We're getting ready to purchase a DLT tape library from Compaq. The model
is a TL894, with the upshot of this being that it can have 4 tape drives
going simultaneously for a maximum data transfer rate of 20MB/sec. (Each
drive goes at 5MB/sec.) We'll be using the Legato software which it looks
like we'll be purchasing directly from Legato because of Compaq dropping
their support. (Thanks to this mailing list which made me aware of this fact!)
The tape drive must physically connect to one machine. However I have 3 or
4 machines in my data center that will want to access the tape library. My
machines have fast ethernet cards (100Mbps) over a full duplex switch,
which theoretically means transfer rates of 200Mpbs.
My question: What kind of performance can I expect to see when I'm backing
up LARGE amounts of data across the network? The alternative Compaq is
proposing is ugly - an Available Server cluster arrangement which is big
bucks. Since we have no plans to migrate to clustering this seems like a
waste. What about installing second network cards on each machine and
routing the backup traffic over these?
Any thoughts, ideas, experiences most welcome!
regards,
Chris
Received on Fri May 07 1999 - 17:24:24 NZST