The Urgency Of Autoloader Tape Backup For Medium To Large Organizations

By Author: Ki Grinsing
Total Articles: 82
Comment this article

Why does your organization need an autoloader tape backup solution? Data is extremely valuable assets for the organization. The data that is stored in the server hard disks is the result work of all the users within the organization for many years as long as the age of the organization. If the organizations do not have a well managed data backup strategy, all the long years of hard work in the form of data or files will be gone away in just couple of hours if the fire disaster burns out everything including the servers.

It is therefore, the organization must have a well managed backup strategy. Basically there are many data backup solutions you can deploy to your backup strategy including data backup to the external disk storage, or to internal / external tape drive. Backing up the data to the external disks solution is only suitable for home or SOHO networks. For small business to corporate networks where data grows very fast from hundreds of Gigabyte to couple of Terabyte or more from all the servers within the network, the external tape backup should be deployed. Which tape backup solution?

There are many tape ...
... drives which have big storage capacity (such as 360GB or 720GB) in a single tape. If the organization has a single data server which total data can be copied to a single tape backup, with a daily backup strategy and with the addition of weekly and monthly full backup, a single tape drive attached direct to the server is suitable.

What if your organization contains many servers which total data capacity cannot be loaded into the biggest capacity a tape drive can backup into a single tape? Well, you need to change the tapes manually each time the tape drive prompts you to insert the next volume of backup until full backup completion. Total number of tapes depends on how big the total capacity of your full backup. If the total capacity of the full backup needs 5 tapes and each tape takes about 3 hours, there must be IT staff that need to stay overnight in the office to manually change and insert the tapes each time the ‘next volume' message appears. It raises administration overhead and a boring task to do for the IT staff.

Autoloader Tape Backup Solution

Typically each types of backup strategy may include a full backup that is performed in a monthly basis. Full backup loads all the selected data contained in the data and application servers into one or more tapes and stored for a year period rotation. In many organizations, the total data / files in all the servers might be huge enough that cannot be loaded into a single tape. They usually need many tapes in a single run of a full backup. And the consequence is the administration overhead. It is therefore, a single tape drive with the capability of automatic loading of the tapes is needed. HP StorageWorks 1/8 G2 Tape Autoloader is a perfect tape backup solution for this situation.

What This Product Does

The HP StorageWorks 1/8 G2 Tape Autoloader is an ideal, entry-level automatic tape backup solution which offers exceptionally dense storage value for basic data protection. This drive combines storage density and tape library features into a compact 1U form factor. With LTO-4 Ultrium tape drive technology, the drive offers compressed capacity (2:1) of up to 12.8 TB and provides cost-effective, easy-to-install, unattended backup. The 1/8 G2 Tape Autoloader is equipped with one Ultrium SCSI or SAS tape drive and can hold up to eight data cartridges.

This type of tape backup solution is perfect for replicated systems, the web-based remote management interface which will reduce dependencies on local IT staff, allowing multiple sites to be supported centrally. It is also capable of data encryption that can encrypt your data to ensure unauthorized access of LTO-4 Ultrium cartridges both in and out of the autoloader.

Key Features

Exceptional storage density value with LTO-4 Ultrium 1760 tape technology to deliver 12.8 TB of compressed capacity (2:1) in a 1U form factor
Easy to install, manage and use integrated solution. Standard bar code reader provides faster inventory times
Flexible tape technology and interface choices to suit your needs. Supports both IPv4 and IPv6 networks
Alternatives in movement and storage of data. Each autoloader includes one mail slot for dedicated import/export of media cartridges and also includes two removable 4-slot magazines for bulk loading of media, and provides a convenient bulk storage unit for moving media offsite.
Agility - easy to manage and supports HTTPS for authenticated and encrypted transfers over the Internet
Enabled encryption to protect your data from unauthorized access and easy to enable AES 256-bit embedded hardware encryption with compression
Customer serviceable and replaceable components
Includes HP Data Protector Express Single Server Edition software for Windows, Linux, NetWare.
The HP StorageWorks 1/8 G2 Tape Autoloader is a perfect tape backup solution for your organization that has huge of data files.

By Ki Grinsing

Ki Grinsing was graduated from a technical college with the addition of MCSE and CCNA certifications and long years of working experience in IT. Please visit the complete article in Tape backup solutions and Small business firewall appliances