Firestreamer BitLocker

The technical support forum for Firestreamer (the virtual tape library).
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CypherBit
Posts: 2
Joined: 05 Aug 2011, 10:29

Post by CypherBit »

I currently have one DPM server backing up our SMB. I'm considering an off-site backup solution that would include an additional Windows 2008 R2 server (without DPM) with a bunch of disks on which BitLocker would be enabled. I'd then buy a Firestreamer license, install it on our DPM server and create a share on the newly purchased, off-site server. That share/disks would be added to our DPM using Firestreamer.

An IPSec VPN would connect both sites.

My questions are:
- would this even work? Is BitLocker when used in combination with Firestreamer a viable solution?
- would I be able to add the disks to our DPM using a UNC path.
- I already have a physical tape drive attached to our DPM, would that cause a problem? Hopefully DPM can deal with multiple Libraries.

Is there anything else that I'm missing?
jsf
Cristalink Support
Posts: 300
Joined: 29 Aug 2010, 09:03

Post by jsf »

1) Yes, it will work. BitLocker will affect the performance, but otherwise Firestreamer doesn't care. It will be just files on a network share; what's beneath them doesn't matter.
2) You will be able to create virtual tapes on a UNC path.
3) No problem. DPM works fine with multiple libraries.

It'd probably better to use the encryption provided by DPM because you wouldn't be tied to BitLocker. You would be able to copy encrypted tapes to non-encrypted storage if needed.
Best regards,
John Smith
Cristalink Support
CypherBit
Posts: 2
Joined: 05 Aug 2011, 10:29

Post by CypherBit »

Thank you so much for the quick reply John.

I actually considered using the encryption provided by DPM, but since I'd already need to have BitLocker on that remote machine I thought I don't need both. BitLocker is implemented in such a a way that the recovery passwords are available in AD so getting access to that machine should never be a problem.
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