Veritas-bu

[Veritas-bu] Virtual Tape Libraries and D2D2T backups

2005-07-14 18:50:06
Subject: [Veritas-bu] Virtual Tape Libraries and D2D2T backups
From: Bill_Jorgensen AT csgsystems DOT com (Jorgensen, Bill)
Date: Thu, 14 Jul 2005 16:50:06 -0600
Vincent:

I have researched it, but I have not had the privilege to use it. I
would not count out Alacritus (now part of NetApp) or Diligent (partner
of HDS). FalconStor has a ton of extra features that I considered not
necessary (clustering, etc.).

I have looked at the Pathlight VX. NICE piece of equipment. Turn-key if
you need that. Down side that I do not like is the tapes they use to
index the images on the disk subsystem (Clariion array, BTW) when they
hit the 85% capacity watermark and have to offload the data. For
whatever reason, they throttle their throughput to about a 1T/hour where
others are pushing the 2T/hour (or more) range.

I read some of the guys saying that they vault. That is what I would
like to do. Use a mid-tier disk subsystem with a VTL head and vault the
images off. If you need a restoral done AND the image is on disk (proper
sizing can help here) you have smoking restoral times. If you need the
vaulted image. No worries... Tell NBU to use the second tape, inject the
bugger in the library and go.

As for BCP/DR I would prefer the VTL/disk subsystem route. Get a mirror
configuration. You replicate the contents of the disk subsystem and you
are golden. No library needed. Your most current images are on the disk
subsystem. If you can push a sustained ~2T/hr you are done in no time
(relatively speaking).

One thing of note. As I researched I found that while NBU claims to
manage the disk subsystem capacity I have found that not necessarily to
be true. YOU have to manage the disk subsystem capacity with your
scripts. A VTL head manages that. Easier management.

Just dreaming... I hope you score the hardware. It will be fun to
implement manage.

Good luck,

Bill

--------------------------------------------------------
     Bill Jorgensen
     CSG Systems, Inc.
     (w) 303.200.3282
     (p) 303.947.9733
--------------------------------------------------------
     UNIX... Spoken with hushed and
     reverent tones.
--------------------------------------------------------
-----Original Message-----
From: veritas-bu-admin AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu
[mailto:veritas-bu-admin AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu] On Behalf Of
Vincent_Mase AT harvardpilgrim DOT org
Sent: Wednesday, July 13, 2005 2:38 PM
To: veritas-bu AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu
Subject: [Veritas-bu] Virtual Tape Libraries and D2D2T backups



Question 1:
Interested in feedback regarding pros and cons VTL Vendors.   We are
looking at ADIC Pathlight, EMC
CDL, FalconStor and Sepaton.   On the surface I like the ADIC because it
can make a physical tape
from a Virtual, without involving the backup application to make the
duplicate, but you are locked
into using their disk on the back-end.  FalconStore is disk agnostic so
you can use anybody's disk
on the back-end.  EMC is just FalconStore bundled into an EMC CX array.
Sepaton uses there own
disks but has a lot of appealing features.  If anyone is using or
evaluating these products and
cares to share an opinion I would like to hear  it.

Question 2:   Interested in hearing from anyone using DSSU's  and if
they are experiencing all the
headaches that the VTL vendors use as selling points for their products.



Vincent Mase



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