedure is the same as the restore procedure for files, directories and emails, as described in the above section Restoring files, directories and emails. You only have to select a server and VM as a source instead of a client.
- If you want to write VMs into dump files, the procedure differs from the usual VM restore only in that you have to specify a restore target path in the Target window and optionally modify a name of the dump file (see the related section above).
In the Options window, you can modify the Recovery options: By clicking the Edit button (located in the upper right corner), you can activate/deactivate different recovery actions: conf, remove, start, etc., and perform VM-related checks: VM power state, VM guest tools state and VM network IP address.

Actions

Checks

Save

recycle bin

Under the Optional data source selection, you can select your preferred media pool, drive, used media|barcode, and interface from the drop-down lists.

An additional set of options is available under the Options for restore: You can specify the EOL parameter for restore (how long (in days) the restore task will be kept), enable/disable a generation restore, and decide whether any pre- or post script should be applied for the restore task, see Pre/Post options.
In case of a VMware restore, you can also set the transport hierarchy (if you have not modified the transport mode before under the Virtualization restore options); for details, see Selecting the best VMware transport mode for your environment.

You can view the status of your restore jobs by using SEP sesam Web UI (Monitoring -> Restores) or SEP sesam GUI (Main Selection -> Job State -> Restores). For details, see Monitoring and Reporting.

Part V: SEP sesam Events

Creating a Backup Event

Creating a Backup Event/en

Standard Restore Procedure

4 4 3 Beefalo:Standard Restore Procedure/en==Creating a Migration Event== Creating a Migration Event/en

Creating a Command Event

Creating a Command Event/en

Creating a Media Event

Creating a Media Event/en

Setting up Archive Adjustment

Setting up Archive Adjustment/en

Follow-up Events

Follow-up Events/en

Newday Event

4 4 3 Beefalo:Newday Event/en

Part VI: Monitoring & Reporting

Monitoring, logging, reporting and notifications

Part VII: Managing Media

Media Strategy

Media management

SEP sesam media management provides simple and efficient management of a large number and different types of media. Its powerful features include:

Efficient management of large sets of media.
Protection against accidental overwrites.
Spare pools prevent failed backups due to missing media.
Recording and tracking of all media and their status: used capacity, EOL, user-defined write protection, etc.
Barcode support on loaders.

Media pools

Media used by SEP sesam are administered in media pools using unique labels. The labels consist of the pool name and a five-digit number assigned by SEP sesam within the pool. For this reason, a media pool name may never end with five (5) digits.

Media pools are the basis for building a backup strategy. Each media pool represents a set of media designated for a specific purpose. The configuration of a media pool differs depending on whether you are configuring media pools for tape media or for data store (for backup to disk storage).

In the GUI, a new media pool is created under Main Selection -> Components -> Media Pools -> New Media Pool. For details, see Configuring a Media Pool.

Spare pools

A SPARE pool is a media pool that you can configure to allow sharing of spare media across media pools to prevent blocked backups. Spare pools are used by media events when media from the actual pool cannot be accessed. Spare media are automatically moved from the compatible spare pool to the pool currently being accessed by the backup, eliminating the need for administrator intervention when media is not available. Migration of spare media to the working pools results in a dynamic increase of the media pool size, depending on the amount of data being backed up. The use of spare pools is optional.

Unused media are inserted and kept for later use. A compatible spare pool of free media should be created for each drive type.
SPARE pools can be used to automatically insert new media into working media pools. The media are then migrated to the working pools on the production system as needed.
The name of a spare pool must begin with SPARE_. For details, see Configuring a Media Pool – Spare Pool. For more information on tape management operations, see Tape Management.

Media

Media should be fully utilized and written to until EOM (End of Media). SEP sesam automatically requests a new tape from the corresponding media pool automatically when the tape is full.

Media utilization can be regulated by:

Definition of the media pool retention time.
Setting write-protection in a media archive.
Media events in the SEPuler.
Modifying the locking date of media in an archive to exceed the EOL and executing a media event.

Media event

Media selection is triggered by setting events that execute media selection strategies, reinitialize media and prepare media for scheduled backups.

A media event can be a user-defined event or an internal event created by SEP sesam. For example, if the specified media are not available at the start of a backup or if EOM (End of Media) is reached during data transfer, SEP sesam creates an internal media event that determines the next media for the backup.

User-defined media events are configured in the GUI and can be any of the following:

initialization (a process that prepares the backup media for use with SEP sesam)
readability check (a process that checks the readability of the backup data)
close tape (a process that marks the tape as full and closes it so that no more data can be stored on it)
archive adjustment (a process that scans the media in the selected loader and updates the SEP sesam information about the media status; see Archive adjustment section below for details)

If the media event contains a specific label, the system will attempt to find it and load it into a drive. The autoloader magazine must be accessible to SEP sesam, otherwise the backup will be blocked.

GET_OLDEST strategy

The GET_OLDEST strategy determines which media to use next. If a single media pool is associated with a media event or schedule,, the GET_OLDEST policy is always used. This preserves the data on the media for as long as possible.

