Shared Tape Library

[domenicalvaro]

We've just added a second server into our backup infrastructure, which will behave as a Veeam proxy as well as a backup repository. Both servers and a tape library are SAN-attached using FibreChannel.

I want to copy backups from disk to tape directly from each server. Is it possible for two Veeam proxies to access the same tape drive and queue jobs until the drive is free? Or should there just be a 1-to-1 mapping between the drive and the server?

Thanks,

Domenic

[Dima P.]

Hello Domenic,

It is 1-to-1 mapping for tape library and VBR: one backup server holds a catalogue of tape media/data stored on this media, and additionally it locks the tape drive/changer during backup to tape.

But, if your tape library supports partitioning - you can create two separate logical devices and present them via iSCSI to different VBR servers (this could be done by library software, of course if it has more than two drives)

[StrangeWill]

Currently we have backup handled by two servers, one for production and one for development.

In the future we'll look to combine those (we were supposed to when we upgraded both environments to Enterprise Plus), I haven't had a chance to talk to sales about it (super busy) and I'm dreading having to go back and ask for a boatload of money in licensing. However even with both boxes under the same enterprise environment, I'm unsure if I'll make it one Veeam box...


Anyway, I have a single tape library (Dell TL2000) that is shared out via iSCSI (using Starwind Tape Redirector) to my production Veeam right now, I want to also plug the development Veeam into it and share the tape library, however the tape pool setup is confusing, do I put all tapes under "free" and let each Veeam instance have it's own pool that is configured to pull from free as needed? Do I do inventories on both systems often to keep them synced? While messing with this I lost the inventory of an offline tape and had to push another full tape on the next backup job, boo.

Or do I just wait for v8 which as I've heard allows you to install Veeam, plug that straight into the tape deck and manage it from another Veeam box?

[foggy]

William, it is not possible to share the library unless it supports partitioning. Thanks.

[StrangeWill]

William, it is not possible to share the library unless it supports partitioning. Thanks.

TL2000 does support partitioning, but we have to purchase a second tape drive. Will sharing without partitioning be supported in v8 (via a single Veeam host)?

[foggy]

No, such functionality is not planned for this release.

[StrangeWill]

Bummer, will probably do file backups for the second host then.

[veremin]

Why not to use single backup server instance to manage both tape activities? In the upcoming version we will add support for remote tape libraries (those that aren't connected directly to backup server). So, you can place back server wherever you want and orchestrate tape stuff from there.

Thanks.

[StrangeWill]

Why not to use single backup server instance to manage both tape activities? In the upcoming version we will add support for remote tape libraries (those that aren't connected directly to backup server). So, you can place back server wherever you want and orchestrate tape stuff from there.

Thanks.

I haven't found a way to back up a remote repository without backing up files only (VM backup to tape skips over imported files from a remote server). We're currently running two separately licensed systems so they're not running under a larger enterprise setup.

So far I'm looking to configure pushing a file to tape backup for the development stuff, kind of a pain but the only way I can find out having the one server handle tape for both backup jobs.

[veremin]

I'm not sure whether I follow you on that. But one backup server would mean that all of the repositories added to it can be simply backed up using backup to tape jobs. Thanks.

[StrangeWill]

I'm not sure whether I follow you on that. But one backup server would mean that all of the repositories added to it can be simply backed up using backup to tape jobs. Thanks.

Oh, so don't run two different Veeam servers to begin with, yeah... due to a mess-up during licensing we have to reconcile our licenses to fix that... currently in the process of fixing that, but because of that we got approved for a different price from the business...

[veremin]

Anyway, once licensing questions are sorted out, the best idea will to wait till v8 is released, consolidate both backup servers into one, and orchestrate required tape activities through single pane of glass. Thanks.