Patent ID: 6834324
Filing Date: 2004-12-21
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
A system that emulates a tape cartridge mounted in a tape drive, the system comprising:at least one storage appliance operative to emulate the tape drive and a plurality of virtual volumes mountable in the tape drive; an interface manager in communication with the at least one storage appliance and in communication with the client using an interface protocol that defines a plurality of addresses, the interface manager being operative to control mounting of the plurality of virtual volumes in the tape drive to emulate the tape cartridge mounted in the tape drive, wherein the tape cartridge has a plurality of virtual addresses at least as great in number as the plurality of addresses defined by the interface protocol, wherein the interface manager comprises: a client controller in communication with the client using the interface protocol; and a storage appliance controller in communication with the client controller and the at least one storage appliance, the storage appliance controller being operative to control mounting of the plurality of virtual volumes in the tape drive to emulate the tape cartridge mounted in the tape drive; and a policy controller in communication with the storage appliance controller, the policy controller being operative to control at least one performance parameter of the tape drive and the tape cartridge being emulated to provide variable levels of service to the client.