Click on the "Virtual Libraries" menu to get a list of the currently configured VTLs as shown in the figure below

VTL list

Click on the "View" link to view the configuration of a specific VTL

Click on the "Add VTL" button to add a new VTL. A form is displayed as shown in the figure below

Add a VTL

In the above form

  • VTL Name is the name of the VTL. A valid name can only contain alphabets and numbers
  • Changer definition specifies the VTL changer device emulation. Drive definition specifies the VTL tape drive emulation. Currently a VTL can only have a single type of tape drive emulation. (Mixed mode libraries are not supported). For information on configuring changer and drive definitions see https://www.quadstor.com/vtlsupport/configuring-device-definitions.html
  • Number of VDrives specify the number of tape drives to emulate
  • Number of VSlots specify the number of storage slots to emulate. The maximum number of storage slots is 60000 per VTL
  • Number of IE Ports specify the number of changer access ports to emulate. This can be between 0 to 200

Click on submit to create the VTL configuration

On a successful addition, the VTL configuration of the newly added VTL is displayed as shown in the figure below

VTL configuration

For information on "Inquiry EVPD Page List", see "Custom Inquiry Command Response" in https://www.quadstor.com/vtlsupport/configuring-device-definitions.html

When a VTL is created the custom INQUIRY page code definitions from the changer and drive definitions are copied to the VTL. In the VTL EVPD page codes for specific drives can be configured by clicking on "Add Inquiry". In the form shown in the next page Drive 0 indicates the medium changer device, Drive 1 the first drive, Drive 2 the second drive etc.

To delete a VTL click on "Virtual Libraries" and then "View" for that VTL and then click on the "Delete VTL" button

Modifying a VTL configuration

Click on "Modify VTL" to modify a VTL configuration. A form is displayed as shown in the figure below

Modify VTL

Replication Host is the IPv4 address of a remote VTL system. When this property is set, auto-replication is enabled for this VTL instance and when a vcartridge is unmounted or moved into an import/export port a replication job is queued for the vcartridge

Replication VTL is the name of the VTL on the remote VTL instance. If this value is not specified, the replication is done to a VTL with the same name. If the remote VTL instance does not exist, a VTL with similar properties as the source VTL is created

Replication is enabled for a VTL by default. Auto-replication job for a vcartridge is started only when replication is enabled for the VTL. 

Deduplication is enabled for a VTL by default. This can be disabled by unselecting the "Deduplication" checkbox. For vcartridges in non-deduplication storage pool changing this value for the VTL has no effect.

Click on Submit for modifying the VTL properties and click on Cancel to go back to the VTL configuration page

Configuring virtual cartridges

To add a vcartridge click on the "Add VCartrige" button. A form is displayed as shown in the figure below

Add VCartridge

Select the storage pool to which the vcartridge(s) will belong. Specify the number of vcartridges to create. Select WORM if WORM property needs to be enabled for the vcartridges created

If the number of vcartridges is greater than one then the label will be of the following format

LTO000

AAA000

If for example the number of vcartridges is 2 then the labels for the newly created cartridges will be LTO000L6, LTO001L6 etc. If WORM were selected then the labels for the newly created cartridges for our example will be LTO000LU, LTO0001LU etc.

If the number of vcartridges is one then the label can be any length upto 32 characters.

Only alphabets a-z, A-Z and numbers 0-9 are accepted for a label/prefix

Click on Submit to add the specified number of vcartridges. The specified number of vcartridges will be created as shown below

VCartridge list

The description of the columns shown are as below

  • Pool: The storage pool of the vcartridge
  • Label: The vcartridge barcode label
  • Element: The library element the vcartridge is currently in. This is "unknown" if the vcartridge has been exported out of the ibrary
  • Address: The library element address of the vcartridge
  • WORM: Yes indicates that the vcartridge is a Write Once Read Many (WORM) vcartridge. Overwrites to existing data is not allowed
  • Size: The capacity of the vcartridge in GB
  • Used: The capacity of the vcartridge used. The actual physical space used by the vcartridge can be lower than this because of deduplication. This value represents the capacity of tape that would have been utilized when there is no deduplication
  • Data Size: The size of data received from a host and written to the vcartridge.
  • Status: Status can have the following values
  • Active: The vcartridge is active in one of the tape library elements and can be data can be written to it or read from it
  • Vaulted: The vcartridge has been moved to a virtual vault outside the VTL instance. An inventory of the VTL will no longer report the vcartridge as a part of the library. The vcartridge can be unvaulted by clicking on the "Unvault" link that will be shown in the "Unvault" column
  • Load Error: There was a problem in loading back the vcartridge metadata from disk
  • Replication Pending: Replication for the vcartridge is pending or in progress
  • Export Pending: Tape export for the vcartridge is pending or in progress
  • Load/Unload: The "Load" link can be used to select the drive to mount the vcartridge. If a vcartridge is mounted an "Unload" link is shown instead and this link can be used to unmount the vcartridge
  • To delete a vcartridge select the vcartridge in the checkbox on the right and click on "Delete VCartridge" button. Up to 64 vcartridges can be selected and deleted at a time.

