Restoring Encrypted Data

You should be aware of the following when restoring encrypted data:

  • Restoring encrypted data is completely transparent to the user if you use the Robot Save menu system. For objects saved using the menus, Robot Save keeps track of all encryption keys used to save data and restores both encrypted and nonencrypted objects automatically. (Robot Save does not keep a record of encryption keys used during an ad hoc save.)

  • To restore an entire sequence number on a tape with one command, you must use the RBSRSTxxx commands to restore all the data saved using the RBSSAVxxx commands. This restores both encrypted and nonencrypted data. You can use either the IBM restore commands or RBSRSTxxx commands to restore the nonencrypted data on a tape that contains both encrypted and nonencrypted data. However, the IBM commands will not restore any encrypted data and will stop the restore when the command finds an encrypted object.

  • You can use IBM tape commands on tape volumes that contain encrypted and nonencrypted data. For example, the IBM Display Tape (DSPTAP) command displays what is on a volume that contains encrypted data. However, the command does not show which objects are encrypted.

  • The Robot Save Create Restoration Subset (RBSCRTRST) command creates a save file that contains the programs and restore encrypted data commands required to restore encrypted data on a system that does not have Robot Save installed. You can use the save file to restore RBSPGMLIB at a hot site if it was saved with encryption. You also can send the save file to a vendor or another site to allow them to restore encrypted objects.

  • The restoration commands require an encryption key to decrypt the data. If you don’t enter an encryption key (leave the parameter value as *DEFAULT), the current encryption key value is used. If the current encryption key is different than the one in use at the time the data was saved, you must know the encryption key that was used to save the data.

  • If restoring to a different machine than you saved from, the RBSKEYLIB needs to be restored using the RBSRSTLIB command. You will need to enter the Encryption Key number that was used to save the library.