Files skipped from Tivoli backups

Files would randomly be skipped from the backup with the following errors:

Date/Time                Message                                                  
--------------------     ----------------------------------------------------------
04/24/2006 16:02:07      ANE4037E (Session: 4688, Node: GWNODE3)  File            
                         'GWVOL3:/INFOSYST/OFUSER/USER0F4.DB' changed during     
                          processing.  File skipped. (SESSION: 4688)              
04/24/2006 16:02:08      ANE4037E (Session: 4688, Node: GWNODE3)  File            
                         'GWVOL3:/INFOSYST/OFUSER/USER0L4.DB' changed during     
                          processing.  File skipped. (SESSION: 4688)

These errors would appear primarily on GroupWise database files. The files were being updated during the backup so Tivoli would skip these files because of the change. This is perfectly normal to have GroupWise db files updated during a backup. Especially with heavy usage.  These databases are constantly in use by GroupWise.   Tivoli (TSM) product does not backup files that are changing, i.e. filesize, attributes, permissions, etc during the backup. Tivoli works by first looking at the file, its size and then it's attributes. It then compares this information with its backup database to see if the file has been modified since it was backed up last. This works on the assumption that the file is not modifed during this check. There is no lock issued for the file during this check. If  the file is modifed again during this check then  it does not backup the file and will display the above error, after x number of retries.  Tivoli can be configured to attempt a number of retries to try and backup the file with the changingretries = # parameter. Tivoli can also be configured to do a shared dynamic mode backup, meaning it will backup the file even if attributes have changed on it.