Lto-6, Lto-5 And Lto-4 Ultrium Tape Drives And Encryption; When Should I Use Encryption; How Do I Enable Encryption; When Will I Be Asked To Enter The Key - HP STOREEVER LTO 4 User Manual

To use this feature, you need:
A backup application that supports hardware encryption
LTO-6 Ultrium 6.25 TB media (C7976A or C7976W), LTO-5 Ultrium 3 TB media (C7975A
or C7975W) or LTO-4 Ultrium 1.6 TB media (C7974A or C7974W); no encryption will be
performed when writing earlier generations of tape

When should I use encryption?

Your company policy will determine when you to use encryption. For example, it may be mandatory
for company confidential and financial data, but not for personal data. Company policy will also
define how encryption keys should be generated and managed. Backup applications that support
encryption will generate a key for you or allow you to enter a key manually.
NOTE: Encryption with keys that are generated directly from passwords or passphrases may
be less secure than encryption using truly random keys. Your application should explain the
options and methods that are available. Refer to your application user documentation for more
information.

How do I enable encryption?

Hardware encryption is turned off by default and is switched on by settings in your backup
application, where you also generate and supply the encryption key. Your backup application
must support hardware encryption for this feature to work. The software supplied with the tape
drive provides this support. See the Data Agile BURA website at http://www.hpe.com/storage/
buracompatibility for an up-to-date list of other suitable backup software.

When will I be asked to enter the key?

Encryption is primarily designed to protect the media once it is offline and to prevent it being
accessed from another machine. You will be able to read and append the encrypted media
without being prompted for a key as long as it is being accessed by the machine and application
that first encrypted it.
There are two main instances when you will need to know the key:
If you try to import the media to another machine or another instance of the backup application
If you are recovering your system after a disaster

What happens if I do not remember the key?

If you are unable to supply the key when requested to do so, neither you nor Hewlett Packard
Enterprise Support will be able to access the encrypted data.
This guarantees the security of your data, but also means that you must be careful in the
management of the encryption key used to generate the tape.
WARNING!
separate from the computer running the backup software.

Does encryption affect tape drive performance?

Hardware encryption can be used with or without compression and without speed or capacity
penalties.

Does the tape drive encrypt media in an earlier Ultrium format?

Encryption is supported only on LTO-6 Ultrium 6.25 TB media (C7976A or C7976W), LTO-5
Ultrium 3 TB media (C7975A or C7975W) and LTO-4 Ultrium 1.6 TB media (C7974A or C7974W).
Keep a record or backup of your encryption keys and store them in a secure place

LTO-6, LTO-5 and LTO-4 Ultrium tape drives and encryption

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