An insurer writes nightly backups to a physical tape library through its backup application. It wants to retire the library, keep its existing backup software and workflows, and store long-term retention data in low-cost archival storage. Which option meets these goals?
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A
Tape Gateway emulates a virtual tape library, so the existing backup software keeps its workflows and sees tapes as before. Virtual tapes are stored in S3 and archived to S3 Glacier or Glacier Deep Archive. This retires the physical library without changing backup processes. The other options either use a tool that does not emulate a tape interface or add cost and complexity.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. Snowball Edge suits one-time bulk migration, not recurring nightly backups, and quarterly shipments cannot match the backup frequency the insurer depends on.
- C. DataSync copies files between storage systems and does not present a tape interface, so the backup software could not write to it, and EFS is an expensive choice for archival retention.
- D. EBS volumes attach to a single EC2 instance and cannot act as a tape target, and Direct Connect provides network bandwidth, not an archival storage layer.