When data is requested by an application or user, it enters a process called staging. Staging activity is fully automated and transparent to applications, although there is visibility into the stage queue for the storage administrator. Staging order is set by policy and may be configured to favor the copy that is most readily available. This is usually the copy on the fastest media, but this depends on site specifics such as connection speeds and access fees. Like archive workloads, stage workloads are sorted and optimized to enable efficient media handling and maximum throughput. Stage resources are managed to ensure optimal system availability. For example, the number of tape mounts or drives utilized by a specific user or by a specific set of files may be limited.
