Managing tape drives and libraries with the Unix/Linux CLI

#1

Post by wazoox » Fri, Dec 23, 2022, 10:29 PM UTC

Managing tape drives and libraries with the Unix/Linux CLI
blogs.intellique.com

Re: Managing tape drives and libraries with the Unix/Linux CLI

#2

Post by wazoox » Fri, Dec 23, 2022, 10:30 PM UTC

Hi guys, reposting because it may interest you. In particular using LTFS on the command line get little love on the internets...

Re: Managing tape drives and libraries with the Unix/Linux CLI

#3

Post by wazoox » Fri, Dec 23, 2022, 10:40 PM UTC

Also this post exists in French here https://blogs.intellique.com/tech/2021/08/20#BandesCLI

Re: Managing tape drives and libraries with the Unix/Linux CLI

#4

Post by bandrami » Fri, Dec 23, 2022, 11:38 PM UTC

It's always weird to remember that what we use tar for every day (packing and unpacking archives on disk) is by design a strange corner case and not its actual purpose.

Re: Managing tape drives and libraries with the Unix/Linux CLI

#5

Post by Karunamon » Fri, Dec 23, 2022, 11:49 PM UTC

I'm surprised still that so many people sleep on tape. It is a very mature and stable technology with the best dollars/gigabyte ratio of any storage technology out there. Start up costs are a bit unpleasant but purchasing secondhand is reasonable and economical, and unlike the cloud the costs are mostly one time instead of forever. The tapes are durable and last for decades, so that initial outlay will last you a very long time.

Re: Managing tape drives and libraries with the Unix/Linux CLI

#6

Post by adepressedthrow » Sat, Dec 24, 2022, 12:21 AM UTC

I was able to purchase a LTO-7 library full of tapes a few years ago for basically nothing, and still haven't gotten around to using it. There seems to be very little in terms of free, automated software for managing the system and performing tasks such as backups. tar doesn't exactly cut it for hands-off usage.

The best I've found is using Veeam Backup & Replication, but it's Windows only and not great still.

Re: Managing tape drives and libraries with the Unix/Linux CLI

#7

Post by squarefoot » Sat, Dec 24, 2022, 12:24 AM UTC

I currently use removable hard drives for backups, but was considering the idea of adding a refurbished LTO tape drive to my XigmaNAS based NAS, however I couldn't find any information about feasibility, compatibility etc. Does anyone have some pointers, assuming it is doable?

Re: Managing tape drives and libraries with the Unix/Linux CLI

#8

Post by trynewideas » Sat, Dec 24, 2022, 12:48 AM UTC

adepressedthrow wrote: post #6

I was able to purchase a LTO-7 library full of tapes a few years ago for basically nothing, and still haven't gotten around to using it. There seems to be very little in terms of free, automated software for managing the system and performing tasks such as backups. tar doesn't exactly cut it for hands-off usage. The best I've found is using Veeam Backup & Replication, but it's Windows only and not great still.

> free, automated software for managing the system and performing tasks such as backups

Did you come across Amanda[1] or bacula + bacularis[2]?

1: http://www.amanda.org/

2: https://bacularis.app/doc/index.html

Re: Managing tape drives and libraries with the Unix/Linux CLI

#9

Post by adepressedthrow » Sat, Dec 24, 2022, 1:35 AM UTC

trynewideas wrote: post #8

adepressedthrow wrote: post #6

I was able to purchase a LTO-7 library full of tapes a few years ago for basically nothing, and still haven't gotten around to using it. There seems to be very little in terms of free, automated software for managing the system and performing tasks such as backups. tar doesn't exactly cut it for hands-off usage. The best I've found is using Veeam Backup & Replication, but it's Windows only and not great still.

> free, automated software for managing the system and performing tasks such as backups Did you come across Amanda[1] or bacula + bacularis[2]? 1: http://www.amanda.org/ 2: https://bacularis.app/doc/index.html

I hadn't seen Amanda before. Bacularis looks like it might help with the complexity of setting up Backula. I might try that out.

It's hard to get the motivation to mess with these tools that have relatively little documentation/examples and are purely config file based.

Re: Managing tape drives and libraries with the Unix/Linux CLI

#10

Post by zozbot234 » Sat, Dec 24, 2022, 1:48 AM UTC

Karunamon wrote: post #5

I'm surprised still that so many people sleep on tape. It is a very mature and stable technology with the best dollars/gigabyte ratio of any storage technology out there. Start up costs are a bit unpleasant but purchasing secondhand is reasonable and economical, and unlike the cloud the costs are mostly one time instead of forever. The tapes are durable and last for decades, so that initial outlay will last you a ver…

The tapes might last for decades, but support for them won't. Newer LTO standard drives can only read tapes a couple generations back at most. So you're pretty much forced to copy your stuff over if you want to stay current.