Re: SCSI Tape drives on Linux

[Sudhakar Chandra <thaths@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Oommen Thomas proclaimed:
> a) What additional hardware is needed for the tape drive to work, if the
> kernel has SCSI support and has SCSI devices already connected?

You need SCSI tape and SCSI generic support built into the kernel.

> b) How do you go about installing/configuring the drive, assuming we have
> the 'insmod st' done?

You don't need any special configuration like with fdisk and mke2fs with
disk drives.  All you need is support for scsi tape turned on.

> c) Are tar/taper the only software needed/available for backup/recovery
> with tapes on Linux ?

Tons.  See http://freshmeat.net/appindex/console/backup.html

I personally prefer amanda.  You can have a distributed back up mechanism
with it.  You could have a amanda server with a tape drive and amanda
clients running on unices, winODS, mac etc. using the server to back up
data.

> d) How is the reliability vis-a-vis on Windows ?

don't know.

> e) Any tips on compatibility (RHL hardware compatibility list just says
> "most scsi tape drives" supported)?

There are two issues: the tape drive and the media.  Most tape drives
themselves are supported.  The media support generally depends on the
actual user-level softwre that you use to make backups.

Thaths
-- 
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Sudhakar C13n    http://www.aunet.org/thaths/    Lead Indentured Slave
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