Administrator's Reference

DEFINE DOMAIN (Define a New Policy Domain)

Use the DEFINE DOMAIN command to define a new policy domain.

A policy domain provides you with a logical way of managing backup and archive policies for a group of client nodes with common backup-archive policy needs. You can also define policy domains to limit the number of client nodes that can be managed by a single policy administrator. A policy domain contains one or more policy sets, with only one policy set active at a time.

Each policy set contains one or more management classes. You can specify one default management class for each policy set. A management class can contain a backup copy group, an archive copy group, or both; however, neither is required.

An ADSM client node is assigned to one policy domain. The active policy set within the policy domain should contain management classes that meet the needs of files stored on the client node. The user of the client node can use the default management class or select any management class in the active policy set to manage files that are backed up or archived from the client node. Client nodes running on different platforms can be assigned to the same policy domain. For example, a policy domain can be used by both OS/2 and AIX clients.

This command specifies the backup and archive retention grace periods for the policy domain. These retention grace periods are used by ADSM to protect backup versions and archive copies from deletion when the respective copy group is not available. For further descriptions of these parameters, see the parameter definitions. You can also find a detailed discussion of the retention grace periods in the ADSM Administrator's Guide. To determine the retention periods for an existing policy domain, use the QUERY DOMAIN command.

After you define a new policy domain, you can define additional policy objects in the new policy domain, such as policy sets, management classes, and copy groups. You can use COPY commands to copy policy sets and management classes. In addition, you must activate a policy set before clients assigned to the new policy domain can back up or archive files. A new policy domain can also be created by copying an existing policy domain to a new policy domain name.

Privilege Class

To issue this command, you must have system privilege.

Syntax

>>-DEFine DOmain--domainname---+------------------------------+->
                               '-DESCription--=--description--'
 
    .-BACKRETention--=--30-----------.
>---+--------------------------------+-------------------------->
    '-BACKRETention--=--bkretvalue---'
 
     .-ARCHRETention--=--365------------.
>----+----------------------------------+----------------------><
     '-ARCHRETention--=--archretvalue---'
 

Parameters

domainname

Specifies the name of the policy domain to be defined. This parameter is required. The maximum length of this name is 30 characters.

DESCription=description

Specifies a text string that describes the policy domain. This parameter is optional. The maximum length of the description is 255 characters. The description must be enclosed in quotation marks if it contains any blank characters. The default is no description.

BACKRETention=bkretvalue

Specifies an integer that defines the number of days (from the date of deactivation) to retain backup versions that are no longer on the client's system. This parameter is optional. The default value is 30. You can specify an integer in the range of 0 to 9999, inclusive. The backup retention value is used by ADSM to manage inactive versions of files when any of the following conditions are present:

• A file's management class is changed, but neither the new management class nor the default management class contains a backup copy group.

• The management class to which a file is bound no longer exists, and the default management class does not contain a backup copy group.

• The backup copy group is deleted from the management class to which a file is bound and the default management class does not contain a backup copy group.

ARCHRETention=archretvalue

Specifies an integer that defines the number of days (from the date of archive) to retain archive copies. This parameter is optional. The default value is 365. You can specify an integer in the range of 0 to 9999, inclusive. The archive retention value is used by ADSM to manage inactive copies of files when either of the following conditions are present:

• The management class to which a file is bound no longer exists, and the default management class does not contain an archive copy group.

• The archive copy group is deleted from the management class to which a file is bound and the default management class does not contain an archive copy group.

Examples

Task 1

Define a policy domain with the name of EMPLOYEE_RECORDS.

Command:

define domain employee_records

Task 2

Define a policy domain with a name of PROG1 and a description of Programming Group Domain. Specify that archive copy retention is for 90 days when management classes or archive copy groups are deleted and the default management class does not contain an archive copy group. Also specify that backup version retention is for 60 days when management classes or copy groups are deleted and the default management class does not contain a backup copy group.

Command:

define domain prog1 description="Programming Group Domain" backretention=60 archretention=90

Related Commands

Table 50. Commands Related to DEFINE DOMAIN

Command	Description
COPY DOMAIN	Creates a copy of an existing policy domain.
DEFINE POLICYSET	Defines a policy set within the specified policy domain.
DELETE DOMAIN	Deletes a policy domain along with any policy objects in the policy domain.
QUERY DOMAIN	Displays information about one or more policy domains.
UPDATE DOMAIN	Changes the attributes of a policy domain.