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Wednesday, 25 March 2009 13:00 |
Most leading tape drive technologies, including the popular Linear Tape-Open (LTO) format, support three primary system interfaces: SCSI, Serial Attached SCSI (SAS), and Fibre Channel. Until now, organizations with an Internet SCSI (iSCSI) storage area network (SAN) typically had two options for tape backup that would not significantly reduce transfer rates: using an intermediary backup or media server to act as a buffer between the tape backup target and the iSCSI SAN, or using an external iSCSI bridge to translate between protocols.
With the introduction of iSCSI-to-SAS bridge cards for Dell PowerVault TL2000 and PowerVault TL4000 tape libraries, organizations can now directly attach SAS-based tape backup targets to iSCSI SANs such as the PowerVault MD3000i with minimal or no degradation in transfer rates. The internal card acts as an iSCSI target and provides SAS connectivity for full-height LTO-4 and half-height LTO-4 and LTO-3 SAS drives, helping provide a seamless, cost-effective tape backup target.
The setup process for iSCSI-capable PowerVault TL2000 and PowerVault TL4000 tape libraries, based on the Dell iSCSI Bridge Management Console and Dell Modular Disk Storage Manager, is designed for simplicity. Organizations can take advantage of these bridge cards to implement traditional backup to tape as part of a comprehensive backup strategy, which might also include traditional backup to disk or continuous backup to disk. Following best practices when configuring backup servers in iSCSI environments?such as use of full and incremental backups, an appropriate iSCSI initiator, Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol (CHAP) for security, and an optimized network configuration?can help optimize data recovery, enhance security, and significantly increase backup performance.
Also covered: Using Symantec Backup Exec 12 software to provide scalable, comprehensive data protection in iSCSI environments.
Source : http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/power/en/hyper_v_ and_dell_equallogic_virtualized_sans?
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