| Ultera's LibraryMaster™ controller solution is designed for
single tape library applications featuring Data Striping
(RAID Levels 0 and 3), Data Mirroring (RAID
Level
1) and Stripe/Mirror (RAID Level 10) to protect your data at a fault tolerance level you choose. |
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SOLUTIONS |
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Single
tape library striping or mirroring |
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Library
striping for high speed backup/restore |
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Library
mirroring for disaster recovery applications |
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Combines
RAID and automation with seamless scalability |
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Operation
continues in the event of a single drive or media
failure |
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5
Channel
High Performance,
Data Striping and Mirroring
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Ultera's LibraryMaster™ controller
features Data Striping and appears to the host system as a single tape
library with one or more tape drives ("Logical Drive Sets"). A
"Logical Drive Set" consists of an array of up to 5 tape drives and is seen by
the host as a single logical tape device ("Virtual Tape Drive").
The LibraryMaster™
controller also features Data Mirroring
and supports creating up to 5 "EXACT" original tape copies simultaneously.
Productivity is increased tremendously for applications that require duplicating original
master tapes. |
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Dual
Channel
Low Cost
Data Mirroring
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Ultera's dual
channel LibraryMaster™ Mirroring
controller
supports creating 2 "EXACT" original tape copies simultaneously.
Productivity is increased for applications that require duplicating original
master tapes. |
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Supports
All Major Tape Drives and
Tape Library
Devices |
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EXAMPLE
The operating mode "Striping 2, 2+1, 4, 4+1",
"Mirroring 2, 3, 4, 5" or "Stripe/Mirror
2+2" of the LibraryMaster™ controller determines the number of tape
drives and/or physical tape cartridges required per
"logical" tape set.
If a single tape library has 5 tape drives and 100 tape slots
and the operating mode of the LibraryMaster™ controller
is set to Striping 4+1, the LibraryMaster™ controller appears
to the backup server as a single tape library with 1 tape
drive and 20 tape slots transparently.
Each "logical" tape set (i.e. 1, 2, 3..20) corresponds
to 5 consecutive tape slots in the library. When an
application on the backup server moves a "logical"
tape, the LibraryMaster™ controller transparently
initiates multiple move commands to move the entire
"logical" tape set to/from the selected tape drive
set.
If the same tape library has 5 more tape drives added,
another LibraryMaster™ controller can be added to operate
the new Striping 4+1 drive set transparently as a single
"logical" tape drive. The backup server in this
case will see a single tape library with 2 tape drives and 20
tape slots.
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| Ultera's
Library Tape RAID solutions are designed to be plug and play compatible with all operating
systems and hardware platforms. Ultera's LibraryMaster™
controller adds value to your tape library investment by providing data protection and
fault tolerance at a level that no single tape library can provide. A
description of how the LibraryMaster™ controller transparently
applies Tape RAID
enhancements to a conventional tape library is detailed below. |
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| ROBOTICS |
| The
operating mode of the LibraryMaster™ controller determines the size
of a "Logical Drive Set" (2, 3, 4 or 5 tape drives). This controls how the
LibraryMaster™ controller presents the attached library's geometry
and element addressing to the host computer system. |
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| The size
of a logical tape volume set is equal to the "Logical Drive Set" size as shown
below: |
| Striping
2+0 |
2 Tapes |
2
Drives |
| Striping
2+1 |
3 Tapes |
3
Drives |
| Striping
4+0 |
4 Tapes |
4
Drives |
| Striping
4+1 |
5 Tapes |
5
Drives |
| Mirroring
2 |
2 Tapes |
2
Drives |
| Mirroring
3 |
3 Tapes |
3
Drives |
| Mirroring
4 |
4 Tapes |
4
Drives |
| Mirroring
5 |
5 Tapes |
5
Drives |
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| The LibraryMaster™
controller automatically adjusts how the host backup management software sees the
library's inventory, number of drives and number of import/export slots based on the
following: |
Number of Media Slots |
Equals the
total number available divided by
the "Logical Drive Set" size. |
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Number of Optical Drives |
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Number of
Import/Export Slots |
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| INVENTORY |
| The LibraryMaster™
controller presents each logical tape volume set to the host computer as a single media
cartridge and transparently
loads and unloads a complete physical set of tape media cartridges for each logical
mount/dismount request from the backup management software. |
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| Starting
with the lowest slot number in the library, a logical tape volume set occupies up to 5
consecutive slots. For example, a LibraryMaster™ controller can
be set to a Striping 4+1 or Mirroring 5 operating mode with a logical drive set size equal
to 5. This means 5 consecutive slots represent a single logical tape volume and 5
consecutive tape drives within the tape library (starting with the lowest drive element
address) represent a single logical drive set. |
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| DRIVES |
| The
host software views each logical drive set in the tape library as a single tape drive via
the LibraryMaster™ controller. The primary LibraryMaster™
controller attaches to the robot
and the lowest drive element address in the tape library and then to consecutive drive
elements based on the size of the logical drive set. Additional
LibraryMaster™
controllers may be added to operate the next set of available drives. |
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| IMPORT/EXPORT |
| The
host software views the import/export door as one or more library elements.
If
the physical number of import/export door slots equals the size of the logical tape set,
the LibraryMaster™ controller
presents these door slots as a single logical import/export slot and moves an entire
logical tape set to the door or from the door as one logical move operation. If
the physical number of import/export door slots equals one, the
LibraryMaster™ controller
presents this door slot as a single logical import/export slot and moves an entire logical
tape set to the door or from the door sequentially, one at a time. |
