Virtual Tape Library Appliances

Virtual tape library (VTL-series) appliances leverage the protection power of disk to solve the backup/restore issues associated with physical tape. Based on industry-leading Virtual Tape Library technology adopted by many major storage OEMs, these appliances seamlessly integrate into existing storage environments without requiring operational changes. Virtual tape cartridges can be securely replicated to a remote appliance for disaster recovery, and exported to physical tape for long-term vaulting, all without jeopardizing backup windows.

Maximum backup speed and reliability

Using Fibre Channel or iSCSI protocols, data is transferred to/from disk-based virtual tapes at ultra-high speeds for fast backup and reliable recovery. Advanced encryption secures data when replicating virtual tapes to another site and when exporting to physical tapes.

Optional features

Automated Tape Caching
Allows users to set up policies that will trigger the export to physical tape automatically, based on the criteria such as the number of days that the data has been on the virtual tape or the amount of free space.

Replication Option
Replicates virtual tapes over IP across any distance to another VTL appliance, based on policy, in a peer-to-peer or many-to-one configuration. Includes data compression and encryption.

ACSLS Shared Library
Enables the VTL appliance to work with ACSLS-managed tape libraries, allowing the system to share ACSLS-managed libraries among the VTL appliance and backup servers for the purpose of importing/exporting virtual tapes from/to physical tapes.

Active/Active Failover
Enables two VTL appliances to be configured as an active-active cluster to maximize service availability via transparent failover and fail-back capabilities.

Hardware Compression
Hardware accelerator board is deployed to compress files so that more data can be stored by a virtual tape drive, saving disk space.

Hosted Backup Support
Allows certified backup applications to be installed directly onto the VTL appliance, eliminating the need for a dedicated backup server

IBM 3494 Library Support
Enables a VTL appliance to connect to and manage IBM 3494 tape libraries for import and export of virtual tapes from/to physical tapes

IBM iSeries Support (AS/400)
Allows IBM iSeries and AS/400 systems to connect to a VTL appliance

NDMP Backup Support
Allows certified backup applicators and industry-standard NAS appliances to perform backup and restore using the VTL NDMP protocol over an IP network.

CallHome
Monitors the health of the storage infrastructure managed by the VTL appliance. Automatically identifies potential problems and notifies IT administrators, enabling them to take corrective action to optimize uptime and availability.

SecureTape Option
Highly secure, easy to use tape encryption service, based on the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). This option allows VTL to export data from virtual to physical tapes in access to data on the physical tapes and protecting against information theft if, for example, the tapes are lost or misplaced.

Highlights

Greater reliability of backup/ restore by eliminating media/mechanical errors
Remote replication of virtual tapes for disaster protection and electronic vaulting
Greater performance by eliminating tape loading and positioning times. No “shoe shining”
High speed export to physical tape for archiving with increased media life
Easy to deploy: Integrate seamlessly with existing backup software/policies
Minimize capital investment through virtualization
Operates seamlessly with continuous data protection (CDP) technology to eliminate the backup window
Integrates with Single Instance Repository (SIR) appliance for redundant data elimination
Maximum data protection, including RAID-6 double parity on models with internal storage

Product Specification Sheet