What technology is used to mirror the server?

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>Ok, so the Primary server is located about 30 miles north of the "subscribing" server. The Primary will be used for all production transactions, and mirroring has been (or will be) established to have the subscribing server kept current for backup purposes. At this point I do not know if mirroring will be synchronous or asynchronous.
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>There are two issues to be addressed.
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>1.) As we (developers) as located where the subscribing server is located, it would be ideal if we can create tape backups of the subscribing server for purposes of using the tape backup to restore our development server at the same location. This eliminates the need to transport a tape 30 miles. So, my question is can a subscribing server be backed up to tape? There's rumors flying here that the answer is no, but I would like independent confirmation.
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>2.) From an audit/contingency planning perspective, I'd like to query the subscribing server in order to confirm that mirroring is working and all data is identical when compared to the primary. Again, there are rumors floating that one cannot query a subscribing server. Is this true?
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>Thanks.