Summary:tape backup solutions

Original question:

>I'm interested in anyones experience with various external tape devices
>for doing network backups of other solaris machines. We are currently
>using a number of 8mm DDS2 sun tape drives for local and 
>remote backups.
>
>But we may have some extra money this quarter to relieve me from having to
>flip tapes daily and limit our storage capability. This would likely sit 
>on a low-end Ultra (5 or 10) running 2.7.  What I'm looking for is
>probably a DDS3 4mm or 8mm tape stacker. These at least use relatively
>inexpensive tapes compared to AME tapes and are pretty standard. I've 
>seen such stackers for sale in non-Sun catalogs (eg MicroWarehouse) for 
>reasonable amounts of money (ie <$10K).
>
>Opinions? horror/success-stories?
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Thanks to:

Brian Kerr
Alan Reichert
Tim Carlson    
Louis Hoo     
David Foster 
Mark Hargrave       
Marcelino Mata     
Bill Fay          
Marcelino Mata   
Eric Paul       
Terje J. Hanssen 
Hindley Nick    
Sergio Gelato  
Glenn Burkhardt
Moti Levy      
Tim Evans
Paul Frederiksen
Michael Peppard  

and others still queued on the internet.

Most seemd to like DLT due to the large capacity albeit somewhat high
initial expense for tapes. Many others had good experiences with DDS3,
some did not. A few claimed good vibes from AIT. Many also warned me 
away from various software packages especially legato (been there, 
done that, got the T-shirt).  There was some discussion of using 
libraries vs stackers. At one time we were using solstice backup nsr. 
Some loved it; I hated it. I like the simplicity of native software
(ufsdump, rsh, dd) that I KNOW will work on every OS. After all, what 
happens if you lose the nsr index...  Further, nsr must be registered 
(cost issue) on separate machines, must have client and server software
(complexity). Again, I believe in the KISS approach.  Religious wars. 

This has certainly given me enough to go on. 

Thanks again


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 David Stern                                    TSI TelSys 
 Manager, Information Systems                   410-872-3906