Tape and Backup

Tape and Backup

Tapes remain the best bet for data backup By Kushal Shah.

Increase in business gives rise to tonnes of data generation. More data points lead to more storage and even heavier security and backup requirements. If we are talking in particular about SMBs, they are scaling their businesses rapidly and usually without the help of high-end IT systems. They do not have data centres to keep their businesses running and they usually rely on traditional mechanisms for business continuity.

With time, reliability of traditional data storage methods such as CDs and DVDs are becoming questionable. Mishandling of delicate media ends its life and data within permanently in a matter of no time. Apart from unreliable media, natural disasters are posing a big threat to terabytes of critical data. The need of the hour is to take regular backups of your data if not a full fledged recovery and continuity policies. The first job of an IT manager is to analyse the needs of his company. Decisions have to be taken regarding how much data is going to be backed up and data has to be segmented according to its criticality. Secondly, the amount of money that can be shelled out for backup has to be fixed upon.

Depending on the budget and requirement, various options are available. Starting from a USB flash drive to tape drives to tape libraries and others; all are provided in various configurations and all serve same purpose in different ways. If you need to back up a few hundred megabytes, a 1 GB USB drive which will cost no more than a few hundred bucks can suffice. If the requirement is quite high then a few lakhs will buy you high quality tape drives or autoloaders.

Apart from the hardware, software makes the task of backup easier. Software is usually bundled with the product but it is also available as a standalone product to help IT administrators.

Tape Drives

Old, yet preferred; this form of backup style is famous for its ability of storing data for the long term. It provides long archival stability compared to disc based storage. This form of storage device uses traditional ways of storing data on tape which is sequential. Unlike discs, random access is not possible in tape drives. It makes use of magnetic or punched tape for data storage. Tape has a slow average seek rate due to its winding operation but performs quickly when it comes to streaming data from disc to tape. Modern tapes can have a data transfer rates as high as 80 Mbps which is as good as that of 10,000 rpm hard disks. These low speed devices beats disk based storage in temrs of price per TB.

Starting from Uniservo by Remington Rand in 1951 to the present, the structure of tape drives has changed tremendously. Tape drives now come with capacities ranging from a few hundred megabytes to terabytes supporting compression ratios of 2:1. So a tape drive known as 80/160 means that the standard storage capacity is 80 while the compressed storage capacity can be up to 160. These devices do consume more space but they are far cheaper than disc. Tape is the best option for large scale data storage for SMBs owing to its cheap price and reliability.

Tape drives can be found inside autoloaders and tape libraries which assist in loading, unloading and storing multiple tapes to further increase archival capacity. They can be connected to computer with SCSI, parallel port, IDE, USB and other interfaces. Options are many in terms of tapes from vendors such as IBM, HP, NetApp, HCL; it’s the matter of choosing the right one according to your needs and budget.

USB devices for small businesses

USB drives are coming in the market as the cheapest and the most portable alternative for backup. Small organisations that generate small amounts of data and do not have any IT budget set aside for backup can do with these small USB pen drives which can store multiple gigabytes. They are used as quick data storage devices. They are usually plug and play devices.

These small sized portable devices have already made a dent in the CD and DVD market. They are even available in the form of portable hard disks which are very convenient for travellers carrying loads of data. Though they have their simplicity to their advantage, they are risky in terms of security threats. They should be used carefully to avoid any security problems. If that is done with care, they are very useful for small amounts of data storage especially for small businesses.

DISK-BASED BACKUP

HP D2D Backup System This disk-to-disk backup system automates the daily backup process for up to four servers. It consolidates backup onto a single self-managing device that is easy to install and configure. It comes with a one year warranty.  Price: Starting at Rs. 1,20,000 Contact: Neeraj Matiyani Telephone: 080 25041692 E-mail: neeraj.matiyani@hp.com Website: hp.com/go/storage

Dell Power Vault RD 1000  The Dell Power Vault RD 1000 is a removable disk-based storage device for data backup and restore that combines the speed of a hard disk with the portability of tape. The cartridges are available in 40 GB, 80 GB and 120 GB capacities. File transfers are at about the same rate that it takes to save to a regular PC drive, up to 34 MBps. It also features drag-and-drop file transfer, customised software that helps users schedule and manage backups, and an access time of less than one second versus one min for tape (averages). Price: Starts at Rs. 32,565 Contact: Dell India Telephone: 080 25068026 Website: ap.dell.com

