Data Storage - Problems With Tape Library Expansion Cabinets

This is Interesting: Free IT Magazines  
Home > Archive > Data Storage > July 2005 > Problems With Tape Library Expansion Cabinets





You are viewing an archived Text-only version of the thread. To view this thread in it's original format and/or if you want to reply to this thread please [click here]

Author Problems With Tape Library Expansion Cabinets
Will

2005-07-14, 8:46 pm

I'm curious what are the experiences of other users here who have expansion
cabinets on their tape libraries? Without exception, every time I have
encountered a customer with even one expansion cabinet it measurably affects
reliability of the installation. They typically experience two to 10 days
of downtime a year on the library for releveling or other problems related
to alignment of the expansion cabinets. This doesn't appear to be vendor
specific. I have seen as many problems with ADIC Scalar 1000 as we with
IBM 3584. What are the experiences of other users?

--
Will
Internet: westes AT earthbroadcast.com



ceradsky@gmail.com

2005-07-15, 7:47 am

Well, ADIC Scalar 1000 and IBM 3584 are the same library, since IBM
OEM's that from ADIC. I work with a lot of clients who have 3584's and
3494 libraries with 4-16 frames and never hear of such periods of
downtime for "realignment". Are there any external environmental
factors in your data center such as earthquakes, weak raised floor that
allows vibration/shifting, frequent equipment movement, etc?

Will

2005-07-15, 5:47 pm

I'm not talking about our data center. I'm talking about every
customer I know who has one of these, which is dozens of
customers.

--
Will
Internet: westes at earthbroadcast.com


<ceradsky@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1121427186.574685.68740@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Well, ADIC Scalar 1000 and IBM 3584 are the same library, since

IBM
> OEM's that from ADIC. I work with a lot of clients who have

3584's and
> 3494 libraries with 4-16 frames and never hear of such periods

of
> downtime for "realignment". Are there any external

environmental
> factors in your data center such as earthquakes, weak raised

floor that
> allows vibration/shifting, frequent equipment movement, etc?
>



Will

2005-07-15, 5:47 pm

And, by the way, when you press the support people at the
manufacturer companies about this issue, they all acknowledge
that the issue exists. I think you are simply blessed with
lucky customers who never have the problem, and I am blessed with
unlucky customers who always have the problem. But the support
people who deal with hundreds of these have all acknowledged to
me when pressed that the leveling issue is a recurrent problem
for them.

--
Will
Internet: westes at earthbroadcast.com

<ceradsky@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1121427186.574685.68740@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Well, ADIC Scalar 1000 and IBM 3584 are the same library, since

IBM
> OEM's that from ADIC. I work with a lot of clients who have

3584's and
> 3494 libraries with 4-16 frames and never hear of such periods

of
> downtime for "realignment". Are there any external

environmental
> factors in your data center such as earthquakes, weak raised

floor that
> allows vibration/shifting, frequent equipment movement, etc?
>



Rob Turk

2005-07-15, 5:47 pm

"Will" <DELETE_westes@earthbroadcast.com> wrote in message
news:zr2dnW0HSuM7mUXfRVn-tw@giganews.com...
> And, by the way, when you press the support people at the
> manufacturer companies about this issue, they all acknowledge
> that the issue exists. I think you are simply blessed with
> lucky customers who never have the problem, and I am blessed with
> unlucky customers who always have the problem. But the support
> people who deal with hundreds of these have all acknowledged to
> me when pressed that the leveling issue is a recurrent problem
> for them.
>
> --
> Will
> Internet: westes at earthbroadcast.com


Having worked in support for many years I should add that support people
have a twisted view on reality. Support only gets called when there's a
problem. So support people never get to speak with the happy customers and
they don't know how good or bad a product is. All they know is that certain
issues are more profound that others. If ADIC sold 10.000 of these libraries
and 50 of them have a problem then that's only 0.5%. If of those 50, there's
45 with alignment issues then support people will soon raise a flag claiming
'all these units' have alignment issues.

A product that sells poorly with 10% annual failure rate may be perceived by
support as superior to a highly successful product with a 2% annual failure
rate, simply because the absolute number of support calls is a lot higher.

Rob


Andy

2005-07-21, 2:46 am

In article <I_TBe.790$jA4.343@amstwist00>, _wipe_me_r.turk@chello.nl says...
>
>"Will" <DELETE_westes@earthbroadcast.com> wrote in message
>news:zr2dnW0HSuM7mUXfRVn-tw@giganews.com...
>
>Having worked in support for many years I should add that support people
>have a twisted view on reality. Support only gets called when there's a
>problem. So support people never get to speak with the happy customers and
>they don't know how good or bad a product is. All they know is that certain
>issues are more profound that others. If ADIC sold 10.000 of these libraries
>and 50 of them have a problem then that's only 0.5%. If of those 50, there's
>45 with alignment issues then support people will soon raise a flag claiming
>'all these units' have alignment issues.
>
>A product that sells poorly with 10% annual failure rate may be perceived by
>support as superior to a highly successful product with a 2% annual failure
>rate, simply because the absolute number of support calls is a lot higher.
>


it's an interesting exercise to look at the ADIC spec sheets
they typically have half the MTBF of their competitors

_____ . .
' \\ . . |>>
O// . . |
\_\ . . |
| | . . . |
/ | . www.EvenEnterprises.com . . . |
/ .| aseltzer@EvenEnterprises.com . . . |
/ . | 310-544-9439 / 310-544-9309 fax . . . o
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Sponsored Links






Free braindumps | Software forum | Database administration forum

Copyright 2003 - 2008 webservertalk.com