Air Cleaner User Manual

Chapter 21. Virtual Devices

A virtual device enables you to logically group multiple physical devices into a

single “virtual” device for easier reference. For example, if you want to use three

tape drives in parallel to perform your backups, you can configure those drives

into a virtual device description. Therefore, each time you want to backup or

restore from those parallel devices, you need to specify only the virtual device

name.

Note that any tape drive can be configured into one or more virtual devices. For

instance, the same tape drive used in a list of sequential virtual devices can also be

used in a list of parallel virtual devices.

Note: When configuring multiple physical devices into a single virtual device, you

can use tape drives of different types. The only limitation is that all drives

must be configured to the same block size. When you use a parallel or

multi-copy virtual device, the speed of the backup is limited to the speed of

the slowest device.

To access the SysBack menus for managing the virtual devices:

1. At a command line, type smit.

2. Select System Backup & Recovery for AIX.

3. Select Configuration Options.

4. Select Virtual Devices.

You can also access these menus using the fastpath. To do this, type smit

sb_virdev at a command line.

Virtual Devices

Move cursor to desired item and press Enter.

Add a Virtual Device

List Virtual Devices

Remove a Virtual Device

F1=Help F2=Refresh F3=Cancel F8=Image

F9=Shell F10=Exit Enter=Do

Figure 21-1. The Virtual Devices Menu