Tape Drives

Tape drives as backup devices can be an important part of guaranteeing data availability at a corporate site. Windows NT Server includes a graphical tool named Backup that supports tape backup of Windows NT Server-based data.

If a tape drive is provided in a server system, it must comply with the requirements and recommendations in this section.

System includes tape drive for local backup

Recommended

System administrators will commonly want offline backup capabilities to be available. If a tape drive is provided with a server system, either as a built-in or peripheral add-on device, it must meet the minimum requirements defined in this section.

Single-tape device meets minimum capacity requirements

	Windows NT Server	Enterprise Edition	Small Business Server
Basic Server:	4 GB required	4 GB required	4 GB required
Enterprise:	8 GB required	8 GB required	8 GB required
SOHO:	4 GB required	4 GB required	4 GB required

Recommended: 8 GB minimum capacity for Basic and SOHO servers.

Minimum uncompressed, formatted storage capacity is required for any tape device designed to comply with these guidelines.

Single-tape device meets minimum speed requirements

20 MB/minute required

Minimum speed capabilities are required for any tape device designed to comply with these guidelines.

Tape device meets industry standards

Required

A SCSI tape peripheral must comply with the SCSI tape command set and with the requirements defined in “SCSI Controllers and Peripherals” earlier in this chapter.

ATA is not recommended for servers, but if an ATA tape peripheral is implemented, it must comply with the packet passing protocol defined in SFF 8020i, Version 1.2. Also, for cartridge drives, the device must comply with QIC 157, Revision D or later.

SCSI tape drive supports SCSI commands

Required

The following commands or features must be supported by the device’s driver:

Erase
Mode Select — compression enable/disable
Mode Sense — write protect status, media type, and density code reporting
Prevent/Allow Medium Removal, Load/Unload Unit
Read, Verify
Reserve, Release
Rewind, Space, ReadPosition, Locate
Test Unit Ready, Request Sense, ReadBlockLimits, Inquiry
Write, Write Filemarks

Recommended: Inquiry with support for reporting serial number or other unique unit ID should be supported by the device’s driver.

Win32-based backup solution provided with device

Required

For a tape device designed for Windows NT Server, the manufacturer must provide a Windows NT tape driver for the built-in Windows NT backup application or provide a Win32-based backup application for the device if the Windows NT Server operating system does not include built-in support for the tape drive.

A hardware vendor can also choose to include a backup application that provides additional functionality over that included in Windows NT Server, such as the ability to create and script jobs, automated scheduling of jobs, remote administration of backup, and client-server backup to remote tape devices.