SUMMARY: Tape Libraries Evaluation

From: Adrian POPIRLAN <adrian.popirlan_at_apec.asso.fr>
Date: Tue May 04 2004 - 11:45:08 EDT
Hello sunmanagers,

A big Thank You to all that answered to the question about the tape
libraries evaluation:

Matt Clausen
Simon Phillips
Ed Alexander
Richard Bond
David Foster
Karyn Wiliams.

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The original question:
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We are looking to renew the tape library.
We had a L1000 from Sun with DLT7000 .
We are looking now for a mid-range tape library:

 StorageTek L180
ADIC Scalar 1000
Overland Neo 8000

I would like to hear from you about your field hands-on experience and
stories with those libraries or other libraries that you would recommend.
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And the original answers:

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I dont see the Quantum M-series libraries in here.... They're a good
solid library which can grow with your needs. Start off with say an
M-1800 which is 40 slots and up to 4 drives and then you can grow as
needed by adding additional M1500s or M1800s or M2500s plus the proper
stacklink module to expand your library while maintaining your
investment. You can add additional levels without drives as well. We
have a bunch of the Quantum M1500s (7 of them) but only 3 of them have
drives in it.. and if needed we can expand the library up by a few more
levels.

Depending on what you're looking for, these support SDLT or LTO so they
are quite flexible. The only thing you can't do is mix and match... So
it's all SDLT or all LTO.
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we looked at the Storagetek , Qualstar and ADIC and finally went for the
ADIC Scalar 1000 with AIT3. We've had it about 1 year now and the only fault
was a failure in the web interface module, not important as it's only the
same as the console of the machine. A new one was shipped the same day.
Other than that, it's worked perfectly. The main point for us was the ease
of expansion. We're looking at e additional cabinets and 6 more tape drives
ofer the next year or so. the cabs just bolt onto the main cab and the tape
drives slot in and plug in. Using AIT3, 250 Gb (nominal compressed) means
250Tb (realistically, just under 200Tb) which is a lot of storage! The
recover speed is excellent due to the electronic wizardry of the AIT3
technology.

Can thoroughly recommend.

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We're using an Overland Neo 4100 with 4 SDLT-320 drives.  We've been
extremely happy with the library and Overland tech support.  Also
important for us is that the Neo is expandable; we can add a second unit
and share the tape drives with the current unit.  HTH.

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Look at the  Spectralogic T-120 -  SAIT or LTO or --
 We are buying the T950  but considered 2  t-120's insetead.

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We have used a Qualstar 4080 (80 slots, 2 drives) with
AIT-2 and then AIT-3 tape drives for 3 years, zero
problems and no complaints, it just works.

I'd definitely go with AIT tape technology (see attached
white paper from www.spectralogic.com) over DLT.

The Qualstar is generally cheaper than other brands.
I know that Overland makes very good and reliable
products, we used an old 9-track tape drive that is
now almost 20 years old and still works great!
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We have had an ADIC Faststor DLT7000 7 bay robot and now have an ADIC
Scalar 24 (LTO2). Never a problem with the hardware. Use with Veritas
Netbackup.
##################################################



I hope that these will help.
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Received on Tue May 4 11:45:01 2004

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