Media are prioritized according to the following criteria:

Media whose EOL has expired. (If a saveset is stored on tape, the EOL of all stored savesets must have expired.)
The oldest media – media with the oldest locked until (is backup day+ media EOL) date in the media pool.
Media that is not write-protected (locked).

For more details on protecting and reusing media, see below section Savesets Protection: Retention time and EOL.

Archive adjustment

Archive adjustment is used to make a comparison between media in the loader (tape library) and the SEP sesam media archive database, and performs database synchronization with the selected loader by updating the database with the latest inventory information of the scanned device. It is mandatory and must be performed whenever new media or used media that have not yet been registered (initialized) by SEP sesam are inserted to identify unrecognized tapes.

You can perform archive adjustment manually (Main Selection -> Components -> Loader -> Archive Adjustment ) or create a special media event for it and schedule it to run automatically at specified intervals. For more details, see Setting up Archive Adjustment.

	Note
	When selecting the option Archive Adjustment, make sure that the autoloader being realigned is selected in the GUI window, i.e. that the target device is at the top of the adjustment task. If you use the command line, the task must include the name of the target autoloader or tape device.

Savesets protection: Retention time and EOL

When configuring SEP sesam environment, you set up media pools and define the retention time. The media pool retention time is specified in days and defines how long the backed up data remains protected after it has been written to the media. This is called the expiration date of the saveset - EOL (End of Lifetime). The retention period starts on the day a saveset is written to the media and lasts for the period defined by the media pool retention time. When the protection expires, SEP sesam can re-use the media for backups again.

The EOL property can be managed for three object types (as described in detail in Automatic retention management - EOL types):

Saveset EOL: The expiration date for a single saveset.
Backup EOL: The expiration date for all data belonging to the same backup, including migrated and replicated savesets.
Media EOL: The time until which backed up data on tape media remains protected. It refers only to tape media and is based on the longest EOL of all different savesets stored on tape.

If a saveset is part of a backup chain, its EOL follows the rules of dependency-based retention. When retention is considered only from the perspective of an individual backup, it can ensure data restorability only for that particular backup. To enable complete restore of data backed up in the backup chain, SEP sesam maintains control over the dependencies between backup savesets and provides six rules for dependency-based automatic retention. For more information, see Automatic Retention (EOL) Management.

The EOL parameter is available in several views, for example, in the Backup task properties or the Saveset properties for Backup EOL and Saveset EOL (Components -> Data Stores -> double-click the selected data store to open the properties -> tab Savesets: columns Backup EOL and Saveset EOL) or for the (tape) Media EOL in Components -> Media -> select one or more tapes -> right-click and select Change Media EOL. For more information, see Changing Retention (EOL).

	Note
	The modified EOL is also recorded in the main log and can be generated for audit trail purposes, see Audit Logging.

The storage space of a saveset can be re-used when the following conditions are met:

Its EOL has expired. (If a saveset is stored on tape, the EOL of all stored savesets must have expired.)
If a saveset is stored on tape, it must not be write-protected (locked).
Typically, there must be no other savesets that depend on this saveset. You can override this condition by explicitly allowing the EOL for the entire backup chain to expire, thus deleting backup data on all related savesets.

GFS Backup Retention Strategy

GFS Backup Retention Strategy/en

Managing EOL

Overview

When configuring SEP sesam environment, you set up media pools and define the retention time. Media pool retention time is specified in days and defines how long the backed up data on media remains protected after the data is written to the medium. The retention time period starts with the date a saveset is written to the medium (at the end time of the first backup) and thus defines the expiration date of the saveset (saveset EOL). When the protection expires, SEP sesam can re-use the media for backups again. This is the basic principle and the simplest scenario.

However, to ensure restorability of the complete backup chain and to protect from data loss, SEP sesam provides dependency-based retention strategy performed by automated EOL adjustment.

What is dependency-based retention

For example, INCR backups require all previous savesets (FULL, DIFF and INCR) to be available for a successful restore. If the retention time is viewed only from the perspective of an individual backup, it can ensure restorability of data for this particular backup only. But to enable the complete restoration of data that was backed up in the backup chain, all dependent backup savesets must be tracked and their retention time must be managed according to their dependencies.

For example, INCR backup that was taken as the third INCR after the FULL, requires the FULL, the first, the second, and the third INCR to provide complete restore capability. If some saveset in the backup chain is missing, you will not be able to recover your data to a specific point in time. For this reason, SEP sesam maintains control over dependencies among the individual backup savesets and provides dependency-based automated retention.

SEP sesam also allows you to manually adjust EOL. You can adjust:

saveset EOL: You can change the expiration date of any individual saveset that is stored in the data store, see saveset EOL.
backup EOL: You can change the expiration date for all backup-related savesets. Unlike saveset EOL, which is applied individually to each selected saveset, changing the backup EOL always affects all dependent backup versions that are part of the same backup, see backup EOL.
tape media EOL: Some special rules apply to tape media since the expiration date of the tape corresponds to the maximum retention time (the longest EOL) identified on the tape, see tape media EOL.

