Dell PowerVault 136T LTO Dell PowerVault 136T Storage Network Controlle

Dell™ PowerVault™ 136T Storage Network

Controller Recommendation

The Dell PowerVault 136T tape library may be connected to a storage area network by way of the

optional Storage Network Controller (SNC) module. The SNC acts as a bridge between the

SCSI and Fibre Channel protocols and provides additional management, security, and

operational features unavailable in most native Fibre Channel libraries. Dell recommends using

the 6101 SNC, sometimes referred to as the SNC2 or second generation SNC, for Fibre Channel

connectivity. Using the 6101 SNC maximizes the performance of the PowerVault 136T Tape

Library with LTO-3 drives in a Fibre Channel environment.

The 6101 SNC has double the performance of the 5101 SNC, the first generation SNC for the

PowerVault 136T. The maximum throughput of the 6101 SNC is 400 MB/s, while the maximum

performance of the 5101 SNC is rated at 200 MB/s.

LTO-3 drives have a native throughput performance of 80 MB/s. In environments that require

higher throughput (i.e. >200 MB/sec), the 5101 SNC could limit the performance of the LTO-3

drives, particularly in library configurations with three or more drives. Dell strongly recommends

using the 6101 SNC for Fibre Channel connectivity for PowerVault 136T configurations with

three or more LTO-3 drives, where optimum performance is required.

The 5101 SNC can easily be identified by the orientation of the SCSI connectors, all four of

which are in a single line. The SCSI connectors in the 6101 SNC are in a two-by-two

configuration. The table below lists the specifications of both the 5101 SNC and 6101 SNC.

5101 SNC

6101 SNC

General

Overhead Processor

IBM

®

PowerPC

®

405GP

IBM PowerPC 440GP

Data Bus

PCI

66 MHz

PCI-X

133 MHz

Throughput

200 MB/s (max)

400 MB/s (max)

SCSI Channels

Processor

Two LSI 53C1010 Dual channel

configured as Ultra 2 SCSI

controllers (four ports)

Two LSI 53C1030 Dual channel Ultra

320 SCSI controllers (four ports)

Connectors

Four VHDCI connectors (in line)

Four VHDCI connectors (two dual

stacks)

December 2005