Network Tape Backup: Finding the Ideal Solution

For your Customers' Data Security and Peace of Mind

Mountain Network Solutions Finding an ideal tape system for network backup can be very much like shopping for a new car. Faced with a confusing array of product types, performance specifications and price points, many VARs and system integrators have limited knowledge upon which to base their purchasing decisions.

All too often, integrators take manufacturers' claims at face value, without further investigation. The end result is predictable. Customers are saddled with expensive, high-performance ("sports car") tape systems for small ("subcompact") backup applications, or a small-capacity, utilitarian ("sedan") system is specified to back up a rapidly expanding ("minivan") network.

Currently, tape systems offer VARs and integrators the widest variety of form factor, recording format and cost choices of all mass storage devices. Available at prices ranging from under $200 to over $10,000, tape systems provide specific capacity and performance differences that make them well-suited for all network environments.

It is essential to look beyond obvious physical size, price and performance specifications when evaluating tape storage systems. Although these characteristics can and should play a role in your purchasing decision, you must also examine the network's storage requirements, the tape system's compatibility with existing network hardware and software, and the data management software that accompanies it.

As a general rule, you should roughly tailor the price and performance of a tape backup system to the price and performance characteristics of the computer environment it is supporting. QIC Format: TheIndustryWorkhorse While an increasing number of users are converting to DAT (digital audio tape) and 8mm helical scan systems, quarter-inch cartridge (QIC)-format tape systems continue to be a strong and versatile industry standard for networks ranging from two-node PC LANs to global enterprise networks. In these environments, the most common applications for QIC-format tape systems are fixed disk backup and long-term archival data storage.

According to Freeman Associates, a storage industry research firm, nearly nine million QIC drives are in daily use around the world. Mini-cartridges in the 3.5-inch form factor still provide a cost-effective solution for meeting the speed and storage requirements of today's entry-level 386DX and 486SX PCs. These tape systems, based on the QIC-40 recording format, are connected to a computer through its floppy disk controller and provide up to 120MB of storage for around $200.

The popularity of these mini-cartridge systems will continue as capacity and flexibility improve. SCSI-based mini-cartridge products currently in the evaluation stage will offer capacities as high as 400MB (uncompressed) to 800MB (compressed).

The latest introduction in the mini-cartridge arena is portable, parallel port backup units. Recently introduced by Mountain, these systems offer an excellent solution for backing up portable computers as well as multiple workstations on a small network. Since these units interface to the parallel port (rather than the more common floppy drive or SCSI interface) they can be easily attached to the printer port of notebook computers, laptops and other systems. The small, lightweight design of these drives also makes them easily portable from one networked system to another.

As with any single type of tape drive, the features and performance of parallel port systems vary from unit to unit. It is possible to find competitively priced systems that offerbackup speeds of up to 10MB per minute and capacities of up to 305MB per cartridge.

For more powerful PCs such as 486DX-based file servers or UNIX terminal hosts, you should specify higher-capacity tape storage systems. For price-sensitive applications withhigher-capacity requirements, QIC-80 (an extended QIC-40 variant) mini-cartridge systems are available for under $400. However, the floppy controller's slow I/O speeds severely limit theperformance and appeal of these systems for storage applications over 200MB.

To solve this performance dilemma the IDE-compatible mini-cartridge system was developed. These IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) tape drives, such as the Mountain FileSafe 8500, attach directly to the IDE bus and provide backup speeds up to 10MB/min.This is effectively five times the performance of floppy controller-based mini-cartridge systems at an additional cost of less than $200.

A few companies have also addressed performance by offering drives that provide "Format-on-the-Fly" capabilities. While systems typically require users to spend hours pre-formatting their tapes before recording, drives equipped with Format-on-the Fly automatically perform this operation during the recording session.

Today's state-of-the-art tape drives store more than 300MB of data. In addition, they are fully read-compatible with QIC-40 and read/write-compatible with QIC-80 tape formats. Many medium- to high-powered PCs and networks employ tape drives using full-sized quarter-inch cartridges, including the industry-standard DC600 and DC9000. These 5.25-inch cartridges have storage capacities ranging from 60MB to over 4GB. The full-sized QIC systems are fast, reliable and are fully upgradable and may be backward-compatible with previous formats.

Full-size QIC drives are the fastest and most durable of all tape technologies. While specifiers are gravitating to the newer tape technologies, recent improvements in both speed and capacity have greatly extended the life of QIC tape technology. Today, QIC drives can achieve data transfer rates of over 300 KB/sec--well above the other tape formats.

The New Emerging Standard for High Capacity

Large corporate networks and multi-server enterprise systems require high-speed tape storage solutions with ultra-high storage capacities. These capacity requirements are being met by two new tape standards which are rapidly becoming the backup solutions of choice--4mm (DAT) and 8mm helical scan tape systems technology.

