Sun Microsystems Virtual Tape Library manual Advantages of VTL tape virtualization

Advantages of VTL tape virtualization

Advantages of VTL tape virtualization

Adding Sun StorageTek VirtualTape Library appliances to an existing tape‐based backup architecture can thus realize the following advantages:

■“Shorter runtimes and reduced dependency on backup windows” on page 4

■“Shorter run times for non‐sequential backup jobs” on page 5

■“Improved reliability” on page 5

■“Better utilization of tape subsystems” on page 5

■“Larger, more flexible libraries” on page 6

■“Compatibility with ACSLS management software” on page 6

■“True tape virtualization with dynamically allocated disk space” on page 7.

Shorter runtimes and reduced dependency on backup windows

VTL appliances can handle a narrow backup window by using numbers of virtual drives operating in parallel, something that would be highly impractical with physical tape drives. In this way, the critical, first copy of the primary data is reliably transferred to disk‐based virtual tape in minimum time. Thereafter, vaulting software and/or VTL tape‐caching features can copy the backup from virtual to physical media using a smaller, more economical number of physical drives. See the figure below:

Multiple virtual drives speed backup during the critical backup window

primary storage virtual library

virtual tape drives

backup window

physical library

physical tape drives

Back up to multiple virtual tape drives during the critical backup window

At other times, copy virtual tapes to physical media using one or two dedicated tape drives

4 VTL User Guide • May 2008 G • 96267