TapeTrack Documentation

Because there is more to tape management than you ever realized

User Tools

Site Tools


start

Welcome

Welcome to the TapeTrack Documentation Website.

This site is the official documentation source for GazillaByte's TapeTrack product and is based upon the Wiki paradigm of documentation.

Why a Wiki?

The discipline of tape management is just one of those things that everybody does slightly differently, while assuming that everybody does it exactly the same way. As a result, the TapeTrack product has evolved to be incredibly flexible, but also quite complex; we never want to dictate to people how they should manage their tapes, but as a consequence we must help them configure the software to fit their existing processes.

Over the years we have experimented with many different documentation platforms, and have found that none of them exactly meet the expectations of our user community; some people want eBooks so that they can learn the software in a textbook fashion, while others just want a reference source that they can quickly navigate.

As the 20th anniversary of TapeTrack approaches, we have decided that the benefits of an online resource, that allows us to enhance our documentation in real-time outweighs the benefits of a traditional hard-copy manual. We realize that in going down this path there will be winners and losers, but our hope is that the real winner will be the quality of the content.

While TapeTrack is a commercial product, and we are here to help our users get their job done, just as we welcome user input into the development of our software, we also welcome input into how we can improve this documentation.

How this documentation is organized

Our goal is to organize this documentation with the following objectives in mind:

  • Topics will be divided into basic and advanced sections.
  • Where appropriate we will provide test instructions so that users can validate their setup work.
  • We will endeavour to always provide the full details so that users don't get “lost in the weeds”.
  • We will sometimes document processes that are not technically TapeTrack related, but might be required to effectively use the product.
  • In some screenshots and text there will be examples of literal values such as User-IDs, Passwords and Server addresses. These values are given only for illustration and should not be used instead of the user's own credentials. We will do our best to highlight this in the relevant sections to avoid confusion.

TapeTrack Primer

TapeTrack is software that allows the users of backup tapes to manage their tape assets.

If you want to learn more about the history, design and benefits of the product, you are welcome to read our TapeTrack Primer section.

Implementation Planning

One of the keys to successfully implementing TapeTrack is to have an implementation plan. One of the things that most people don't realize is how simplistically they perceive their own tape management processes, only to find that their processes are not as simple as they previously believed.

We strongly recommend that you read our TapeTrack Implementation Planning Guide.

TapeTrack Components

TapeTrack Framework Server

The TapeTrack Framework Server component is a Windows Service or Linux Daemon that provides the core back-end services of the TapeTrack System.

These services may either be provided by your offsite data protection company, or your internal enterprise, or sometimes both.

In the event that you are only consuming a hosted, or internal service your only interest will be in connecting to a TapeTrack Framework Server.

In the event that you are responsible for maintaining a Framework Server, you will want to read our TapeTrack Framework Server Installation and Support Guide.

TapeTrack Desktop Software

TapeTrack Command Line Utilities

TapeTrack provides a large library of Command Line Utilities that can be used for reporting as well as task automation.

These utilities are available for a large range of platforms and are documented in our TapeTrack Command Line Utility Reference.

TapeTrack Synchronization

TapeTrack's Synchronization Suite is a powerful toolkit that allows you to set fields within TapeTrack based upon the values of fields within your backup or tape management software.

TapeTrack Extensions

TapeTrack Technotes

Technotes to guide you through common processes.

TapeTrack New Features

New features recently added to TapeTrack.

Troubleshooting

In the event you are having problems, check the troubleshooting page for a solution.

start.txt · Last modified: 2024/07/08 00:39 by scunliffe