Networker

Re: [Networker] Recommendations for new tape library?

2008-01-09 18:14:15
Subject: Re: [Networker] Recommendations for new tape library?
From: David Koch <David.Koch AT NEWCASTLE.EDU DOT AU>
To: NETWORKER AT LISTSERV.TEMPLE DOT EDU
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:46:05 +1100
We also have  a number of SL500 tape libraries and are reasonably happy.  The 
one area of concern is having a single robot when you have a large library with 
lots of drives and slots, and if it fails (as we have experienced) then there 
is no way to move media around and you are off-the-air. Sun/StorageTek 
maintenance is fast and responsive, but it's good to be able to avoid single 
points of electro-mechanical failure if possible.  Clearly the single robot 
issue applies to virtually all other libraries of this size and class, but it 
worth noting and considering if you can stretch a multiple robot unit such as 
the SL8500 - we haven't managed this, but are moving toward having multiple 
SL500 units to reduce the impact of such a failure.

On a related tack:

Under Solaris, what servers are you using for server and snodes to make sure 
that you have enough I/O to drive multiple LTO-3 and LTO-4 drives?

We are looking to upgrade from our V890 which simply doesn't have enough I/O 
throughput to get LTO-3 drives beyond about 60MBps.

We're considering the Sun UltraSPARC T2 based T5220, as this has reasonable I/O 
capacity (~ 5 GBps ) and enough PCIe slots to add the required I/O devices 
(e.g. two dual-channel 4Gbps, and 10GbE NICs).

Any thoughts or suggestions?

*----------------------------
David Koch
IT Infrastructure Group
University of Newcastle  NSW Australia
Tel: +61 2 492 18757
*----------------------------

>>> David Dulek <ddulek AT FASTENAL DOT COM> 10/01/2008 9:09 am >>>
We bought an SL500 with 2 LTO3 drives and I could not be happier.  Our server 
and snode are both Solaris, though.  We also do D2D2T to make sure we stream 
the drives.

On Wednesday 09 January 2008, McBeen, Ben wrote:
> We are in the same boat... as in we are looking to upgrade.
>
> We have pretty much decided on the SL500, the stackable type you
> mentioned. Going any other way is just terribly expensive out the
> door. You can always buy modules second hand... many cases new-in-box.
>
> We are currently using an L40, and it has been a nightmare. We wanted
> to move away from sun/stk, but so far the options have not been
> appealing to us. I'm curious to see what the rest of the list
> recommends.
> ---------------------------------------------------------
> Ben McBeen
> Information Technology Systems Engineer
> Plumas Bank
> 530-283-7305 x7602
>
> On Jan 9, 2008, at 9:02 AM, George Sinclair wrote:
> > 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/ 
> > - Any opinions expressed in this message are NOT those of the US
> > Govt. -
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