ANS1592E Failed to initialize SSL protocol.

During a TSM operation, the following error message occurs:

# dsmc q sess -se=TSM01
IBM Spectrum Protect
Command Line Backup-Archive Client Interface
  Client Version 8, Release 1, Level 9.0
  Client date/time: 12/09/22   08:33:24
(c) Copyright by IBM Corporation and other(s) 1990, 2019. All Rights Reserved.

Node Name: aixdbt01
ANS1592E Failed to initialize SSL protocol.

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A possible cause is the missing certificate of the associated TSM instance, in the above case TSM01. The missing certificate can be found on the TSM server in the directory of the instance. The instance directory is usually given to the TSM server process (dsmserv) when it is started with the “-i” option:

# ps -ef|grep dsmser[v]
   tsm01 29295008        1 1198   Nov 08      - 54389:56 /opt/tivoli/tsm/server/bin/dsmserv -i /appdata/cf/TSM01 -o /appdata/cf/TSM01/TSM01.opt -q
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In this case /appdata/cf/TSM01 is the instance directory. This directory contains the instance’s certificate in the cert256.arm file:

# ls -l /appdata/cf/TSM01/cert256.arm
-rw-r--r--    1 tsm01    tsm            1164 Apr 13 2021  /appdata/cf/TSM01/cert256.arm
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The certificate cert256.arm should then be copied to the client system, we assume it has been copied to /tmp.

The dsmcert command for managing certificates is located under /usr/tivoli/tsm/client/ba/bin64. The certificate can then be installed (added) with the following call:

# cd /usr/tivoli/tsm/client/ba/bin64
# ./dsmcert -add -server TSM01 -file /tmp/cert256.arm
IBM Spectrum Protect
dsmcert utility
  dsmcert Version 8, Release 1, Level 9.0
  dsmcert date/time: 12/09/22   08:44:26
(c) Copyright by IBM Corporation and other(s) 1990, 2019. All Rights Reserved.

Result : Success
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Subsequent access to the TSM instance using e.g. “dsmc q sess” should then work:

# dsmc q sess -se=TSM01
IBM Spectrum Protect
Command Line Backup-Archive Client Interface
  Client Version 8, Release 1, Level 9.0
  Client date/time: 12/09/22   08:44:55
(c) Copyright by IBM Corporation and other(s) 1990, 2019. All Rights Reserved.

Node Name: aixdbt01
Session established with server TSM01: AIX
  Server Version 8, Release 1, Level 16.000
  Server date/time: 12/09/22   08:44:56  Last access: 12/09/22   03:02:56

IBM Spectrum Protect Server Connection Information

Home Server Name........: TSM01
Server Type.............: AIX
Archive Retain Protect..: "No"
Server Version..........: Ver. 8, Rel. 1, Lev. 16.0
Last Access Date........: 12/09/22   03:02:56
Delete Backup Files.....: "No"
Delete Archive Files....: "No"
Deduplication...........: "Server Only"

Node Name...............: aixdbt01
User Name...............: root

SSL Information.........: TLSv1.2 TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384

Secondary Server Information
Not configured for failover

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