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2. Volume Sets and Formatting Tapes

2.1   About Volume Sets

2.2   About Barcodes and Tape Volume Names

2.3   About Block Size

2.4   About File Fragmentation

2.5   About Tape Spanning

2.6   How to Configure a Volume Set

2.7   How to Format a Tape

3. Archiving and Restoring Files

3.1 Archiving Files to LTO

3.2 Restoring Files from LTO

Summary of Contents for XenData6

Page 2: ...verview 1 1 Software Overview 1 2 About LTO 1 3 Software Licensing 1 3 1 About Licensing 1 3 2 How to License 1 4 Interchanging Tapes with Other Systems 1 5 About Partial File Restore 1 6 About File Search 1 7 How to Obtain Software Version 1 8 Language Support ...

Page 3: ...2 2 About Barcodes and Tape Volume Names 2 3 About Block Size 2 4 About File Fragmentation 2 5 About Tape Spanning 2 6 How to Configure a Volume Set 2 7 How to Format a Tape 3 Archiving and Restoring Files 3 1 Archiving Files to LTO 3 2 Restoring Files from LTO ...

Page 4: ...tain Tape Cartridge Properties 4 3 How to Eject Tapes from a Tape Drive 4 4 About LTO Shelf 4 5 How to Forget a Tape 5 Tape Catalogs and Finalization 5 1 About Tape Catalogs 5 2 Build and Rebuild Catalog 5 3 About Finalizing Tapes 5 4 How to Finalize a Tape ...

Page 5: ... Reports 6 3 3 Restoring Reports 6 4 Tape Contents Report 6 4 1 How to Run a Tape Contents Report 6 4 2 How to Interpret a Tape Contents Report 6 5 File Search Report 6 5 1 How to Run a File Search Report 6 5 2 How to Interpret a File Search Report 6 6 Archive Status Report 6 6 1 How to Run an Archive Status Report 6 6 2 How to Interpret an Archive Status Report ...

Page 6: ...6 7 Problem Diagnosis 7 1 About Problem Diagnosis 7 2 Tape Status XenData Protected 7 3 The XenData Activity Display ...

Page 7: ...r or network share Similarly files may be restored to any accessible drive letter or share The system maintains file and folder structures allowing the transfer of nested folders to and from LTO tape Archive and restore operations are described in Archiving Files to LTO 3 1 and Restoring Files from LTO 3 2 XenData6 Workstation gives an option to copy to LTO only files that have changed or are new ...

Page 8: ...articularly useful when tapes are interchanged with server based systems running XenData software 1 2 About LTO Linear Tape Open LTO is the leading tape format and uses technology developed by HP IBM and Quantum Corporation The latest generation of LTO is LTO 5 which provides high storage capacity high speed file transfers and a long archival data life Huge storage capacity Each tape cartridge sto...

Page 9: ... compatible Whereas LTO 2 tapes cannot be written but can be read in LTO 4 tape drives LTO tape cartridges are available as rewritable or WORM WORM is an acronym for Write Once Read Many and the data written to WORM LTO tape cartridges cannot be altered This means that WORM tapes cannot be reformatted and reused unlike rewritable cartridges ...

Page 10: ...e XenData6 Workstation license for use with one tape drive you will assign a specific tape drive to that license Then you may install the XenData6 Workstation software on multiple computers and use the specific assigned tape drive on any of those computers 1 3 2 How to License You will need a XenData Activation Code to be able to use XenData6 Workstation software The software is activated by using...

Page 11: ...11 The License Administration Utility is shown below ...

Page 12: ... location to save your license file Copy the saved license file back to the workstation that is being licensed In the license administration utility select the Import file option and click Apply Browse to the saved XML license file and open it 1 4 Interchanging Tapes with Other Systems Tape cartridges may be exchanged between XenData6 Workstation systems and other XenData systems Transferring from...

Page 13: ... Version 5 XenData server system Finalized tapes created on a XenData6 Workstation system cannot be transferred to a version 5 XenData server system However non finalized tapes may be transferred If the tape is not finalized the catalog must first be built on the server system and then the Import Folder Structure operation should be used Transferring from a Version 5 XenData server system to a Xen...

Page 14: ...be formatted using a Volume Set that has file fragmentation enabled This is described further in About File Fragmentation 2 4 About Volume Sets 2 1 and How to Configure a New Volume Set 2 6 1 6 About File Search This version of XenData6 Workstation does not support use of the Windows Explorer search function to search for files stored on LTO tape Please use the File Search Report 6 5 1 7 How to Ob...

Page 15: ...more information refer to About Block Size 2 3 Enabling of File Fragmentation and Fragment File size For more information refer to About File Fragmentation 2 4 When tapes from the same Volume Set are transferred to a system running XenData6 Server all the tapes will appear grouped in that same Volume Set when displayed in the XenData Management Console To configure a new Volume Set refer to How to...

