Device Manager

Whenever you want information about storage devices that are connected to your system, the media in these devices, or the status of these devices, use the Device Manager.

Whenever you need to format, erase, or retension media, use the Device Manager. Also use the Device Manager to change the compression mode for your storage devices, if they support compression. Arcserve Backup allows device management commands to be performed during a backup at the point when the job spans media. The commands you are able to perform at this point are: format, erase, import and export. This is currently supported on stand-alone media devices and tape libraries.

Several media devices = media groups

If you have more than one storage device connected to your network machine, Arcserve Backup lets you separate them into two or more "groups". Establishing media groups is a key component to Arcserve Backup flexibility and efficiency.

Media groups allow for:

• Parallel streaming--You can have several operations occurring simultaneously, one for each media group configured for your system.
• Automated media spanning--If, during a backup session, the media becomes filled, Arcserve Backup automatically spans to another media in another device within the same media group. Note that this requires two or more devices in the media group for this to happen.

By default, Arcserve Backup is installed with each media device assigned to its own group. If Arcserve Backup finds identical storage devices during installation, it automatically places them in the same group. Later, you can use the Device Manager to regroup your devices. Since you can have up to seven media devices connected to each SCSI bus in your machine, you can have up to seven media groups per SCSI board.

Multiple media groups = parallel streaming

If you have more than one media group configured on your machine, you can take advantage of "parallel streaming". Parallel streaming means that you can have more than one job requiring a media device running at a time. For example, suppose you have two media groups, "GROUP1" and "GROUP2", respectively. You could then have a backup job running with GROUP1, while a restore job runs with GROUP2.

Multiple devices in a group = "automated" media spanning

Media spanning means that, when one media becomes full, the session automatically spans to another media. If you have a media group that consists of two or more devices, media spanning will occur across devices. That means, when one media in a group drive becomes full, the job spans to another media in another device within the same media group.

For example, suppose you have two media groups, "GROUP1" and "GROUP2", respectively. GROUP1 is made up of one storage device and GROUP2 is made up of two storage devices. If you submitted a backup job that will take up two media, you can insert blank media in each GROUP2 drive and let Arcserve Backup automate the media spanning for you. If you used GROUP1 for the same backup job, you will need to manually eject the first media and then insert a second media. As you can see, automated media spanning lets you let Arcserve Backup do most of the work for you.

There is only one rule when assigning media devices to the same group: the devices in the group must be identical. That means they must be the same make and model.