Number of Storage Slots, fsrm Files

The technical support forum for Firestreamer (the virtual tape library).
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Hartel
Posts: 2
Joined: 07 Sep 2010, 22:08

Post by Hartel »

Hi There!

First i must say i love your Produkt.
But i have two questions.

First:
Can i change the Number of Storage Slots to 1 (one). So that i have 1 drive (RDX) with 1 Slot.
I use DPM 2010 and i get the Warning for low free drives. DPM prompt the error, because he see 9 slots free and my RDX has only one... DPM is hardcoded 20% of slots must be free tapes....
Can i change a file or reg setting so get lower than 10? That would be nice for my customers so they will not get a Warning...

Second:
How can i mount a fsrm File to view the Content. It look like a black box for me.
DPM write to the frsm file and it would be nice to view into this file to have a disaster option in the case that the dpm server dies...

thanks for a answer!

greetz
jsf
Cristalink Support
Posts: 300
Joined: 29 Aug 2010, 09:03

Post by jsf »

Hi greetz,

Thank you for your feedback.
1. Can i change the Number of Storage Slots to 1 (one). So that i have 1 drive (RDX) with 1 Slot.
The minimum allowed number of storage slots is 10, so you cannot change it to 1. As far as I understand, you are using your single RDX in drive media mode, i.e. one tape per drive. If so, then you are likely to have troubles with DPM because it will refuse to back up everything to a single tape and will be asking for free tapes. It might work in a simplest configuration, but we don't recommend it. Please see http://www.cristalink.com/fs/hh.aspx?id=dpm for more details. In short, we recommend to have at least five tapes available to DPM at any given time. You may want to consider either using more RDX drives or switching to file media mode. In the latter case, create multiple tapes on the same RDX disk, not just one.

In any case, a single storage slot doesn't make much sense. What if you need to restore from another RDX without interrupting your backups? Then you'd need at least two tape drives and two storage slots. We will consider making the minimum allowed number of storage slots equal to the number of tape drives in the next version of Firestreamer. Meanwhile, we apologize for the inconvenience.
How can i mount a fsrm File to view the Content. It look like a black box for me.
DPM write to the frsm file and it would be nice to view into this file to have a disaster option in the case that the dpm server dies...
You cannot easily view the content of a fsrm file, because it's virtual tape. It's the same as if you had a physical tape cartridge - how would you view its content? The tape drive doesn't know what's stored on the tape, neither does Firestreamer. The format of the data is known only to the backup software that wrote that data (Microsoft DPM). If your DPM server dies, then you need to install a new DPM server and feed your virtual tapes (fsrm files) to it to have your data restored.
Best regards,
John Smith
Cristalink Support
Hartel
Posts: 2
Joined: 07 Sep 2010, 22:08

Post by Hartel »

1.
I understand you. But i want to change the RDX Tape daily and if the backup starts DPM will see a free tape for backup.
It would be nice to say 1 Slot for the RDX Drive.

2. I see, i know what you mean. To open the fsrm file is just for info not more...

so thx for answer
jsf
Cristalink Support
Posts: 300
Joined: 29 Aug 2010, 09:03

Post by jsf »

It would be nice to say 1 Slot for the RDX Drive.
We will consider making the minimum allowed number of storage slots equal to the number of tape drives in the next version of Firestreamer. There is no technical problem with this. We however feel that it'd be better if there was an option in Microsoft DPM to disable the "free tape threshold reached" alert. It's just wrong to limit oneself by reducing the number of storage slots only to get rid of some dubious warning.
Best regards,
John Smith
Cristalink Support
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