LTO3 Autoloader Recommendation

what type of server is it running on and what scsi card model?

The server is a dell 2950, the scsi card model i am not sure of my manager ordered through pc connection had them order the correct card that matched the server.

I don't know what kind of data your business has, or whether you are governed by business or legal requirements to encrypt data written to tape, but if so, here is some information that you may find useful. (Some of the newer privacy laws specify some remediation for lost credit card, SSN, or medical data that would be pretty onerous for a small- or mid-size business... encrypting the tapes means that you're in the clear.)

- LTO-4 performs native encryption; that is, you can send it a key with a new SCSI command, and it will encrypt the backup immediately after.  This encryption is done with no performance penalty to the backup server or the tape drive itself.   The data is also compressed before it's encrypted, so you don't lose compression.  The LTO-4 uses AES-256 encryption, which is considered to be unbreakable.

- To enable LTO-4 hardware (native) encryption, you'll need a backup application that supports it.  I think that started with BackupExec 12.   Many other current business backup applications like Data Protector or ARCserve support LTO-4 encryption.

- You can encrypt data written to LTO-3 or earlier tapes using the backup application, but that normally has a performance penalty (could be as high as 30-50%, depending on the server you're using), and data encrypted on the server (or by the backup application) will not compress when it hits the tape drive.

- If you encrypt, KEY MANAGEMENT IS CRITICAL.  If you lose your encryption keys, you've lost the ability to read the data on encrypted tapes.  Back your keys up to an encrypted file that is itself backed up by a different process than the rest of the backup server!

- HP's 1/8 G2 autoloader supports the MSL Encryption Kit, which can create and store up to 100 strong (random) keys, and provides a second dongle for backing up the keys (I still recommend storing the keys also on archival-quality CD media or a USB flash drive for safety).   NOTE: If you use this encryption kit with the HP 1/8 G2 or MSL 2024/4048/8096 libraries, you can use it regardless of your backup application, as the encryption kit communicates directly with the library, out-of-band from the backup application.

And if you don't care about encryption... forget all of that.  

Also note -- as much as I like LTO-4 for capacity and performance... if you can't hit the necessary performance, you'll be engaging in a lot of start/write/stop/rewind/scan/write/stop/etc. behaviour as your tape drive buffer continuously fills and empties... this is hard on the tape drive mechanics and the tape media itself.  (LTO-4 natively runs at over 20 feet per second!).  The native speed of the LTO-4 half-height drive in the 1/8 autoloader is 80MB/second; HP's Adaptive Write Speed will keep the drive from hitting buffer underrun as long as you keep data streaming to it at at least 30 (actually, 80/3) MB/second for uncompressible data; multiply that times your data's compressibility to find what you need to feed the drive at    Example, for data that averages 1.6:1 compression, you'll need to feed the drive at about 1.6 * 30MB/sec, or around 50MB/second.

We adhere to HIPAA policies, or at least try to.  We also are a NFP agency, so we usually don't get all the bells and whistles with the latest equipment, that being said...

Our backups are constantly failing, it is our 4th time our drive has gone bad, and we are in dire need of a replacement.  We have to keep the server we have, but would like to see maybe a card upgrade from a 160 to a 320, if it has an performance increases.  What were backing up:

File Server - Office files, PDFS, JPGs -approx 900,000 of them - ~23GB
Exchanges - Mailstore - 100GB
Several SQL server databases on various servers, ranging from a few hundred megs, to biggest, 32GB
A few random application servers, web servers, etc for a total of about 475GB FULL backups, all over gigabit network links using remote agents. Tape drive connected via scsi 160 directly to Dell PowerEdge 2650 hosting BackupExec 10d.

I'm worried about not being able to reace the necessary performance with the LTO4 as u said in last paragraph...some of the servers, especially exchange and file servers, dont reach that 50MB/sec mark, so i'm skeptical on implementing that technology if it will cause us more headaches down the road.

I appreciate your input on the LTO4 technology, but I think at this point we'll hav eto stick with the LTO3.

The other option is to implement a D2D2T strategy.  

You back up to a Virtual Tape Library, like the D2D Backup System, that has several advantages (more on that later.  Then you either use an automatic tape offload, or copy from the VTL to physical tape.

