About the Shared Storage Option
The Shared Storage Option allows multiple NetBackup media servers to share individual tape drives (standalone drives or drives in a robotic library). NetBackup automatically allocates and unallocates the drives as backup and restore operations require.
The Shared Storage Option is a separately licensed and a separately purchased NetBackup software option that allows tape drive sharing. The license is the Shared Storage Option key.
The Shared Storage Option is required only if multiple hosts share drives. For example, multiple NDMP hosts may share one or more drives.
The Shared Storage Option requires appropriate hardware connectivity, such as Fibre Channel hubs or switches, SCSI multiplexors, or SCSI-to-fibre bridges.
You can use Shared Storage Option in the following environments:
Fibre Channel SANs
Environments that do not use Fibre Channel, such as SCSI switches or multi-initiator configurations