If you regularly back up large databases, you should use DLT drives, if they are supported for your platform. In any case, Sybase recommends that you use multiple tape drives.
Sybase IQ BACKUP can support the following tape drives:
Digital Linear Tape (DLT) on UNIX systems
4 mm Digital Data Storage (DDS)
8 mm
Sybase IQ also allows Stacker drives with multiple tapes.
Sybase IQ BACKUP does not support jukeboxes or robotic loaders. If you need them, use a third party media manager.
Sybase IQ BACKUP does not support fixed-length tape devices on UNIX systems, like Quarter Inch Cartridge (QIC) drives.
Be aware of the following platform-specific backup requirements:
Tape devices on AIX systems can be configured for either fixed- or variable-length block mode. See the Sybase IQ Installation and Configuration Guide for information on how to show and change the block mode. Sybase IQ BACKUP does not support fixed-length block mode.
On IBM Linux on POWER, to back up an IQ database to SCSI tape, you must set the block size of the device to accept variable-length data transfer. Before performing any IQ backups, set the SCSI tape device's default block size. Log in as superuser and run the Linux shell command mt, as follows:
mt -f /dev/st0 defblksize 0
