Testing Your Setup by Using Micro Focus (HPE) Data Protector

You can back up your data to virtual tapes, archive the tapes, and manage your virtual tape library (VTL) devices by using Micro Focus (HPE) Data Protector v9.x. In this topic, you can find basic documentation on how to configure the Micro Focus (HPE) Data Protector software for a Tape Gateway and perform a backup and restore operation. For detailed information about how to use the Micro Focus (HPE) Data Protector software, see the Hewlett Packard documentation. For more information about compatible backup applications, see Supported third-party backup applications for a Tape Gateway.

Configuring Micro Focus (HPE) Data Protector to Work with VTL Devices

After you have connected the virtual tape library (VTL) devices to the client, you configure Micro Focus (HPE) Data Protector to recognize your devices. For information about how to connect VTL devices to the client, see Connecting Your VTL Devices.

The Micro Focus (HPE) Data Protector software doesn't automatically recognize Tape Gateway devices. To have the software recognize these devices, manually add the devices and then discover the VTL devices, as described following.

To add the VTL devices

1. In the Micro Focus (HPE) Data Protector main window, choose the Devices & Media shelf in the list at top left.

   Open the context (right-click) menu for Devices, and choose Add Device.

   

2. On the Add Device tab, type a value for Device Name. For Device Type, choose SCSI Library, and then choose Next.

3. On the next screen, do the following:

   1. For SCSI address of the library robotic, select your specific address.

   2. For Select what action Data Protector should take if the drive is busy, choose "Abort" or your preferred action.

   3. Choose to activate these options:

      • Barcode reader support

      • Automatically discover changed SCSI address

      • SCSI Reserve/Release (robotic control)

   4. Leave Use barcode as medium label on initialization clear (unchecked), unless your system requires it.

   5. Choose Next to continue.

4. On the next screen, specify the slots that you want to use with HP Data Protector. Use a hyphen ("-") between numbers to indicate a range of slots, for example 1–6. When you've specified slots to use, choose Next.

5. For the standard type of media used by the physical device, choose LTO_Ultrium, and then choose Finish to complete the setup.

Your tape library is now ready to use. To load tapes into it, see the next section.

Preparing Virtual Tapes for Use with HPE Data Protector

Before you can back up data to a virtual tape, you need to prepare the tape for use. Doing this involves the following actions:

• Load a virtual tape into a tape library

• Load the virtual tape into a slot

• Create a media pool

• Load the virtual tape into media pool

In the following sections, you can find steps to guide you through this process.

Loading Virtual Tapes into a Tape Library

Your tape library should now be listed under Devices. If you don't see it, press F5 to refresh the screen. When your library is listed, you can load virtual tapes into the library.

To load virtual tapes into your tape library

1. Choose the plus sign next to your tape library to display the nodes for robotics paths, drives, and slots.

2. Open the context (right-click) menu for Drives, choose Add Drive, type a name for your tape, and then choose Next to continue.

3. Choose the tape drive you want to add for SCSI address of data drive, choose Automatically discover changed SCSI address, and then choose Next.

4. On the following screen, choose Advanced. The Advanced Options pop-up screen appears.

   1. On the Settings tab, you should consider the following options:

      • CRC Check (to detect accidental data changes)

      • Detect dirty drive (to ensure the drive is clean before backup)

      • SCSI Reserve/Release(drive) (to avoid tape contention)

      For testing purposes, you can leave these options deactivated (unchecked).

   2. On the Sizes tab, set the Block size (kB) to Default (256).

   3. Choose OK to close the advanced options screen, and then choose Next to continue.

5. On the next screen, choose these options under Device Policies:

   • Device may be used for restore

   • Device may be used as source device for object copy

6. Choose Finish to finish adding your tape drive to your tape library.

Loading Virtual Tapes into Slots

Now that you have a tape drive in your tape library, you can load virtual tapes into slots.

To load a tape into a slot

1. In the tape library tree node, open the node labeled Slots. Each slot has a status represented by an icon:

   • A green tape means that a tape is already loaded into the slot.

   • A gray slot means that the slot is empty.

   • A cyan question mark means that the tape in that slot is not formatted.

2. For an empty slot, open the context (right-click) menu, and then choose Enter. If you have existing tapes, choose one to load into that slot.

Creating a Media Pool

A media pool is a logical group used to organize your tapes. To set up tape backup, you create a media pool.

