Tape-v-Disk Technology By Neil Murphy, Celerity Limited

Ever since I have been working in the storage and backup sector of the IT industry, for some 10 years now, people have been stating that “tape is dead”. Some firms have even gone as far as naming their companies along those lines, such as Sepaton, an American based company that deals with disk-based solutions; read it backwards, ‘sepaton = notapes’. There has been an increasing move to disk based solutions. Especially when working alongside some form of de-duplication and compression technology, meaning that you can get a lot more of your data on a lot less disks, and the cost of disks is constantly lowering making it the more viable and cost effective option. Why then would large OEM’s such as IBM, HP, Quantum, Sony, Fujifilm to name but a few, continue to invest huge sums of money in the research and development of a technology that is no longer considered practical? The answer is quite simple; tape-based backup solutions are still, and will continue to be, a huge factor in a corporation’s backup and recovery infrastructure.

Evolving Storage Needs
IT storage managers are expected to manage and protect data with constrained resources while dealing with increased expectations, tighter budgets, increased regulations and heightened security concerns. Businesses are also increasingly focused on total cost of ownership and rising energy costs.

• Data is at risk and must be protected – there is a myriad of potential data destructors: system error, theft, hackers, viruses, sabotage and natural disaster
• Data is growing exponentially - some say by 50% or more each year
• Business environment is constantly changing - increasing budget challenges and customer demands
• Need to store more data for longer periods - information is key to an organisation's success

Tape and Disk Together
The ideal solution is an infrastructure that incorporates both disk and tape formats, each working alongside one another. Tape works well with disk solutions to address different needs. Disk can help with fast backup and retrieval for high performance application needs. However, according to a University of California-Santa Cruz three month study, more than 90% of disk stored data was typically never accessed again, and another 6.5% was only accessed once. This data could be stored on cost-effective tape. Tape is well-suited for this type of data as it is a less expensive and less energy-consuming storage medium. Once data becomes infrequently accessed it should be moved to tape.

Technology Diversification
It is important to have copies on different forms of media to avoid a media or system process disaster. In this case, a mixture of disk and tape, perhaps in a disk-to-disk-to-tape environment. A data protection plan must incorporate a copy of critical data that is stored offline and offsite. Offline data can protect from system errors, hackers and viruses. The data should also be offsite. That way, in the event of a site-wide disaster, the offsite copy of data can be used to recover. These are part of backup and data protection best practices. So, it seems that despite what some might say, tape is still going to be with us for some time. In fact, if you do a generic search on LTO technology, the results show that LTO-7 and LTO-8 are already in the pipeline:

 

With this in mind, what does LTO-6 offer that earlier incarnations couldn’t?

HUGE TAPE CAPACITY
Up to 6.25TB (assuming 2.5:1 compression). One LTO-6 tape can hold the data of more than three LTO-4 tapes

BLAZING SPEED
LTO Ultrium-6 technology has up to 400 MB/s data transfer rates (assuming 2.5:1 compression) to improve efficiency which is over 1.4TB per hour of blazing backup performance per drive.

COMPATIBILITY
LTO-6 drives are designed with backwards-compatible read-and-write capability with LTO-5 cartridges, and backward read capabilities with LTO-4 cartridges, protecting investments and easing implementation.

WORM (Write Once Read Many)
LTO WORM tape support helps address compliance requirements

DATA SECURITY
Tape drive-based 256-bit AES encryption helps protect sensitive information.

LTO-6 WITH LTFS
One of the exciting features available with the LTO-5 and LTO-6 tape drives is the Linear Tape File System (LTFS). LTFS gives LTO-5 and LTO-6 users the ability to use tape in a fashion like disk or other removable storage media for outstanding management and usability. The Linear Tape File System (LTFS) is the first file system that works in conjunction with LTO tape technology to set a new standard for ease of use and portability for open systems tape storage. With this system, accessing data stored on an LTO tape cartridge is as easy and intuitive as using a USB flash drive. And with the operating system's graphical file manager and directory tree, utilising data on an LTO tape cartridge is as easy as dragging and dropping.

• LTO-5 and LTO-6 specifications enable the capability for two media partitions which can be independently accessed to help provide faster data access and improved data management
• With LTFS, one partition holds the content and the other holds the content’s index; the tape can be self-describing to improve archive management
• Enables capabilities that manage files directly on tape allowing for easy sharing of the tape cartridge across platforms
• Makes viewing and accessing tape files easier than ever before. Explore tape content with directory tree structures and drag and drop files to and from the tape
• Addresses the growing needs of a variety of marketplace segments with rich media such as Media and Entertainment, Medical, Digital Surveillance, Seismic Exploration, Government, Cloud and more!

You can drag and drop files from your server to the tape, see the list of saved files using a standard operating system directory (no backup software catalogue needed), and use point and click to restore. To implement this feature, you simply need to download and install the LTFS software on your host machine, usually provided by the tape drive vendor of your choice. So, with these types of technological advances being available with LTO-5 and LTO-6 media, it is very interesting to see what features might be available with the next generation of LTO technology. Watch this space!

Should you have any storage requirements please contact a Celerity Representative. www.celerity-uk.com

Neil Murphy - Principal Consultant - Celerity Limited