Why tape ?

[JeanSeb]

Hi,

Very simple question, I meet with a VTL vendor this afternoon (Netapp), and after much technical reading, I still can't figure out the reason for tape creation within the VTL. Anybody cares to explain why this is needed ?

 

[Raakin]

'Benefits' of tape and speed of disk.

Only reason I have heard of where a VTL is a good fit in your current environment is if you would need to change a lot (architecture or technology/software) in going to disk instead of tape. Or in other words if it would be painful/difficult/improbable to replace your current tape library with disk.

Only having used TSM and seeing how versatile it is with storage media and the ability to use a plethora of storage media types to make up the storage pools, in my view, there is little reason to go with the VTL technology in TSM over raw disk or other disk appliances.

And perhaps this is why I do not have a VTL appliance in my environment.

 

[cwilloug]

disaster recovery,,, move your data someplace very very safe,,,, and offsite.

 

[JeanSeb]

^^ Oh right DR !
Somehow this escaped me since we plan to do site to site WAN replication.
Thanks

 

[Mita201]

lan-free? I think that is a benefit, but i amnot sure if it woeks with netapp vtl

 

[northeasternat]

Compare Disk pools and VTLs with TSM

Hope this is an informative comparison.

 

[Mita201]

Hm, most of it apply for caption "Disk Pools VS FILE class Pools"

 

[northeasternat]

lan-free? I think that is a benefit, but i amnot sure if it woeks with netapp vtl

The NetApp VTL is a dead product. Are you refering to backing up to a NetApp FAS as a disk pool?

NetApp Inc. has discontinued product development on its NearStore virtual tape library (VTL), fueling speculation that the vendor is looking for a data deduplication data backup partner after failing in its attempt to buy Data Domain last year.

 

[cfhoffmann]

tape is:

* 100x denser than disk on a volumetric basis.
* Over 20x cheaper than current disk drives for long-term storage.
* Consumes almost zero power and cooling when data is at rest.