[NCLUG] suggestions for tape library control?

[John L. Bass]

"robiel" <robiel at tgstech.com> writes:
> My biggest problem right now is controlling the robitcs in the library.
> I've found the scsi-2 media changer command set and associated
> standards, but was hoping not to get my hands that dirty... Does anyone
> have suggestions here?

For opener's, you probably don't want to roll your own backup scripts
in a business environment ... it just isn't cost effective for the
use of most programmers time, and the risks to the organization are
much higher than the obvious need to learn how it all works.

That said, for my own backups I use just a command line interface to the
scsi library that is slightly warmed over. I also use the low level device
support in Amanda along with mtx.  See Amanda docs.

There are several free software choices that do roughly what I do:

	mtx - http://sourceforge.net/projects/mtx/
	http://www.ee.ryerson.ca/~sblack/autoloader/

There are motion drivers in the core of OpenVault too, along with comand-line
interfaces that operate by tape ID or location. See the SGI web site for
demoware/freeware - requires a simple license, not pure open source. This
is a good starting point for roll-your-own complex archival systems.

If you are trying to backup a half dozen or more servers and desktops, I would
seriously consider the value of your time to your employer and the cost of
a mistake if a machine needs to be recovered and the data isn't there because
of some programming error. Losing data to most businesses can easily be
a $250,000 mistake or more ... using a "real" solution might be good job
security.

The primary commerical/enterprise solutions are:

	Veritas Netbackup
	Legato Networker

A little pricey for individuals, but well worth the price for rock solid
backups with history management for a distributed enterprise. Most of my
larger clients over the last decade have used one or both.

Legato writes to the same interface as OpenVault, which is an open standard.
They may use a good part of the OpenVault code, as there was a strong
relationship between the teams at one time.

Lower end commercial/enterprise solutions are:

	ARCServe
	Ctar

and some dozen other players. All of the products at this level are certainly
cheaper than debugging your own with scripts in a business environment.

John