Automated Media Pools white paper for ESL G3 (QN998-96026, June 2011)

ManualsBrandsHP ManualsStorageHP StoreEver ESL G3 100 slot Tape Library

AUTOMATED

MEDIA POOLS

(AMP)

INTELLIGENT, FLEXIBLE PARTITIONING

FOR HP ESL G3 TAPE LIBRARIES

The benefits of the HP Automated Media Pool

feature of HP ESL G3 Tape Libraries, using a

new partitioning approach to overcome traditional

partitioning constraints

Business white paper

Business background

Delivering a robust backup service is becoming

increasingly challenging in the face of ever mounting

data volumes, and progressively more complex IT

environments. For Service Providers to internal or

external clients, this requires the need to continually

scale in order to keep pace with customer data

growth, while ensuring that data from different

customer backup streams remains protected without

being compromised or comingled.

The prohibitive cost involved with implementing a

separate unique physical library for each customer

has lead to the increasing use of tape library

partitioning solutions. Partitioning can be viewed as

dividing a physical library into multiple logical or

virtual tape libraries. Each of these logical libraries

is assigned to separate customers, but physically

resides within the same tape library system.

While this approach delivers a cost-effective way

to maintain the integrity of data streams, traditional

ways of implementing tape library partitioning have

a number of drawbacks. In particular, providing

the flexibility to support ever-changing capacity

demands, heterogeneous environments and multiple

ISV solutions remains a challenge.

This whitepaper explains the benefits of the HP

Automated Media Pool feature of HP ESL G3 Tape

Libraries, using a new partitioning approach to

overcome traditional partitioning constraints.

Summary of content (4 pages)

PAGE 1
AUTOMATED MEDIA POOLS (AMP) INTELLIGENT, FLEXIBLE PARTITIONING FOR HP ESL G3 TAPE LIBRARIES The benefits of the HP Automated Media Pool feature of HP ESL G3 Tape Libraries, using a new partitioning approach to overcome traditional partitioning constraints Business white paper Business background Delivering a robust backup service is becoming increasingly challenging in the face of ever mounting data volumes, and progressively more complex IT environments.
PAGE 2
Traditional solutions Traditionally there have been two ways to implement tape library partitioning; either using dedicated sharing software, or using the hardware interface to create a set of fixed partitions. Unfortunately, both of these solutions have drawbacks. HP Solution: Automated Media Pool (AMP) HP ESL G3 Tape Libraries take partitioning to the next level, building on the benefits of fixed partitioning with one important difference – the ability to flexibly change partition sizes.
PAGE 3
ISV View Partition 1 (120 slots) 24 accessible Partition 2 (120 slots) 24 accessible AMP = 96 slots Configuring for flexibility Two partitions, partition 1 and partition 2, are carved out of the tape library as demonstrated in figure 1. These partitions appear as physical tape libraries on the SAN. For the purpose of this example, we will assume that partitions 1 and 2 each contain 24 storage slots. However, in practice they will also contain tape drives and perhaps mail slots.
PAGE 4
Dealing with change The previous scenario may continue to meet customer needs for a number of months. However, with IDC predicting annual data growth by a factor of x45, it is just a matter of time before the customer’s storage requirements increase to keep pace with their data. When more storage is required, the slots in the AMP can be made available to the customer’s partition, and subsequently appear as ‘accessible’ to the ISV application.