Surestore Library 2/20 capability

[Philip Lee]

Simple question...
I was wondering if the Surestore Tape Library 2/20 was able to do two tasks simultaneously since it has two Ultrium drives.

For example: at 2:00 AM one drive could be backing up one file server and the other drive could be backing up an Exchange server.

Would this be possible or the two drives are just there for speed?

Thanks for any help provided!
-Phil

[Vincent Farrugia · Accepted solution]

Hello,

The answer is yes. You can run two jobs at the same time on the two drives. However, since the picker has to pick the tape cartridges one at a time, they can't start simulataneously. That's the only thing to look at.

But if a drive is backing and the picker is free, you can start another independant backup on the other tape drive.

HTH,
Vince

[Philip Lee]

So are all tape libraries with multiple drives could handle multiple jobs simulataneously? Like 2 restores or 2 backups...

Wow sounds good!

[Vincent Farrugia]

Yes of course, cuz they are completely independant of each other, including SCSI/FC.

BTW, since I can't find the person who made me become a wizard, I must thank you for the points... thanks!

Vince

[Philip Lee]

So this means that the library would require two scsi ports for full functionality?

[David Ruska]

You can put two DLT8000 drives on a single SCSI interface, but you may get better performance if they are on dedicated interface cards (to help maintain streaming).

HP Ultrium drives require an even higher data rate to stream, and therefore should always be on separate SCSI interface channels.

Since fibre has a higher bandwidth, one fibre interface to a 2/20 could support either two DLT8K or two HP Ultrium drives.