BIG DATA TAPE LIBRARY BUYER S GUIDE

Transcription

1 2012 BIG DATA TAPE LIBRARY BUYER S GUIDE The Insider s Guide to Evaluating Big Data Tape Libraries By Jerome M Wendt DCIG, LLC. All rights reserved.

2 DCIG 2012 BIG DATA TAPE LIBRARY BUYER S GUIDE The Insider s Guide to Evaluating Tape Libraries Table of Contents 1 Introduction 3 Executive Summary 5 How to Use this Big Data Tape Library Buyer s Guide 6 Disclosures 6 Tape Library Inclusion, Exclusion and Evaluation Criteria 7 The 8-Step Process Used to Score and Rank Tape Libraries 8 DCIG Comments and Thoughts on Tape Library 8 Use in Backup 8 Use in Big Data Environments 9 Support for Linear Tape-Open (LTO) Technology 9 Performance and Pricing 10 Power and Space Efficiency 10 Reliability and Feature Functionality 10 DCIG Observations and Recommendations Regarding Each Tape Library Ranking 10 Best-in-Class and/or Recommended Ranking 11 Excellent Ranking 11 Good Ranking 12 Basic Ranking 13 Big Data Tape Library Scores and Rankings 14 Overall Scores and Rankings Single Robot Tape Libraries 16 Overall Scores and Rankings Dual Robot Tape Libraries 17 Big Data Tape Library Buyer s Guide Models 18 Dell PowerVault ML Overland Storage NEO 600s 19 Dell PowerVault ML Overland Storage NEO 800s 20 Dell PowerVault ML Overland Storage NEO 2000e 21 Dell PowerVault TL Overland Storage NEO 4000e 22 Dell PowerVault TL Overland Storage NEO 8000e 23 HP EML 71e 56 Qualstar RLS HP EML 103e 57 Qualstar RLS HP EML 245e 58 Qualstar RLS-8236/8236D 26 HP EML 348e 59 Qualstar RLS HP EML 375e 60 Qualstar RLS-8404/8404D 28 HP EML 442e 61 Qualstar RLS-8444/8444D 29 HP EML 469e 62 Qualstar RLS HP EML 505e 63 Qualstar RLS HP ESL G3 100-slot 64 Qualstar RLS HP ESL G3 300-slot 65 Qualstar RLS HP ESL G3 700-slot 66 Qualstar RLS HP ESL G slot 67 Qualstar XLS HP ESL G slot 68 Qualstar XLS HP ESL G slot 69 Qualstar XLS HP MSL Qualstar XLS HP MSL Qualstar XLS HP MSL Qualstar XLS HP MSL Quantum Scalar i40 41 IBM TS Quantum Scalar i80 42 IBM TS Quantum Scalar i IBM TS Quantum Scalar i IBM TS Spectra Logic T50e 45 Oracle Sun StorageTek SL24 78 Spectra Logic T Oracle Sun StorageTek SL48 79 Spectra Logic T Oracle Sun StorageTek SL Spectra Logic T Oracle Sun StorageTek SL Spectra Logic T Overland Storage NEO 200s 82 Spectra Logic T Overland Storage NEO 400s 83 Spectra Logic T-Finity 88 Product Rankings Dashboard Appendix A-1 Definitions, Explanations and Terminology B-1 Tape Library Provider Contact Information C-1 Author Contact Information 2012 DCIG, LLC. All rights reserved. i

3 DCIG 2012 BIG DATA TAPE LIBRARY BUYER S GUIDE The Insider s Guide to Evaluating Tape Libraries Introduction When I first told a few people in mid-2011 that DCIG planned to do a Buyer s Guide on Tape Libraries in 2012, I got more than a few puzzled stares. After all, when people think of the future, they think of it in terms like Big Data or the Cloud. So why do a Buyer s Guide on tape or tape libraries when it appears that technology is moving in another direction? But like many things in life, appearances can be deceiving and such is the case with tape. While the role of tape as a backup target is arguably diminishing, the future of tape may be much brighter than anyone expects driven, in part, by the same forces that many surmised would ultimately contribute to its demise. It turns out that as enterprise organizations come to grips with their Big Data requirements or look to store data in the cloud, the cost of archiving all of that data on disk comes fully into focus. However the costs that are leading to tape s rebirth and which many now examine are disk s operational costs. 2, 3 and even 4 TB disks coupled with compression and data deduplication have lowered the upfront cost of disk such that, on a per GB basis, it is now on par and may even be lower than tape. So what is getting the attention of organizations is on the operational expenses (OPEX) associated with keeping disks powered on. Here the full benefits of tape become evident. Unlike disk drives which require constant power, tape cartridges have no such requirement. So as organizations examine the total cost of disk versus tape over the life of the media, tape wins hands down. This becomes more important when one considers organizational Big Data requirements or the type of data that they are looking to store in the Cloud. While some of this data is transactional in nature and requires that it be placed on hard disks or even solid state disks, the vast majority of it is unstructured data that is referenced infrequently or not at all. Various analyst reports already find that up to 95% of unstructured data falls into these categories of infrequently or never accessed. So to keep this data on disk for long periods of time may not be cost effective for organizations and explains why tape is getting new consideration as a preferred data storage medium for Big Data and Cloud solutions. It is as organizations look to use tape in this new role that the new features available on today s Big Data Tape Libraries come into play. For instance, in 2010 the Linear Tape File System (LTFS) was introduced. This new feature supported the implementation of software on existing file systems so data may be stored on tape in much the same way that data on disk is accessed and stored through common file system commands. While LTFS has some application for average users, it has much broader application and appeal for today s cloud storage solutions. LTFS gives these solutions the flexibility to optionally add the LTFS specification to their cloud storage file system so they may then store and manage data on tape as easily as they do on disk. Equally important, where the data is stored disk or tape is then transparent to the organizations subscribing to the cloud service DCIG, LLC. All rights reserved. 1

