Source:Configuring Removable Media

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This article is in the initial stage and may be updated, replaced or deleted at any time. It is inappropriate to use this document as reference material as it is a work in progress and should be treated as such.


Docs latest icon.png Welcome to the latest SEP sesam documentation version 4.4.3/4.4.3 Grolar. For previous documentation version(s), check Documentation archive.


Overview

SEP sesam allows you to configure different removable media, such as RDX drives and USB drives, as your storage device. RDX is a disk-based removable storage which is intended as a replacement of a tape storage. RDX storage system offers reliable storage for backup, archive, data interchange and disaster recovery. It is based on the removable hard disk drives as well as solid state drives for storing big amounts of the backup data.

RDX uses SATA (hardware interface for connecting drives to the computer) for connecting the removable media in the drive and the USB port with external drive or SATA with internal drive for the connection to the computer. Note that WORM (Write Once Read Many) media are also available.

Configuring removable media

To configure the RDX or USB drives, proceed as follows:

  1. Create a new RDX/USB drive group.
  2. Add a new RDX/USB drive.
  3. Create a new media pool for the RDX/USB drives.
  4. If required, create a new media type.
  5. Add media to a media pool.

Creating a new drive group

You have to create a new drive group for the removable drives (RDX or USB). From the Components -> Drives, click the New Group button and create a new drive gorup, for example, RDX or USB. RDX drive group.png

Device configuration and adding a new drive

Depending on your operating system, proceed to the relevant section below.

Device configuration on Linux

To enable SEP sesam to access the removable device, ensure that you have sufficient privileges with read and write access to the device file for the RDX or USB drive. By default, such access is granted only to the root user.

Depending on which drive (RDX/USB) you want to configure, is the procedure slightly different:

  • Before you can configure the USB drive on Linux, you have to first create a mountpoint in the Linux system:
  • mkdir /media/usbdisk Then you have to connect the USB media to the system.
  • Before you can configure the RDX drive on Linux, you have to check which device name is used for the RDX drive. If you attach the RDX drive to the Linux system, most distributions will automatically mount it (e.g., in /media).
    • If this is not the case, check by the dmesg command, which device is used for the RDX drive (usually /dev/sdXY).
    • It is important that each time you change the RDX drive, it is detected with the same device name. You can detect it with the udev rule. For details, see About udev rules.
    • It is also recommended to format the inserted RDX tapes with a common Linux file system (ext3/reiserfs/xfs).

Adding a new RDX/USB drive on Linux

After the drive group has been created, add a new drive to the drive group.

  1. From the Components -> Drives, select the RDX/USB drive group and click the New Drive button. The New drive window opens. Specify a drive name, type, and path for removable media – see device name of your RDX drive above.
  2. Under the Drive tab, specify the following options:
    • Drive Number: will be automatically assigned
    • Drive Name: will be automatically assigned
    • Loader: No Loader
    • Drive Type: DISK_CHNG
    • Device Server: Your backup server or the system to which the drive is attached.
    • Drive Group: RDX/USB
    • Path for removable media: Volume name of the DISK_CHNG media with the directory, e.g., /media/rdx-mountpoint for the RDX drive, or mkdir /media/usbdisk for the USB drive.
    RDX drive linux Grolar.jpg
  3. Switch to the Options tab and proceed as follows:
    • Device Path: Mount point where the media will be mounted.
    • Auto Unload: yes
    • Mount Command: mount
    • Unmount command: umount
    • Eject command: eject
    Information sign.png Note
    Skip this step, if the dynamic mount function should not be used in case of the USB drives.

    RDX drive linux options Grolar.jpg

  4. Click OK to add a new drive.

Adding a new drive on Windows

Once you created the RDX/USB drive group, add a new drive to it.

  1. From the Components -> Drives, select the RDX/USB drive group and click the New Drive button. The New drive window opens.
  2. Under the Drive tab, specify the following options:
    • Drive Number: will be automatically assigned
    • Drive Name: will be automatically assigned
    • Loader: No Loader
    • Drive Type: DISK_CHNG
    • Device Server: Your backup server or the system to which the drive is attached.
    • Drive Group: RDX/USB
    • Path for removable media: Volume name of the DISK_CHNG media with the directory, e.g., E:/SESAM-DISK for the RDX drive, or E:\Backups for the USB drive.
    RDX drive windows Grolar.jpg
  3. Switch to the Options tab. Specify the drive letter for the Device Path and sm_eject_media for the Eject command, as shown in the screenshot.
    RDX drive windows options Grolar.jpg
  4. Click OK to add a new drive.

Creating a new media pool

After you have successfully created a drive, create a new media pool.

From the Components -> Media Pools, click the New Media Pool button. In the New Media Pool window specify the name of the pool (e.g., RDX_pool or USB_pool), select RDX/USB drive group and specify the retention time. For details, see Managing EOL.
RDX new pool Grolar.jpg

Create a new media type (if required)

Under the Configuration -> Media Types, check whether a media type DISK-RESERVE_1GB exists, as shown in the screenshot.
RDX media type Grolar.jpg
If it does not exist, create it by clicking New button in the Media Types window and specify the options, as shown in the screenshot.
RDX new media type Grolar.jpg

Add media to a media pool

Add your first RDX/USB media to the RDX/USB media pool. You have to repeat this step for all removable media.

Information sign.png Note

On Windows, the directory which is specified as a Path for removable media has to exist on media before adding it to the media pool.

From the Components -> Media Pools, select previously created media pool (RDX_pool/USB_pool) and click the New Medium button. In the Adding a new media window specify the relevant media pool, media type, drive, etc., as shown in the screenshot for the RDX drive. Note that in case of the USB disks, you have to select the overwrite option.
RDX add new media.jpg

Information sign.png Note
If you are unable to add new media, check the day protocol under Logging -> Day Log on the SEP sesam Server for possible errors. For details, see Day Log.

See also

DrivesMedia poolsManaging EOLMedia