Possible to cascade 2 DLT autoloaders? 1

[packdragon]

Our remote client has 2 DLT autoloaders (Dell Powervaults) - one is primary, the other is a backup in case the first one dies. Every week we have to give instructions to our client on switching out the DLT tapes (for archiving purposes we can't overwrite). Sometimes the client puts this off or fails to do it at all. We're trying to find ways to reduce our reliance on the client without having to purchase anything.

So I was thinking, can the 2 autoloaders be connected together in a cascade so that Backup Exec 9.0 will see 14 slots available instead of the standard 7 of one autoloader? Then we wouldn't have to give instructins to the client as often.

What are some remote backup solutions any of you have done in situations like this? We are in L.A. while they are in San Francisco, so we have to keep the physical visits down to a minimum.

- Zoe, that's ZOH-EEE, get it right please
- Just a little ol' MCP at Solien Technology
-

http://www.solien.com

 

[Marverick]

Packdragon,

It is acceptable to chain both libraries together. However, your backup rate(s) will ultimately degrade, because all traffic to the tape drives will be bottlenecked on one SCSI bus. We ran into this awhile back with our libraries. We overcame the performance hit by attaching the library and only two drives to a single SCSI bus. This worked out well.

I would recommend getting a second SCSI card for your backup server. Also, we found chaining Autoloaders to an onboard SCSI controller presented some odd behavior in the Autoloaders functionality. I highly recommend not attaching your Autoloader to an onboard controller.

As for being able to see all 14 slots combined together in the BE UI, you won’t. You will only see the autoloaders, their drive(s), and seven slots for each.

Each library will also have a drive pool associated with it. They can be located under the Devices Tab -> All Devices ->Drive pools -> [server name] (All drives).

If I understand the problem correctly, you would like be able to rotate in the additional 7 pieces of media into your backups. To do this, you first will need too create a New Drive pool, and then add both drives from the autoloaders to it. It’s pretty easy to do, just right click on Drive Pool to add the new pool, then right click on the newly created drive pool and add the drives.

Once complete, you can now re-set the properties on your Backup jobs to target the new drive pool. All jobs targeting this drive pool will be able too use the drives and media from both autoloaders. Note: The media sets that you have created will keep track of the media from both loaders.

One advantage of having your jobs target one drive pool is, you have both drives working your scheduled backup jobs. Another advantage is, if one Autoloader or tape drive fails, Backup Exec will automatically target the working one.

If you don’t want to take advantage of both drives this way, you can manually target your jobs at one autoloader one week, and then switch to the other the next week.

Making use of drive pools is a good solution to your problem.

M

 

[packdragon]

Thanks for taking the time to explain all that, very useful! Big pink star for you!

- Zoe, that's ZOH-EEE, get it right please
- Just a little ol' MCP at Solien Technology
-

http://www.solien.com