4 DCIG 2012 BIG DATA TAPE LIBRARY BUYER S GUIDE The Insider s Guide to Evaluating Tape Libraries Introduction continued Another example of how tape and tape libraries have matured is that the best tape libraries have become much more proactive about monitoring wear on tape cartridges and tape drives. As organizations handle tape cartridges less and keep them in tape libraries for longer periods of time, more of the responsibility for monitoring the condition of tape cartridges and tape drives to ensure the viability of the data on tape cartridges falls on the tape library itself. To address this, many tape libraries are stepping up to the plate to ensure the integrity of the data under their management. Should a problem with these hardware components eventually emerge, the tape libraries generate alerts to warn organizations of these issues. It may then take steps to copy data from one tape cartridge to another before the data is inaccessible with tape libraries even proactively decommissioning tape cartridges, tape drives or both to prevent these devices from being used and potentially corrupting other data. The role of tape is clearly evolving, but for anyone who takes an honest look at how quickly data is exploding and what options are available to cost-effectively store data for long periods of time, it becomes clear that tape still has a lot of life left in it. Tape is undoubtedly going through a transition and all of the roles in which it was used in the past are not necessarily applicable going forward. However the roles that are awaiting tape in the world of Big Data and the Cloud are roles that many tape libraries are ready and waiting to fulfill with the new functionality that organizations need to manage tape and the data it contains in both a time and cost effective manner. Jerome 2012 DCIG, LLC. All rights reserved. 2

5 DCIG 2012 BIG DATA TAPE LIBRARY BUYER S GUIDE The Insider s Guide to Evaluating Tape Libraries Executive Summary The world of Big Data is upon us. More organizations of all sizes capture, store and retain more data for longer periods of time than ever before. So even as the traditional drivers of data growth remain with us (backups, growth of structured data stores, etc.), new ways in which organizations may capture data are driving today s unprecedented data growth. As this occurs, organizations need storage solutions that enable them to cost and time effectively store and manage all of this data that they are gathering. It is for these reasons many have turned to disk as a preferred medium to store some of this data. Its increased capacities coupled with the introduction of new technologies such as compression and deduplication now make it more suitable and cost-effective to store more data. However organizations are also looking to store data that: It is for these reasons that storing data on tape becomes the preferred approach. Big Data particularly lends itself to being stored on tape and in tape libraries as it overcomes traditional objections to using tape since data is written once and then remains in the tape library for the life of the data thereby minimizing or even eliminating the need to move tape cartridges. This is also why tape continues to have a role in backup. While many organizations are moving to disk as their preferred primary backup target, many are retaining or even re-introducing tape as their secondary medium on which to store backup data that they need for longer term retention. Some are even opting to keep tape as their primary backup target. Tape, when properly configured, can actually outperform disk when data is directly streamed from disk to tape. Further, some need to quickly get large amounts of data offsite once the backup is complete and, as such, do not have the time to first backup to disk before copying it to tape. It is for reasons like these that DCIG produced this 2012 Big Data Tape Library Buyer s Guide as DCIG sees tape as being viable storage medium for the foreseeable future. In it, DCIG accounts for tape s historical use case of backup as well as its emerging role as a cost effective storage medium for archival data that is resulting from the advent of Big Data DCIG, LLC. All rights reserved. 3

6 DCIG 2012 BIG DATA TAPE LIBRARY BUYER S GUIDE The Insider s Guide to Evaluating Tape Libraries Executive Summary continued This DCIG 2012 Big Data Tape Library Buyer s Guide accomplishes the following objectives: that weights, scores and ranks their features from an end user s viewpoint criteria that matter most to end users so they can quickly know which tape libraries are the most appropriate for them to use and under what conditions storage providers so end users can do quick comparisons of the features that are supported and not supported on each tape library improved availability and increased storage capacities archiving and backup software products different providers of tape libraries that are apples-to-apples comparisons 2012 DCIG, LLC. All rights reserved. 4

