What is a Virtual Tape Library?
A virtual tape library (VTL) combines tape backup emulation software with hard disk architecture to provide a superior archival backup solution. A virtual tape library is faster, more flexible, more robust, and more cost-effective than tape backup. Since VTL uses disk-to-disk (D2D) backup, it is sometimes referred to as VTL D2D. While tape drives were the method of choice for archival backup throughout the 1990s, the medium of magnetic tape has its share of inherent drawbacks. Searching for cartridges, accessing the information, and copying files can take several minutes at best, providing the backup drive and cartridge perform as expected. At the beginning of the new millennium, hard disks became affordable enough to make them a feasible and welcome alternative to tape backup. Enter the virtual tape library, a backup solution that offers all the convenience of tape methodology with the speed and reliability of hard disks. Access to files using a virtual tape library is instant, and th
Definition: A Virtual Tape Library (VTL) is a backup solution that combines traditional tape backup methodology with low-cost disk technology to create an optimised backup and recovery solution. By emulating the initial transfer to traditional tapes drive and tapes, standard backup software is able to deposit and retrieve data onto disk drives just as it would onto a tape library, only faster! The following table shows some of the most common problems with tape based backup solutions. “What are the biggest problems with your current backup and recovery solutions?” Percentage of All Users (multiple responses accepted) Enterprise Strategy Group Lab, October 2004 VTL products can help to tackle these issues by making the implementation of D2D (disk-to-disk) and D2D2T (disk-to-disk-to-tape) strategies possible. Advantages: Virtual Tape Libraries can present the following advantages • Cost savings o No library licensing costs o Lowers acquisition cost of storage technology • Reliability o E
Essentially, it’s a set of disks that sits between your backup server and your tape libraries. A virtual tape library saves time by accelerating backup data transfers. It then retains the backup data, keeping it available online for quick restores in the short term. Meanwhile, it schedules and automates the encryption and migration of backup data to your offline tape libraries. With the StorageTek VTL Plus, you can immediately reduce your backup windows, improve backup success rates, and accelerate data restores.
