1) If by "storage agent" you mean the Lan-Free agent, that requires a tape 
device.  You cannot replace that with a disk or file pool.

2) Other than that, it's a question of speed and resources.

Using disk for TSM, I'm assuming you would want to turn on deduplication.  (For 
most sites using all-disk for backup isn't cost-effective unless you can 
dedup.) 
Dedup  is a resource-intensive function that is now being done outboard in your 
VTL.
It will require extra CPU cycles and a lot more I/O operations for your TSM 
server to take over that function.
And the disk, if you are adding to your existing disk array, must be able to 
handle the write speed to replace your VTL.

So if (1) isn't a problem, you should work with your IBM business partner to 
get some statistics from your TSM server to see if the server itself has 
sufficient capacity to take over the deduplication function.  And also to 
figure out how much data per day/hour you need to process and dedup in a disk 
pool, to see if your existing disk array has sufficient write speed and cache 
to handle it.  

When you figure out you need to push xxxx Gigabytes of data through the disk in 
an x hour window, your business partner can calculate for you what type of disk 
array or disk array upgrade will support that.

W

 

-----Original Message-----
From: ADSM: Dist Stor Manager [mailto:ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU] On Behalf Of 
ritchi64
Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2013 10:25 AM
To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
Subject: [ADSM-L] VTL or disk pool

I know, there's already some previous post on this but I want your opinions on 
our choice to make.


Our IBM VTL is out of support next april. So we have to decide if we will buy a 
new one or buy more direct attach disk pool in our TSM server?

We have some Oracle server who use the VTL and one storage agent on the other 
side of the firewall.

1) Is it a good idee to configure disk device from the TSM server to replace 
the VTL for those storage agent?

2) What is the pros and cons for a new VTL

3) what will be th pros an cons for adding a lot of disk pool direct attach in 
TSM server.

Any comment will be appreciated?

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