In the Media Type step, the RSS wizard simply wants you to specify the type of media you want to use for remote storage. (You can't use the same tape drive you use for routine backups because the tapes that RSS uses must always be mounted.) After you make your selection, press Next to complete the wizard.
Initializing Media
RSS is now fully configured and ready to begin monitoring your volumes and migrating data as necessary. However, your work with RSS isn't finished. All RSS functions are available and operating, but until you initialize media and mark them for remote-storage use, RSS won't be able to migrate files off your system.
To initialize media, ensure that the tapes you want to use reside in the appropriate drives, and make sure that the tapes appear in the Remote Storage Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in. Specifically, look in the Removable Storage, Physical Locations folder under your tape system's drive designation. Although Removable Storage sees that you have tapes in your system, Removable Storage doesn't presume that it can use them for remote storage. To make the tapes available to RSS, simply copy the icons that represent the media you want to use to the appropriate media type listed under Media Pools, Free. This action informs Win2K Server (and RSS) that these tapes are available for any purpose. Win2K initializes the tapes, and RSS is ready to run.
Modifying Managed Volumes
Following implementation of the application, you might want to fine-tune RSS's operating parameters, as well as the volumes you've told RSS to manage. You can easily modify these items' properties through the Remote Storage MMC snap-in.
To modify general RSS properties, right-click Remote Storage in the Remote Storage snap-in's left pane and select Properties. The Remote Storage (Local) Properties page, which Screen 2 shows, offers four tabs on which you can monitor how much data has migrated to remote storage, change the time and frequency that the service runs (Microsoft's default is daily at 2:00 a.m.), and modify media properties.
After you set the properties for a specific managed volume, you might decide that you want to change these properties at some point in the future. To change properties for a managed volume, select Managed Volumes in the Remote Storage snap-in's left pane, right-click the volume you want to modify in the right pane, then select Properties. As Screen 3 shows, you can modify individual properties for each managed volume, so you can set different types of migration parameters for different types of data. In my example, I modified my E drive's properties to ensure that 50 percent of the volume is always available and that any files larger than 10KB (and that no one has accessed for 24 hours) can migrate.
Testing RSS
After I enabled the configuration you see in Screen 3, RSS began to quickly premigrate files off my system and onto tape. (Remote Storage logs its activities in the event log, which you can view through the Event Viewer or the Remote Storage MMC snap-in.) To force RSS to completely migrate the premigrated files, I copied about 500MB of new data onto my E drive. As I expected, storage on the drive dipped below the 50 percent threshold during the copy process but came back up as the RSS process removed the premigrated files from my system and replaced them with appropriate NTFS reparse points.
To ensure that RSS worked successfully, I decided to find some files that had completely migrated off my local storage (i.e., not just premigrated) and bring them back. To find a migrated file or directory, simply look at the migrated item's Properties page, which Screen 4 shows. If RSS has moved the file, you'll see distinctively different readings in the Size and Size on disk values. (As you can see in my example, nearly half of my system's \i386 directory had migrated to tape.) After I found a migrated file, I copied it back to my desktop. Win2K began the typical copy process, but RSS quickly intervened and presented the dialog box that Screen 5 shows, asking me to wait while the system retrieved my file from remote storage.
Moving a 5MB file off a 12/24GB DAT took about 1 minute. (Most of that time probably consisted of the drive spinning the tape up to speed and finding the right location for the file.) One minute isn't terribly long, but if you decide to provide RSS to your users, you need to consider the service's inherent delays. If desktop applications timeout while RSS is retrieving archived files, your users will be making some unnecessary Help desk calls. Before you implement RSS, you might want to first try it in a test environment, using the basic production applications that most users use.
Not a Backup Substitute
Although I haven't discussed backups, you need to understand that RSS is not a substitute for routine system backups. Because RSS doesn't migrate all your files (and won't migrate your \winnt directory), you can't use the service as a suitable backup in the event of a complete system failure. Routine backups are still necessary.
The ability to always keep archived data online is appealing and can eliminate some of the mundane tasks that administrators perform. Particularly, the availability of a potentially unlimited amount of storage at any given time is quite gratifying. HSM technologies, which previously presented a significant add-on cost for any enterprise, are now free with Win2K Server—a great move on Microsoft's part.