When a job leaves the bindery and is shipped to the customer, this usually triggers the archive of the job. The job is moved from the main server and burned to DVD. This is a manual task performed by a responsible person on a daily basis. Right now, can you backup your entire server in one day? Do you have a person dedicated to moving tapes in and out of an autoloader that you have outgrown? If you've been backing up with DLT, DDS or AIT for the last few years, it's time to look at the better technologies available.
Manual backup is risky business and automation is now more affordable and fast. By using automation software, scripting, scheduling and current backup software, the backup routine can be customized for your workflow to ensure proper backup every time. The new backup products available today give print production much more flexiblity and more backup for their buck.
The VXA Tape technology and the LTO Ultrium are both available from EXABYTE. Both tape technologies have multiple manufacturers working together to create standards for tape and drive compatiblity.
The Exabyte VXA-320 PacketLoader 1×10 1U sets the standard in data density, data reliability, transfer speed and price for this class of automation product. In addition to its compact 1U rackmountable form factor, it offers a midrange feature set, including a barcode reader standard, random library operation and standard remote management. Plus, it's the only 1U autoloader with a field-replaceable drive. The VXA-320 PacketLoader 1U offers dramatically higher data reliability than comparable tape automation due to its ground-breaking VXA Packet Technology.
The Exabyte people have been demonstrating their VXA tape durability by freezing tapes, boiling tapes and yes, dropping them in a cup of coffee. Then they restore the data from the tapes. I guess their cleaning tapes take care of any leftover coffee inside the PacketLoader. These tapes are Advance Metal Evaporated (AME) tape. They have a 30-year shelf life with typical usage life of 500 compared to 100 uses with DDS and AIT Metal Particle (MP) tape.
How does this Packet Technology work? The VXA Packet Technology writes and reads data in small, digital packets, much like the Internet. This is a significant difference from all other tape technologies which rely on costly and expensive track-based technologies. With their trademark Perfect Write and Error Correction, these tapes are up to 180x more likely to restore, even from a damaged tape! The transfer speeds (up to 43 GB per hour) allows a backup of 160 GB of data (equal to one VXA-2 tape) in under four hours. The drive will support smaller tapes available in three different cartridge capacities (20/40GB, 40/80 GB and 80/160 GB). For less than $3,000, you get backup automation for 1.6 TB (3.2 TB with full compression) with tapes costing approximately 25¢ per GB.
The Ultrium format is the high-capacity, single-reel implementation of LTO (Linear Tape Open) Technology. It's ideally suited for backup, restore and archive applications and provides excellent performance and reliability in both stand-alone and automated environments. Drives are manufactured by IBM, HP, Quantum and there are many tape manufactures.
An Exabyte Magnum 224 Ultrium LTO-3 Autochanger with 12 x 400GB tapes (800GB with compression) has a capacity of 4.8 TB (9.6 TB compressed) and has a transfer rate of 288 GB/hr and up to 576 GB/hr with compression. It comes with a bar code reader, and the plus model comes with remote management. The LTO-3 version also supports the WORM (Write Once, Read Many) for data that needs to be non-erasable and non-rewritable. This uses special tapes. WORM supports the long-term retention of data required by many regulatory bodies worldwide. With this setup, you can back up a 2.8 TB server in 10 hours. This package will set you back approximately $7,400 and the tape cost is about 25¢ per GB.
So, if you're taking more than one day to backup your server, you should be looking at new technology. A server carrying 500 GBs of data online could benefit from the VXA Packet Technology. For servers that are larger (over 750 GB), the LTO-3 capacity will be a better choice. Automation is available on all platforms and there is always a way to use your tools at hand to create an automated workflow in all areas of your business.
Andrea Mahoney
TriBay Enterprise
T: 416.729-9687
E: andrea@autoflowforprepress.ca