Page 16: ...sent in all LTO tape cartridges When an LTO tape having a barcode label is formatted in a tape library under control of XenData6 Server the software writes the barcode information to the in cartridge memory chip which allows the barcode information to be displayed in Explorer by XenData6 Workstation When a tape cartridge is formatted using XenData6 Workstation it is given a Volume Label In this ca...

Page 17: ... XenData6 Workstation and was given the Volume Label LTO5_002 2 3 About Block Size Data is written to LTO in blocks Block size refers to the size of these blocks When a tape is formatted using XenData6 Workstation the block size is defined by the selected Volume Set We recommend using the default block size as this provides high transfer rates for both archiving and restoring while maximizing the ...

Page 18: ...erver when partial file restores are required File fragmentation is enabled for a Volume Set and when enabled the fragment size must be defined Typically a good value is in the range 5GB to 10GB Configuring file fragmentation is described in How to Configure New Volume Sets 2 6 2 5 About Tape Spanning The option to span a file across multiple tapes is not supported in this version of XenData6 Work...

Page 19: ...19 Click New and select the new Volume Set shown in the All Volume Sets panel Configure the Name Block Size Fragmentation and Rewritable WORM settings Click Apply This is illustrated below ...

Page 20: ...nsert the LTO tape cartridge that is to be formatted into an available tape drive After about two minutes the tape cartridge will be identified in the left navigation pane of Explorer Right click on the cartridge and select Format ...

Page 21: ...determines the format parameters including tape block size and enabling of file fragmentation More information about Volume Sets is provided in About Volume Sets 2 1 and How to Configure New Volume Sets 2 6 After selecting the Volume Set and defining the Volume Label click OK The system will then format the tape ...

Page 22: ...g a file or folder to tape ensure that the required tape cartridge is in a tape drive The tape will appear under LTO Drives in the left navigation pane of Explorer and the existing folder structure may be expanded and displayed in the left and right panes of Explorer To archive to LTO simply copy or cut the required files or folders from any accessible logical drive letter or network share and pas...

Page 23: ...When archiving multiple files to LTO the operation may be paused or cancelled by clicking on the Pause or Cancel buttons as shown above Note that this does not affect the current file being written to LTO ...

Page 24: ... archived to LTO using XenData6 Workstation the main data stream is written to tape but any Alternate Data Streams are not archived It is not possible to rename a folder on LTO after files or sub folders have been added to it Copying empty folders or zero size files to tape is not supported Note that the XenData6 Workstation system does support creation of new folders and displays the newly create...

Page 25: ...xpanded and displayed in the left and right panes of Explorer To restore from LTO simply copy the required files from the LTO tape folder structure and paste to any accessible logical drive letter or network share Alternatively drag and drop the required files or folders A progress bar will be displayed during the restore operation Note that the time remaining as calculated by Windows Explorer is ...

Page 26: ... further in About LTO Shelf 4 4 Reports may also be run to list the contents of any offline tape list the offline tape locations for files that meet specified file search criteria and to list the status of all offline tapes There is an option to remove the data about an offline tape This is operation is performed by using the Forget this Tape 4 5 function 4 2 How to Obtain Tape Cartridge Propertie...

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Page 29: ...longer displayed under LTO Drives in Windows Explore but continues to be displayed under LTO Shelf A tape cartridge may be ejected from a tape drive by either depressing the eject button on the drive or by selecting the tape drive in the left navigation pane of Windows Explorer and clicking on Eject as shown below ...

Page 30: ...em knows about including the tapes that are currently in a tape drive The folder and file structure stored on each tape may be expanded and displayed in the left and right panes of Windows Explorer as shown below Offline tapes may be removed from LTO Shelf by using the Forget this Tape operation as described in How to Forget a Tape 4 5 ...

Page 31: ...and file structure from the LTO Shelf display use the Forget this Tape function as described below Ensure that the tape is offline If necessary eject it from a tape drive as described in How to Eject a Tape 4 3 Right click on the tape under LTO Shelf in the left navigation pane of Windows Explorer and select Forget this Tape This is illustrated below ...

Page 32: ... for the first time the Tape Catalog is read and the catalog data is automatically stored on the new system This means that there is no need to perform a Build Catalog 5 2 operation which can take several hours 5 2 Build and Rebuild Catalog A Tape Catalog 5 1 is automatically written to the end of a tape when it is finalized 5 3 If a finalized tape is moved to another XenData system for the first ...

Page 33: ...3 To build or rebuild the catalog data right click on the applicable tape under LTO Drives in the left navigation pane of Windows Explorer and select Build Catalog or Rebuild Catalog as illustrated below ...

