Milton,

Thanks for the info.  I briefly looked at Sepaton, but I had no idea they
were that inexpensive.  I will probably give them a second look.

But one thing that I'm struggling with is "why a VTL?"

Between random-access DISK volumes and sequential-access FILE volumes what
does a VTL buy me that I couldn't implement using those two volume types
in TSM?

Thanks.

Tab Trepagnier
TSM Administrator
Laitram, L.L.C.






"Johnson, Milton" <milton.johnson AT citigroup DOT com>
06/15/2004 03:13 PM


        To:     "Tab Trepagnier" <Tab.Trepagnier AT LAITRAM DOT COM>
        cc:
        Subject:        Tier'ed library


Tab,

We are faced with the same options and are seriously looking at Virtual
Tape Libraries (VTL), an appliance that is physically a large SATA Raid
Array but presents itself to TSM as a tape library.  The product we are
looking at is the Sepaton S2100-ES (www.sepaton.com).  The things we
like include:
1) It's TSM certified, meaning that it has passed the same certification
the "real" tape libraries passed.
2) Cheap.  We have been quoted $30K (USD) for the first 3TB and $18K
(USD) for each additional 3TB.
3) Modular: Purchase the first 3Tb then expand in 3TB increments up to
200TB.  After that you purchase another VTL.
4) Performance: Since it's disk based it's very fast, up to 1.6 TB/hour.
Since the "tape drives" are virtual tape drives you can configure a tape
library to have 200 tape drives, eliminating the tape drive bottleneck.
"Tape mounts" happen instantly.
5) Because of the high performance and large number of available virtual
tape drives, you should be able to reclaim the virtual tapes when they
are only 25% reclaimable, instead of waiting until they are 50%
reclaimable.  This should allow much more efficient usage of the "tape
space".

We will just use our present 3494 ATL to cut off-site tapes.  We haven't
implemented it yet, but we are actively pursuing it.

Our contact is:
David Littman
The More Group
47 East Grove Street
Middleboro, MA  02346
dlittman AT moregroupinc DOT com
508-946-2255 x19


H. Milton Johnson