This topic introduces Virtual Tape Libraries (VTLs) and related concepts and tasks. Refer to the subsequent topics and procedures in this section for more information.
A Virtual Tape Library (VTL) is an emulation of a physical tape library on a disk-based deduplication and compression system such as QoreStor. The tape library is exposed to a Data Management Application (DMA) as if it is a physical library with tape drives and cartridges, which the application uses for backup. Because a VTL completely emulates a standard library, the introduction of virtual tape is seamless and transparent to existing tape backup/recovery applications. The management of the library, including the drives and tapes, is done by the DMA using SCSI commands. For details on the applications supported, see the QoreStor Interoperability Guide.
This topic introduces and briefly defines some basic VTL terminology used throughout the QoreStor documentation.
| Term | Description |
|---|---|
| Library | A library is an emulation of a physical tape library and shares the same characteristics such as media changer, tape drives, and slots (cartridge slots). |
| Tape Drive | A Tape drive is a logical unit which is part of the emulated library. The media or cartridge is loaded in the Tape drives to be accessed by the Data Management application. |
| Tapes/Media/Cartridges | Tapes are represented as files and are units within the VTL where data is actually written. Tapes are loaded into a Tape Drive before being accessed. |
| Slots | Tapes are parked in Slots before they are retrieved by the data management application for access. |
QoreStor supports the following virtual tape library (VTL) tape access protocols.
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