A tape management system (TMS)
is computer
software
Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications.
The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...
that manages the usage and retention of computer
backup
In information technology, a backup, or data backup is a copy of computer data taken and stored elsewhere so that it may be used to restore the original after a data loss event. The verb form, referring to the process of doing so, is "wikt:back ...
tapes. This may be done as a stand-alone function or as part of a broader
backup software
In information technology, a backup, or data backup is a copy of computer data taken and stored elsewhere so that it may be used to restore the original after a data loss event. The verb form, referring to the process of doing so, is " back up ...
package.
The role of a tape management system
A modern tape management system (TMS) is usually used in conjunction with backup applications and are generally used to manage
magnetic tape
Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic storage made of a thin, magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic film. It was developed in Germany in 1928, based on the earlier magnetic wire recording from Denmark. Devices that use magnetic ...
media that contains backup information and other electronically stored information. Tape management systems are used by organizations to locate, track, and rotate media according to an organizations internal policies as well as government regulations.
Categories of tape management systems
Stand-alone tape management systems
Stand-alone tape management systems are predominant on
mainframe platforms where tape is used as both a backup and base load storage medium.
Mainframe systems such as
IBM's z/OS do provide some basic support for tape inventory control via the OS Catalog but as cataloging files is optional it is usually required that an additional software package does the following:
* Ensure that live tape volumes are not over-written.
* Keep a list of tape volumes that are eligible to be over-written (known as scratch tapes).
* Maintain an online catalog of the location of files written to tape and a list of what files reside on each tape volume.
These operations are usually achieved by using
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...
"hooks" to intercept file open and close operations.
Backup applications
Robotic control systems
Off-line tape management systems
Commercially available tape management systems
Mainframe
Stand-alone tape management systems
* BrightStore CA-1 (previously known as UCC-1, until
Computer Associates
CA Technologies, Inc., formerly Computer Associates International, Inc., and CA, Inc., was an American multinational enterprise software developer and publisher that existed from 1976 to 2018. CA grew to rank as one of the largest independent ...
acquired
Uccel
UCCEL Corp, previously called University Computing Company ("UCC"), was a data processing service bureau on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. in 1987)
* CA Dynam/TLMS (previously known as TLMS II, until Computer Associates acquired
Capex Corporation in 1982)
* Valu-Lib, from
Value Computing, Inc.
* IBM RMM
*
BMC Control-M/Tape (previously known as Control-T, until BMC Software acquired New Dimension Software in 1999)
*
ASG Zara
* Lascon Storage's GFS/AFM
Robotic control/management systems
* StorageTek HSC
* StorageTek ExLM
Distributed systems
* AES Webscan Tape Management System
TapeTrack Tape Management Framework*Vertices Tape Management System
*VaultLedger Tape Management System
See also
*
Tape library
Tape or Tapes may refer to:
Material
Tape is long, narrow, thin strip of material usually used to stick things together. (see also Ribbon (disambiguation):
Adhesive tapes
* Adhesive tape, any of many varieties of backing materials coated with ...
*
List of backup software
This is a list of notable backup software that performs data backups. Archivers, transfer protocols, and version control systems are often used for backups but only software focused on backup is listed here. See Comparison of backup software ...
References
Backup software
Storage software
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