The changer differs from the previous version of Firestreamer in
the following ways:
- Added support for up to 255 tape drives and 9,999 storage slots.
- Firestreamer does not automatically connect to the media drives
anymore. Instead, you specify the media that Firestreamer should
use by manually inserting the required media into the changer's
storage slots.
- The built-in encryption has been removed. Most of the enterprise-level
backup products, including Microsoft DPM, provide their own data
encryption. Besides, it's inconvenient to manage encryption settings
at the tape library level. If you have your data encrypted with a
previous version of Firestreamer, you may want to keep the previous
version installed until all of the encrypted backups expire.
- The setting that allowed enabling and disabling Firestreamer has
been removed. Firestreamer does not interfere with the media drives
anymore, unless explicitly instructed to do so by the backup software.
- The setting that allowed selectively enabling and disabling media
types has been removed. You control the media to be used by inserting
the media into changer's storage slots.
- The changer is completely independent of and can be installed side-by-side
with the previous version of Firestreamer that supports a single
stand-alone tape drive.
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The previous version of Firestreamer that supports a single stand-alone
tape drive will be discontinued.
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The pricing schedule will not change.
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If you hold a valid license key for Firestreamer, you will be able
to upgrade to the changer free of charge. Firestreamer is licensed
on a per-computer basis. If, for example, you have a single-computer
license key, you will be able to use the same license key for both
the changer and the previous version of Firestreamer installed on
the same computer at the same time.
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The current beta version of the changer has the following limitations:
- The default number of tape drives is 5.
- The default number of storage slots is 200.
- Only the File Media is supported. Support for physical media will
be added soon.
- The GUI is limited to basic management operations.
- The documentation includes only basic setup instructions.
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