Advantages of VTL technology:
- Many more simultaneous streams processed, so you can back up a lot of slow servers at once.
- Optimized VTL file structure lets you get data off the VTL faster than off the original disk
- Fast restores of small restore sets.
- Longer on-site retention times
- Deduplication and low-bandwidth replication may allow you to rreplicate inexpensively to a remote location for disaster recovery.

This backup stuff is fun... but challenging!

That would require some type of centralized disk storage solution, currently our data is spread across different servers, or would require some disk based backup solution, as our backup server, does not have adequate space for the 475+GB and growing. Unfortunatly as a non-for-profit company, with constant budget cuts from the state, we can't have a "perfect" solution.  

At one point our backups to tape worked, the failure of either the tape drive or scsi card/connection has put as at a standstill with some backups successful, and most of them not. We just need an affordable solution that can allow us to continue our tape backups, as they have been good to us since we've implemented this solution.  The less overhead and maintenance the better.  As you can imagine, its a very small IT shop for a 600+ employee company.

Thank you all for your assistance.

Should I be looking in upgrading to a Ultra320 scsi card to replace the Ultra 160?  Will there be performance gains to be seen with this upgrade?  Or is the cost of the 320 card and tape drive not really worth it?

I believe that most LTO-4 manufacturers will recommend an Ultra320 card for a SCSI drive.
Alternately, consider a SAS (Serial Attach SCSI) drive/autoloader -- cables are more robust with only four pins, and therefore much less likely to have problems with bent pins and such.  Cost should be about the same.

LTO-4 is certainly right for your data set size... but I worry that a small business is not likely to have servers that can feed the LTO-4 at the required minimum 30MB/second....  if you can't consistently get a half-height LTO-4 that much incoming data, it will have buffer under-run, which will lead to premature wear of tape drive and tape media.  (full-height LTO-4 would require 40+MB/sec minimum -- both numbers should be multiplied by your data compressibility)

My other concern is that you have experienced multiple tape drive failures.... I'd sure like to get to the root of that problem.  Is the environment dirty?  Is the drive close to the floor?   Are you using the recommended media?  Are you experiencing buffer underrun?  Are there particulates in the air that might be causing a problem (close to a laser printer, dust, sulfur compounds, etc.)?   Several of the causes above would affect LTO-4... but be worse (notably buffer underrun).  

To check on whether you can feed an LTO-4, download a tool such as HP's free Library and Tape Tools, and test the disk subsystems that you'll be backing up.   Download L&TT from www.hp.com/go/tape , under "value add software".  I think you said you had a Dell tape drive, but if it's an HP drive, you can run diagnostics on the tape drive, which might be helpful to you.

If you can possibly spring for a VTL solution, look into the inexpensive D2D Backup Systems from companies like Hewlett Packard ( www.hp.com/go/d2d ).  It's an appliance... really easy to use, supports many simultaneous backup jobs, and can offload to tape automatically.    But yes, it will cost a few thousand dollars.

Wx« about LTO3?

LTO-3 half-height will be about 60MB/sec native; adaptive write speed goes down to 20MB/sec.   Full-height is 80/30.

The concern about "What's eating your current tape drives?" still applies.

LTO-3 does not have built-in HW encryption, but you can probably use BackupExec to do the encryption if needed; just be aware that there is quite likely going to be a performance penalty if you encrypt in the backup application.

LTO-3 is also 400GB native per tape; to the extent that your data compresses, you'll fit more on a tape.  If you have an autoloader, you won't have to worry about spanning tapes; it should happen automatically.

Would you recommend the ultra320 scsi upgrade for the lto3 solution or is the cost not worth the benefit and should we stick to ultra160? As for the environment I don't believe dust to be an issue. The tape autoloader is located in a dedicated server room in the middle of the rack about 4 feet up. We have been using the same brand media since we got the unit. It is quantum tapes which are recommended by the manufacturer. Nothing had changed in regards to any settings configurations or backup jobs. Only random ones will fail. Were overdue for a new drive so we want a fresh start with new scsi card new cable new drive and upgrade to backup exec 12.5.