| Ultera's RAILMaster™
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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Multiple
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 robot, drive or media
failure |
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5
Channel
High
Performance,
Data Striping and Mirroring |
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Ultera's RAILMaster™
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 RAILMaster™
controllers 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 RAILMaster™ 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 RAILMaster™ controller determines the number of tape
libraries required per
"logical" tape set.
If 5 identical tape libraries have 1 tape drive each and 100 tape slots
and the operating mode of the RAILMaster™ controller
is set to Striping 4+1, the RAILMaster™ controller appears
to the backup server as a single tape library with 1 tape
drive and 100 tape slots transparently.
Each "logical" tape set (i.e. 1, 2, 3..100) is
distributed across all 5 tape libraries occupying the same
physical tape slot. When an
application on the backup server moves a "logical"
tape, the RAILMaster™ controller transparently
initiates multiple move commands in parallel to move the entire
"logical" tape set to/from the selected tape drive
set simultaneously.
If a tape drive is added to each tape library at the same
physical element address, another RAILMaster™ 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 100
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 RAILMaster™
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 RAILMaster™ controller transparently
applies Tape RAID
enhancements to conventional tape libraries is detailed below. |
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| ROBOTICS |
| The
operating mode of the RAILMaster™ controller determines the size of
a "Logical Drive Set" (2, 3, 4 or 5 tape drives). This controls how many
tape libraries can be attached to the RAILMaster™ controller. |
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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
Libraries |
| Striping
2+1 |
3 Tapes |
3
Libraries |
| Striping
4+0 |
4 Tapes |
4
Libraries |
| Striping
4+1 |
5 Tapes |
5
Libraries |
| Mirroring
2 |
2 Tapes |
2
Libraries |
| Mirroring
3 |
3 Tapes |
3
Libraries |
| Mirroring
4 |
4 Tapes |
4
Libraries |
| Mirroring
5 |
5 Tapes |
5
Libraries |
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| The RAILMaster™
controller presents to the host backup management software the same inventory, number of
drives and number of import/export slots as if it was a single tape library. |
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| INVENTORY |
| The RAILMaster™
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, a logical tape volume set occupies the same slot number in
each library. For example, five independent tape libraries can be attached to a
RAILMaster™
controller with a logical drive set size equal to 5. This would mean the
RAILMaster™
controller is set to a Striping 4+1 or Mirroring 5 operating mode and data is either
striped or mirrored across the tape libraries to the appropriate drive set. |
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| DRIVES |
| The
host software views each logical drive set as a single tape drive via the
RAILMaster™
controller. The array channels of the primary RAILMaster™ controller attach to a
robot
and the lowest drive element address in each tape library.
Additional RAILMaster™
controllers may be added to operate the next set of available drives(1 per tape library). |
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| IMPORT/EXPORT |
| The RAILMaster™ controller
presents the same number of door slots that exist in a single tape library. When a
logical tape volume set is imported/exported, the RAILMaster™
controller
moves an entire logical tape set in parallel to the door or from the door as one logical
move operation. |