Custom VCartridge size

Depending on the type of vcartridge that is to be created, the size of the vcartridge is determined. For example a LTO 1 vcartridge will have have a size of 100 GB. It should be noted that space for vcartridge is only allocated when needed in 64 MB chunks. This behavior can be changed by specifying a MaxVCartSize in /quadstorvtl/etc/quadstor.conf.

For example the following line in /quadstorvtl/etc/quadstor.conf will create new vcartridges with size of 8 GB

MaxVCartSize=8

The MaxVCartSize can range from 1 to 1600. If MaxVCartSize is specified it takes precedence over the predetermined size based on the vcartridge type. MaxVCartSize is checked for before creating a vcartridge. Therefore there is no need to restart the quadstor service after adding/modifying this value

NOTE: A backup application may estimate the available capacity based on the cartridge type.

VCartridge Locations

In the figure shown above there are two columns "Element" and "Address" which describe the location of a VCartridge in the VTL

"Import/Export" under the "Element" column indicates that the VCartridge is placed in a "Import/Export" element (mail slot)

"Slot" indicates that the VCartridge is placed in a storage slot and "Drive" will indicate that it is placed in a tape drive

By default a new VCartridge is placed in a free storage slots. If there are no empty storage slots then it is placed in a free import/export element. This behavior can be changed to first add a new VCartridge into any available import/export element first by adding the following line to /quadstorvtl/etc/quadstor.conf

UseFreeSlot=0

A quadstorvtl service restart is not required when changing the above property. Each time a VCartridge is added the value of this property is checked

Exporting a VCartridge

1. In the backup application move the VCartridge to a free Import/Export element

The VCartridge is removed from the active list of vcartriges for the VTL and is moved to a virtual vault. An inventory of the VTL by the application will no longer list the VCartridge. The status of the vcartridge will show as "Vaulted"

Unvaulting an exported VCartridge

Once a VCartridge has been exported, to move into back into the VTL, click on the "Unvault" link. Unvaulting a vcartridge will fail if there are no available free storage or import/export slots

Command line configuration

 

Adding a VTL

/quadstorvtl/bin/vtconfig -a -v <vtl name> -C <changerdef name> -s <number of slots> -i <number of ie ports> -T <drivedef name> -c <drive count>

In the above command a valid changer definition is specified with a -C option and a valid drive definition with the -T option. Drive count is the number of drives to be created.

Deleting a VTL

/quadstorvtl/bin/vtconfig –x –v <vtl name>

Enabling deduplication

/quadstorvtl/bin/vtconfig -m -v <vtl name> -e 1

Disabling deduplication

/quadstorvtl/bin/vtconfig -m -v <vtl name> -e 0

Vcartridge Configuration

Vcartridge emulation type codes

/quadstorvtl/bin/vcconfig –h
Type Description
03      DLT IV 40GB                         
04      VSTape 80GB                         
05      SuperDLT I 110GB                    
06      SuperDLT I 160GB                    
07      SuperDLT II 320GB                   
08      LTO 1 100GB                         
09      LTO 2 200GB                         
10      LTO 3 400GB                         
11      LTO 4 800GB                         
12      LTO 5 1500GB                        
13      LTO 6 2500GB                        
14      LTO 7 6000GB                        
15      T9840A 20GB                         
16      T9840B 20GB                         
17      T9840C 40GB                         
18      T9840D 75GB                         
19      T9940A 60GB                         
20      T9940B 200GB                        
21      T10000A 500GB                       
22      T10000A 1000GB                      
23      T10000C 5000GB                      
24      T10000D 8500GB                                          
26      LTO 8 12000GB

Adding a vcartridge

/quadstorvtl/bin/vcconfig -a -v <vtl name> -g <pool name> -p <label/prefix> -t <vcartridge type> -c <count>

Deleting a vcartridge

/quadstorvtl/bin/vcconfig -x -v <vtl name> -p <label>

Enable WORM

/quadstorvtl/bin/vcconfig -v <vtl name> -p <label> -w 1

Disable WORM

/quadstorvtl/bin/vcconfig -v <vtl name> -p <label> -w 0

Unvault a vcartridge

/quadstorvtl/bin/vcconfig -v <vtl name> -p <label> -p  -u
Or
/quadstorvtl/bin/vcconfig --vtl=<vtl name> --label=<label> --unvault

Load (mount) a vcartridge

/quadstorvtl/bin/vcconfig --vtl=<vtl name> --label=<label>  --driveid<vtl drive id> --loaddrive=1
Each VTL drive is assigned an ID starting from 1

Unload (unmount) a vcartridge

/quadstorvtl/bin/vcconfig --vtl=<vtl name> --label=<label>  --driveid<vtl drive id> --loaddrive=0