Amazon AWS VTL Gateway

[veremin]

I've just got a confirmation from QA team that a hotfix addressing the given problem has been shared with support team.

Anyone experiencing similar symptoms while working Amazon AWS VTL Gateway, kindly, open a support ticket and request the said fix.

Thanks.

[STLJames]

Having assessed my options with backing up to off-site storage, I am looking at implementing Veeam sending a copy of the backup jobs up to AWS VTL.
Are there any step-by-step videos on how to set this up as my experience with both AWS and Veeam is currently limited.

I have come across this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-f6NWEs4EeE

But that video talks about gateway-cached volumes as opposed to VTL. In the video Luke says he was going to make one for the VTL setup, did this get done?

[Dima P.]

Hi James,

First, you need to properly setup the Gateway-VTL at Amazon. You may refer to this step by step instruction.

The next step is adding tape library to Veeam B&R server. Please note, you must have the latest v9 Update1 with hotfix installed in order to use the failover to SCSI commands (i.e. to run your VTL with Unknown medium changer emulation) – otherwise use the Sony changer driver like described in this article. Hotfix can be requested from our support team.

[gmaciolek]

Hotfix sounds well and good- what about those of us using the Free edition? I don't believe I'm able to contact support for a hotfix!

All I really want to be able to do is to read barcodes; it would be really nice.

[Vitaliy S.]

Hi Geoff, even if you're using Free version, you still can contact our support team as per our support policy.

[gmaciolek]

Interestingly enough, I popped windows back to the "Unknown" drivers, and set the device to use native SCSI in Veeam, and magically everything's working - so far. 9.0 Update 1. (I haven't run into the 'offline drives' issue yet, but I expect it's possible).

[Dima P.]

Hi Geoff,

Glad to hear you are up and running. The fix may be not required if the tape import works and all the media is perfectly reflected in the UI. However, if you face any issues please let our support know. Thanks!

[Charlie39]

Hello,

I have the (same) Problem. AWS Gateway VTL is configured and running also the VM AWS-Storage-Gateway in vSphere.

I can see the Tape-Library (STK L700 0103) and Tape-Drives 1-10 (IBM ULT3580-TD5) in Veeam, but there are no medias.

Any idea or help?

Kind regards,
Karlheinz

[gparker]

Hi Karlheinz, If you're running Veeam v9.0.0.1491 Patch1 there is a fix available, just log a support ticket. Otherwise I can provide you with a workaround that I spoke about in one of my previous posts in this discussion around March this year.
Regards,
George.

[veremin]

The hot fix didn't make it into the first update. So, kindly, request it via support ticket.

The hot fix will be included in the Update 2.

Thanks.

[jaseliu]

I can confirmed that this is fixed in Update 2, it's able to import the tapes properly.

[veremin]

Thank you for taking your time and updating the topic with the results of your findings. We do appreciate that. Thanks.

[caitlin.butler]

Hello all,

I had a customer open a case with Tier 1 Support recently, Case 01857771, and he was configuring his AWS Gateway as well as a VTL, and the suggestion to delete the drivers and use the Native SCSI Command Setting didn't fix the barcode issue for him.

He ended up re-installing the driver and then also enabling the Native SCSI Command setting and this allowed the barcode to show, but not all characters. It shows 8 characters but it should show 10 characters. He also has a prefix for the barcodes set and I suggested removing characters from this prefix so the total characters is 8 instead of 10, but I'm not sure if this is his only option to get the barcode to show correctly.

Has anyone using AWS as a VTL seen this issue or if you use the barcode prefix at all without issue of that showing correctly in Veeam?

[Dima P.]

Caitlin,

Emulation of Sony library uses windows drivers and simply does not have barcode reader built-in – that’s why barcodes are not displayed at the VBR’s UI. SCSI drivers (Unknown Medium Changer driver) with failover to native SCSI commands being enabled in VBR console do support barcodes. Why the VBR does not display the correct barcode (why it shrinks it) is being investigated.

[veremin]

Great announcement for everyone interested in Amazon AWS VTL - check it out!

[cparker4486]

Hi everyone,

I've been using FastGlacier to send monthly backup files to Amazon Glacier. I've been using it for a few years and it's worked fairly well but periodically I have to retry a job and this seems to be happening more often the past few months. My files are 400GB+ and my upload speed is 75Mbps.

I'd like to find a more reliable way. Preferably with PowerShell.

So, how do you do it?

[PTide]

Hi,

Have you considered using AWS VTL Gateway? Please review this thread for extra info on the subject.

Thanks

[cparker4486]

Hi PTide,

I must say I disagree with you merging my topic into this. This gateway thing looks interesting but now my topic is buried in this thread and no one is going to see it. You could have just posted your comment and linked to the thread. Merging was not necessary.


Respectfully,
Chris.

[veremin]

I'd like to find a more reliable way. Preferably with PowerShell.

Not sure whether I got your request. More reliable way to do what exactly? Send data to Amazon Glacier? How does PowerShell correlate with this goal? And what particular you have to retry usually? FastGlacier or VB&R one? Thanks.

[infused]

Hi Guys.

Is there an easy guide which shows how to:

* Add the tape gateway VM/Configure
* Make it show in Veeam
* Configure backup jobs for the tape gateway
* Tape retrieval from AWS

We have 30TB I am looking to shove off to AWS Tape Gateway/Glacier storage. This is long term retention. I see it's coming natively in v10? But I need to do this now.

Thanks

[veremin]

Hi, Hayden,

Kindly, check the thread above for configuration instructions and ask additional questions, if any are left.

Thanks.

[infused]

Configured it all. Asking for setup of backup jobs in a seperate thread.

[rbance67]

Hi,

Has anyone used the AWS Storage GW in VTL mode for Veeam Backup, and used Snowball to preseed the AWS S3 for the initial backup jobs??

[Dima P.]

Very interesting question, but to be honest I doubt that Gateway VTL supports integration with Snowball.

[vtjim345]

Has anyone gotten the bar codes to work with Veeam and AWS's Storage Gateway? I'm running 9.5 U3. I've seen references in the past to manually enter the name of the tape, but, it's very tedious. Thanks in advance.

[vtjim345]

Has anyone gotten the bar codes to work with Veeam and AWS's Storage Gateway? I'm running 9.5 U3. I've seen references in the past to manually enter the name of the tape, but, it's very tedious. Thanks in advance.

For those that might run across this issue, this was an upgraded veeam b&r server (7->8->9.0->9.5). I worked with Veeam support. We changed the following things and it now works.

- AWS - Change MediaChanger type to "AWS-Gateway-VTL"
- Computer Management -> Device Manager - changed device/drivers for Tape Library to use "Sony TSL-A500C AutoLoader.
- Finally, in VBR, Tape Infrastructure, Tape Library -> Properties. Tick off "Use native SCSI commands instead of Windows driver.

We tried several things and i'm not sure if it was a combination or if the final step was what was needed.

After a re-inventory the barcode field is now populated when we view the properties of the tapes. The name is still off though for existing tapes. New tapes have the name assigned to the bar code. This works for me since i can now look at the properties to find out the tape for the legacy tapes.