HP StorageWorks 300 HP StorageWorks 300 Virtual Library System user guide (AH1 - Page 15

Introduction, Features

Get HP StorageWorks 300 - Virtual Library System EVA Gateway PDF manuals and user guides View all HP StorageWorks 300 manuals
Add to My Manuals
Save this manual to your list of manuals

Page 15 highlights

1 Introduction This section describes the HP StorageWorks 300 virtual library system features and models. Features The HP StorageWorks 300 virtual library system (VLS) is a RAID disk-based SAN backup device that emulates physical tape libraries, allowing you to perform disk-to-virtual tape (disk-to-disk) backups using your existing backup application(s). The many benefits of performing data backups to a VLS instead of physical tape are described in Benefits. The VLS emulates a variety of physical tape libraries, including the tape drives and cartridges inside the libraries. You determine the number and types of tape libraries a VLS emulates, and the number and type of tape drives and cartridges included in each tape library to meet the needs of your environment. You configure the size of the virtual cartridges in your VLS, which provides even more flexibility. The VLS accommodates mixed IT platform and backup application environments, allowing all your servers and backup applications to access the virtual media simultaneously. You can specify which servers are allowed to access each virtual library and tape drive you configure. You can change the default LUNs assigned to the virtual library and tape drives for each host as needed to accommodate different operating system requirements and restrictions. Data stored on a VLS is easily cloned to physical tape for off-site disaster protection or long-term archival using a backup application. Benefits Integrating a VLS into your existing storage and backup infrastructure delivers the following benefits: • Faster backups Backup speeds are limited by the number of tape drives available to the SAN hosts. The VLS emulates many more tape drives than are available in physical tape libraries, allowing more hosts to run backups concurrently. The VLS is optimized for backups and delivers faster performance than a simple disk-to-disk solution. • Faster single file restores A single file can be restored much faster from disk than tape. • Lower operating costs Fewer physical tape drives and cartridges are required as full backups to tape are eliminated. Also, fewer cartridges are required as small backups stored on multiple virtual cartridges can be copied to one physical cartridge. • More efficient use of storage space Physical tape libraries cannot share storage space with other physical tape libraries, and physical cartridges cannot share storage space with other physical cartridges. This unused storage space is wasted. Storage space is not wasted in a VLS, because VLS storage space is dynamically assigned as it is used. Storage space is shared by all the libraries and cartridges configured on a VLS. • Reduced risk of data loss and aborted backups RAID-based storage is more reliable than tape storage. Aborted backups caused by tape drive mechanical failures are eliminated. HP StorageWorks 15

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • 20
  • 21
  • 22
  • 23
  • 24
  • 25
  • 26
  • 27
  • 28
  • 29
  • 30
  • 31
  • 32
  • 33
  • 34
  • 35
  • 36
  • 37
  • 38
  • 39
  • 40
  • 41
  • 42
  • 43
  • 44
  • 45
  • 46
  • 47
  • 48
  • 49
  • 50
  • 51
  • 52
  • 53
  • 54
  • 55
  • 56
  • 57
  • 58
  • 59
  • 60
  • 61
  • 62
  • 63
  • 64
  • 65
  • 66
  • 67
  • 68
  • 69
  • 70
  • 71
  • 72
  • 73
  • 74
  • 75
  • 76
  • 77
  • 78
  • 79
  • 80
  • 81
  • 82
  • 83
  • 84
  • 85
  • 86
  • 87
  • 88
  • 89
  • 90
  • 91
  • 92
  • 93
  • 94
  • 95
  • 96
  • 97
  • 98
  • 99
  • 100
  • 101
  • 102
  • 103
  • 104
  • 105
  • 106
  • 107
  • 108
  • 109
  • 110
  • 111
  • 112
  • 113
  • 114
  • 115
  • 116
  • 117
  • 118
  • 119
  • 120
  • 121
  • 122
  • 123
  • 124
  • 125
  • 126
  • 127
  • 128
  • 129
  • 130
  • 131
  • 132
  • 133
  • 134
  • 135
  • 136
  • 137
  • 138
  • 139
  • 140
  • 141
  • 142
  • 143
  • 144
  • 145
  • 146
  • 147
  • 148
  • 149
  • 150
  • 151
  • 152
  • 153
  • 154
  • 155
  • 156
  • 157
  • 158
  • 159
  • 160
  • 161
  • 162
  • 163
  • 164
  • 165
  • 166
  • 167
  • 168
  • 169
  • 170
  • 171
  • 172
  • 173
  • 174
  • 175
  • 176
  • 177
  • 178
  • 179
  • 180
1 Introduction
This section describes the HP StorageWorks 300 virtual library system features and models.
Features
The HP StorageWorks 300 virtual library system (VLS) is a RAID disk-based SAN backup device that
emulates physical tape libraries, allowing you to perform disk-to-virtual tape (disk-to-disk) backups using
your existing backup application(s). The many bene
fi
ts of performing data backups to a VLS instead of
physical tape are described in
Bene
fi
ts
.
The VLS emulates a variety of physical tape libraries, including the tape drives and cartridges inside the
libraries. You determine the number and types of tape libraries a VLS emulates, and the number and type
of tape drives and cartridges included in each tape library to meet the needs of your environment. You
con
fi
gure the size of the virtual cartridges in your VLS, which provides even more
fl
exibility.
The VLS accommodates mixed IT platform and backup application environments, allowing all your servers
and backup applications to access the virtual media simultaneously. You can specify which servers
are allowed to access each virtual library and tape drive you con
fi
gure. You can change the default
LUNs assigned to the virtual library and tape drives for each host as needed to accommodate different
operating system requirements and restrictions.
Data stored on a VLS is easily cloned to physical tape for off-site disaster protection or long-term archival
using a backup application.
Bene
fi
ts
Integrating a VLS into your existing storage and backup infrastructure delivers the following bene
fi
ts:
•
Faster backups
Backup speeds are limited by the number of tape drives available to the SAN hosts. The VLS
emulates many more tape drives than are available in physical tape libraries, allowing more hosts
to run backups concurrently.
The VLS is optimized for backups and delivers faster performance than a simple disk-to-disk solution.
•
Faster single
fi
le restores
A single
fi
le can be restored much faster from disk than tape.
•
Lower operating costs
Fewer physical tape drives and cartridges are required as full backups to tape are eliminated. Also,
fewer cartridges are required as small backups stored on multiple virtual cartridges can be copied to
one physical cartridge.
•
More ef
fi
cient use of storage space
Physical tape libraries cannot share storage space with other physical tape libraries, and physical
cartridges cannot share storage space with other physical cartridges. This unused storage space
is wasted.
Storage space is not wasted in a VLS, because VLS storage space is dynamically assigned as it is
used. Storage space is shared by all the libraries and cartridges con
fi
gured on a VLS.
•
Reduced risk of data loss and aborted backups
RAID-based storage is more reliable than tape storage.
Aborted backups caused by tape drive mechanical failures are eliminated.
HP StorageWorks
15