Virtual TapeServer 6.03.42 Operations and Administration Guide

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Migrating Data to Physical Tape
Migration allows for better use of the disk space on the storage array. Migration relies on the
use of a backup management application (BMA). Virtual TapeServer (VTS) supports the
following BMAs for migration:
• IBM Tivoli Storage Manager
• Symantec Veritas NetBackup
• Syncsort Backup Express
• EMC Legato Networker
To automate migration, you can configure the VTSPolicy command in conjunction with the
Event Management Service (EMS) on VTS. You can manually initiate migration by clicking
the Migrate button on the Virtual Media - Operation page. A BMA client must be installed on
the VTS server to enable manual migration.
When a virtual tape is migrated to physical tape, all data on the virtual tape is written to
physical tape, including the header information (metadata). The data is then removed from
VTS, though the virtual tape’s metadata is retained. To restore a physical tape that was
migrated by a BMA, the BMA must restore the tape to VTS. Host servers cannot read
physical tapes that were created through migration because the tape is formatted for use by
VTS only. Once the data is restored as a virtual tape in VTS, the host server can then restore
the data.
Note If SecureVTS is enabled and an encrypted virtual tape is selected for migration, the
tape is migrated as-is. That is, the data remains encrypted when it is migrated to
physical tape. See Using SecureVTS on page 75 for more information about this
feature.
If Scan/Cleanup is enabled, you can configure VTS to automatically erase virtual tapes after
they are migrated or after their retention periods expire. See
Using Scan/Cleanup on page 89
for more information about enabling and configuring Scan/Cleanup. See Managing pools on
page 55 for more information about setting retention periods.