7 DCIG 2012 BIG DATA TAPE LIBRARY BUYER S GUIDE The Insider s Guide to Evaluating Tape Libraries How to Use this Big Data Tape Library Buyer s Guide In determining how to best use the information contained in this DCIG 2012 Big Data Tape Library Buyer s Guide, it is important to note that it is intended to help users in their purchase of a tape library. The purpose of this Buyer s Guide is NOT to tell users exactly which tape library to purchase. Rather it is to help guide them in coming up with a list of competitive products that have comparable features that meet their specific needs. It is also important to note that just because a product scored higher than another, achieved the highest in a particular category or is ranked a certain way does not automatically mean that it is the right product or fit for an organization. If anything, because of the scope of the tape library models evaluated and analyzed, it may have features that are too robust for the needs of an individual department or organization. However what this Buyer s Guide does is give users some sense of how each tape library compares to other tape libraries as well as offers substantial insight into what product offerings are available on the market. DCIG recommends that you use this DCIG 2012 Big Data Tape Library Buyer s Guide in the following seven ways: Eliminate the painstaking research associated with coming up with a short list of tape libraries that meet their needs. This Buyer s Guide ranks, scores and contains data sheets for 66 different models from 8 different tape library providers. Each tape library is scored and then ranked as Best-in-Class, Recommended, Excellent, Good and Basic based upon its overall score. On each tape library, over 140 different features were evaluated, weighted, scored and then ranked. Using this guide, an organization may only have to look at the scores and features of each product in order to come up with a short list of products for consideration. Do apples-to-apples comparisons of tape libraries from different storage providers. In today s crowded storage market, it behooves organizations to get competitive bids from multiple storage providers. After all, when they compete, you win! But that tactic only works well when organizations know that they are receiving competitive bids on products that are roughly comparable. Using this DCIG 2012 Big Data Tape Library Buyer s Guide, organizations can do a better job of accomplishing that objective. Separate the apples from the oranges. Just as important as doing apples-to-apples comparisons is identifying when an orange is thrown into the mix. Sometimes it is very difficult for an organization to know if it is truly getting a good deal when bids come in from multiple storage providers that include different models. Now organizations can refer to the scores and rankings of each tape library in this guide so they know when they are getting a good deal, a great deal or just a so-so one. Provides perspective on how models from less well known storage providers compare against established and better known brands. Anyone involved with tape storage at all has probably heard of HP, IBM, Quantum and Oracle (formerly StorageTek.) This creates a certain built-in comfort level when buying products from these companies and a corresponding built-in resistance to buying tape libraries from companies that may be perceived as unknown quantities. This Buyer s Guide helps to remove some of that apprehension about buying from a less well known provider or even a less well known model from an established provider. Using this Buyer s Guide organizations can see how these models from lesser known companies as well as lesser known models from established providers stack up. Normalizes complex storage terminology. Every computing industry has a proclivity to adopt acronyms and jargon that is specific to it but the data storage industry seems to go out of its way to not only use unfamiliar terms but refer to the same technology in different ways. This Buyer s Guide sifts through the acronyms and storage jargons and terms and normalizes them. This minimizes or even eliminates the need for users to try to understand all of the industry terminology. Creates a standardized data sheet. The product data sheets available from the different storage providers are rarely laid out in the same way or contain the same information. Some storage providers even have data sheet formats that vary from model to model within 2012 DCIG, LLC. All rights reserved. 5

8 DCIG 2012 BIG DATA TAPE LIBRARY BUYER S GUIDE The Insider s Guide to Evaluating Tape Libraries their own product portfolio. This Buyer s Guide tackles this problem by creating a standard, easy to read data sheet for every tape library. In this way, product data sheets for individual products can be printed out, laid down side by side and then the features on them quickly compared. Helps justify technical buying recommendations to business folks. Nothing is easier for those on the business side to understand than a number when doing comparisons. So at the top of the data sheet for every tape library model, a product score is included so the business side of the house can quickly see how the different tape library models compare. Disclosures Over the last few years the general trend in the US has been for both large and boutique analyst firms to receive some or all of their revenue from storage providers. DCIG is no different in that respect as it also receives payment for the different services it performs for storage providers. The services that DCIG provides include blogging, case studies, product reviews, executive white papers, special reports and white papers. So in the interest of being fully transparent, a number of the storage providers included in this DCIG 2012 Big Data Tape Library Buyer s Guide are or have been DCIG clients. This is not to imply that they were given preferential treatment in the Buyer s Guide. All it meant was that DCIG may have had more knowledge of their tape libraries and that DCIG would consider their tape libraries for inclusion in this Buyer s Guide. In that vein, there are a number of important facts to keep in mind when considering the information contained in this DCIG 2012 Big Data Tape Library Buyer s Guide and its merit. Buyer s Guide. tape library(ies) would be included in this Buyer s Guide. library model would receive a good score on this Buyer s Guide ahead of time. tion, information provided by the storage provider and the expertise of those evaluating the information. features were weighted and then how the tape library models were scored and ranked, there was no way for DCIG to predict at the outset how an individual tape library model would score or rank. DCIG wants to emphasize that no storage provider was privy to how DCIG did the scoring and ranking of the tape libraries. In every case the storage providers only found out the scores and rankings of its tape library model(s) after the analysis was complete. Tape Library Inclusion, Exclusion and Evaluation Criteria The introduction of the LTO (Linear Tape-Open) tape format in the late 1990 s by three vendors (HP, IBM and Quantum) coupled with the availability of this specification to any storage manufacturer resulted in a tidal wave of change in the tape industry. Whereas there used to be a number of proprietary tape formats such as 3340, 9840, 9940, AIT, DLT, SAIT and SDLT to name a few, the general availability of the LTO specification changed that. While these other formats have not gone away, the LTO format has became so widely used that support for the LTO format was a prerequisite for a tape library s inclusion in the DCIG 2012 Big Data Tape Library Buyer s Guide. Notably, DCIG failed to identify a single tape library that did not offer support for this format. Further, only five (5) tape libraries of the 66 tape library models evaluated supported tape formats other than LTO. However support for the LTO format was not the only criteria used to determine whether or not a tape library should be included in this Buyer s Guide. The other criteria used to determine the inclusion and exclusion of specific models in this Buyer s Guide as well as how they were evaluated are as follows: Support a minimum of 24 tape cartridge slots. DCIG found that those tape models that supported less than 24 tape cartridge slots were better classified as autoloaders DCIG, LLC. All rights reserved. 6

