We are out-growing our 2-drive 10-slot TL891 auto-loader. We are looking to
upgrade. My TL891 can be upgraded with pass-through mechanisms, data modules,
and expansion-kits but I am a little bit leary of doing this. I would rather
find something new or like new/used which was originally manufactured big. I
don't like the idea of re-manufacturing my small TL891 bigger. Besides the
robot is starting to make squeaking noises.
There are a lot of good tape-media-format choices out there such as DAT, 8MM,
VXA, AIT, LTO, DLT, and the list goes on. Since we already have an inventory of
two hundred DLT-7000 cartridges and at $70.00/cartridge I think my media choice
has already been made for me.
I guess I am looking for a DLT-7000 or a DLT-8000 auto-loader. I assume any
DLT-8000 auto-loader we might purchase, will make use of my DLT-7000 tape
inventory; otherwise I'll need to do some re-thinking here. I am told that
DLT-8000 is at the end of its developmental life cycle as regards downward
compatibility. The next Quantum jump, Super-DLT will not be downward compatible
with the older DLT formats, or so I am told and Super-DLT is not out yet anyway.
Yup, it Looks like LTO and AIT technologies are giving DLT a run for its money,
which may be a reason why the Super-DLT has not been released yet. Anyway, I
have two hundred DLT tapes with a shelf life of 30 years so I am pretty sure my
media choice must be DLT-7000 compatible.
We are considering products from the following vendors: Compaq, StorageTek, and
Qualstar. ADIC is another big name too. We have received several price quotes
from several vendors and now we need to make a recomendation. Its a sealed-bid,
multi-bid, procurement process where price is a major consideration and
geography may be a minor factor too.
Today we backup about 750-gigabytes with a 30-day browsable retention cycle
after it has been deleted from disc. Plus we do an offsite copy weekly which
cycles through our fire-safes, then to the vault-company and then back into our
library after it has aged sufficiently. Our storage has been doubling about
every two years. We think buying more drives will make our overall backup
picture run faster. We think we have grown to the point where a 4-drive or
5-drive auto-loader solution fits the time frame of our backup window nicely and
if we're not big enough yet, we'll grow into it.
I am looking at StorageTek's L40 with 40-slots and 4-DLT8000 drives. I am
looking at Qualstar's 6460-4LV8 with 60-slots and 4-DLT8000 drives. I am looking
at Compaq's TL894-BA with 52-slots and 4-DLT7000 drives and also their TL895-BA
with 96 slots and 5-DLT7000 drives. I am looking at ADIC SCALAR 100 with
4-DLT8000 drives too.
We currently run our TL891 with two drives plugged into one KZPBA-CB UltraSCSI
Storage Adapter Module (HBA). The HBA on the server has a Y-plug plugged into it
and both DLT tape drives on the TL891 plug into the Y-plug and the Y-plug plugs
into the KZPBA-CB on the server. Here's a question: Will it benefit me to
purchase antoher UltraSCSI HBA? Will this improve my performance? I can make
room for upto 3 HBA if that helps. Some auto-loaders can accept more than one
SCSI connection. (Tru64 UNIX 4.0E)
I was wondering if I could do a small survey poll to find out which auto-loader
most of you are using? I would appreciate it.
Do any of you use Qualstar auto-loaders with Legato and Tru64 UNIX?
Do any of you use Storagetek auto-loaders with Legato and Tru64 UNIX?
Do any of you use ADIC auto-loaders with Legato and Tru64 UNIX?
What are you using big from Compaq, with Legato and Tru64 UNIX?
Compaq's competition is competitively priced. Should I stay with Compaq or
should I roll the dice? We were happy with the way our EMC disc array hooked up
to our alpha servers. Do other vendor tape drives hook up to alpha servers just
as easily or are they a bit more tricky?
Sincerely
Kevin Criss
Received on Mon Feb 26 2001 - 21:37:05 NZDT