TECHNICAL BRIEF. StorageNet 6000 Storage domain manager with NetApp filers

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1 TECHNICAL BRIEF StorageNet 6000 Storage domain manager with NetApp filers APRIL 2004

2 StorageNet 6000 Storage domain manager with NetApp filers

3 TABLE OF CONTENTS STORAGETEK STORAGENET 6000 STORAGE DOMAIN MANAGER WITH NETAPP FILERS...3 Figure TECHNICAL BRIEF

4 STORAGETEK STORAGENET 6000 STORAGE DOMAIN MANAGER WITH NETAPP FILERS STORAGETEK STORAGENET 6000 STORAGE DOMAIN MANAGER WITH NETAPP FILERS As businesses continue to implement NetApp filers into their data center environments, they are increasingly being challenged by the need to back up the data on those filers. Typically, this entails dedicated tape drives and libraries for each of the filers. This approach is both costly and soon becomes very difficult to manage because each filer becomes a point of administration for backups, restores and, tape drive and media management. The StorageTek StorageNet 6000 (SN6000) storage domain manager provides a centralized solution to this growing problem. By virtualizing tape drives to the filers (as well as other servers such as Sun, HP, AIX and NT), the physical drives can be shared among all of the filers and servers. This approach not only makes better use of the tape drive and library investment, but also has the great benefit of centralizing the administration of the tape drives, media and management to the SN6000 system, rather than at each filer and server. So as users continue to add filers and servers to their environment, they can simply plug them into the virtual tape drives presented by the SN6000 storage domain manager and share the real tape resources that already exist, adding real tape drives only as backup window requirements dictate. The individual filers and servers also have the capability to access more drives than would be practical in a dedicated environment. This means greater flexibility in backup and restore times of individual servers and filers. The addition of more physical tape drives is done without any impact to the filers and servers that continue to use their virtual drives, and can immediately begin to share and use the new real drives through the SN6000 system. In summary, the StorageTek SN6000 storage domain manager provides the following benefits in a NetApp filer environment: > Tape drive and library administration is centralized to the SN6000 system. > Tape drives can be shared among the filers. > Tape drives can be shared with other servers for backup and restore. > Tape drives can even be shared across different backup applications or different backup software release levels. > The SN6000 storage domain manager allows the flexibility to allocate more or fewer tape drives to a filer or server, depending on need at the time. > Since the tape drives are sharable, each system can have a larger number of drives available at any given time than would be practical if they were dedicated. > This means each system could experience a much shorter outage window for backup and/or restores. > Restore time is often the critical issue here. > With the ability to dynamically share tape drives, the entire backup window does not necessarily change, but the ability for each filer to have a smaller individual backup window improves dramatically. > Through the use of tape drive virtualization, technology migrations of hardware and/or software are greatly simplified. TECHNICAL BRIEF 3

5 STORAGETEK STORAGENET 6000 STORAGE DOMAIN MANAGER WITH NETAPP FILERS Figure 1. This is an example of a customer s initial environment with HP and Sun servers and NetApp Filers using the SN6000 system to share T9940, LTO and DLT7000 drives among all three. 4 TECHNICAL BRIEF

6 ABOUT STORAGETEK Storage Technology Corporation (NYSE: STK), a $2 billion worldwide company with headquarters in Louisville, CO, has been delivering a broad range of storage management solutions designed for IT professionals for over 30 years. StorageTek offers solutions that are easy to manage, integrate well with existing infrastructures and allow universal access to data across servers, media types and storage networks. StorageTek s practical and safe storage solutions for tape automation, disk storage systems and storage integration, coupled with a global services network, provide IT professionals with confidence and know-how to manage their entire storage management ecosystem today and in the future. WORLD HEADQUARTERS Storage Technology Corporation One StorageTek Drive Louisville, Colorado USA or StorageTek products are available through a worldwide network. For more information, visit or call or Storage Technology Corporation, Louisville, CO. All rights reserved. Printed in USA. StorageTek and the StorageTek logo are registered trademarks of Storage Technology Corporation. Other names mentioned may be trademarks of Storage Technology Corporation or other vendors/manufacturers. StorageTek equipment is manufactured from new parts, or new and used parts. In some cases, StorageTek equipment may not be new and may have been previously installed. Regardless, StorageTek's standard warranty terms apply, unless the equipment is specifically identified by StorageTek as used or refurbished. Replacement parts provided under warranty or any service offering may be either new or equivalent-to-new, at StorageTek s option. Specifications/features may change without notice. MS 9157 C 04/04