Retention behavior and different EOL parameters

Typically, you specify a media pool retention time (in days) when creating a media pool. This retention time serves as a basis to determine EOL for backed up data. The retention time period starts with the creation date a saveset is written to the medium and defines the expiration date (EOL) after which the saveset may be deleted. For example, a media pool retention time is 30 days and the data is backed up to the medium on the 1^st of January, therefore the saveset EOL is 31^st of January. Note that in previous versions (v. ≤ Beefalo) this retention time parameter was called media pool EOL. As the use of this term was misleading, it was removed in Beefalo V2 and replaced with retention time.

	Note
	EOL refers only to backups and related migrated and replicated savesets. SEP sesam logs, readability check logs, calendar sheet entries and restore tasks have separate retention parameters. For details, see retention periods.

The EOL property can be managed for three object types:

Saveset EOL

This is the expiration date for each saveset. If a saveset is a part of a backup chain, its EOL follows the rules of dependency-based retention; EOL of a previous saveset in the chain must be the same or longer to enable the complete restoration of data.

For example, you specify a media pool retention parameter to 30 days and run a FULL backup. This FULL saveset will initially be kept for 30 days, for example, to the 31^st of January. If any following INCR or DIFF saveset in the chain has longer EOL, for example, its expiration date is the 3^rd of February, the EOL of all preceding savesets, including the FULL, will be adjusted to the longer expiration date. For details on dependency-based automated retention, see automated EOL adjustment. For details on manually adjusting EOL, see manual EOL adjustment.

Backup EOL

This is the expiration date for all data that belongs to the same backup. Backup EOL is determined based on the longest EOL of all savesets that belong to the same backup, including migrated and replicated savesets. For example, adjusting backup EOL of a particular saveset from the 3^rd of February to the to 3^rd of March results in changed EOL for all related backup data, i.e., original backup, migrated backup, replicated backup, as well as for all backups in a backup chain, if a saveset with adjusted backup EOL is a part of it. For details on dependency-based automated retention, see automated EOL adjustment. For details on manually adjusting EOL, see manual EOL adjustment.

Note

How SEP sesam manages failed backups depends on its version. In v. ≥ 4.4.3 Beefalo V2, SEP sesam keeps the failed backup according to media pool retention time together with the last successful backup or migration saveset. This is the default backup retention behavior and can be changed by modifying EOL-related keys, as shown in section Customizing retention policy. These keys may not be supported in earlier versions, where failed backups were automatically deleted after 3 days.

Tape media EOL

When a saveset is stored on tape, each stored saveset has its own saveset EOL, but this does not represent the actual expiration date of the tape. Its expiration date corresponds to the maximum retention time (the longest EOL) identified on tape. Only when all savesets on tape have expired and the tape is not locked (write-protected) is the entire tape eligible for re-use. For details on how manually extending EOL affects EOL of the tape media, see Manually extending EOL.

What happens when EOL is reached

Once a saveset's end of life is reached, its protection expires. The storage space of an expired saveset is not used immediately; SEP sesam uses the GET_OLDEST policy to preserve the data on the media for the longest possible time. The expired saveset can be re-used if the following conditions are met:

As a rule, there must be no other savesets that depend on this saveset. For details, see how SEP sesam handles EOL-related backup chain dependencies. You can override this condition by explicitly allowing the expiration date (EOL) of the whole backup chain to expire, thus deleting the backup data on all related savesets.

If a saveset is stored on tape, the EOL of all stored savesets must have expired.

The media must not be write-protected (locked).

SEP sesam Server automatically assigns the medium with the oldest EOL for re-use. The oldest medium is a medium with the oldest locked until (is backup day+ retention time) date in the media pool.

Note

If the saveset resides on tape media, the tape will not be re-used until all savesets on it have expired. Tape media EOL always corresponds to the maximum retention time (the longest EOL) identified on the tape. More precisely, a tape media EOL is the maximum EOL of all savesets stored on the tape. Only when the retention time of all savesets on tape has expired and the tape is no longer locked (write-protected) can the tape be re-used. Note that the tape media EOL may also depend on savesets that are not stored on this tape. This is when the tape contains savesets that refer to FULL/DIFF/INCR savesets stored on other media or even data stores.

Automated EOL adjustment

In some cases, SEP sesam automatically adjusts EOL to retain the consistency of backed up data and ensures successful restore. Every time EOL is modified, the corresponding information is shown in the main log.

Managing EOL-related backup chain dependencies

When a new INCR or DIFF backup is run or an INCR or DIFF backup is migrated, SEP sesam automatically adjusts EOL of all related savesets in order to retain the backup data and keep the backup chain readily available for restore. In some special cases, SEP sesam also automatically increases the EOL of the whole FDI backup chain, thus preventing the backup chains from being orphaned. See below sections for details.

Increased EOL of a DIFF or INCR saveset

If the EOL parameter of a DIFF or INCR saveset is increased, SEP sesam will increase EOL of all dependent backups (FULL and other DIFF and INCR). This way SEP sesam ensures that EOL for the FULL backup and other related DIFF and INCR is not shorter than the potentially modified DIFF or INCR saveset's EOL.

