Re: "Network tape drive" for VMS

Tom Linden wrote:
On Thu, 17 Jul 2008 07:01:15 -0700, Tom Linden <tom@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Thu, 17 Jul 2008 06:11:14 -0700, Albrecht Schlosser <ajs567@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Is there anything available that could be called a
"network tape drive" that is supported with

(a) OpenVMS / Alpha 7.3-2
(b) OpenVMS / I64, 8.2 or 8.3 ff. ?

The reason is to have the backup tape drive separated from the
server for easier access to change the backup tapes.

Please don't ask, why would you want to do that. It's simply
because of a user's request. And this should *not* be another
VMS server (cluster node) with a tape drive ;-)

Albrecht

If you have fibre, put it on a Modular Data Router

You didn't say whether you had fibre or not, but I just checked
an MDR will run you ~$500. You can get a fibre switch for less
than $300 and HBAs can be had for $20-40 each. This is your
best solution, allowing you to put the tape unit as far away as
you please from the computer room

Thanks to all who replied. Here's a summary of what I read so far.

Fibre channel seems the way to go, if at all. It's supported on
both platforms neede, including OpenVMS/Alpha 7.3-2. The server in
question doesn't have FC yet, but maybe it could be upgraded.

However, I can't believe the prices above. Are these for supported
configurations? I had a price of about 4000 EUR (ca. $ 6000 ?) in
mind for a FC adapter for Itanium, maybe together with or additional
to a FC switch that would be needed. I'll have to check that further.

iSCSI seems not to be supported yet. I found something about a
demonstration kit for V. 8.3-1H1 (I64 only). Seems to be supported
with 8.4 at best. Does anybody know more?

Also thanks for all the interesting comments regarding DC and
backup management. For the original question, there are two points
to mention:

(1) The "users" are not necessarily personnel in the same company
as the IT people. Today, the server is in the users's office, but
they complain about the noise, and the server can't be cooled
appropriately. Thus the idea of moving it to the DC/server room.
The IT of the other company would host the server, but they wouldn't
like to do daily maintenance jobs like changing tapes :-(

(2) Everything is a question of costs. There is no cluster, and
having another server in the office to serve the backup tape
would not help to remove the server from the office.

Albrecht
.

Relevant Pages

  • ntbackup bug between 2003 and XP Pro
    ... I'm new to the list so I hope we can also post XP/2003 Server issues ... If you try to use a tape created in 2003 Server RTM in XP Pro SP1 it will ... Verify the data is there by doing a test restore. ...
    (NT-Bugtraq)
  • Re: Disaster Recovery Plan
    ... preferable to restoring a master tape, ... Server and a HP tape drive. ... Attend a course taught by an expert instructor with years of in-the-field ...
    (Security-Basics)
  • Re: Backup testing
    ... I back up my server system state to the tape. ... server and system state on the backup tape. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: using make_tape_recovery to clone a system
    ... I think you have a problem with tape on DR server. ... Number of Archives to Save = 2 ... Creating System Configuration. ...
    (comp.sys.hp.hpux)
  • Re: Data File Restores
    ... So can I catalog the backup tape on a Vista or XP PC with the proper tape drive installed or do I have to reinstall SBS? ... Do I have to use SBS2003 Backup/Restore software to read my backup tape or can I catalog the tape and read it with Vista or XP backup/restore? ... I only need about 18gb of data, there was no exchange setup the server was just file/print sharing! ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)