Running 2 tape libraries on one media server

[Won_Choi]

I would like to get pros and cons on running two libraries on one media server. Because I had some hardware failures on both libraries in the same week and ran into some issues.

[David_Sanz]

Won

If you are afraid you can have hardware problems, it's a good solution having both libraries on the same server: thanks to policies, you can define templates on one library if the backup on the other one fails, for example.

Another advantage is that you just need to purchase ine media server, instead of both.

A disadvantage is that more data needs to travel through the network than if you had the second library physically attached to a second server (this would be backuped up directly).

Regards

[Ken_Putnam]

another disadvantage

You'll need to purchase a Library Expansion Option before the second library will be recognized

[David_Sanz]

Right Ken

I missed that, sorry

[Won_Choi]

David,

Thank you for the inputs. We had 2 media servers and each had its own tape library. One of the media server had to be taken off line. So now I am running two libraries (PV 132T LTO3 and SDLT) on one media server( purchased LEO). The day after I added the second library, I noticed a huge difference in backup time. Like you mentioned in the last paragraph, the bandwidth is bottlenecking big time. Now, my issues is to reduce the backup time. Spoke with both Dell and Veritas, but no progress.

Just last week, one of the tape drives failed and had to be replaced. After replacing the drive, I had to reboot the media server which created canceling a running job on the other library.

Long story short, any suggestions on possible ways to decrease the backup time?

Thanks,
Won

[Won_Choi]

We had to purchase a LEO to get the second library recognized and running.

[Ken_Putnam]

Only thing I can think of would be to setup a dedicated backup network, with it's own switches and cableing, install a second ( 1GB ) nic in each server and do all your backups over the dedicated network, to avoid any contention from any other source.Message was edited by:
Ken Putnam

[David_Sanz]

And if you think it could help, you could implemente a D2D2T technology, backing up first to a faster device (a local hard disk), then duplicate to any of the libraries.

Regards, David

[Won_Choi]

Ken,

I was thinking about creating a separate subnet for backup network and adding second NICs. This way only the backup traffic will flow through without congesting the network traffic. Thank you for the input.

[Won_Choi]

David,

I would love to implement a D2D2T. Due to our limited budget, it will take some time to impletment this technology . Thank you for input.