Decreased EOL of a DIFF or INCR saveset

If EOL of a DIFF or INCR saveset is decreased, SEP sesam will decrease EOL of all dependent backups (FULL and other DIFF and INCR). If you use the Expire function to delete the unneeded saveset(s) or backup set(s), SEP sesam will issue a warning message, prompting you to confirm your decision to expire the entire backup chain.

	Warning
	Expiring the DIFF or INCR saveset(s) results in purging and overwriting the complete backup chain!

Too short EOL of DIFF/INC savesets

If DIFF/INCR backup detects that a saveset belonging to a FDI chain has too short EOL, then any consecutive DIFF/INCR backup that is running on a pool with longer retention time will increase the EOL of the saveset from the respective pool.

	Note
	If EOL of a saveset belonging to a FDI chain has already expired, it will not be extended. In this case, the DIFF/INCR backup will be executed as a FULL backup.

Example: The backup chain has the following retention specified: FULL on pool MONTH (retention time:32), DIFF on pool WEEK (retention time:15) and INCR on pool DAY (retention time:7). EOL of such FDI chain is sufficient, therefore EOL is not modified.

Allow extending retention time of another media pool for migrated savesets

Typically, a chain of backup savesets is migrated to one target media pool. You may want to migrate savesets of one backup chain (FULL/DIFF/INCR) to different media pools. There are two ways to change the retention time of migration savesets.

You can enable extended retention time for migration by using a specific GLBV: 'gv_adjust_eol_migration_increases_eol_on_other_pool'.
You can enable migration to increase EOL of the referenced savesets on other media pools (not only on the target media pool) by adding (or modifying) the following key in global settings in GUI:
1. In the menu bar, click Configuration -> Defaults -> Settings.
2. Click [+] to add the following key to global settings (or modify the key value, if it already exists): eol_adjust_migration_on_other_pool|1|sesam
  where value=1 means that the key is active and sesam is the user name. For more details about EOL-related keys, see section Customizing retention policy.

Last successful backup or migration is automatically retained

SEP sesam automatically retains the last successful backup or migration saveset when the next backup/migration fails. By extending the EOL of the previous successful backup/migration, SEP sesam ensures that at least one successful backup is retained. This behavior is enabled by default and can be changed by setting the values of the respective keys, eol_adjust_failed_backup and eol_adjust_failed_migration, to 0, as shown in section Customizing retention policy.

COPY backup fails

If a COPY backup fails, the EOL of the last successful or with warnings COPY backup is increased to the currently calculated EOL (creation date of the failed backup + media pool retention time).

Example: COPY backup in pool MONTH (retention time: 32) fails. SEP sesam checks for previous successful COPY backup in the same pool and increases its EOL, unless the backup EOL is not sufficient, e.g., a migrated saveset exists in the pool YEAR (retention time: 375).

FULL backup fails

If a FULL backup fails, the EOL of the last successful or with warnings FULL/DIFF/INCR backup is increased to the currently calculated EOL (creation date of the failed backup + media pool retention time).

Example: FULL backup in the pool MONTH (retention time: 32) fails. SEP sesam checks for previous successful or with warnings FDI backup chain in the same pool and increases the EOL of the entire chain (FULL/DIFF/INCR backups), unless the backup EOL is not sufficient, e.g., a migrated FULL saveset already exists in the pool YEAR (retention time: 375).

Manual EOL adjustment

It is not recommended to manually adjust EOL. This will override the EOL that was defined by the retention time (in days) in the media pool configuration and was started on the date when a saveset is being written to the media. The following options should be used for special cases and exceptions, for example, to allow premature deletion of an individual saveset or to increase the retention time of a particular backup chain that is to be stored longer than specified by the current EOL.

You can modify saveset EOL for each individual saveset that is stored in a data store or on tape media. The saveset EOL parameter is available under several views in GUI, e.g., whenever a task with the savesets is displayed (Job State -> Backups -> double-click a backup task -> Properties -> Saveset EOL, right-click to extend or expire), and under all media-related views, e.g., in the Media, Media Pools and Data Stores properties -> Saveset tab -> Saveset EOL. You can extend or shorten the saveset's retention time by setting the exact expiration date (saveset EOL) in the GUI calendar or directly expire (as of ≥ 4.4.3 Beefalo V2) the saveset by clicking the Expire -> Saveset EOL button. If the adjusted saveset is part of a backup chain, the whole chain might be affected.

Additionally, there is also the backup EOL parameter. This is the expiration date for all data belonging to the same backup, including migrated and replicated savesets. You can check and modify the backup EOL parameter by setting the exact expiration date for it by using the calendar function or directly expire (as of ≥ 4.4.3 Beefalo V2) the backup by clicking the Expire -> Backup EOL button. Expiring a backup affects all data belonging to the same backup (entire backup chain), including migrated and replicated savesets.

For details, see the section how SEP sesam handles EOL-related backup chain dependencies.
Backup EOL can be found in the Savesets properties that are available under several views in GUI, e.g., whenever a task with the savesets is displayed (Job State -> Backups -> double-click a backup task -> Properties -> Backup EOL) and under all media-related views, e.g., in the Media, Media Pools and Data Stores properties -> Saveset tab -> Backup EOL.

