Software for emulating a Tape drive or Tape Library?

Question

Hi All,

I am looking for some software which will emulate a tape drive or (preferably) a tape library.

It does not need to be fancy, but it does need to be a completly software solution (emulator/simulator) that runs on Windows, NOT a VTL appliance, and can just use the space available on directly attached disks, or just C: drive. We want to use it to train our staff in NetWorker, and if possible, would like to run the software inside a virtual machine.

The only one I have located so far is Firestreamer-RM which emulates a single tape drive, but so far, cant get it to work with NetWorker ( http://www.firestreamer.com/fsrm/Default.aspx).

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

John.

DavidHampson · Answer

I've looked for something similar in the past but never came up with anything, but with many VTL solutions around these days I'm surprised no one has thought to make a software version available for training and testing use...

ble1 · Answer

For Windows I'm not aware of such product. We used to have something like that for UNIX running on Solaris, but I have never heard of it for Windows.

jsperanz · Answer

Do you happen to know what the name of the Unix product was called? I might be able to get approval to setup a seperate machine if we need to.

Just an update from my original post, the normal FireStreamer product (not Firestreamer-RM) does work, but CDI will need to be disabled. So we now have something to work with in doing some simple backups, but since we mostly work with tape libraries that wont help us much.

DavidHampson · Answer

If you want to do testing and training you are probably just as well off creating an advanced file type device on an area of disk. I've taken a quick look at Firestreamer's webpage and all it seems to do is add a similar functionality to NT Backup.

IKP1 · Answer

Hi,If you're looking for a VTL emulator for training then why not consider EMC's own Celerra Simulator which can be found here on Powerlink. OK whilst its an NDMP environment and takes a couple of mins to setup, once this VMware Workstation guest is up and running it can then present the NDMP VTL to NetWorker.I have used this on a number of occasions including customer presentations and training. The VTL presents a number of DDS emulations within the library which can then be fully utilises from within NetWorker.HtHIKP

ble1 · Answer

John, there are several solution available when looking at Google. I do not know top of my head what we used, but I will check tonight when back to hotel and get back to you.

ble1 · Answer

Sorry John, I could not find what we used on Solaris box... this box has been reinstalled by someone so I have no trace of what was there before. If on Linux, you can play with http://www.pavitrasoft.com/products/vtl.html as they have 30 days demo which should be ok for test environment.

JMNET · Answer

Hello  How  do you setup NDP VTL with cellera Simulator? I would be interrested is there any link to that? will appreciate

otmanix · Answer

Have a look at mhvtl if you're using Linux. It's free. I tested it with NW7.6 successfully (in a SLES10 VM).

Some guys used ISCSI to make the VTL also available for Windows...

Best regards, Otmanix

P.S.

Here's a howto for mhvtl and Networker

CZ_mp · Answer

Hi John,I just installed Firestreamer (not -RM) with Networker 7.6.4, but I am not able to detect the library in Networker.Can you please tell me how to make the library available in NW ? I want to set up virtual environment on Windows for testing purposes.I can see following devices in Device Manager:but Networker does not detect any library, the inquire command returns following devices:C:\>inquireIncorrect function.scsidev@0.0.0:Virtual HD&#xa0;&#xa0;&#xa0;&#xa0;&#xa0;&#xa0;&#xa0;&#xa0;&#xa0;&#xa0;&#xa0;&#xa0;&#xa0; 1. 1|Disk, \.\PHYSICALDRIVE0scsidev@1.0.0:MS&#xa0;&#xa0;&#xa0;&#xa0;&#xa0;&#xa0;&#xa0;&#xa0;&#xa0;&#xa0;&#xa0;&#xa0;&#xa0;&#xa0;&#xa0;&#xa0;&#xa0;&#xa0;&#xa0;&#xa0;&#xa0;&#xa0;&#xa0;&#xa0;&#xa0; |CD-ROMC:\>You wrote that you enabled the Firestreamer by disabling CDI. What is that ? Can you pleasegive me any advice how to set it up ?Thanks,Michal

KiranBandi · Answer

Am using Firestreamer with Windows and mhvtl with my linux test setups. Both really work well with Networker.

KiranBandi · Answer

CDI is a setting which is available in drive properties in NMC, after configuring the library with it. You would need to check why the library and drives are not getting listed in inquire o/p. Have you tried a reboot after installing firestreamer?

Hope i am not digging a post that is very old. New here...

Thanks...

NetWorker

Software for emulating a Tape drive or Tape Library?

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