Method and system for emulating tape libraries
First Claim
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1. A method comprising:
- configuring a virtual tape library (VTL) in communication with a plurality of data protection applications (DPAs) to emulate a plurality of physical tape libraries (PTLs);
operating the VTL to emulate the plurality of PTLs by translating, in the VTL, a plurality of DPA commands in a plurality of formats used by the plurality of DPAs for DPA-to-PTL communication, into a single format for use by the VTL, wherein each of the DPAs uses a DPA command of the plurality of DPA commands to backup data at one of the plurality of PTL, wherein configuring the VTL to emulate the plurality of VTLs comprises storing a plurality of VTL specifications accessible to the VTL, each specification corresponding to a different one of the plurality of PTLs;
receiving one of the plurality of DPA commands, at the VTL, for writing backup data from one of the plurality of DPAs,saving the data of one DPA command of the plurality of DPAs commands to a location in the VTL as the one DPA command arrives to the VTL, andassociating the location of the saved data in the VTL with a location indicated in a PTL identifier, the PTL identifier specifying a location in the PTL as a destination for the data.
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Abstract
A method and system for emulating tape library commands is disclosed. Tape library commands implemented in response to commands received from a data protection application are emulated in a disk based storage medium so that existing data protection applications may be used to copy data to and from the disk based storage medium.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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configuring a virtual tape library (VTL) in communication with a plurality of data protection applications (DPAs) to emulate a plurality of physical tape libraries (PTLs); operating the VTL to emulate the plurality of PTLs by translating, in the VTL, a plurality of DPA commands in a plurality of formats used by the plurality of DPAs for DPA-to-PTL communication, into a single format for use by the VTL, wherein each of the DPAs uses a DPA command of the plurality of DPA commands to backup data at one of the plurality of PTL, wherein configuring the VTL to emulate the plurality of VTLs comprises storing a plurality of VTL specifications accessible to the VTL, each specification corresponding to a different one of the plurality of PTLs; receiving one of the plurality of DPA commands, at the VTL, for writing backup data from one of the plurality of DPAs, saving the data of one DPA command of the plurality of DPAs commands to a location in the VTL as the one DPA command arrives to the VTL, and associating the location of the saved data in the VTL with a location indicated in a PTL identifier, the PTL identifier specifying a location in the PTL as a destination for the data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 19)
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3. A method for emulating tape library commands between a plurality of data protection applications (DPAs) and a virtual tape library (VTL), the method comprising:
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configuring the VTL based on a specification of a physical tape library (PTL); receiving, at the VTL from the plurality of DPAs, a plurality of PTL commands for writing backup data; determining, at the VTL, whether the plurality of PTL commands can be performed based on a configuration of the VTL, wherein the configuration of the VTL corresponds to the specification of the PTL; in response to determining that the plurality of PTL commands can be performed based on the configuration of the VTL and that the plurality of PLT commands conform to available internal resources of the VTL, translating one of the plurality of PTL commands from one of the plurality of DPAs, by the VTL, from a format for communication between the one DPA of the plurality of DPAs and the PTL to a format for performing the one PTL command by the VTL, wherein the VTL is configured to translate a plurality of formats for DPA-to-PTL communication into the format for performing each of the plurality of PTL commands by the VTL; and performing, on the VTL, the translated PTL command of the plurality of PTL commands. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A system for emulating a plurality of tape library commands, comprising:
a virtual tape library (VTL) in communication with a plurality of data protection applications (DPAs), said VTL configured to; receive, from a DPA of the plurality of DPAs, a physical tape library (PTL) data backup command of the plurality of tape library commands, and determine whether the PTL command of the plurality of tape library commands can be performed based on a configuration of the VTL, wherein the configuration of the VTL corresponds to a specification of the PTL, in response to determining that the PTL command of the plurality of tape library commands can be performed based on the configuration of the VTL and that the PTL command of the plurality of tape library commands conforms to the available internal resources of the VTL, translate the PTL command of the plurality of tape library commands from a format for DPA-to-PTL communication between one of the plurality of DPAs and the PTL to the format to perform the PTL command of the plurality of tape library commands by the VTL, wherein the VTL is configured to translate a plurality of formats for DPA-to-PTL communication into the format to perform the PTL command of the plurality of tape library commands by the VTL, perform the translated PTL command of the plurality of tape library commands, and emulate a different one of a plurality of PTLs for each of a plurality of different users. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18)
Specification