	Tip
	As of ≥ 4.4.3 Beefalo V2, you can simply right-click the selected saveset for which you want to modify EOL, for example, in all Media-related views, and then select to either extend EOL or to expire the saveset (individual EOL) or backup (EOL of the entire backup set). But be careful with the expire function as the expired backups are irrevocably lost!

Manually reducing EOL

Note that reducing EOL may result in potential data loss due to the inability to restore from a backup.

If you are reducing backup EOL, it is adjusted only for the savesets with EOL longer than the newly given EOL, while the savesets with shorter EOL are not affected (their EOL remains unchanged). As of ≥ 4.4.3 Beefalo V2, you cannot set the expiration date to a time in the past (the minimum allowed date is the current date). However, you can expire backup sets that you no longer need by using the right-click Expire function in any of the views showing the Savesets tab/properties -> Backup EOL -> Expire. Expiring backup EOL terminates the selected backup and all related savesets based on the same backup, including migrated and replicated savesets. This means that all dependent saveset versions that are part of the expired backup are deleted during the next purge.

If you are reducing saveset EOL, the new expiration date is set immediately for the selected individual saveset. As of ≥ 4.4.3 Beefalo V2, you cannot set the expiration date to a time in the past (the minimum allowed date is the current date). However, you can expire any individual saveset(s) you no longer need by using the right-click Expire function in any of the views showing the Savesets tab/properties -> Saveset EOL -> Expire. In contrast to the backup EOL approach, expiring saveset EOL only terminates the selected saveset(s) (that is/are deleted with the next purge) unless the saveset(s) is/are part of a backup chain; in the latter case, the entire backup chain is affected as described in Managing EOL-related backup chain dependencies.

Manually extending EOL

Extending EOL can be used for special cases, such as increasing the retention time of a particular backup data that has also been migrated and is stored on different media pools. How SEP sesam manages extending EOL depends on its version.

If you are extending the backup EOL (expiration date), the EOL is adjusted only for the saveset that already has the longest EOL, while EOL of other backups is not affected. This behavior has changed compared to the previous versions, where extended backup EOL resulted in extended EOL for all savesets based on the same backup, i.e., original backup, migrated backup, replicated backup, as well as for all backups in a backup chain, if a saveset with adjusted backup EOL was part of it. For details, see Manually extending EOL in versions 4.4.3-4.4.3 Grolar.

If you are extending the saveset EOL (expiration date) and one of the savesets is part of an FDI backup chain, then the EOL of the previous savesets in the chain will also be increased.

Note

Extending backup EOL of savesets stored on tape media may extend EOL of the tape media! For savesets stored on tape media, a specific retention time that would only apply to one of the stored savesets cannot be set. Each saveset that is stored on tape has its own EOL, but this does not represent the actual expiration date of the tape. Tape media EOL is the maximum EOL of all savesets stored on the same tape. Note that the tape media EOL may also depend on savesets that are not stored on this tape. This is when the tape contains savesets that refer to FULL/DIFF/INCR savesets stored on other media or even data stores.

To reduce or increase the tape media EOL (shown as Locked until in the tape properties), you can adjust the media EOL (identified by tape label). Manually adjusted EOL applies to all savesets on tape.

If the tape media EOL date has been reached, but the tape should not be re-used, you can also lock the tape (by using write protection). This option overrides media EOL.

Customizing retention policy

The default backup retention behavior can be changed by inserting or modifying EOL-related keys in the global settings in GUI: SEP sesam menu bar, click Configuration -> Defaults -> Settings. These keys may not be supported in earlier SEP sesam versions, for details check Managing EOL in versions 4.4.3-4.4.3 Grolar.

To change the retention policy, you can add or modify the following options.

EOL-related key	Value	Description	Available from version	Note
`eol_adjust_migration_on_other_pool`	1 (allow) 0 (disable)	Allow extending retention time of another media pool for migrated savesets	4.4.3 Beefalo
`eol_adjust_failed_backup`	1 (enable) 0 (disable)	Automatic retention of the last successful backup saveset	4.4.3.47 Tigon V2
`eol_adjust_failed_migration`	1 (enable) 0 (disable)	Automatic retention of the last successful migration saveset	4.4.3.47 Tigon V2
`eol_for_failed_backups`	0 (use media pool retention time) > 0 (specify the retention time in days, e.g., 3)	Adjust the retention time (in days) for failed backups	4.4.3 Beefalo V2	By default, the backup retention policy (retention time of media pool) is applied equally to successful and failed backups. A failed backup is retained for the number of days specified by the retention time of media pool. If you want to free up space on the storage repository and shorten the number of days for retaining failed backups, specify the desired length of the retention for failed backups in days. For example, 3 means that SEP sesam will automatically delete all failed backups after 3 days. 0 (default) means that all failed backups are retained according to the media pool retention time.
`eol_for_failed_not_file_system_backups`	0 (use media pool retention time) > 0 (specify the retention time in days, e.g., 3)	Adjust the retention time (in days) for all non-filesystem (non-Path) type backups, e.g., SAP Hana, Exchange Server, VMware vSphere etc.	4.4.3 Beefalo V2	The only difference with the previous parameter (eol_for_failed_backups, see above) is that you can specify the desired length of the retention specifically for all non-filesystem (non-Path) type backups. For example, 3 means that SEP sesam will automatically delete all failed non-filesystem backups after 3 days. 0 (default) means that all failed non-filesystem backups are retained according to the eol_for_failed_backups parameter if set to > 0, or according to media pool retention time if none of the eol_for_failed... parameters is set (value 0).

