This article will address the topic of Tape management system from different perspectives and approaches, with the aim of providing a holistic and complete vision of this topic. Various aspects related to Tape management system will be analyzed, providing detailed and updated information that allows the reader to fully understand its importance and relevance in the current context. Likewise, different studies, research and expert opinions on Tape management system will be examined, in order to offer a comprehensive and enriching vision that contributes to the knowledge and understanding of this topic. Throughout the article, specific aspects of Tape management system will be delved into, highlighting its impact in different areas and its influence on current society.
A tape management system (TMS) is computer software that manages the usage and retention of computer backup tapes. This may be done as a stand-alone function or as part of a broader backup software package.
A modern tape management system (TMS) is usually used in conjunction with backup applications and are generally used to manage magnetic tape 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.
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:
These operations are usually achieved by using operating system "hooks" to intercept file open and close operations.