Beginner to SAN here, apologies.

I'm looking into buying the new Dell entry level AX100 with 1.1TB of
storage space.  It will be attached by fibre to a Dell PowerEdge
server.

What is the best backup solution for me out there?  tape? dlt?

I'm on a tight budget and will be using Veritas.

KM

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In article <efe5e87c.0406100029.7069ff43@posting.google.com>,
krism@nsworld.com says...
>
>Beginner to SAN here, apologies.
>
>I'm looking into buying the new Dell entry level AX100 with 1.1TB of
>storage space.  It will be attached by fibre to a Dell PowerEdge
>server.
>
>What is the best backup solution for me out there?  tape? dlt?
>
>I'm on a tight budget and will be using Veritas.
>
one of the new (low priced) switches from McData & Qlogic probably
coupled w/ something like (my 1st choice) Overland's NEO2000

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On 10 Jun 2004 01:29:00 -0700, krism@nsworld.com (KM) wrote:

>Beginner to SAN here, apologies.
>
>I'm looking into buying the new Dell entry level AX100 with 1.1TB of
>storage space.  It will be attached by fibre to a Dell PowerEdge
>server.
>
>What is the best backup solution for me out there?  tape? dlt?
>
>I'm on a tight budget and will be using Veritas.
>
>KM

Well, without a switch or even another host it's not SAN, it's just S.

In any case the easiest and cheapest solution would be to scsi attach
a drive or small library directly to your server.

Also, I have heard it is a very bad thing to put tape on the same
fabric as production data.  Not exactly sure why although I do have a
fuzzy idea; but I've heard it from many sources.

~F

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In article <034kc01el43j35hhffbgjs1ggvgvife1n6@4ax.com>, Faeandar wrote:
> On 10 Jun 2004 01:29:00 -0700, krism@nsworld.com (KM) wrote:
> 
>
> Well, without a switch or even another host it's not SAN, it's just S.
>
> In any case the easiest and cheapest solution would be to scsi attach
> a drive or small library directly to your server.
>
> Also, I have heard it is a very bad thing to put tape on the same
> fabric as production data.  Not exactly sure why although I do have a
> fuzzy idea; but I've heard it from many sources.
>
> ~F

I thought it was bad to use the same fiber controller for disk and tape.
I had not heard that disk and tape cannot be on the same fabric.

Mike

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> > Also, I have heard it is a very bad thing to put tape on the same 
>
> I thought it was bad to use the same fiber controller for disk and tape.
> I had not heard that disk and tape cannot be on the same fabric.
>
> Mike

Any mix of tape and storage components are working without known
problems in the same fabric - I did it successfully in nearly 50
installations during the last 6 years.

A tricky combination is the mix of tape and disk usage on the same
fibre controller - my recommendation is to avoid that if you have
huge traffic and controller or system based multipath software running.
But it is not impossible, some vendors still supports such solutions -
but you have to check that carefully. Two of my customers have
a mixed configuration running successfully since one year.

Rene

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On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 20:22:54 -0000, Mike <mikee@mikee.ath.cx> wrote:

>In article <034kc01el43j35hhffbgjs1ggvgvife1n6@4ax.com>, Faeandar wrote: 
>
>I thought it was bad to use the same fiber controller for disk and tape.
>I had not heard that disk and tape cannot be on the same fabric.
>
>Mike

Tis what I hear but, as I said, I do not know exactly why.  And I have
not tried it either so I have no first hand experience to pull from.

If anyone has specifics in this I'd love to hear it.

~F

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> I'm looking into buying the new Dell entry level AX100 with 1.1TB of
> storage space.  It will be attached by fibre to a Dell PowerEdge
> server.
>
> What is the best backup solution for me out there?  tape? dlt?
>
Tape is a good solution if you want to put copies of your data
in safes or other similiar places. My favorite tape for entry level
is LTO or SDLT now. If you want to put the tape library into
your SAN, try entry switches from Brocade (e.g. SW3250/3850)
or McData (e.g.Spheron 4500) which can grow with your requirements.
Other  possibility is to connect the tape library direct to your backup
or master server via SCSI-LVD. With such a solution you still have the
possibility to use such a library in a SAN (through fc-scsi converter) if
you want to do that later. My favorite entry level tape libraries are IBM
3583 (ADIC Scalar 100), Exabyte Magnum20 or Overland Neo Series.

Anyway, S-ATA Storage might be also a good place to store your data,
it depends on your personal preferences ;-)

Rene

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