HP B6960-96035 Automated media copying, What is automated media copying?, Scheduled media copying

Automated media copying

What is automated media copying?

Automated media copying is an automated process that creates copies of the media containing backups. This functionality is available with library devices.

Data Protector offers two types of automated media copying: post-backup media copying and scheduled media copying.

Post-backup media copying

Post-backup media copying takes place after the completion of a backup session. It copies the media used in that particular session.

Scheduled media copying

Scheduled media copying takes place at a user-defined time. Media used in different backup specifications can be copied in a single session. You create an automated media copy specification to define which media will be copied.

How does automated media copying operate?

First you create an automated media copy specification. When the automated media copy session begins, Data Protector generates a list of media, referred to as source media, based on the parameters specified in the automated media copy specification. For each source medium, a target medium is selected to which the data will be copied. The target media are selected from the same media pool as the source media, from a free pool, or from the blank media in a library.

For each source medium, Data Protector selects a pair of devices from the devices that you specified in the automated media copy specification. The automated media copy functionality provides its own load balancing. Data Protector tries to make optimum use of the available devices by utilizing as many devices as possible and selecting local devices, if they are available.

The automated media copy functionality does not handle mount or cleanme requests. If a mount request is received, the media pair concerned is aborted, but the session continues.

For examples of use, see “Examples of automated media copying” on page 332.

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