Need LTO hardware vendor advice/recommendations:

[DReynolds]

Our company (kinda large conglomerate composed of many smaller sites, and a couple large datacenters all with their own onsite backups) has elected LTO as the 'standard' that all sites should go with for future backup investments.

We now need to recommend a (preferably single) vendor for hardware.

Probably 1/2 of all sites will use a single drive. About 1/4 may go with a rather small type of autoloader/library. The remaining 1/4 will go for a bit larger autoloader/library.

What vendor(s) do you recommend that can provide good solutions for the above requirements with good support?

IBM, Overland, ADIC, Cybernetics (sp?)... any 1st hand experiences you can share.

Thank you VERY much in advance!

 

[2ffat]

Cybernetics is a good company but I haven't dealt with their LTO tape drives.

We had problems with IBM's LTO. We recently purchased a new IBM server with LTO installed. The VAR couldn't get IBM's LTO to work with their server (figure that one out). We finally went with HP. The biggest problem with their solution is that it required some odd rails to work with the IBM server. We finally found some in England and they weren't cheap.

HP's equipment works very well but I can't say how tech support will be with its new Compaq merger. James P. Cottingham

I am the Unknown lead by the Unknowing.
I have done so much with so little
for so long that they think I am now
qualified to do anything with nothing.

 

[bjverzal]

Look at Qualstar. They use HP Ultrium drives in their libraries. They have many models. Look at ADIC as well. They are also solid.

Be sure to get the LVD/SE model over the HVD - they run faster. If cable distance is a concern, look at FC/AL.

Definitions:

LVD/SE = Low Voltage Differential/Single-Ended (12m cable length)
HVD = High Voltage Differential (20 m cable length)
FC/AL = Fibre-Channel Arbitrated Loop

I've used IBM's and Qualstars and my only concern is the IBM drives load slower.

Bill.

 

[DReynolds]

Thanks for the replies!

I'm looking at:
ADIC
Cybernetics
IBM
HP
Qualstar
Storagetek

Any others I left out? Any more opinions out there?

I'm thinking we are interested in single LTO drives, small autoloader/library w/ 10 tapes and 1 drive...and a big larger one with around 20 tapes and 2 drives. ADIC and Qualstar DO look interesting. I'm betting they will both be cheaper then IBM and HP. I agree with the uncertainty comment about HP. I'm mixed about IBM - they are often so overpriced....

 

[mrashburn]

I recently bought an Overland LoaderXpress - single drive LTO, 11 slot magazine. It replaced a 5 tape DLT-IIIxt changer (it cut B\U times dramattically!. I was planning on getting the HP SureStore Autoloader 1/9 but on the advice of my CDW salesman I went with the Overland product (holds 2 more tapes, cheaper, and more bells and whistles - like an ethernet/web interface). It's nice... but it wasn't supported by my software (backup Exec 8.5) even though the Veritas channel rep at CDW said that it was supported (I guess he was thinking about B\E 8.6)... bottom line - YOU need to verify the HCL for your software, YOURSELF!!
I had to get some support from Overland the deal is you place the call and get a return call if everyone is busy (don't know if you can buy faster support - at least no one pitched it to me ).
Since then I have seen statements to the effect Storagetek is a market leader (at least in the SAN arena). I personally can't verify that. More than likely any new software is going to be compatible, IMHO. In fact it forced me to start looking around for other software. Right now I'm evaluating BakBone's Netvault software - it will let us do hot Oracle B\Us to the local DLT drive!!!!

 

[rgzimmer]

We got a Storagetek L180 with IBM LTO drives to replace an Overland library that continuously had problems. Support from Overland was poor and they contract the work out. They did not respond to messages left on thier support number so I had to wait for two hours once for a technician to answer. We were down for three days once, not including the weekend, because they actually made our problem worse when the support company came out to "fix" the problem.

Storagetek, on the other hand, answers my calls immediately and they do thier own service. The three times they have responded to our site, the problem has not been with thier system, but they were willing to spend the time to diagnose and resolve the problem to our satisfaction. I can't say enough good things about them.

As for drive performance and cost savings, our backup times have been cut 40% moving from DLT8000 to LTO and our tape utilization has dropped nearly 60%

 

[mrashburn]

I must say I wish I had known this before I bought Overland... BUT so far support as been ok (never had any on-site yet). I did have to call them back when they SHOULD have called me - In their defense it was Buckup Exec's problem.

Netvault b\u s\w is awesome!

 

[DReynolds]

We've narrowed it down to Cybernetics or Overland data now.

 

[DebiJo]

We recently bought a single LTO and an Autoloader from Overland. They are working great for me. I had to call tech support once when I couldn't get the autoloader to open (operator error). They were great and everything is working fine.
-DJ

 

[DReynolds]

Thanks for all the replies.

We decided on Overland Data as the primary LTO hardware vendor with Cybernetics as the secondary choice. Good prices, and they are in our IT hardware purchasing porcurement system already, and that makes things easier for us.