The screenshot shows the Defaults -> Settings table with the EOL-related paramaters.

Checking backup chain dependencies

You can use the saveset tree view in GUI to determine dependencies and EOL of an FDI backup chain. You should use this overview before you manually change the EOL parameter to avoid breaking the backup chain.

	Tip
	Checking the saveset tree summary will provide instant information about the location and status of the available savesets for restore. By checking the summary, e.g., availability 5, you can search for savesets that are not readily available, and then migrate them to enable mount and selective restore.

The saveset tree displays details about a saveset together with potential dependent savesets that belong to the same backup chain. The saveset details are read-only. By providing an overview of the backup chain, you gain insight into the recoverability of backups.

You can open the saveset tree view by double-clicking the selected backup in the backup list:

From Main Selection -> Job State -> Backups or from Main Selection -> Monitoring -> Last Backup State, double-click the selected backup.
In the backup task properties window, open the tab Savesets.

The saveset tree displays all savesets that belong to the same backup chain with the following details:

saveset: SEP sesam unique identification assigned to a saveset.

starttime: The time when the backup was started.

level: The backup level used for the saveset: F (FULL), D (DIFF), I (INCR) or C (COPY).

More detailed information displayed for each saveset:

pool: The media pool to which the saveset belongs.

EOL: The time when the saveset's protection expires. For details, see section EOL-related backup chain dependencies.

avail: The priority number, based on the location of the savesets. It is useful for identifying savesets that are readily available for restore. For example, a saveset in the media pool DAY (data store) is migrated to another pool DeDup and then migrated to tape. The tape will have the lowest avail/priority because it is not readily available for restore. Check also the Availability in the Status at the end of the tree view, which is calculated from the avail of all displayed savesets. See below Availability for details.

reason: Explains the above avail – availability of individual savesets for restore. The following information shows the relation between the location and avail/prio. Priority is assigned numerically, where 1 is the lowest priority and 6 (or 7 if called with a specific pool) is the highest.

TAPE_SINGLE = 0
TAPE_NOT_IN_LOADER = 1
DISK_OFFLINE = 2
TAPE_ONLINE = 3
DISK_HARD = 4
DISK_STORE_CLONE = 5 
DISK_STORE = 6 
REQUESTED_POOL = 7 (shown if called with a specific pool, e.g., all savesets on the pool DAY and the saveset_tree was called with the target pool DAY)

drivegroup: Displays the name of the drive group related to the saveset's media pool.

drives: The number of the drive that was used for backup.

labels: Displays an internal identification of a saveset (a media pool name and a 5-digit number), a potential barcode, prio (numerical representation of availability, see above item), and comment.

status: Displays the summary of the savesets availability – status, availability message and a numeric representation. For example, as soon as 1 saveset is migrated to another pool and deleted from the original pool, availability is lowered.

Part VIII: Backup Strategy

Backup level

Backup Level/en

SEPuler

SEPuler – an event calendar

SEPuler is a process that controls the scheduling of all SEP sesam tasks, such as backup, migration, replication, restore and other tasks. It acts as an electronic calendar and assistant performing all SEP sesam data protection events.

SEPuler is a permanently active background routine (daemon), constantly searching for events to be executed. When SEPuler finds a scheduled task or manually triggered event, the execution of the corresponding program is initiated.

Once the event has started, SEPuler will determine the next execution event for a cyclical task and rewrite the event to the task calendar. For example, if SEPuler starts a weekly backup on January 1, it will schedule a new weekly backup to occur on January 8.

Backup, migration, replication, media event, command event, restore and newday are all types of SEPuler events.

Events initiated with the Immediate start command from the GUI or command line are posted in the calendar as non-recurring events.

All events in SEP sesam start from the SEPuler schedule, even if they are unique, non-recurring tasks. An overview of scheduled as well as completed, expired events and their current status is provided by Calendar sheet from the Main selection -> Scheduling -> Calendar Sheet.

Schedules

Schedules are used for setting events to occur at a specific time. A schedule is a timetable that defines the cyclic behavior of an event, i.e., when the event is to take place and how frequently to repeat it. The fact that a schedule exists does not automatically mean that an event is executed.

Only when one or more events (backup, migration, command, etc.) are assigned to the schedule, it becomes active. The entries in the schedule are then picked up by the SEPuler. Modifying a schedule affects all the events assigned to that schedule.

