From 5f79dc2805ed5e070162b3de6ad7be1077f94104 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Dietmar Maurer <dietmar@proxmox.com>
Date: Sat, 19 Dec 2020 11:14:56 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] tape: start user documentation

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 docs/tape-backup.rst | 32 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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 create mode 100644 docs/tape-backup.rst

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+Tape Backup
+===========
+
+Our tape backup solution provides a easy way to store datastore
+contents on a tape. This increases data safety because you get:
+
+- an additional copy of the data
+- to a different media type (tape)
+- to an additional location (you can move tape offsite)
+
+Tape backups do not provide random access to the stored
+data. Instead, you need to restore the data to disk before you can
+access it again.
+
+
+Tape Technology Primer
+----------------------
+
+.. _Linear Tape Open: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_Tape-Open
+
+As of 2021, the only broadly available tape technology standard is
+`Linear Tape Open`_, and different vendors offers LTO Ultrium tape
+drives and autoloaders.
+
+In general, LTO tapes offer the following advantages:
+
+- Durable (30 years)
+- High Capacity (12 TB)
+- Relatively low cost per TB
+- Cold Media
+- Movable (storable inside vault)
+- Multiple vendors (for both media and drives)