Devices

Storage devices (also referred to as “devices”) are physical or virtual drives on which media volumes, such as tape cartridges, are processed. Devices are grouped in clusters. To add a device, you need to have a device cluster defined first. Device clusters can only contain devices of similar type, e.g. LTO4 tape drives. See Adding a Device Cluster.

Note. For DISK DIRECTORY backups, devices are logical entities mimicking the structure and logic of tape storage. They are required by the DPX logic but are of minor interest on the user’s part.

When you create a node group, you may specify the default device cluster or tape library for the group. Later, you can override this default when you define a backup or migrate job.

There are two types of storage device groupings, each having two setup variations. The groupings are device clusters and tape libraries. The variations are SAN (Storage Area Network) and non-SAN devices. A device cluster is a collection of devices logically grouped by the system administrator. A tape library is a collection of devices that are grouped physically. From a functional viewpoint, a tape library is analogous to a device cluster. Thus, tape libraries displayed in the desktop interface are often listed along with device clusters under the heading Device Cluster.