Is this upgrade possible/advisable ?

[Mike Fisher_5]

The answer is probably lurking on the ITRC already
But "search" ain't behavin today

A client has asked me to quote for an upgrade to their DLT library: -

CURRENT ARRANGEMENT:
DLT 2/20 library connected to
L2000 running HP-UX 11.11

THE CLIENT ASKS:
Can the 2 x DLT Drives
& media carriers be replaced with the below?
LVDS Drives [A6307A]
carriers [C9520-60045]
The latter part # means nowt to me

MY OWN THOUGHTS:
I'm inclined towards offering
a whole LTO library instead

What do YOU think?

[Ross Zubritski]

Looking "forward", the LTO technology is much more viable.

Regards,

RZ

[Steve Lewis · Accepted solution]

We have two 2/20 libraries with two A6307A Ultrium 1 drives on LVD SCSI in each.

We have had a lot of problems with one of them. Despite firmware upgrades, every few weeks the mechanism jams and we have to get HP in. The other library is fine.

With this in mind, the best advice I can give you is to buy one with fibrechannel interfaces, since you won't have to shut the system down every time you need to swap a part.

I am not sure about the upgrade path, ask HP technical pre-sales.

The good news is that we squeeze up to 400Gb on a tape with the only compression being that in the drive itself. Thats 4 times native capacity.

They are quite fast: 70Mb per second real-time streamed using Veritas netbackup from VA7410 on an rp8400.

I personally can't wait for Ultrium 2s in my silo, since that will cut down the number of tapes used each night and reduce the backup window even more.

[Steven E. Protter]

I am inclined to agree with you.

With Ultrium 400 Gigabyte drives suddenly becomeing affordable, best case is to go with industry standard as you are inclined to do.

SEP

[Leif Halvarsson_2]

Hi,

The 2/20 library is discontinued and upgrade kits is not longer avilable. Perhaps HP is willing to trade in the old library if you buy a new LTO library.

[Vincent Farrugia]

Hello,

You CANNOT upgrade to Ultrium 2 drives... only to Ultrium 1 drives in a Galactica library (2/20 is one of them).

I am sure your upgrade can be done.

The carriers are needed since Ultrium cartridges are somewhat smaller than DLT cartridges, hence you need to replace them as well.

Offline, just remove your DLT drives and insert your new Ultrium drives, plus carriers.

Before that, you need to upgrade your firmware revision to no less than 1.20, otherwise your Ultrium drives won't be recognised.

HTH,
Vince

[Mike Fisher_5]

Ross,
Steve,
Steven [nice pics in your interesting new thread],
Leif,
Vincent
& anyone else who can help...

I've been told that If my client DOES keep their 2/20 library
& we upgrade them to LTO 1 drives...

1] We will also need a different picker assembly
2] The upgrade could take 5 hours

Is this right?

Kind regards
Mike

[Vincent Farrugia]

Hello,

As far as I know, there is only 1 picker for the Galactica. You do not need to change it.

Other can prove me wrong though.

HTH,
Vince

[Vincent Farrugia]

Hello,

If you want to keep your current DLT drives and add a LTO drive to it, then yes: you need an upgrade to the library to bring it 2 storeys high. That would involve a lot of things, like the vertical lift assembly and pc board, slave controller card, magazines, and so forth, and would take 5 hours, even more. Please note that you cannot have mixed drives in 1 storey, i.e. you cannot have both DLT and Ultrium on the same floor.

HTH,
Vince

[Mike Fisher_5]

Thanks all - Very useful

Steve:
These FC interfaces...
Do you have a part number?

Vincent:
Thanks for the reassurance
& the "heads-up" on the firmware revision