System and method for virtual vaulting
First Claim
1. A tape library comprising:
- a front-end portion adapted for use with a data protection application, said front-end portion being visible to an end-user, the data protection application for importing and exporting tapes from said front-end portion;
a back-end portion for storing tapes exported by the front-end portion, said back-end portion being invisible to an end-user and the data protection application; and
wherein tapes may be automatically exported from the front-end portion to the back-end portion, and may be automatically imported back into the front-end portion without manual intervention.
2 Assignments
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention is a tape library comprising both a small front-end portion and a larger back-end portion. The front-end portion is a visible virtual or physical tape library; and the back-end portion is a large invisible virtual or physical tape vault. The DPA is a typical DPA which only sees the front-end library. If desired, all messages regarding the importing and exporting of tapes are reviewed by an agent. The agent manages the automatic transfer of tapes between the front-end and the back-end, and notifies the user when a manual import or export is needed. This greatly reduces both the amount of hardware required to establish a virtual or physical tape library and also reduces the amount of labor required by a user to physically import and export tapes. If both the front-end library and, the back-end vault are virtual and reside on the same virtual tape library appliance, no data movement is necessary and the tapes can be moved merely by performing small software state changes. In this case, manual operation may be acceptable.
69 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A tape library comprising:
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a front-end portion adapted for use with a data protection application, said front-end portion being visible to an end-user, the data protection application for importing and exporting tapes from said front-end portion;
a back-end portion for storing tapes exported by the front-end portion, said back-end portion being invisible to an end-user and the data protection application; and
wherein tapes may be automatically exported from the front-end portion to the back-end portion, and may be automatically imported back into the front-end portion without manual intervention. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method for importing and exporting tapes between front and back portions of a tape library comprising:
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installing a data protection application on a tape library having front and back portions wherein the data protection application interacts only with the front portion;
monitoring requests made by the data protection application for manual importing and exporting of tapes into and out-of the front portion;
exporting tapes requested by the data protection application for manual exportation automatically to the back portion of the tape library;
importing tapes requested by the data protection application for manual importation automatically to the front portion;
notifying a user when a tape needs to be manually imported to the front portion; and
notifying a user when a tape needs to be manually exported from the front portion.
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16. A method for importing a tape in a tape library having front and back portions comprising:
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installing a data protection application on a front portion of a tape library having front and back portions;
monitoring requests by the data protection application for manual importation of tapes to the front portion;
importing tapes requested by the data protection application for manual importation automatically to the front portion; and
notifing a user when a tape needs to be manually imported to the front portion.
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17. A method for exporting a tape in a tape library having front and back portions comprising:
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installing a data protection application on a front portion of a tape library having front and back portions;
monitoring requests by the data protection application for manual exportation of tapes from the front portion;
exporting tapes requested by the data protection application for manual exportation automatically to the back portion; and
notifying a user when a tape needs to be manually exported from the front portion.
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Specification