9 DCIG 2012 BIG DATA TAPE LIBRARY BUYER S GUIDE The Insider s Guide to Evaluating Tape Libraries Support at least two (2) tape drives. Like the 24 tape cartridge slot requirement, DCIG found that those tape models that supported only one (1) tape drive were better classified as autoloaders. Support LTO-4 or later technology. No credit was given to tape libraries that supported either more than 1,000 tape cartridge slots or more than 64 tape drives. To maintain consistency in how tape libraries were scored and ranked, no additional credit was given to any tape library that scaled beyond 1,000 tape cartridge slots or 64 tape drives. However these higher capacity tape libraries were included due to the relatively few number of tape libraries that scaled to over 1,000 tape cartridges so this Buyer s Guide could highlight specific highly available features that appear on these models such as Active-Active controllers and redundant robotics. Sufficient information available to DCIG to make meaningful decisions. DCIG made a good faith effort to reach out and obtain information from as many tape library providers as possible by providing surveys for them to complete. In a few cases tape library models still had to be excluded because of a lack of reliable data. Shipping by March 1, A cutoff date had to be put in place or this Buyer s Guide would never be published. Some allowances were made for feature or product enhancements that were made in early 2012 that did not adversely affect the analysis done in developing this Buyer s Guide. The 8-Step Process Used to Score and Rank Tape Libraries To score and rank each tape library, DCIG went through an eight step process to come to the most objective conclusion possible. 1. DCIG listed out all of the features available on tape libraries. Prior to selecting the features that were included in the final evaluation in the Buyer s Guide, DCIG went through and quantified what features tape libraries possessed. As part of this process, DCIG normalized the list of features available on tape library such that a common name for each feature was established. 2. DCIG established which features would be included in the Buyer s Guide and which ones would not. One of the goals of this Buyer s Guide was to try to only include features on each tape library model that could be objectively and authoritatively analyzed. For example, Raw Storage Capacity (Max) was evaluated as a feature instead of Maximum Compressed Storage Capacity. While many users may take advantage of compression features found on tape libraries, a consistent objective answer cannot be determined since various data types will compress differently. So Raw Storage Capacity (Max) was selected as the feature to be evaluated since an objective answer could be ascertained and supported. 3. Each feature had a weighting associated with it. The weightings were used to reflect if a feature was supported and potentially how well it was implemented. For example, the Power Supplies - Redundant feature is more of a Yes or No type of response whereas the Backup Software feature could elicit a number of different responses with the tape library able to be managed by a number of different backup software products. As such these features were weighted and scored differently. 4. A survey that asked about all of the features scored in this Buyer s Guide was sent to each storage provider. In addition to using the information that was publicly available on each storage provider s website, each storage provider included in this Buyer s Guide had the opportunity to respond to a survey sent to it by DCIG. This was done to both verify that the information DCIG found on the storage provider s website was correct as well as remove any ambiguities that existed regarding how some of the features were implemented. 5. All vendors were given the opportunity to review their data sheets before the final scores and rankings were determined. To ensure the information presented in this Buyer s Guide is as up-to-date and reliable as possible, DCIG provided each vendor with a copy or copies of their respective data sheets that appear in this Buyer s Guide without the scores and rankings on them. In this way they had the opportunity to validate the information and potentially correct it before it was publicly released DCIG, LLC. All rights reserved. 7

10 DCIG 2012 BIG DATA TAPE LIBRARY BUYER S GUIDE The Insider s Guide to Evaluating Tape Libraries 6. All of the features were scored based upon the information presented in this Buyer s Guide. The weighting and scoring of the tape libraries found in this Buyer s Guide was done by DCIG based on past experience with other Buyer s Guides and input from end users. Only features that are presented in this Buyer s Guide were used to arrive at the final scores and rankings for each product. 7. The features were broken down into three general categories. The features included in this Buyer s Guide broke down into a total of three broad categories that are reflected on each tape library data sheet. These three categories are Hardware, Software and Support. 8. The tape libraries were ranked using standard scoring techniques. One of the goals of this Buyer s Guide is to establish clear lines of differentiation between tape libraries with conclusions that are arrived at objectively. To accomplish this goal, the mean or average score for each classification was first determined and then the standard deviation. Using the mean of the scores from all of the tape libraries from which the standard deviation was calculated, DCIG developed a ranking for each tape library model based upon the following in each classification: tions below the mean were given the rank of Basic. or below the mean were ranked as Good. above the mean were ranked as Excellent. standard deviations above the mean were ranked as Recommended. designation of Best-in-Class. It is for this reason that in each classification the number of models that achieved a certain ranking varied. DCIG Comments and Thoughts on Tape Library Use in Backup DCIG put a great deal of emphasis on the anticipated role of tape libraries in this Buyer s Guide. But the fact of the matter is that many organizations both large and small still use tape libraries as either their primary or secondary target for backup. This is a tape library use case that will likely persist for the foreseeable future. As such, this Buyer s Guide examines how well today s tape libraries remain positioned to fit into its traditional backup role within organizations. Features that were evaluated that specifically apply to the tape library backup use case include backup software integration, performance monitoring and tape library partitioning. Use in Big Data Environments Tape libraries have already started to evolve to more easily meet the emerging Big Data requirements of organizations or archival data. In this respect, tape libraries are capitalizing on some of their existing strengths that they have over disk such as power efficiency, storage density and scalability. However for organizations to confidently view tape libraries as both effective and reliable for storing this data, tape libraries have had to introduce and/or enhance a number of features to match these heightened user expectations. For instance, some tape libraries now offer software that monitors wearing on tape cartridges and tape drives. In addition to generating alerts should defects be detected, some may proactively take action to move data off of defective tape cartridges to good tape cartridges and even decommission tape cartridges and drives until they are repaired or replaced. Another feature that was introduced in 2010 was the Linear Tape File System (LTFS) which is a plug-in to existing file systems that enables file systems to read and write from tape and tape libraries in much the same way they read and write from disk. This potentially has broad application for cloud storage providers as it gives them the ability to make tape libraries a part of their cloud storage offering in such a way that it is transparent to the clients they service DCIG, LLC. All rights reserved. 8

