Virtual TapeServer 8.0 Configuration Guide

Introduction

Tape remains the most practical solution for removable storage, and it is often required by

regulatory agencies to be archived and stored offsite. However, as the cost of commodity disk

storage has decreased, many enterprises view disk-based backup solutions as a feasible

alternative to tape-based backup. Disk-based backup, or virtual tape storage, can

significantly improve performance, allows users to plan backup and archiving strategies, and

enables users to manage data retention and disaster recovery operations.

Virtual TapeServer (VTS) is a fully integrated virtual tape hardware and software solution.

VTS allows host systems to read from and write to a local or SAN-attached file system. Data

is automatically exported to a tape device based on policies or manually migrated to physical

tape for archival storage or disaster recovery, if long-term backup copies are required. The

integrated support for backup management application software provides a mechanism for

writing to physical tape drives and libraries. If GFS is enabled in your environment, multiple

VTS servers can access a shared set of pools and virtual tapes stored on the same storage

array.

For every host connection to VTS, the host system “sees” one or more tape drives; the virtual

tape drive emulates the type of tape drive specified during the initial installation and setup

process. Virtual tape drives behave just like real tape drives without the problems generally

associated with real tape drives.