To create a media pool

1. In the Devices & Media shelf, open the tree node for Media, open the context (right-click) menu for the Pools node, and then choose Add Media Pool.

2. For Pool name, type a name.

3. For Media Type, choose LTO_Ultrium, and then choose Next.

4. On the following screen, accept the default values, and then choose Next.

5. Choose Finish to finish creating a media pool.

Loading Tapes into a Media Pool

Before you can back up data onto your tapes, you must load the tapes into the media pool that you created.

To load a virtual tape into a media pool

1. On your tape library tree node, choose the Slots node.

2. Choose a loaded tape, one that has a green icon showing a loaded tape. Open the context (right-click) menu and choose Format, and then choose Next.

3. Choose the media pool you created, and then choose Next.

4. For Medium Description, choose Use barcode, and then choose Next.

5. For Options, choose Force Operation, and then choose Finish.

You should now see your chosen slot change from a status of unassigned (gray) to a status of tape inserted (green). A series of messages appear to confirm that your media is initialized.

At this point, you should have everything configured to begin using your virtual tape library with HPE Data Protector. To double-check that this is the case, use the following procedure.

To verify that your tape library is configured for use

• Choose Drives, then open the context (right-click) menu for your drive, and choose Scan.

If your configuration is correct, a message confirms that your media was successfully scanned.

Backing Up Data to a Tape

When your tapes have been loaded into a media pool, you can back up data to them.

To back up data to a tape

1. Choose the Backup shelf at top left of the screen.

   

2. Open the context (right-click) menu for Filesystem, and choose Add Backup.

3. On the Create New Backup screen, under Filesystem, choose Blank File System Backup, and then choose OK.

4. On the tree node that shows your host system, select the file system or file systems that you want to back up, and choose Next to continue.

5. Open the tree node for the tape library you want to use, open the context (right-click) menu for the tape drive you want to use, and then choose Properties.

6. Choose your media pool, choose OK, and then choose Next.

7. For the next three screens, accept the default settings and choose Next.

8. On the Perform finishing steps in your backup/template design screen, choose Save as to save this session. In the pop-up window, give the backup a name and assign it to the group where you want to save your new backup specification.

9. Choose Start Interactive Backup.

If the host system contains a database system, you can choose it as your target backup system. The screens and selections are similar to the file-system backup just described.

Note

If your Tape Gateway restarts for any reason during an ongoing backup job, the backup job will fail, and the tape drive in Data Protector is marked as Dirty. Data Protector also marks the tape quality as Poor, and prevents writing to the tape. To continue reading data from the tape, you must clean the drive and re-mount the tape. To complete the failed backup job, you must resubmit it on a new tape.

Archiving a Tape

When you archive a tape, Tape Gateway moves the tape from the tape library to the offline storage. Before you eject and archive a tape, you might want to check the content on it.

To check a tape's content before archiving it

1. Choose Slots and then choose the tape you want to check.

2. Choose Objects and check what content is on the tape.

When you have chosen a tape to archive, use the following procedure.

To eject and archive a tape

1. Open the context (right-click) menu for that tape, and choose Eject.

2. On the Storage Gateway console, choose your gateway, and then choose VTL Tape Cartridges and verify the status of the virtual tape you are archiving.

After the tape is ejected, it will be automatically archived in the offline storage (S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval or S3 Glacier Deep Archive). The archiving process can take some time to complete. The initial status of the tape is shown as IN TRANSIT TO VTS. When archiving starts, the status changes to ARCHIVING. When archiving is completed, the tape is no longer listed in the VTL but is archived in S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval or S3 Glacier Deep Archive.

Restoring Data from a Tape

Restoring your archived data is a two-step process.

To restore data from an archived tape

1. Retrieve the archived tape to a Tape Gateway. For instructions, see Retrieving Archived Tapes.

2. Use HPE Data Protector to restore the data. This process is the same as restoring data from physical tapes.

To restore data from a tape, use the following procedure.

To restore data from a tape

1. Choose the Restore shelf at the top left of the screen.

   

2. Choose the file system or database system you want to restore. For the backup that you want to restore, make sure that the box is selected. Choose Restore.

3. In the Start Restore Session window, choose Needed Media. Choose All media, and you should see the tape originally used for the backup. Choose that tape, and then choose Close.

4. In the Start Restore Session window, accept the default settings, choose Next, and then choose Finish.

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