LTO tape archive

[Dennis.kulmosen]

Hi,
I have a small question.
Has anyone been able to get LTO archiving to work on a FreeNAS box?
I want to be able to archive all my aging content from my FreeNAS box out on LTO tape, preferable with some kind of database of whats been archived, so that i can find my stuff again in the future.
Thanks in advance

Kind regards,
Dennis

 

[cyberjock]

As far as I know none of the tape support infrastructure from FreeBSD is included in FreeNAS. For most people, ZFS often implies a quantity of data that makes LTO archiving not feasible except in very very expensive setups with automated systems. Normally those don't run on the server itself but on a separate machine.

 

[Dennis.kulmosen]

I was actually hoping to get a 24 slot tape library up and running on a FreeNAS box, but so far i have not found any info about something similar, that could justify such a purchase just for testing.
I will just have to dig deeper into it to maybe find a solution.

 

[cyberjock]

I'd think that your easiest solution would be to run an SMB share from FreeNAS to another machine running the tape backup. Then have that machine do the actual backup to tape.

 

[Alvin]

Wouldn't it be possible to install something like misc/amanda-server and misc/mtx in a jail? The tape changer device and tape drive should then be passed through to the jail. Amanda has scripts to create ZFS snapshots before dumping to tape.

In theory, it's a beautiful combination. I'd like to try this myself one day, but I'm waiting for NFSv4 support in FreeNAS before trying.

 

[cyberjock]

Honestly, I don't know. I'm not sure if the tape device will pass through to the jail or not. :/

 

[_Adrian_]

Any other updates on this ??
I been looking around for a cheap storage and tapes libraries even though are slow, are a sure way to safe keep data.
Drives sadly do fail from either mechanical, electronic or age related.
IF...
Snap shots could be dumped to an older automated library would be a premium!
One good example would be the HP MSL6000 series that support Dual (6030 ) or Quad Tape Drives ( 6060 ) .
The 6030 will hold 29 tapes +1 in the "mail" slot and the 6060 will hold up to 48 tapes + 2 "mail" slots.
See Specs HERE...
With the specs above factoring in a modest SDLT320 drives on :
6030 - > 4.65TB of uncompressed or 9.28TB when using compression
6060 -> 7.68TB of uncompressed or 15.36TB when using compression

Also the price of tapes varies, but in general a lot of 5 BRAND NEW SDLT160/320 on ebay runs for about $25+ shipping.
As far as I did my research LTO is still very much alive and planning to release LTO7 and LTO8 in the near future.
LTO7 with 6.4TB and LTO8 with 12.8TB of uncompressed capacity, both with a 2.5:1 compression ratio when enabled !

In my opinion is still a very viable option for backups and storing files that aren't use very often.

PS:
There's Also a 2GB and 4GB HBA cards available for integration into a FC SAN, which would remove the requirement for a SCSI adapter in favor for a faster FC HBA

 

[spidernas]

Hi,

Sorry to pull up an old thread (but it's not that old). I've just got a sweet deal on an LTO4 SAS autoloader so I can backup my FreeNAS array and it occurred to me: I don't know the best way to do that. I kinda assumed there would be some support in FreeNAS but it sounds like there is not.

Ideally, I would want to backup from daily or weekly snapshots since the filesystem would be guaranteed consistent. I'm thinking at this point, I would have to create by own cron job to create a backup snapshot (reusing the same snaphot name) and then on an NFS or SMB share, access the snapshot using the constant name and backup from there.

Not the end of the world since I am running virtualized and can create a VM dedicated to some tape backup software. But it would have been nice to have FreeNAS do this itself in conjunction with the auto-snapshots.

If anyone else is using tape for backups, it would be great to hear about your setup and considerations in your decision.

Thanks.

 

[jpoa]

Greetings spidernas,

Any news on this?

 

[xcom]

One thing to clarify is that if the kernel supports it the jail will see it.

 

[cyberjock]

There is no support for any tape devices on FreeNAS. TrueNAS may have support, and that comes with buying the server from iXsystems.

 

[xcom]

There is no support for any tape devices on FreeNAS. TrueNAS may have support, and that comes with buying the server from iXsystems.

I am sure there is not. I am just clarifying to your jail statement.

Honestly, I don't know. I'm not sure if the tape device will pass through to the jail or not. :/

What ever the kernel sees the jails will see it.

 

[cyberjock]

I wasn't disagree with you at all xcom. I was just adding some info for the person asking the question about the Tape drive. Back in August 2013 there was some rumor of some tape drive backup maybe being added. It wasn't though for a bunch of reasons, not the least of which was 'not enough space on the FreeNAS install media to add the required drivers/software'. That alone kind of killed all hope for the forseeable future.

 

[xcom]

I wasn't disagree with you at all xcom. I was just adding some info for the person asking the question about the Tape drive. Back in August 2013 there was some rumor of some tape drive backup maybe being added. It wasn't though for a bunch of reasons, not the least of which was 'not enough space on the FreeNAS install media to add the required drivers/software'. That alone kind of killed all hope for the forseeable future.

I know :)
I also see and agree why there is certain things that just cant make it in too the code.

 

[cyberjock]

There are big changes coming for 9.2.2. So there's a very real possibility that the disk space problem will be resolved. If someone takes some initiative to add support for tape drives and provide that github merge to the master branch, I'd bet iX would integrate it without any question. But, I wouldn't expect them to spend too much time on tape backup considering their commercial offerings don't use tape, tape isn't particularly feasible for their offerings anyway because of the quantity of data, and the lack of sufficient developer resources to do all the "great things" that iXsystems would love to implement.

Wanted: Programmers that know C and want to make FreeNAS better. :p

 

[jpoa]

Sooooo...

The kernel sees it. Or at least does a terrific job at pretending :)

Shows up as /dev/sa0

 

[jpoa]

And the jail can indeed access it.

Throwing a cat at /dev/sa0 returns a "chunkachunk" back from the drive, so contact is made.

Onwards to bacula and btest.

 

[xcom]

And the jail can indeed access it.

Throwing a cat at /dev/sa0 returns a "chunkachunk" back from the drive, so contact is made.

Onwards to bacula and btest.

Nice! Go for it :)

 

[jpoa]

Misters,

It works. I am too tired now to continue, but it works.

PS: To the admins, I will post on other (two?) threads that were mentioning tapes with a link to here, there might be followers on those threads that might not see this.

 

[xcom]

Misters,

It works. I am too tired now to continue, but it works.

PS: To the admins, I will post on other (two?) threads that were mentioning tapes with a link to here, there might be followers on those threads that might not see this.

Good job! ;)
I knew that if the kernel see it you will have good luck with the jail! :D