IBM Tape Solutions for Storage Area Networks and FICON

Chapter 5. Tape solutions 133

5.4 Sharing S/390 tape library resources with open servers

This solution enables library sharing (partitioning) for open servers and a zSeries. It provides

high performance tape pooling with up to 748 TB capacity for up to 10 heterogeneous servers

to an existing IBM 3494 tape library connected to a zSeries or S/390 server.

Business value

This solution helps you to protect and manage valuable business data efficiently. According to

Datamation, recreating just 20 MB of data can cost between $15,000 and $100,000 U.S. It

eliminates or reduce the number of different tape formats and backup strategies by

consolidating to the enterprise class IBM 3494 Tape Library Dataserver.

You can reduce costs with shared tape library robotics and efficient storage management.

Storage management efficiency needs to improve by up to 60% a year to keep up with the

increase in the amount of stored data. Storage management costs typically account for more

than four times the initial purchase cost of the hardware.

You can also reduce backup time by transferring only the changed data over high speed SAN

links. Up to 60% of LAN traffic can be due to data housekeeping.

Description

This solution (see Table 5-10) adds open server support to an existing IBM 3494 connected to

a zSeries server. In this case, the IBM 3494 tape library is partitioned so that the open server

tape drives and slots are completely independent of the zSeries drives and slots. The tape

drives in the open server partition are pooled so that any server has access to any drive

through the SAN.

The IBM 3494 Tape Library Dataserver provides the library controls and tape handling

robotics for native Fibre Channel connected IBM 3590 tape drives. The IBM Magstar 3494

Tape Library is highly scalable, expanding from 1 to 16 library frames and space for up to

6,240 tapes giving 748 TB capacity. Different models of tape drives can be combined in the

same library so open SAN connected servers and zSeries can share the same library.

Library control commands are passed over a LAN or RS232 interface while data is transferred

to or from the tape drives over directly attached high speed 100 MB/sec Fibre Channel links.

Multiple servers can be connected to different tape drives in the same library with the IBM

2109 SAN Fibre Channel Switch.

Optionally, the IBM Magstar 3494 High Availability Unit (Model HA1) eliminates the most

common single points of failure by providing a second library manager, second cartridge

accessor, and communication between the library managers.

StorWatch Expert provides storage administrators with valuable storage asset, capacity, and

performance information needed to effectively manage multiple and remote IBM TotalStorage

Enterprise Storage Server and IBM Magstar 3494 Tape Libraries. The Expert consists of two

components: the StorWatch Enterprise Storage Server (ESS) Expert and the StorWatch

Enterprise Tape Library (ETL) Expert.

Tivoli Storage Manager provides highly automated, centrally scheduled, policy-managed

backup and archive facilities to protect data in distributed enterprises.

134 IBM Tape Solutions for Storage Area Networks and FICON

Figure 5-10 IBM 3494 partitioned library with open tape pooling

Platform support and system requirements

Refer to the following Web site for the latest list of supported servers, host adapters, operating

system levels, and Tivoli Storage Manager support for:

򐂰 zSeries

򐂰 pSeries with supported host adapters running AIX

򐂰 Intel servers with supported adapters running Microsoft Windows NT and Windows 2000

򐂰 Sun SPARC, UltraSPARC, and Ultra Enterprise servers with supported host adapters

http://www.storage.ibm.com/hardsoft/tape/3590/3590opn.html

Implementation notes

Here we discuss various implementation considerations:

򐂰 You must partition the IBM 3494 between OS/390 and the open server environment.

򐂰 Tivoli Storage Manager (3.7 or higher) or equivalent software is needed to provide library

resource management for the open servers.

򐂰 For performance reasons, we recommend that you have a dedicated Fibre Channel host

bus adapter and connection for the tape path from each server to the IBM 2109 Fibre

Channel switch.

򐂰 AIX provides an alternate path capability for the Fibre Channel IBM 3590 tape drives for

automated failover. A 3590 drive has two interfaces, one of which is active. The AIX device

driver can reroute traffic across a separate path to the second interface if necessary

because of a failure in some part of the part to the first drive interface.

򐂰 An IBM 3590-A60 controller or Virtual Tape Server (VTS) is required to attach to S/390 via

Enterprise System Connection (ESCON). A 3590-A60 is required for FICON attachment.

Host 1

IBM 2109

FC Switch

IBM 2109

FC Switch

Host 2

Host 3

Host 8

Host 9

Host 10

.............

3590

Tape

Drive

3590

Tape

Drive

3590

Tap e

Drive

3590

Tape

Drive

3590

Tape

Drive

3590

Ta p e

Drive

3494

Tape library

LAN

Library

control

path