Configuring operations for copying data to tape

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You can copy data from IBM® Storage Protect Plus to an IBM Storage Protect server so that the server can move the data to physical tape media or to a virtual tape library (VTL) for long-term data availability.

Before you begin

Restriction: Copying data to tape operations are possible only with an IBM Storage Protect Plus object client, not with other types of object clients.
Verify that the system environment meets the requirements for copying data. Follow the instructions in Preparing an object policy domain.

About this task

By using the Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) protocol, data from an object client can be sent to the IBM Storage Protect server for storage. To ensure that Amazon S3 storage classes are mapped to the correct storage pools on the IBM Storage Protect server, you must select a policy domain for handling object data.

Object client data that is specified with an Amazon S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval (formerly Amazon S3 Glacier) storage class is not frequently accessed. To enable the copying of this data (also called cold data) to tape storage, the data is written temporarily to a storage pool that meets the requirements for handling object data. The data is then moved to the tape device or VTL. This storage pool, called a cold-data-cache storage pool, is assigned to a policy domain for object clients. Only data from object clients can be written to or restored from a cold-data-cache storage pool.

Procedure

To configure IBM Storage Protect to copy data from an object client to physical tape media or a VTL, complete the following configuration steps:

  1. On the IBM Storage Protect server, configure a primary storage pool that represents a tape device or VTL. This primary storage pool will be the destination for the object data that you want to copy.
    Later, when you define the cold-data-cache storage pool, you must specify this tape pool as the next storage pool for the cold-data-cache pool.
    Restrictions: The following restrictions apply to the tape storage pool:
    • You cannot replicate object client data to or from the tape storage pool.
    • The tape storage pool cannot be deduplicated.
    • A next storage pool cannot be specified for the tape storage pool.
    1. On the Operations Center menu bar, hover over Storage. From the list that is displayed, click Storage Pools.
    2. Click the +Storage Pool button.
    3. In the Add Storage Pool wizard, select Tape (Primary).
    Tip: Alternatively, issue the DEFINE STGPOOL command to define a primary storage pool. For example, define a primary storage pool that is named TAPEPOOLDEFINE to the 8MMTAPE device class: 
    define stgpool tapepooldefine 8mmtape maxsize=5m
  2. On the IBM Storage Protect server, define a cold-data-cache storage pool:
    1. In the Add Storage Pool wizard, select Tape (Object Client).
    2. Create the object client by using the Add Client wizard.
    3. In the Add Client wizard, to select a policy domain for handling object data, select Object Client. If no policy domain for handling object data is defined on the server, the wizard prompts you for storage pool destinations for standard and cold data.
    Tip: Alternatively, issue the DEFINE STGPOOL command to create the cold-data-cache storage pool. Specify the following parameters:
    1. Set COLDDATACACHE as the storage type by specifying STGTYPE=COLDDATACACHE.
    2. Set a defined tape pool as the next storage pool for the cold-data-cache pool by specifying the NEXTSTGPOOL parameter. The specified next storage pool must not be deduplicated. For example, define a cold-data-cache storage pool that is named PLUSCOPYPOOL and a next storage pool that is named TAPEPOOLDEFINE. 
      define stgpool pluscopypool stgtype=colddatacache directory=dir_list nextstgpool=tapepooldefine
    3. Specify one or more directories that are required for the automatic creation of the device class by specifying the DIRECTORY parameter.
    To view details of the device class that is associated with the storage pool, issue the QUERY STGPOOL command. If you want to change the directories that are specified for the device class, you can do so manually by issuing the UPDATE DEVCLASS command.