11 DCIG 2012 BIG DATA TAPE LIBRARY BUYER S GUIDE The Insider s Guide to Evaluating Tape Libraries Support for Linear Tape-Open (LTO) Technology As a prerequisite for inclusion in this Buyer s Guide, all tape libraries had to support the Linear Tape-Open (LTO) tape format. Introduced in the late 1990 s, in just a little over a decade LTO has become the predominant tape format now accounting for nearly 90% of all tape sales in the final quarter of As such, DCIG saw little point in evaluating tape libraries that only supported other tape formats other than LTO though, as it turned out, DCIG failed to identify any tape libraries that only supported some other tape format. Further, of the 66 tape libraries that DCIG did include in this Buyer s Guide, less than 10% supported a tape format other than LTO. Performance and Pricing Two of the factors that inevitably influence buying decisions on tape libraries are how they perform and what they cost. However the DCIG 2012 Big Data Tape Library Buyer s Guide includes no benchmarks as to how any of the tape libraries performed and only high level pricing information. There are two reasons why DCIG elected to include neither performance nor detailed pricing information in this Buyer s Guide. Performance will vary according to application workloads and network configurations. To introduce any type of performance metric would only result in the analysis and evaluations of the tape libraries included in this Buyer s Guide becoming more subjective, not less. Too many products to try to test to produce a Buyer s Guide in a timely manner. The intent of this Buyer s Guide is to provide a near real time snapshot of the tape libraries currently available in the market place. All tape libraries included in this report were available for purchase as of March 1, 2012, so it is relatively current as of the time of publication. If DCIG had tried to test and establish performance benchmarks for all of the tape libraries, the next generation of tape libraries from all of these storage providers could well be available before the testing was completed making this Buyer s Guide obsolete before it ever saw the light of day. The same arguments that apply to performance also apply to pricing. Tape library providers regularly bring new features to market such as support for more tape drives, more tape cartridge slots, new storage networking protocols, higher capacity tape cartridges and new technologies such as media life cycle management and LTFS. That said DCIG did make some allowance in this DCIG 2012 Big Data Tape Library Buyer s Guide for pricing as each tape library data sheet provides a starting list price for that tape library model. Organizations should keep in mind that in most cases the starting list price is likely a minimal configuration and probably much less than they will actually pay for it. These list prices had no bearing in the weighting of any feature on any tape library and are provided for reference purposes only. DCIG does recognize that features like price and performance are relevant and key considerations when purchasing a tape library. However it is also almost impossible for a third party like DCIG to objectively measure these features on a large scale in such a way that is meaningful to end users. Therefore this is a part of the buying process that that DCIG believes is still best left to end users. It should be noted that the method in which DCIG scores and weights the features contained in this Big Data Tape Library Buyer s Guide should result in one being able to conclude that a tape library with a higher score and ranking will perform better and/or offer more storage capacity. It is also logical to conclude that it will cost more. By way of example, tape library models that support more tape cartridge slots, more tape drives, support multiple tape drive formats, include redundant robotics and have active-active controllers were weighted heavier and scored higher than those tape library models that did not support these features. Does this automatically mean these higher scoring tape library models will outperform and scale to higher capacities than other models that scored lower? Not necessarily. But neither is it true that all models that scored and ranked lower will always cost less or perform worse than those that scored higher and ranked better. However DCIG believes it is intuitive to conclude that a tape library that supports twelve (12) 8 Gb FC tape drive 1 Bunzel, David. "Backup Tape Tracker Executive Summary Q " Mar Web. 9 Apr DCIG, LLC. All rights reserved. 9

12 DCIG 2012 BIG DATA TAPE LIBRARY BUYER S GUIDE The Insider s Guide to Evaluating Tape Libraries interfaces, 500 or more tape cartridge slots, offers performance monitoring software and LTO-5 formats should perform better, scale to higher capacities and cost more than a tape library model that only supports four (4) 4 Gb FC tape drives, less than 100 tape cartridge slots, no performance monitoring software and LTO-4 tape format. It is in this way that this Buyer s Guide provides some sense of what organizations should expect to pay and how well they should expect the tape library to perform and scale based upon the score and ranking that it received. Power and Space Efficiency Power and space efficiency are two of the big reasons that organizations are looking to continue using tape libraries or even expanding their usage going forward as opposed to using disk. Aside from tape cartridges not requiring any power once they are put in a slot, they also have much lower cooling requirements since these tape cartridges do not generate any heat so in this respect all tape cartridges are the same. However where tape libraries differ and possibly differ significantly is in how efficiently they store tape cartridges within their library. Some place tape cartridges in drawers so they can store larger numbers of tape cartridges in smaller data center footprints. Others make all tape cartridges accessible to the tape library robot so they can potentially be retrieved and mounted more quickly. In this inaugural edition of the DCIG 2012 Big Data Tape Library Buyer s Guide, DCIG did not attempt to quantify how efficiently tapes could be stored and accessed within the tape library nor how many could be stored per cubic foot. However for those organizations that are space constrained in their data center, it is worth noting that differences (sometime substantial) in how efficiently tape libraries store tape cartridge do exist and may merit closer examination before deploying a tape library in their environment. Reliability and Feature Functionality In the context of this report, reliability refers to how stable a tape library is during normal operating conditions while feature functionality refers to how well the features on the tape library work. Once again these are attributes that are very difficult to objectively measure. The reliability of one tape library may be perfectly fine for one environment while unacceptable in another. As such, this attribute cannot be readily quantified or generalized to apply to all environments. The Buyer s Guide only attempts to provide some insight into a tape library s reliability by examining whether or not it has redundant hardware, hot swappable components and what type of technical support it provides. How well the different software features function on these tape libraries is again a matter that could be endlessly debated. For example, a number of tape libraries support tape library partitioning, software that monitors wear on tape cartridges and tape drives and performance monitoring. In these cases DCIG did not test to verify how well these features worked. This Buyer s Guide merely indicates whether or not a specific feature is supported on a tape library and, where appropriate, how it is implemented. DCIG Observations and Recommendations Regarding Each Tape Library Ranking Observations: Best-in-Class and/or Recommended Ranking The tape libraries ranked as Best-in-Class and/or Recommended in this Buyer s Guide generally shared the following characteristics: and backup software products The tape libraries that achieved the rankings of Recommended and Best-in-Class clearly are a notch or two above the rest of the tape libraries covered in this Buyer s Guide. The large numbers of tape cartridge slots and tape drives found on these models contributed to the higher scores and rankings of these models. However a 2012 DCIG, LLC. All rights reserved. 10

