IBM Tivoli Storage Manager TSM L2 support interview question and answers

Below are some of the latest IBM Tivoli Storage Manager Interview Questions asked by IBM  team for L2 and L3 Level TSM administrator positions. we have tried to answer most of the questions, I recommend you to also to prepare your own answers from IBM redbooks. Each Interview went for about an hour with 30-40 questions to each person. I am only posting 25 questions here, please follow my next posts for more question and answers.....

TSM L2 Level Interview Question and Answers:                              

1) How to create a policy set ?
    def dom <domname>
    def pol <dom> <polname>

2) How to create a copy group?

    def copyg <dom> <polname> <mgmtname> vere=2 verd=1 rete=30 reto=60 dest=<stg pool> 

    def copyg <dom> <polname> <mgmtname> dest=<stg pool> t=archive retv=365

3) What is serialization? How many types?
    It specifies how the tsm server to act when the file is in open state.
 SHRSTatic:- the tsm will try for 4  time and finaly it does not take backup if it is still in open
 STatic :- the tsm will try only one time, if the file is open it will not take backup
SHRDYnamic:- the tsm will try for 4  time and finaly it does not take backup if it is still in open
    DYnamic:- the tsm will backup up at the first attempt even if the file is open.

4) What is version exists ?what is version delete ?What is retextra ?what is retonly ?
    vere:- how many versions of file has to be maintained (default 2 Versions)
    verd:- how many inactive versions are to be maintained after the source file has been deleted.(1V)
    rete:- how many day the inactive versions are to be maintained(30Days)
    reto:- how many day the last inactive file is be maintained after source file deleting(60Days)

5) What is diff b/w version delete & retextra?
verd:- how many inactive versions are to be maintained after the source file has been deleted. (1)
rete:- how many day the inactive versions are to be maintained (30)
 
 6) How to check the last completed db backup?
    q db f=d, q volhist t=dbb, q act se="backup db" begind=-1

7) How to check the storage pool volumes?
     q vol stg=<stgpoolname>

Also Read: Why is it important to use DIRMC option during backups ?

8) If I run q libvol, what will it show?
    library volumes names, elementary no., library name, owner, status (private or scratch)

9)In which scenario we will do move data?   
When there is shortage of scratch volumes and also when there are errors in volumes.
   
10) How will you know whether your tsm server is properly working or not?
    health monitoring ( dbspace, scratch, logspace, dbbackup, libr status)
   
11) Where will you check the tsm server side errors?
  q act se=anr????e (server)

12) Where will you check the tsm client side errors?
  q act se=ans????e (client), for schedule errors check dsmsched.log and dsmerror.log
   
13) What is the procedure to do server to server communication?
    def server <servername> serverpa=<pass> hla=192.168.25.45 lla=1500 crossdef=yes

14) What does crossdefine will do?
    To define the server on target server

Also Read: Points to remember when taking backup to multiple storagepools simultaneously

15) Do you have any knowledge on backupset?
    It contains only the active data of a node,and can be restored without server intervention.

16) What is TXNgroupmax ?
    It is the number of files that can send or receive in a group in one transaction b/w server or client, default 4096

17) What is TXNbytelimit?
    txnbytelimit:-   The txnbytelimit option specifies the number of kbs the client program buffers before it sends a transaction to the server. default 25600, range is 300 - 2 GB;

18) What are the required copygroup parameters for tdporacle?
   Verdeleted and Retonly should be zero because TDPO will provide a function to delete the unwanted backup objects from TSM Server. Versionexist and Retextra can be any number.

19) Who will take care about retentions for TDPoracle?
      Through RMAN
   
20) Who will take care about retentions for TDPsql ?
    TSM Server

Also Read: Use these 4 TSM Server options to efficiently manage the client backup schedules

21) How to check dbbackup processes details ?
    q volhist t=dbb
    q db f=d
    q act se="databasebackup" begind=-1

22) How to delete last 7th day db backup ?
    del volhist t=dbb todate=-7

23) What are the copy group parameters for TDPsql ? 
  VersionExist, VersionDeleted, RetentionExtra and RetentionOnly

24) In one storagepool, how many deviceclasses are defined?
    1

25) Interviewer ran Q mount command and asked to find out where that tapevolume is used ?
    q act se=volname 
    q pr, 
    q mount f=d