Brocade Fabric OS Encryption Administrator's Guide Supporting Fabric OS v6.2.0 (53-1001201-04, May 2009)

28 Encryption Administrator’s Guide
53-1001201-04
Viewing and editing group properties
2
Tape pools overview
Tape cartridges and volumes may be organized into a tape pool (a collection of tape media). The
same data encryption keys are used for all cartridges and volumes in the pool. Tape pools are used
by backup application programs to group all the tape volumes used in a single backup or in a
backup plan. The tape pool name or number is set by a backup application. If the same tape pool
name or number is configured for an encryption group, tapes in that tape pool are encrypted
according to the tape pool settings instead of the tape LUN settings.
Encryption switches and encryption blades support tape encryption at the tape pool level (for most
backup applications) and at the LUN (tape drive) level. Since Tape Pool policies override the LUN
(tape drive) policies, the LUN pool policies are used only if no tape pools exist, or if the tape
media/volume does not belong to any configured tape pools.
All encryption engines in the encryption group share the tape pool definitions. Tapes can be
encrypted by an encryption engine, where the container for the tape target LUN is hosted. The tape
media is mounted on the tape target LUN.
Tape pool definitions are not needed to read a tape. The tape contains enough information
(encryption method and key ID) to read the tape. Tape pool definitions are only used when writing
tape.
Adding tape pools
A tape pool can be identified by either a name or a number, but not both. Tape pool names and
numbers must be unique within the encryption group. When a new encryption group is created, any
existing tape pools in the switch are removed and must be added.
1. Select Configure > Encryption from the menu bar.
The Configure Encryption dialog box displays.
2. Select the Encryption Groups view.
The encryption groups display in the Encryption Devices table.
3. Select an encryption group from the tree, and click Properties.
4. Select the Tape Pools tab.
5. Click Add.
The Add Tape Pool dialog box displays.
NOTE
The Name tape pool label type is the default; however, you can change the tape pool label type to
its number by selecting Number, shown in Figure 15.