Flexible scheduling features include the following:

Any number of events of the same type can be linked to one or more schedules.
A task (backup, migration, replication, media action, restore and command event) may have events in several schedules.
Schedules provide User defined option that allows you to create a calendar which is customized according to your country or company specific requirements. You can use it to exclude scheduled jobs from running on specific dates, such as holidays, or to schedule additional jobs on selected dates. For details, see Creating Custom Calendar.
A schedule's execution can be deactivated: a schedule will remain displayed as shaded (gray) in the list of schedules, but the related jobs will not run.
The option Without Schedule is available, if you set the value for enable_gui_events_without_schedule in the Defaults window (Configuration -> Defaults -> Settings tab) to 1 manually. It shows all backup events which are not assigned to a schedule. Such events are typically created for external backups, where the external applications manage the backup scheduling. For details, see Schedules.

Event Priority

For complex event strategies, event priority is used by SEPuler for resolving scheduling conflicts. Priorities can be assigned to events, from lowest (1, default) to highest (99). For each SEP sesam backup day all scheduled events are checked according to their type and priority to see whether the events of the same type (for example, a backup) with the same task name and higher priority have already expired or are still planned to run; in the latter case, SEP sesam suppresses execution of lower priority events of the same type. In other words, if there are more equal events (see equality of events) of the same type scheduled on the same backup day, only the event with a higher priority is executed. This prevents the events that might be linked to several schedules, which overlap on certain days, to be executed except for the one with the highest priority.

If all equal events of the same type have the same priority (for example, the default – 1), then all of them are executed. Events with priority 0 are not checked for dependency of event priorities and are always executed.

Priorities can be used together with Blocking date option.

	Note
	Event priority determines which job in a queue will first be executed regardless of the equality of events. If there are jobs in the queue and a new event with a higher priority is activated by SEPuler, this job will first access a busy device.

Equality of Events

The equality of events is managed according to their type:

Backup events are equal if their task name is the same. The same is true for each individual event type: migration, replication, command and restore event. Groups are handled in the same way as backup events.
Media events are equal if their drive number or drive group number is the same.

Example In the following example, backup of the directory /etc of the client stratum1 with the task name stratum1_etc is started via three different schedules.

Name	Time	Priority	Task
Daily	8 p.m.	1	daily incremental
Weekly	6 p.m.	2	differential on the weekend
Monthly	9 p.m.	3	full at the end of the month

On weekends, the weekend event is performed instead of the daily event (prio 2 overrides prio 1).
At the end of the month, the end of month event is performed instead of the daily event (prio 3 overrides prio 1).
If the end of the month and the weekend coincide, then the end of month event is performed instead the Weekend event (prio 3 overrides prio 2).

Blocking Events

A blocking event is any type of event with a higher priority that obstructs another event and prevents it from moving to active backup status. It may be used to prevent the activation of certain events on specific days (e.g., end of year, end of fiscal year, holidays, etc).

Note

* A blocking event is created by selecting the Blocking date checkbox during the configuration of an event.

Switching off a schedule blocks the execution of all events using this schedule (Execution off option in the schedule).
A blocking event only affects other events with the same name when schedules are overlapping.
A blocking event suppresses any job with the same task name at respective (SEP sesam backup day) day, regardless of whether it is scheduled to be run before, during or after the blocking event.

Example

A backup event that executes the task stratum1_etc is configured to run daily with priority 2. A second backup event for the same task stratum1_etc is only scheduled for December 24th every year as a blocking event with priority 9. On December 24th, the priority check detects the stratum1_etc backup with higher priority and overrides the execution of the daily backup. The blocking event itself does not create an entry in the job status, but sends a notification that it was activated.

Creating Exclude List

Creating Exclude List/en

Preparing for disaster recovery: Configuring `SESAM_BACKUP`

SEP sesam Server Disaster Recovery/en

Part IX: Configuration Tips

How to check DNS configuration

How to check DNS configuration/en

Using Pre and Post Scripts

Using Pre and Post Scripts/en

Part X: Appendices

How to start and stop SEP sesam

Useful SEP sesam Commands/en==About Authentication and Authorization==

Overview

SEP sesam introduces new authorization concept to grant and restrict access to SEP sesam Server, specific clients and locations. Note that authentication is the first step of authorization. This means that first the identity of a user who is accessing a SEP sesam Server is authenticated by verifying a user credentials (username and password).

After successful authentication starts the authorization, when SEP sesam validates if an authenticated user has appropriate permissions for accessing a specific resource or operation within SEP sesam Server.

Authorization is implemented through the following elements:

Permissions based on user type
Users can connect to SEP sesam Server only if they are granted appropriate permissions. Their user rights depend on the user type. SEP sesam user types are admin, operator and restore.

Admin is the only user role with full control over the SEP sesam.
The Operator monitors the SEP sesam Server backup status.
The Restore user is only allowed to start restores.

Note that the displayed GUI components depend on the user type. For details on GUI elements, see SEP sesam GUI.

Access Control Lists (ACLs)
ACL specifies which users or groups are granted access to specific objects. As of SEP sesam version 4.4.3 Grolar, you can configure ACLs for locations and clients, if you have the admin rights. For details on ACLs configuration, see Using Access Control Lists.