13 DCIG 2012 BIG DATA TAPE LIBRARY BUYER S GUIDE The Insider s Guide to Evaluating Tape Libraries number of them also possessed highly available features such as redundant robotics and Active-Active controller configurations that further helped separate these models from other competitive tape libraries. The Spectra Logic T950 and T-Finity models achieved the Best-in-Class rankings in their respective categories (single robot and dual robotics) due to their comprehensive support for both traditional and the latest and greatest features that users want tape libraries to offer today. In addition to supporting all major backup software offerings, the T-Finity was one of the few tape libraries that scaled to hold petabytes of data, included redundant robotics and an Active- Active controller configuration and offered comprehensive software for managing tape media. This combination of features pushed it to the top of the stack in this Buyer s Guide. Recommendations Organizations looking to cost-effectively store petabytes of data and wanting the flexibility to use the tape library for backup, their next generation Big Data needs or some combination of both should be looking at tape libraries that minimally achieved a ranking of Recommended. These are full-featured tape libraries that meet tomorrow s Big Data availability and capacity demands while providing the software and features that organizations need to cost-effectively manage them. The Spectra Logic T-Finity and T950 both merit attention in their respective categories as they offer the best mix of next generation tape library features while being firmly grounded and able to deliver on historical tape library requirements. Excellent Ranking Observations: The tape libraries ranked as Excellent in this Buyer s Guide generally shared the following characteristics: of tape cartridges and tape drives Recommendation: Tape library models are still Excellent as their ranking implies but organizations need to be fairly clear about what application problems they plan to solve with these tape libraries. Unlike the models that received the Recommended ranking, there are trade-offs that organizations may have to make. However those organizations that have a good grasp of how they intend to use the tape library in their environment may find that they can achieve their desired objectives at a lower cost using a model ranked as Excellent. HP and Spectra Logic tape library models consistently achieved Excellent ratings in this Buyer s Guide though IBM and Quantum each had a tape library array model that rated as Excellent. The Overland Storage NEO 8000e may also merit a closer look for some organizations concerned about high availability. While its total number of tape cartridge slots and drives are on par with other tape libraries in this ranking, it is the only one with an Excellent ranking to have redundant robotics in its tape library. Good Ranking Observations: The tape libraries ranked as Good in this Buyer s Guide generally shared the following characteristics: go up to 20) Recommendation: Midrange arrays ranked as Good are primarily suitable for business units, departments and small businesses that 2012 DCIG, LLC. All rights reserved. 11

14 DCIG 2012 BIG DATA TAPE LIBRARY BUYER S GUIDE The Insider s Guide to Evaluating Tape Libraries need reliable tape libraries with moderate to high levels of capacity. In almost every case, these midrange arrays scored well in the Hardware category. However organizations should have lower expectations as to what software features are available for use on these tape libraries. Those organizations that need high levels of storage capacity and do not require some of the software management features found on other tape libraries would do well to consider the tape libraries available from Qualstar as it was the only one to scale to hold over 1 PB of data in this category. However every provider offered a tape library that achieved a ranking of Good. Basic Ranking The tape libraries ranked as Basic in this Buyer s Guide generally shared the following characteristics: in the sub-100 range and backup software products Recommendation: Tape libraries ranked as Basic are primarily suitable for those organizations or departments that are cost conscious, are looking to use the tape library in a targeted manner and have moderate to low expectations in terms of the amount of data that they may store on them. Further, organizations should be cautious about using any tape library with a Basic ranking in any type of a Big Data role. These still appear to be primarily designed to be used in the context of backup so using them in an archival or Big Data role should only be done after careful vetting of the tape library and its capabilities DCIG, LLC. All rights reserved. 12

15 DCIG 2012 BIG DATA TAPE LIBRARY BUYER S GUIDE The Insider s Guide to Evaluating Tape Libraries BIG DATA TAPE LIBRARY SCORES AND RANKINGS The scores and rankings for the midrange array snapshot software contain the following information: all of the products used to establish how the snapshot software on each tape library product and/or product family was ranked 2012 DCIG, LLC. All rights reserved. 13

