Networker

Re: [Networker] OT: LTO2 libraries, server migration

2004-09-14 14:13:46
Subject: Re: [Networker] OT: LTO2 libraries, server migration
From: Ernst Bokkelkamp <ernst AT BOKKELKAMP DOT DE>
To: NETWORKER AT LISTMAIL.TEMPLE DOT EDU
Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2004 20:09:05 +0200
Hallo Dave,

If you have a choice out of a 2-lane, a 3-lane, or a 5-lane highway and you
are the only car on the road then which highway will you take ?

The LTO-1/2/3 drives are nice, the capabilities look very good on glossy
paper. What will you tell your boss when he notices a 120MByte/second
thruput clearly stated on these nice, goodlooking "factsheets" ? That these
will shorten the backup time by a factor 24 compared to DLT ?

The question you must ask yourself is: can the complete configuration
actually deliver the data to the drive(s), because if you can't then even
the fastest drive won't do you any good. At the moment the DLT drive is most
likely the bottleneck, but with LTO this will shift to some other component
in the overall picture, this could be the network, the clients or the
server.  You may even have to consider dedicated networker servers and
storage nodes to keep the drives going. Just keep in mind that some people
will expect that the backup window shrinks dramatically and won't understand
when it doesn't after spending lots of money on the latest, fastest, tape
drives on the market.

My advise is to go for a library with proven technology drives (LTO-1/-2),
with the same number as you are using currently, because you must still
cater for drive problems, restores and other unexpected events that can
lockout a drive from being available for backup. Also take the same number
of tapes, because larger capacity does not mean that you need less tapes,
particulary if you are forced to move tapes offsite, or do cloning, or use
pools. And forget about LTO-3 for the moment, if I remember correctly it
will need a new tape media, and will need a lot of power to keep the drive
streaming.

Bye
Ernie

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Mussulman" <mussulma AT CS.UIUC DOT EDU>
To: <NETWORKER AT LISTMAIL.TEMPLE DOT EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, September 14, 2004 6:28 PM
Subject: [Networker] OT: LTO2 libraries, server migration


> Sorry if this is a little off topic, but I'm interested in the
> experience and feedback from this list.  We're finally getting ready to
> upgrade our backups hardware from DLT to LTO, and potentially upgrade
> the server as well.
>
> I figure we can upgrade our 60 slot, 4 DLT drive library to a 20-30
> slot, 2 drive library, so I'm looking at the smaller LTO2 libraries.  So
> far I'm looking at the Overland Neo 2000, the ADIC Scalar 24, the
> Qualstar RLS series.  Are there any other products I should be looking
> at, or comments/endorsements/warnings on these?
>
> I hate to buy LTO2 when LTO3 is getting so close in the roadmap, but we
> need to age out a failing DLT library.  Does anyone know any data on
> when LTO3 products will hit the market?
>
> The other major upgrade would be the backup server hardware.  We're
> currently running off an Sun E450 (shared with other services.)  The
> rest of our services are migrating over to Linux.  My question, for
> those who have Linux Networker servers, what kind of hardware supports
> the processor/IO strain of a backup server?  Are you satisfied with it,
> or should I stay with Sun?
>
> Thanks,
> Dave
>
> --
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