The open virtual tape library for IBM i.
A Fibre Channel appliance that presents a bit-faithful IBM TS3100/TS3200 or TS3500 to the host — so BRMS, SAV/RST, and every tape workflow you already have keep working, and never learn the tape isn't real.

Website · Downloads · Operator guide · Sizing calculator · Enterprise support

OpenVTL replaces physical tape libraries and legacy VTLs for IBM i shops. One Debian VM with a QLogic HBA in target mode becomes an IBM TS3100/TS3200 (3573) or TS3500 (3584) on your fabric, with LTO drives, real barcoded cartridges, and the exact INQUIRY/VPD identity, element addressing, and sense data the IBM i expects. Tape data lands on ZFS with zstd compression and global block deduplication. Vaulted media tiers to any S3-compatible object store, and an entire library can be rebuilt from the bucket alone.

Everything is managed by a single Go daemon — openvtld — with an embedded web UI. All free software. No phone-home. Operator-maintainable.

The data path is a pSCSI passthrough: LIO hands the host mhVTL's own device identity (vendor, product, serial, NAA) unchanged, so the library and drives look identical across reboots, rebuilds, and appliance upgrades. No re-enrollment, ever.

The data path is frozen; the control plane only observes and orchestrates. A stopped openvtld never interrupts a running backup.

Save/restore, labels, EOV/multi-volume, both library models, and BRMS behavior are field-validated against IBM i over 8 Gb FC. Emulated identities are held to the IBM SCSI references at the wire level (INQUIRY/VPD, element status, sense data). OpenVTL is FC-only by design — see docs/why-fc-only.md.

Library and storage

• Libraries, drives, and cartridges created and managed from the web UI — live library grid, drive activity, jobs, and an event journal.
• ZFS storage plane: zstd by default, global dedup with the dedup table on a dedicated SSD vdev, dedupe granularity scaled from RAM at pool creation, online pool growth.

Offsite and recovery

• S3 export/import with a generation-keyed layout and resumable chunked uploads; eviction as the pool's pressure valve.
• One-click whole-library disaster recovery from the bucket, cartridge labels preserved.

Access and operations

• Hard-deny initiator ACLs with per-port and per-library scoping.
• Authentication, roles, and a full audit trail. Prometheus metrics.
• Ed25519-signed release bundles — openvtld update / rollback / verify-bundle, an Updates panel in the UI, and an automatic rollback watchdog if a new binary fails health checks.
• Redacted support bundles and a board-fingerprint support key that survives HBA swaps.

IBM i / BRMS ── Fibre Channel (tcm_qla2xxx target mode)
  └─ LIO (pSCSI backstores — identity passthrough)
       └─ mhVTL (patched: 3573-TL / 03584L32 personalities, LTO drives)
            └─ tape image files on ZFS (zstd + dedup, dedup table on SSD)
                 └─ vaulted media → S3-compatible object store

openvtld (Go, single static binary, SQLite state, embedded React UI):
  inventory · library/pool lifecycle · FC boot orchestration · jobs ·
  S3 export/import/DR · ACLs · auth/audit · metrics · signed updates

Deployment assumptions. The openvtld management UI and API are designed to run on an isolated management network; they are not hardened for exposure to untrusted networks or the internet. Network-level access control, and any authentication hardening beyond the built-in session auth, are the operator's responsibility.

1. Download the current release bundle from openvtl.com/downloads. Every bundle carries SHA256SUMS and a detached Ed25519 signature; the installer and updater verify it against the public key committed in this repo, and the downloads page publishes that key out of band so you can verify before the installer ever runs.

2. Unpack on the appliance and run the idempotent installer:

   sudo openvtl-<version>/repo/packaging/install.sh

3. Log in at https://<host>:8443 and complete first-run setup: create the admin account, build storage, create a library.

The first-time operator guide at docs.openvtl.com walks the full path from a blank VM to a completed IBM i save. Day-2 operations — boot chain, FC fabric recovery, storage, offsite/DR, updates — live in the operator runbook.

cd openvtld/web && npm ci && npm run build

cd openvtld && GOOS=linux GOARCH=amd64 CGO_ENABLED=0 go build ./cmd/openvtld

Release bundles are cut with scripts/make-release.sh (builds UI + binary, stages the repo, writes SHA256SUMS, signs it). Signing is mandatory — unsigned bundles are refused at install and update time.

Enterprise support is available by quotation — request a quote. Community discussion and bug reports go through this repository's issue tracker. Security reports go to security@openvtl.com, never public issues — see SECURITY.md.

Outside contributions require a signed CLA; the process is in CONTRIBUTING.md. The data path (mhVTL patches, LIO layout, SCSI identity) is frozen — changes there need a validated IBM i run, not just a green build.

Copyright © 2026 Emerald Coast Technologies LLC, d/b/a OpenVTL.

OpenVTL's original code (daemon, web UI, packaging, documentation) is licensed under the AGPL-3.0 (LICENSE), with an additional trademark term under AGPL §7(e) — see TRADEMARK.md. The mhVTL emulation patches are derivative works of mhVTL and are GPL-2.0; vendored mhVTL keeps its own license. See NOTICE for the one-page summary and THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md for everything statically linked into the shipped binary.

"OpenVTL"™ and the OpenVTL logo are trademarks of Emerald Coast Technologies LLC. Registration pending.