Sun Microsystems Virtual Tape Library - Manual (Page 122)

Managing tapes
108 VTL User Guide • May 2008 G • 96267
■
copy a physical tape to a virtual tape that emulates the same type of media
■ directly access a physical tape without copying the entire tape
■
recycle a physical tape after importing its contents to virtual media
■
move data from a virtual tape to a physical tape of the same media type
VTL import/export capabilities are particularly useful when you are not using the
Automated Tape Caching feature and want to move tapes from a virtual library to
physical media for long term storage. Should you subsequently need to recover files,
you can access the physical tape volume directly, in the physical library, by using the
VTL import function. This gives the backup application immediate access to the tape
data without waiting for a complete copy—a big advantage when you need to
restore only a small amount of data.
You should note, however, that VTL software supports several of ways of moving
data from virtual to physical storage, each of which has advantages in particular
situations. In addition to VTL’s export function, each of the following methods
supports migration of data from virtual to physical media:
■ copying virtual tape to physical tape using the functionality provided by your
backup or copy‐/vault‐management application
■
automatically cloning virtual volumes to physical media after each backup using
the VTL Auto Archive function
■
automatically cloning virtual volumes to physical media using the policy‐driven
VTL Automated Tape Caching option.
You should thus consider your options before deciding on a method. Automated
Tape Caching and Auto Archive cannot be used together.
Up to 32 import/export jobs can run concurrently, although, in practice, this is
generally limited to something less by the number of physical tape drives available
on the attached library.
This section holds instructions for the following tasks:
■
“Importing a physical tape into a virtual library” on page 109
■
“Importing cartridges in an IBM iSeries environment” on page 115
■ “Exporting virtual tape to physical tape” on page 115
■
“Exporting cartridges to the virtual vault in an IBM iSeries environment” on
page 119.