What is the best backup strategy for my environment, and how do I implement it with Firestreamer? For example, I use Microsoft DPM and I have several external 2TB disk drives. I want to rotate the drives on a weekly basis. How can I do it? Also, I would like to label the drives Week1, Week2, etc. How can I identify which drive has which data on it?
Your questions are not directly related to Firestreamer. Remember that it's merely a tape library. It doesn't do backups on its own. Everything is controlled by Microsoft DPM. Let's rephrase your questions as follows:
- I have a physical tape library (i.e., Firestreamer).
- I have several boxes of tape cartridges, 2TB in total per box (here, a box is an external disk drive, a tape cartridge is a virtual tape in the form of a .fsrm file. If you chose 100GB as the maximum size of your tapes, then you have 20 tapes per box).
- Typically, I label the boxes Week1, Week2, etc.
- How do I configure Microsoft DPM so that I load one box of tapes into the tape library, and rotate the boxes on a weekly basis?
- How do I tell which box belongs to which backup?
- What is the best backup strategy for my environment?
Alternatively, follow the step-by-step instructions to perform several test backups. After some experience with Microsoft DPM and Firestreamer, you will have a better understanding of what you need to do.