16 DCIG 2012 BIG DATA TAPE LIBRARY BUYER S GUIDE The Insider s Guide to Evaluating Tape Libraries Overall Scores and Rankings - Single Robot Tape Libraries Tape Libraries SCORE 1. Spectra Logic T BEST-IN-CLASS 2. Oracle Sun StorageTek SL Recommended 3. HP ESL G slot Recommended 4. HP ESL G slot Recommended 5. HP ESL G slot Recommended 6. IBM TS Recommended 7. HP ESL G3 700-slot Recommended 8. Quantum Scalar i Recommended 9. Spectra Logic T Excellent 10. HP ESL G3 300-slot Excellent 11. Spectra Logic T Excellent 12. Spectra Logic T Excellent 13. Spectra Logic T Excellent 14. Oracle Sun StorageTek SL Excellent 15. Overland Storage NEO 800s Excellent 16. HP ESL G3 100-slot Good 17. HP EML 442e Good 18. HP EML 469e Good 19. HP EML 505e Good 20. Overland Storage NEO 600s Good 21. HP MSL Good 22. Quantum Scalar i Good 23. HP MSL Good 24. HP EML 348e Good 25. Overland Storage NEO 4000e Good 26. HP EML 375e Good 27. Spectra Logic T50e Good 28. HP EML 245e Good 29. HP MSL Good 30. Overland Storage NEO 400s Good 31. Qualstar XLS Good 32. Quantum Scalar i Good 33. Qualstar XLS Good 34. Dell PowerVault ML Good 35. Qualstar XLS Good 36. Overland Storage NEO 2000e Good continued on next page 2012 DCIG, LLC. All rights reserved. 14

17 DCIG 2012 BIG DATA TAPE LIBRARY BUYER S GUIDE The Insider s Guide to Evaluating Tape Libraries Overall Scores and Rankings - Single Robot Tape Libraries Tape Libraries SCORE 37 HP MSL Good 38 Qualstar XLS Good 39 IBM TS Good 40 Dell PowerVault ML Good 41 Qualstar XLS Good 42 Qualstar XLS Good 43 HP EML 103e Good 44 HP EML 71e Good 45 Overland Storage NEO 200s Basic 46 IBM TS Basic 47 Dell PowerVault ML Basic 48 Qualstar RLS Basic 49 Qualstar TLS Basic 50 Qualstar RLS Basic 51 Oracle Sun StorageTek SL Basic 52 Qualstar TLS Basic 53 Qualstar RLS-8404/8404D Basic 54 Qualstar RLS-8444/8444D Basic 55 Qualstar RLS Basic 56 Dell PowerVault TL Basic 57 Oracle Sun StorageTek SL Basic 58 Qualstar RLS-8236/8236D Basic 59 Qualstar RLS Basic 60 Qualstar RLS Basic 61 Qualstar RLS Basic 62 Dell PowerVault TL Basic Total Number of Tape Libraries 62 Highest Score Lowest Score Average (Mean) Standard Deviation 9.70 Rankings Recommended Excellent Good Basic DCIG, LLC. All rights reserved. 15

18 DCIG 2012 BIG DATA TAPE LIBRARY BUYER S GUIDE The Insider s Guide to Evaluating Tape Libraries Overall Scores and Rankings Dual Robotic Tape Libraries* Tape Libraries SCORE 1. Spectra Logic T-Finity BEST-IN-CLASS 2. IBM TS Recommended 3. Quantum Scalar i Recommended 4. Overland Storage NEO 8000e Excellent Total Number of Tape Libraries 4 Highest Score Lowest Score * Tape libraries that offered dual robotics generally ended up scoring significantly better than their single robot tape library counterparts. Due to this discrepancy in scores and the low number of tape libraries that supported dual robotics, these libraries were scored and ranked separately to reflect the impact that the dual robotics feature had on the tape library s overall score DCIG, LLC. All rights reserved. 16

19 DCIG 2012 BIG DATA TAPE LIBRARY BUYER S GUIDE The Insider s Guide to Evaluating Tape Libraries BIG DATA TAPE LIBRARY BUYER S GUIDE MODELS 2012 DCIG, LLC. All rights reserved. 17

20 Dell PowerVault ML6010 Approximate Starting List Price: $14, BASIC BASIC BASIC GOOD TAPE CARTRIDGE SLOTS (MAX) 41 Hard TAPE DRIVES (MIN/MAX) 1/ TBs PARTITIONS (MAX) 2 LTO-3, LTO-4, LTO-5 LCD, SMI-S, Web AES-256 LICENSE INCL LTFS CLIENT LTFS TAPE LIBRARY IMPORT/EXPORT CARTRIDGES (MAX) 6 PHONE FC, SAS, SCSI 3 Years Third-Party 18

21 Dell PowerVault ML6020 Approximate Starting List Price: $24, GOOD GOOD BASIC GOOD TAPE CARTRIDGE SLOTS (MAX) 133 Hard TAPE DRIVES (MIN/MAX) 1/ TBs PARTITIONS (MAX) 6 LTO-3, LTO-4, LTO-5 LCD, SMI-S, Web AES-256 LICENSE INCL LTFS CLIENT LTFS TAPE LIBRARY IMPORT/EXPORT CARTRIDGES (MAX) 18 PHONE FC, SAS, SCSI 3 Years Third-Party 19

22 Dell PowerVault ML6030 Approximate Starting List Price: $35, GOOD GOOD BASIC GOOD TAPE CARTRIDGE SLOTS (MAX) 225 Hard TAPE DRIVES (MIN/MAX) 1/ TBs PARTITIONS (MAX) 10 LTO-3, LTO-4, LTO-5 LCD, SMI-S, Web AES-256 LICENSE INCL LTFS CLIENT LTFS TAPE LIBRARY IMPORT/EXPORT CARTRIDGES (MAX) 10 PHONE FC, SAS, SCSI 3 Years Third-Party 20

