Backing up to a tape device attached to a storage node

Prerequisites

• Acronis Backup & Recovery 11.5 Storage Node is added to the management server.
• The tape device is attached to the storage node in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions.

Before backing up

1. Load tapes to the tape device.
2. Connect the console to the management server.
3. In the Navigation tree, click Tape management. Select the storage node to which your tape device is attached.
4. Click Detect tape devices.
5. If your tape device is a stand-alone drive, skip this step. Otherwise, do the following:
   1. Click Inventory to detect the loaded tapes. Select the Full inventorying method. Do not select the Move newly detected tapes from the 'Unrecognized tapes' or 'Imported tapes' pools to the 'Free tapes' pool check box.

      Result. The loaded tapes have been moved to proper pools as specified in the "Inventorying" section.

      Full inventorying of an entire tape device may take a long time.

   2. If the loaded tapes were sent to the Unrecognized tapes or Imported tapes pool and you want to use them for backing up, move such tapes to the Free tapes pool manually.

      Tapes sent to the Imported tapes pool contain backups written by Acronis software. Before moving such tapes to the Free tapes pool, make sure you do not need these backups.

   3. Decide whether you want to back up to the default Acronis pool or to create a new pool.

      Details. Having several pools enables you to use a separate tape set for each machine or each department of your company. By using multiple pools, you can prevent backups created via different backup plans from mixing up on one tape.

   4. If you chose the Acronis pool, or enabled the new pool to take tapes from the Free tapes pool when required, skip this step.

      Otherwise, move tapes from the Free tapes pool to the new pool.

      Tip. To learn whether a pool can take tapes from the Free tapes pool, click the pool and then click Details.

6. In the Navigation tree, click Storage nodes. Select the storage node to which your tape device is attached, and then click Create vault. Proceed as described in the "Creating a managed centralized vault" section. In the Tape pool list, select the pool you decided to use on step 5c.

   Creating a centralized vault is mandatory when the tape device is attached to the storage node.

Backing up

On the Actions menu, click Back up now or Create backup plan. Configure the backup settings for one or more machines. When specifying the backup destination, select the created vault.

Results

• The resulting backups will be located in the vault you created.

Tips for further usage of the tape library

• You do not need to perform full inventorying each time you load a new tape. To save time, follow the procedure described in the "Inventorying" section under "Combination of fast and full inventorying".
• You can create other vaults on the same tape library and select any of them as a destination for backups.