# Tape Config Requirements ## Configuring Backup to tape Before you configure a backup to tape job, complete the following prerequisites: * You must have Veeam Backup & Replication Enterprise license or higher is installed on the Veeam backup server. * You must pre-configure backup job(s) that produce the backup for archiving. * The primary backup job must have at least 2 restore points on disk. * The primary backup copy job must have at least 4 restore points on disk. * You must configure one or more simple media pool with the necessary media set and retention settings. * You must load tapes to the tape device and configure the target media pool so that it has access to them. If the media pool has no available tape, the tape job will wait for 72 hours and then terminate. Mind the following limitations: * The backup to tape job processes only VBK (full backups) and VIB files (forward incremental backups). * If you back up to tape a reverse incremental chain, the tape job will always copy the full backup. * Reverse incremental backups (VRB) are skipped from processing. * Microsoft SQL Server log files (VLB) are skipped from processing. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://veeam-1.gitbook.io/veeam-backup-replication-best-practices/tape_support-intro/tape_support-config.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.