Tape encryption

Tape encryption provides you with greater ability to protect information if tape cartridges are lost or stolen by supporting the storage of the data in encrypted form. With tape encryption, the z/TPF system provides support for the IBM® System Storage TS1120 Tape Drive, which includes data encryption capabilities in the drive itself, helping to avoid the need for host-based encryption of data or the use of specialized encryption appliances.

The z/TPF system supports tape encryption with an out-of-band configuration, where the tape controller establishes the communication to the IBM Encryption Key Manager component for the Java™ Platform (Encryption Key Manager) server over TCP/IP connections between the tape controller and the Encryption Key Manager server.

You can use the ZTLBL command to define the encryption characteristic for output tapes in the tape label and you can use the ZTMNT command to override the encryption characteristic when mounting a tape.

Note: With encryption enabled, the access time to data on the tape drive will increase because of the time needed to retrieve, read, and write the encryption key. You can use automatic tape mounting to mitigate this performance issue when switching to standby output tapes. Use the ZTDEV command to specify whether to mount ALT tapes as encrypted or nonencrypted tapes. An ALT tape retains the encryption characteristic when it is converted to an active tape; therefore, active tapes can only switch to ALT tapes that have the same encryption characteristic. ALT tapes that are mounted with the ZTMNT command are not encrypted unless you specify the ENC parameter on the ZTMNT command.
Related information:
  • See Operating environment requirements and planning information for information about the hardware and software requirements for tape encryption.
  • See the following for more information about the TS1120 Tape Drive:
    • IBM System Storage Enterprise Tape 3592 Introduction and Planning Guide
    • IBM System Storage Enterprise Tape 3592 Operator Guide.
  • See the IBM System Storage TS1120 Tape Encryption Planning, Implementation, and Usage Guide (IBM Redbook) for information about the tape encryption error codes. Go to http://www.redbooks.ibm.com to access the IBM Redbooks®.
  • See the IBM Encryption Key Manager Component for the Java Platform Introduction, Planning and User's Guide for more information about the Encryption Key Manager.