TAPE DRIVES

IBM TS3200 IBM TS3200 Tape Library is an external 4U standalone or rack-mountable unit that incorporates up to two Linear Tape-Open (LTO) IBM TotalStorage Ultrium 4 or 3 Tape. The LTO Ultrium 4 tape drive has a native data rate of up to 120 Mbps, per drive. It can be ordered with up to two Ultrium 4 or Ultrium 3 LVD SCSI, 4 Gbps Fibre Channel 3 Gbps SAS (LTO4 only) drives, which allow connection to a wide spectrum of open systems servers. The TS3200 Tape Library has four removable cartridge magazines, providing 48 data cartridge slots, including one three I/O station. The TS3200 Tape Library provides a media capacity of up to 38.4 TB (76.8 TB with 2:1 compression) data storage per unit. Price: Rs 6,77,300 Contact: Nirmal Puranik E-mail: npuranik@in.ibm.com Telephone: 080 22063411 Website: ibm.com

Fujifilm LTO Ultrium 2 Data Cartridge The Fujifilm LTO Ultrium 2 Data Cartridge comes with a capacity of 200GB/400GB and a transfer rate (compressed) of 20 to 40 MBps (40 to 80 MBps).It can withstand a temperatures ranging from 10 to 45O C. Price: Rs. 3,640 Contact: Rajeev Sharma Telephone: 022 56627100 E-mail: rajeev.sharma@patelindia.co.in Website: fujifilm.com

Quantum LTO-3HH The tape drive provides native transfer rate of any half-height drive at 245 GB/hr while offering up to 400 GB of native capacity. Its simple half-height form factor allows easy installation and integration into a data centre. The LTO-3 HH tape drive is backward read and write compatible with LTO-2 media and backward read compatible with LTO-1 media. Price: LTO-3 HH SCSI: Rs. 1,75,000 Contact: Sunny John Telephone: 080 41735610/11/12 E-mail: sunny.john@quantum.com Website: quantum.com

Tandberg StorageLibrary T24  The device has a maximum capacity of 9.6 TB (LTO-2 HH) or 19.2 TB (LTO-3 FH). The transfer rates are 48 MBps for LTO-2 HH and 160 MBps LTO-3 FH. It has a 2U form factor and comes with one and two drives for LTO-3 FH and LTO-2 HH respectively. The interfaces offered are SCSI for LTO-2 HH and SCSI/NF for LTO-3 FH. Price: Rs. 2,80,000 + taxes Contact:  Niraj Mandal Telephone: 9821896800 E-mail: niraj.mandal@tandberg.com.sg Website: tandberg.com.sg

AUTOLOADER

Quantum SuperLoader 3 The autoloader comes with Backup Exec QuickStart software. It is compatible with all major backup software packages, OS environments, network infrastructure and management tools. The SuperLoader 3 expands from 8 to 16 cartridge slots. It packs up to 12.8 TB of native capacity. Price: SL-3 with LTO-3 for Rs. 2,63,000 Contact: Sunny John Telephone: 080 41735610/11/12 E-mail: sunny.john@quantum.com Website: quantum.com

Tandberg StorageLoader LTO3  The autoloader comes with a maximum capacity of 6.4 TB and a transfer rate of 120 MBps. It has a 1U form factor and eight cartridges. The interfaces available are ADI, and Ultra160 SCSI/LVD.   Price: Rs. 2,35,000 plus taxes Contact: Niraj Mandal Telephone: 9821896800 E-mail: niraj.mandal@tandberg.com.sg Website: tandberg.com.sg

SOFTWARE

Western Digital My Book World Edition The device comes bundled with WD Anywhere Access, which is a storage system and all the files on it are accessible even when your local computer is turned off. With Data OnHand, you can use Windows Explorer on any PC to securely browse through folders on My Book World Edition. It is also UPnP enabled for easy network configuration. Price: Rs. 13,950 for the My Book World Edition 500 GB Contact: Amarjeet Singh Telephone: 9321029204 E-mail: amarjeet.singh@wdc.com Website: westerndigital.com

EMC Retrospect 7.5  Designed to deliver automated, reliable, cost-effective protection for SMBs and the distributed enterprise, the software protects servers, business-critical applications, desktops, and notebooks. It also backs up Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Solaris, and NetWare computers to a Windows computer. It is easy to set up and manage and with it there is no need for taking weekly full backups. Price:  EMC Retrospect 7.5 (unlimited client licence) for Rs 2.5 lakhs (approx) Contact: P Ramsundar Telephone: 011 55563800 E-mail: papineni_ram@emc.com Website: india.emc.com

CA XOsoft WANsync This data protection product uses asynchronous real-time replication to provide cost-effective disaster recovery capabilities for Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, Microsoft IIS Web servers, file servers, and other applications on 32- and 64-bit Windows, AIX, Linux and Solaris servers. It offers asynchronous data replication over a LAN or WAN of database and other files from a production server to one or more local or geographically distant replication servers. The software offers rapid data recovery, integrated continuous data protection, and completely non-disruptive automatic testing of your disaster recovery environment. Price: Starting at Rs. 2,50,000 (Per server) Contact: Kaustubh Patki Telephone: 022 66413800 E-mail: kaustubh.patki@ca.com Website: ca.com/in