ISO-LTFS / ISO/IEC 20919:2021

[ajgeomar]

Hi,

is it possible for Veeam to write to tape in ISO/IEC 20919:2021 format so it can be read software-independet?

Kind regards

[HannesK]

Hello,
and welcome to the forums.

EDIT: removed wrong information

For LTFS: that would look like a disk for Veeam. That does not work because the software expects that a repository behaves like disk if it looks like a disk

Best regards,
Hannes

[Dima P.]

Hello ajgeomar,

LTFS is not supported by Veeam B&R. Can you please describe what scenario or setup you have in mind? Any specific tape library vendor / tape media generation you are referring to? Thank you!

[ajgeomar]

Hi Dima,

the current configuration of our veeam runs fine with the tape library, we are additionally searching for an archive software for our science files to reduce the usage on our storage. This data has to be stored unchanged infinite because it's not recoverable and we need a storing format which will be accessible in the future so we decided to use an international standard which is software independent.

Kind regards

[HannesK]

Hello,
for LTFS, the files need to be copied with a dumb file copy.

Did you already try Veeam file copy jobs? Post-Scripts that run a "cp" or "robocopy" command should also work (it just needs to be sequential writes).

Backup copy jobs are not possible (not dumb enough ). Tape jobs also not, because LTFS looks like a disk as far as I remember.

Best regards,
Hannes

[fga]

Confirmed what HannesK says.
LTFS is nothing more than a "Disk on Tape"
Looks like a disk, smells like a disk, behaves more or less like a disk but isn't a disk.
Moreover: Deleted files are not really deleted just "marked" deleted. They always stay on tape. So if you update a file to a newer version the old one gets marked deleted (vanishes) new one gets written but the tape blocks of the old one are still on the tape slowly clobbering the tape until its full.
From personal experience i would absolutly NOT recommend to use LTFS in any production environment what so ever.
Tape Blocksizes, driver versions, LTFS implementation of Vendor x and y are very very picky and sometimes just can't work together.
Also Storing things on LTFS, just because its on tape, is NOT A BACKUP.
Plus: LTFS depends on the LTO Version and they are not indefnitly backwards compatible. With LTO8 for example only LTO7 tapes can be read. LTO6 and older are lost without a fitting old drive.

With all that said: Please don't...

Science data should be fairly compressible and deduplicatable (is that a word? ) so a Dedup appliace like a Dell Data Domain should be more suiting for those needs.

[Dima P.]

This data has to be stored unchanged infinite because it's not recoverable and we need a storing format which will be accessible in the future so we decided to use an international standard which is software independent.

You can use regular Veeam tape integrations together with WORM media and cover the needed reporting via VeeamOne reports.

With all that said: Please don't...

I'd add that LTFS required tons of random seeks compared to traditional MFT. That means tape media gets retired really fast.

[lowlander]

Actually, the licensing in V12 changed the file to tape job to be a paid option. Having this said, a file to tape copy with LTFS would be a cheaper possibility for large archive files.

What are the pros and cons ?

And is this a valid idea to reduce costs

[HannesK]

Hello,
file-to-tape only costs for non-Veeam data. All Veeam backup files are free.

So I guess you want to use NAS backup jobs to point to LTFS? That will fail as tape is not able to handle how NAS data is stored

Best regards,
Hannes