Hi,
Just looking for some feedback here. We need to procure a new tape
library soon. We have an older Storagetek L80 with
8 LTO-3 drives (79 data slots). This has worked nicely, but I don't see
us upgrading it to LTO-4 drives, although it might be possible.
Storagetek is still supporting it, but it is getting old, and we'd like
to get a new library to take us further down the road. We will remain
with LTO technology, so we plan to move to LTO-4. I don't anticipate
moving any of the existing LTO-3 drives to the new library
via drive conversion kits (I know this can be done when working with the
same library manufacturer). We will run the L80 in parallel
for a while, however. We're running NW 7.2.2 on a Solaris server with
two RH Linux snodes, but we will move to 7.3.x at some point soon.
Not sure if 7.2.2 even supports LTO-4.
Desired library options:
o Rack mountable
o At least four LTO-4 drives with room to expand up to 8.
o Fiber channel might be preferred but would be nice if it could do SCSI
if need be.
o Will be connecting to RH Linux storage node server
o Ability to move tapes around using GUI panel would be nice
o A CAP door with 1-5 slots is preferred
I would prefer to avoid stackable type units. I pretty much want it all
in one. We had a bad experience with one stackable style library wherein
the company stopped manufacturing the unit so we couldn't add more
drives even though they still support it for maintenance.
One thing I don't like about our L80 is that you can't move tapes around
in the library using the GUI panel on the library. Instead, you have to
use the OS.
It's really more of an annoyance than anything else. Otherwise, the L80
has been great.
Not sure how many slots we would need, but given that LTO-4 is double
the capacity of LTO-3, I suppose we could get by with 40 slots, but might
be nice to have more.
I know we will require another Authochanger license, and that's gonna
run some money, too!, not to mention the media, but at least we'll be able
to write to any new LTO-3 tapes that we still have using the LTO-4 drives.
I'm tempted to stick with Storagetek since we've had a very good
experience with them, but I am open to suggestions.
If anyone is using a newer STK library, I would be curious to learn what
you're using.
Thanks, and I would appreciate any advice or suggestions.
George
--
George Sinclair - NOAA/NESDIS/National Oceanographic Data Center
SSMC3 4th Floor Rm 4145 | Voice: (301) 713-3284 x210
1315 East West Highway | Fax: (301) 713-3301
Silver Spring, MD 20910-3282 | Web Site: http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/
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