Patent ID: 7984236
Filing Date: 2011-07-19
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A virtual tape library apparatus, comprising: a virtual tape library having a processing unit and an operating system executable on the processing unit; a tape drive connected to the virtual tape library, the tape drive being operable to receive a tape, wherein operations of the tape drive are directly controlled by the operating system executing on the processing unit of the virtual tape library and, the virtual tape library comprises: one or more library media, wherein operations of the library media are directly controlled by the operating system executing on the processing unit; one or more virtual data tapes stored on the one or more library media; and a control module coupled to the tape drive and one or more library media, wherein, when executed on the processing unit, the control module, in combination with the operating system, directly controls transfer of data between the virtual tape library and a tape received by the tape drive, wherein the control module includes transfer characteristics for data transfer operations and directly controls transfer of the data between the virtual tape library and the tape in accordance with the transfer characteristics, wherein the transfer characteristics include a transfer volume threshold corresponding to a minimum volume of data to transfer to the tape in a single transaction, and wherein the control module buffers data to be transferred to the tape and transfers the buffered data to the tape only after the volume of the buffered data is above the transfer volume threshold.