Summary
Beginning with DPX 4.4.4, you can back up to, recover from, and manage your AWS Gateway Virtual Tape Library (VTL) devices by using DPX. From the point of view of DPX, an AWS VTL behaves just like any other supported tape library. A Gateway VTL allows you to back up large amounts of data in a familiar tape library environment. Note that generally, a Gateway VTL will be slower than a physical tape library.
Details
DPX Support Considerations
● DPX support of Gateway VTL includes both Amazon S3 and Amazon Glacier.
● DPX support of Gateway VTL includes File level backup and NDMP backup (both SMTape and Dump).
● For OSS, DPX support of Gateway VTL included DPX Archive (disk to disk to tape).
● In DPX you can copy data from a physical media volume to a Gateway VTL media volume using the DPX Migrate function.
Gateway VTL Configuration
Gateway VTL uses iSCSI transport protocol to give DPX online access to the media changer, tape drives, and tapes. For DPX to recognize and communicate with the Gateway VTL, you should set up the Gateway VTL by following the instructions in http://docs.aws.amazon.com/storagegateway/latest/userguide/GettingStarted-common.html.
Using the AWS Gateway wizard, you select your Gateway type, provision the host platform, activate the Gateway, and configure storage. Then you create your virtual tapes and connect your Gateway VTL devices to DPX.
Note that when creating virtual tapes using the AWS Storage Gateway Console, you are prompted for a Barcode Prefix of up to four characters. For use with DPX, be sure to limit the prefix to a maximum of two characters.
Additional information about Gatway VTL setup is available at the AWS Storage Gateway FAQ page https://aws.amazon.com/storagegateway/faqs/.
Define the Tape Library in DPX
The process for defining and using a tape library in DPX is described in great detail in chapters 33 through 40 of the DPX Reference Guide. Note that you cannot use the DPX Device Configuration Wizard for configuring a Gateway VTL for DPX.
For any Gateway VTL, use “detect -h” command to gather and display information about media changers and tape drives. Use “detect -i” to install the media changer device file and to specify the Controller ID.
Following is a DPX screenshot that illustrates a valid Configure Devices entry for an AWS Gateway VTL in a Windows environment.
For related information, refer to Knowledge Base Article Using AWS Cloud with DPX