without using a media changer ? You need something that will mount virtual tapes ..etc. Instead of all that hassle could you use regular CIFS shares on Data Domain as your target ?

is network connection the bottleneck ?

VTL adds complexity, cost. First you will need to purchase VTL license, second if you want to write to VTL directly from your hosts, you will need to use backup application that supports "LAN-Free" backups. I have not looked at ntbackup in years, maybe you could give that a try.

we are using sql native backup via regular CIFS backing up sql dbs to Data Domain right now without VTL in the picture. just not sure about using VTL on Data Domain.

VTL comes to the conversations as we seem to have pressure to finish all backups during the fixed window time.

CIFS is different from VTL. CIFS is a network share on DD , VTL is tape library emulation that can only be accessed via fiber channel network.

thanks. 3rd party backup tools will work. But I am thinking,  if we can set up CIFS from sql host to VTL on DD, then I should be able to just use sql native backup commands to backup dbs to there (VTL)?