Amazon Tape Gateway | Overview.

Amazon Tape Gateway - Overview.

Scope:

• Intro,
• Architecture,
• How Tape Gateway Works,
• Benefits,
• Use Cases,
• Comparing  File Gatewasy to Volume Gateway,
• insights.

Intro:

• Tape Gateway is a configuration of AWS Storage Gateway that enables twtech to replace physical tape infrastructure with a cloud-based virtual tape library (VTL).
• Tape Gateway is backed by Amazon S3 and Amazon S3 Glacier/Glacier Deep Archive.

Architecture

 How Tape Gateway Works:

• twtech installs the Tape Gateway appliance (virtual or hardware) on-premises.
• It emulates an industry-standard tape library (like HP or Dell).
• twtech existing backup software (e.g., Veeam, NetBackup, Commvault) connects to the gateway using iSCSI.
• Virtual tapes are stored in:
• Amazon S3 (for recent/active backups),
• Amazon S3 Glacier or S3 Glacier Deep Archive (for long-term archival).

 Benefits:

Feature	Description
Seamless Integration	Works with existing backup apps—no need to change workflows.
Cost Savings	Eliminates costs of physical tapes, robotics, storage, and handling.
Durability	Data is stored across multiple AWS Availability Zones.
Security	Supports encryption at rest and in transit.
Scalability	Scales automatically as twtech tape backup grows—no hardware limits.
Restoration	Virtual tapes can be retrieved back to the gateway on-prem for restore jobs.

 Use Cases:

• Replacing legacy tape infrastructure
• Long-term data retention (compliance, legal, audit)
• Offsite backups and disaster recovery
• Minimizing physical handling and transport of tapes

 Comparing  File Gatewasy to Volume Gateway:

Gateway Type	Best For
File Gateway	NFS/SMB file access, cloud-based file sharing
Volume Gateway	Block storage (iSCSI), low-latency or cloud-backed volumes
Tape Gateway	Backup workflows that rely on tape-based systems

twtech insights:

• Some companies perform backup processes with physical tapes.
• Tape Gateway is used in the cloud.