After the initial installation of SEP sesam, no users are configured except the administrator. Depending on version, SEP sesam provides different authentication methods that are mutually exclusive: database-based authentication (for v. ≥ 4.4.3 Tigon) which is simply called authentication, and policy-based authentication (for all SEP sesam versions). By default, policy-based authentication is active. Note that only one authentication method can be active at any time.

	Note
	In SEP sesam v. ≥ 4.4.3 Tigon, you can bypass authentication for local server for all users by setting the parameter `localFullAccess` in the `<SESAM_ROOT>/var/ini/sm.ini` file to true as described in the section below.

Database-based authentication

SEP sesam provides database-based authentication that allows administrators to configure users and grant them appropriate permissions to perform SEP sesam operations by setting individual passwords and assigning users to the relevant user group.

As of 4.4.3 Grolar, SEP sesam can be configured to use LDAP/AD authentication in combination with database-based authentication. This way SEP sesam can authenticate users against an external LDAP/AD directory. If LDAP/AD authentication is enabled in SEP sesam and the users are mapped correctly, they can log in to SEP sesam according to their entry in the LDAP/AD directory and the user mapping information. For details, see Configuring LDAP/AD Authentication.

The assigned user group (based on user type) determines the actions that the group members can perform. The database-based authentication can be enabled from GUI by activating authentication under the Configuration ‐> Permission Management. This is the only way to set the password for the Administrator.

If the DB-based authentication is activated via GUI, the authEnabled parameter is set to true in the <SESAM_ROOT>/var/ini/sm.ini file on the SEP sesam Server. For details on database-based permissions, see Configuring Database-Based Authentication.

Policy-based authentication

Policy-based authentication represents a traditional approach to managing user's permissions with SEP sesam v. ≥ 4.4.3. SEP sesam GUI is based on Java and uses sm_java.policy file to grant the required permissions. The policy file is by default located at <SESAM_ROOT>/var/ini/sm_java.policy, where <SESAM_ROOT> is the pathname of the SEP sesam home directory.

With policy-based authentication permissions are assigned to user/host combination in the sm_java.policy file. You can also grant users the required permissions by using GUI: Main Selection -> Configuration ‐> User Permissions. For details on policy-based permissions, see Configuring Policy-Based Authentication.

Configuring localFullAccess in `sm.ini`

localFullAccess defines whether a user that is logged to the SEP sesam Server directly may use SEP sesam CLI and GUI without any authentication. If set to true, authentication is not required. If set to false, the authentication is mandatory for all users. SEP sesam will prompt for the username and password to log in.

If database-based authentication is enabled, localFullAccess flag is set to false automatically. A certificate is passed from the SEP sesam command line to the SEP sesam Server, where it is verified. The certificate file is stored in <SESAM_ROOT>/var/ini/ssl.

	Note
	On Unix, only the system root user can access this directory and use the command line without authentication. On Windows, use Windows User Account Control (UAC) to limit the access to certificate file.

How to change the `localFullAccess` flag

Locate the <SESAM_ROOT>/var/ini/sm.ini file on the SEP sesam Server (where <SESAM_ROOT> is the pathname of the SEP sesam home directory). Open the sm.ini file using a text editor and set the flag for the localFullAccess parameter to true.
Once you have changed the settings, save your changes and restart the SEP sesam Server for the changes to take effect. The sm.ini file is preserved when you upgrade your SEP sesam Server.

	Note
	For SEP sesam versions ≤ 4.4.3: It is strongly recommended to leave the `localFullAccess` flag set to true.

==LTO Encryption==

LTO Encryption/en

Part I: Introduction

Imprint

Welcome to SEP sesam

SEP sesam Features

Part II: Architecture Overview

SEP sesam Requirements

Directory layout

SEP sesam Components

Licensing

Part III: SEP sesam GUI

SEP sesam GUI overview

GUI components

Menu bar

Toolbar

Navigation pane – Main Selection

Content pane

Properties pane

Filter pane

Activities display

Master GUI

Customizing GUI

GUI: Components

Topology

Updating client(s)

Location properties

Client properties

Clients

Client status icons

Loaders

Identifying storage devices and their configuration

Loader properties

Contents

Archive Adjustment

First archive adjustment after new loader installation

Loader Action

Drive Action

Drives

Shared drives

Drive groups

New drive group

New drive

Setting device block size

Manage multiple drives

Configure all drives

Media pools

Media labels

Data stores

Backup strategy

Media pool properties

Readability Check

Options

Permissions (in v. ≥ 5.0.0 Jaglion)

Tasks by clients

Creating a new backup task

Options

Encryption & Compression

OS Access

Task Groups

Schedules

Additional tabs in the backup task properties

Tasks by groups

Task group properties

Schedules

Permissions

Backup plans

Migration tasks

About migration

Configuring migration

Migration options

Schedules

Replication tasks (Si3)

About replication

Configuring replication

Replication options

Schedules

Tasks as list

GUI: Scheduling

Schedules overview

Schedule properties

New backup event