Virtual TapeServer 6.04.04 for NonStop Servers Supplemental Installation Guide

Enabling Enterprise Integration and Migration

Enterprise integration enables a backup management application server to read and write

files to and from Virtual TapeServer (VTS). You can enable VTS to migrate virtual tapes to

physical tapes. To configure VTS to automatically migrate virtual tapes, you must install a

backup management application client on the VTS server and configure the VTSPolicy

command in conjunction with the Event Management Service (EMS) on VTS. You can also

manually initiate migration by clicking the Migrate button on the Virtual Media - Operation

page. A backup management application client must be installed on the VTS server to enable

manual migration.

Migration allows for better use of the disk space on the storage array. For instance, if a virtual

tape needs to be saved for seven years for legal purposes, it is not fiscally prudent to keep that

data on disk. You could automatically migrate the virtual tape to physical tape. In the

unlikely event that the virtual tape is needed, VTS can automatically request that the backup

management application server restore it from physical tape.

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

automatically migrated by a backup management application, the backup management

application 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. After the data is

restored as a virtual tape in VTS, the host server can then restore the data.

Note You can export a virtual tape to physical tape, which does not require backup

management application integration. See the Virtual TapeServer Operations and

Administration Guide for more information about exporting virtual tapes.

The backup management application client must be installed on the VTS server, which is

based on the Linux operating system. The backup management application treats VTS as a

UNIX host on the enterprise network. Virtual tapes are then migrated to the tape library

managed by the backup management application server according to policies set by the

backup management application administrator. The backup management application server

can migrate virtual tapes using the following methods:

• The backup management application administrator creates a backup job on the backup

management application server and schedules it to run on the backup management

application client. The backup management application server manages the entire

process and maintains a database of the backup files including a list of physical tapes to

which the data was written. The backup management application server also controls the

tape library.

If VTS deletes or erases a virtual tape, the backup management application administrator

must restore the virtual tape, when necessary. If Tivoli Storage Manager is used, the

mount request is queued on VTS until the data is recovered by the backup management