23 Dell PowerVault TL2000 Approximate Starting List Price: $7, BASIC BASIC BASIC GOOD TAPE CARTRIDGE SLOTS (MAX) 24 Hard TAPE DRIVES (MIN/MAX) 1/2 36 TBs PARTITIONS (MAX) 2 LTO-3, LTO-4, LTO-5 LCD, Web AES-256 LICENSE INCL LTFS CLIENT LTFS TAPE LIBRARY IMPORT/EXPORT CARTRIDGES (MAX) 1 PHONE Ethernet, FC, SAS, SCSI 3 Years Third-Party 21

24 Dell PowerVault TL4000 Approximate Starting List Price: $10, BASIC GOOD BASIC GOOD TAPE CARTRIDGE SLOTS (MAX) 48 Hard TAPE DRIVES (MIN/MAX) 1/4 72 TBs PARTITIONS (MAX) 4 LTO-3, LTO-4, LTO-5 LCD, Web AES-256 LICENSE INCL LTFS CLIENT LTFS TAPE LIBRARY IMPORT/EXPORT CARTRIDGES (MAX) 3 PHONE Ethernet, FC, SAS, SCSI 3 years Third-Party 22

25 HP EML 71e Approximate Starting List Price: $50,000 - $75, GOOD BASIC GOOD EXCELLENT TAPE CARTRIDGE SLOTS (MAX) 71 Soft TAPE DRIVES (MIN/MAX) 1/ TBs PARTITIONS (MAX) 6 LTO-4, LTO-5 CLI, Client App, LCD, SMI-S LICENSE INCL LTFS CLIENT LTFS TAPE LIBRARY IMPORT/EXPORT CARTRIDGES (MAX) 5 PHONE FC 1 Year SMTP,, Syslog Third-Party EMC Networker Quantum StorNext HP Operations Manager 23

26 HP EML 103e Approximate Starting List Price: $50,000 75, GOOD BASIC GOOD EXCELLENT TAPE CARTRIDGE SLOTS (MAX) 103 Soft TAPE DRIVES (MIN/MAX) 1/ TBs PARTITIONS (MAX) 6 LTO-4, LTO-5 CLI, Client App, LCD, SMI-S LICENSE INCL LTFS CLIENT LTFS TAPE LIBRARY IMPORT/EXPORT CARTRIDGES (MAX) 5 PHONE FC 1 Year SMTP,, Syslog Third-Party EMC Networker Quantum StorNext HP Operations Manager 24

27 HP EML 245e Approximate Starting List Price: $50,000 75, GOOD GOOD GOOD EXCELLENT TAPE CARTRIDGE SLOTS (MAX) 245 Soft TAPE DRIVES (MIN/MAX) 1/ TBs PARTITIONS (MAX) 6 LTO-4, LTO-5 CLI, Client App, LCD, SMI-S LICENSE INCL LTFS CLIENT LTFS TAPE LIBRARY IMPORT/EXPORT CARTRIDGES (MAX) 15 PHONE FC 1 Year SMTP,, Syslog Third-Party EMC Networker Quantum StorNext HP Operations Manager 25

28 HP EML 348e Approximate Starting List Price: $50,000 75, GOOD GOOD GOOD EXCELLENT TAPE CARTRIDGE SLOTS (MAX) 348 Soft TAPE DRIVES (MIN/MAX) 1/ TBs PARTITIONS (MAX) 6 LTO-4, LTO-5 CLI, Client App, LCD, SMI-S LICENSE INCL LTFS CLIENT LTFS TAPE LIBRARY IMPORT/EXPORT CARTRIDGES (MAX) 15 PHONE FC 1 Year SMTP,, Syslog Third-Party EMC Networker Quantum StorNext HP Operations Manager 26

29 HP EML 375e Approximate Starting List Price: $50,000 75, GOOD GOOD GOOD EXCELLENT TAPE CARTRIDGE SLOTS (MAX) 375 Soft TAPE DRIVES (MIN/MAX) 1/8 563 TBs PARTITIONS (MAX) 6 LTO-4, LTO-5 CLI, Client App, LCD, SMI-S LICENSE INCL LTFS CLIENT LTFS TAPE LIBRARY IMPORT/EXPORT CARTRIDGES (MAX) 15 PHONE FC 1 Year SMTP,, Syslog Third-Party EMC Networker Quantum StorNext HP Operations Manager 27

30 HP EML 442e Approximate Starting List Price: $50,000 75, GOOD EXCELLENT GOOD EXCELLENT TAPE CARTRIDGE SLOTS (MAX) 442 Soft TAPE DRIVES (MIN/MAX) 1/ TBs PARTITIONS (MAX) 6 LTO-4, LTO-5 CLI, Client App, LCD, SMI-S LICENSE INCL LTFS CLIENT LTFS TAPE LIBRARY IMPORT/EXPORT CARTRIDGES (MAX) 35 PHONE FC 1 Year SMTP,, Syslog Third-Party EMC Networker Quantum StorNext HP Operations Manager 28

31 HP EML 469e Approximate Starting List Price: $50,000 75, GOOD GOOD GOOD EXCELLENT TAPE CARTRIDGE SLOTS (MAX) 469 Soft TAPE DRIVES (MIN/MAX) 1/ TBs PARTITIONS (MAX) 6 LTO-4, LTO-5 CLI, Client App, LCD, SMI-S LICENSE INCL LTFS CLIENT LTFS TAPE LIBRARY IMPORT/EXPORT CARTRIDGES (MAX) 35 PHONE FC 1 Year SMTP,, Syslog Third-Party EMC Networker Quantum StorNext HP Operations Manager 29