IBM TSM (IBM Tivoli Storage Manager)
IBM Tivoli Storage Manager (IBM TSM) is an enterprise class backup and archiving application. IBM TSM, like all enterprise backup software products, is designed to make copies of an organization's data to protect against data loss. Similar to other enterprise backup software platforms, it enables policy-based, automated data backup.
IBM Tivoli Storage Manager can manage backup and archive data across disk arrays, tape libraries or optical storage and can automatically move data as it ages to lower performance storage. This approach is sometimes referred to as tiered storage or hierarchical storage management. Policies can specify retention time, type of storage media, frequency of backup, data type and hardware to be backed up.
IBM TSM uses a progressive incremental, or "incremental forever" backup scheme to collect backup data. The software takes an initial full backup and all subsequent backups are incremental -- that is, only changes to data are backed up. This concept at one time was unique to IBM TSM, but has become more common over time, especially among cloud backup providers.
Tivoli Storage Manager is a true enterprise product, and as such, can be configured many different ways to meet an organization's needs. It is most commonly deployed at companies with large amounts of backup data and a staff to manage it. IBM TSM is supported on a variety of hardware, including AIX, HP-UX, Linux, Solaris, and Windows Server. TSM's backup client is available for most supported versions of major operating systems.