Advanced DAT and 8mm helical scan systems operate by removing a length of tape from the cartridge shell and wrapping it around a rotating recording head. Unlike QIC heads, which record data longitudinally along the tape's length, helical scan heads record data diagonally across the tape's width in one-inch stripes. This allows much more data to be recorded on a given length of tape.

Available since 1988, DAT is rapidly gaining user accep-tance. The format offers excellent versatility and is being used in a range of applications, including fixed disk backup, long-term archival data storage, disk image storage and retrieval, and distributed data backup and management.

Due to their compact physical size, DAT systems are portable and easy to handle. DAT uses the DDS (Digital Data Storage) recording format, which allows up to 2GB to be stored on a single cartridge (4GB with data compression). In addition, DAT employs an advanced file indexing technology that allows any recorded data to be retrieved within 60 seconds--a major advantage over other tape formats. Eight-millimeter tape systems from Mountain and others provide up to 5GB of storage per cartridge--enough to back up a small-to-medium network server's DASD system onto a single tape.

For larger network backup applications, robotic 4mm and 8mm cartridge libraries (commonly called autoloaders) are available that boost storage capacities to 20GB and beyond. Using the SCSI-2 interface, sustained data transfer rates over 20MB/min. for both DAT and 8mm systems are possible. These systems are retail priced from $2,000 to over $10,000. At the same time, they provide a broad range of capacity and performance capabilities to match a broad range of needs.

Compatibility Concerns

The proliferation of network products, applications and operating systems in recent years have greatly compounded the compatibility and interoperability challenges faced by both hardware manufacturers and system integrators.

The vast majority of today's networks operate on standardized network operating systems such as NetWare, LAN Server, Vines, AppleShare, and PC LAN. As a VAR or system integrator, however, there are several important compatibility- related questions you should ask when evaluating tape systems for your customers' networks. Know whether the tape storage system uses standardized recording formats such as QIC-40, QIC-80, DDS-1 and DDS-2. If a customer's hardware needs change, these formats provide full compatibility with previous-generation tapes so time-consuming data conversions aren't necessary.

These formats are also used by all major manufacturers, providing excellent product longevity. Recent developments by Novell and Microsoft are aimed at providing a standardized media in their respective operating system formats so that third-party developers can assure media interchange among various vendors' products.

Although the basic technologies in a particular tape format are standardized, end-user products are becoming increasingly differentiated by various hardware and software tricks. If your application calls for the use of tape backup systems at separate locations, make sure each site can read tapes written by the other site. This will help avert a disaster in case of a total system failure at a single site.

Be wary of off-brand, "bargain" tape media, which can actually shorten the life of tape drives. This is especially true in the DAT marketplace, where inexpensive media is being sold at prices similar to those of audio and videocassettes. To maximize long-term data integrity, counsel your customers to purchase only the media brands and types recommended by tape drive manufacturers.

Backup Software

A recent survey of Fortune 1000 companies by Infonetics, an industry research firm, found that networked corporations lost nearly $3.5 million in employee productivity annually. A significant portion of these losses was directly due to storage device downtime.

As prices of tape drives continue to decline, industry leaders in the backup arena are promoting increased penetration of tape drives into the PC and LAN market. One way this is being done is by improving the functionality of the software that accompanies their systems. The best software solutions manage data in addition to simply backing it up. Most importantly, any software you specify should be compatible with your customers' existing network hardware and software. When you are evaluating software to resell with your tape backup system, find out if disaster recovery capabilities are included.

This is an excellent sales feature that should be considered because of the value organizations place on their computerized data. In addition, look for full-featured packages with utilities for day-to-day data recovery, data management and reporting, tape and media cataloging, and automatic data migration.

Software with these features will allow your customers to quickly bring their systems up and recover data if a crash occurs. It will also help them maintain their information with minimal human intervention.

While this article provides you with a basic overview of what to look for in a tape backup system, there are several other important factors that you should consider. These include:

Manufacturer's Reputation:

Do the backup system's hardware and software vendors have a good reputation for servicing and supporting the products they sell? A little thought about future concerns now can save your customers a lot of pain down the road.

Product Reliability:

Are the tape drives you are evaluating well-known for their high reliability and low maintenance? You can get a rough idea about a product's reliability by talking to current users.

Ease of Use:

Are the backup system's various hardware and software components relatively straightforward and easy to use? Look for simplified controls and intuitive user interfaces that maximize the system's usability. Evaluating and specifying a tape backup system can be a challenge for resellers and system integrators alike.

With careful consideration of the evaluation criteria discussed in this article, you can select a tape backup system that meets your customers' needs--both now and in the future. And more than likely, you won't have to play games with a car salesman to do it.

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Researched and developed for Mountain Network Solutions, Inc.