VTL (virtual tape library)
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What is a VTL (virtual tape library)?
VTL stands for virtual tape library, a technology used in data protection backup and recovery.
What is a virtual tape library?
Virtual tape library is a technology that leverages the use of software to mimic physical tape libraries augmenting the destination of data storage from specific tape libraries to more cost-effective storage, typically low-cost disk arrays or the cloud.
Virtual tape library is a storage virtualization solution. By virtualizing or augmenting the destination from tapes to disks and/or cloud, the solution works seamlessly with and with no changes to existing tape backup software or any backup and recovery software, processes, and infrastructure.
Better performance for faster recovery and backups from disk versus tape is one of the most notable benefits. Recovery time and backup windows are shortened by eliminating the time to stream data to tape and the time associated with the mechanics of tape backup drives.
The solution also works exceptionally well for customers with a hybrid environment of tape and disk for backup storage with the ability to manage tape storage.
More recently, virtual tape libraries have been used to optimize backup and recovery by providing dependable disaster recovery and hybrid cloud backup and recovery. Virtual tape libraries can move data easily and efficiently, making them a perfect tool for cloud migrations.
What are virtual tape libraries used for?
Virtual tape libraries are traditionally used to replace tape backups to leverage lower cost disk technology without disrupting existing backup and recovery infrastructures by emulating existing tape drives and libraries with lower cost disks.
Today, virtual tape libraries are used for more than replacing tape-based backups by leveraging their deduplication capabilities and ease of moving data to help with migrations to the cloud, supporting hybrid cloud disaster recovery environments, and providing offsite cloud-based disaster recovery.
Why are virtual tape libraries good for cloud migrations?
Virtual tape libraries are good for cloud migrations as data movers, providing the ability to move data from any source such as disk or tape to the cloud with the ability to simply restore the data to a new destination like the cloud.
It is that simple.
And the added benefit of having deduplication technology built in helps to keep network traffic at a minimum by leveraging the deduplication technology to minimize the amount of data to transmit.
What is the difference between a physical tape library and a virtual tape library?
A physical tape library is a physical storage appliance typically consuming real estate in an IT data center used for tape backup storage and disaster recovery.
A virtual tape library is software used to emulate any number of physical tape libraries as backup destinations leveraging low-cost disk technology in place of physical tape libraries.
What is the difference between a VTL and disk-based backup?
Disk-based backup is the mechanism of using disks as storage for backups. VTLs help to promote the usage of disk-based backups by emulating existing tape storage devices and using disk-based technology for backups. Some disk-based backup appliances are built to provide the low-cost option of disks but do not provide the extended range of capabilities that a VTL can provide, such as emulating existing backup tape devices, providing a seamless integration with existing backup and recovery processes and infrastructures, migrating data to the cloud, supporting hybrid tape and disk environments with tape management capabilities, deduplication, supporting hybrid cloud and cloud disaster recovery capabilities and more.