Page 34: ...d hence does not have a catalog on the tape to another XenData system for the first time the catalog data must be built on that system by using the Build Catalog 5 2 operation This can take several hours Whereas for a finalized tape the operation is automatic and takes only a few minutes 5 4 How to Finalize a Tape The finalize operation is described in About Finalizing Tapes 5 3 When a tape become...

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Page 36: ...arch criteria and identifies the tapes on which these files are located Tape Cartridge Contents This is used to list the files contained on any tape cartridge that the system knows about The list may be filtered to match user specified search criteria Reports can be saved in a number of different formats including as a text file that may be imported into Microsoft Excel 6 2 Starting the Report Gen...

Page 37: ...37 This launches the XenData Report Generator Then click File and select either New to create a new report or Open open an existing report ...

Page 38: ...38 6 3 Creating Saving and Restoring Reports 6 3 1 Creating Reports Start the Report Generator program and from the initial page select File and then New as shown below ...

Page 39: ... be saved in three different formats Report Generator format XRG tab delimited plain text txt or XML The XRG format is the only format which can be displayed by the Report Generator The text format is useful for exporting the results to Microsoft Excel To save a report select File and then Save As as shown below ...

Page 40: ...40 Then browse to the required location select the file name and format and then click Save 6 3 3 Restoring Reports The Report Generator will display reports saved in the XRG format only ...

Page 41: ...41 Start the Report Generator program and from the initial page select File and then Open as shown below Then browse to the location of the saved report select the required XRG file and open it ...

Page 42: ...nts as the report type The tape by its Volume Label Search criteria Select No Search to list all files on the selected tape alternatively select File Name Text Search to filter the listed files using a text Search Term The sort by type which sorts the report results by either the date that the file was written to tape or the file name This is illustrated below ...

Page 43: ... If you enter a Search Term such as abc all files written on the selected tape that contain abc in the file name or path will be listed in the report An asterisk may be used as a wildcard character for example venice2 avi will search for all files that contain a folder named venice2 in the path followed by avi ...

Page 44: ...44 6 4 2 How to Interpret a Tape Contents Report An example of a Tape Cartridge Contents report is shown below The display columns are explained below ...

Page 45: ...with a newer version by overwriting or appending the XenData software assigns a new version number A file s version number increases by one every time it has data written to it Note that the version number does not increase for every individual write operation just for every file open that is followed by a write Version 0 of a file never contains any data the first time an application writes to th...

Page 46: ...ay be entered as or If you enter a Search Term such as abc all archived files that contain abc in the file name or path will be listed in the search report An asterisk may be used as a wildcard character for example venice2 avi will search for all files that contain a folder named venice2 in the path followed by avi ...

Page 47: ...6 5 2 How to Interpret a File Search Report A File Search Report lists all the files that meet the search criteria An example of a File Search Report is shown below The display columns are explained below ...

Page 48: ... appending the XenData software assigns a new version number A file s version number increases by one every time it has data written to it Note that the version number does not increase for every individual write operation just for every file open that is followed by a write Version 0 of a file never contains any data the first time an application writes to the file the version number is increment...

Page 49: ...49 This is illustrated below Then click Get Report ...

Page 50: ...number for the tape in the display Volume Label This is the Volume Label for the tape cartridge Capacity in GB This is the capacity of the tape cartridge Used Space in GB This is the used space for the tape cartridge Free Space in GB This is the available free space for the tape cartridge Status This gives status for the tape cartridge such as Writable or Finalized ...

Page 51: ... diagnosing a problem is the Windows Event Viewer This is launched as follows Click Start Right click Computer and then Manage Expand Event Viewer in the left pane and then expand Applications and Services Logs Click on XenData The XenData Event Log is illustrated below ...

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Page 53: ...XenData Protected state if there is a problem associated with a tape cartridge that must be corrected before additional data is written to that cartridge The cartridge is identified as XenData Protected in the left navigation pane of Windows Explorer as illustrated below The problem may be corrected by selecting Check Filesystem for the tape cartridge as illustrated below ...

Page 54: ...54 If this does not correct the problem please obtain more information by viewing the Windows Event Log as described in About Problem Diagnosis 7 1 ...

Page 55: ... put the cartridge into a XenData Protected state In this case the following message will be displayed in the event log This will occur for example if additional data has been written to the cartridge using another system To correct this problem rebuild the catalog 5 2 and then select Check Filesystem ...

Page 56: ...y is a useful diagnostic for XenData support staff in case of problems and is illustrated below It shows interaction of the archive system with the LTO tape drives and is launched as follows Click Start then All Programs then XenData Click Activity Display ...

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