Vendors move to cut server out of data backup
By John S. McCright, PC Week
February 3, 2000 8:16 AM PT
URL: zdnet.com
Organizations looking to reduce traffic on their LAN and free up more processing
cycles on their servers are seeing more options for so-called serverless backup.
A group of hardware and software vendors led by Vixel Corp. on Wednesday
announced completion of a project that will enable IT managers to back up a NAS
(network attached storage) device to a tape library on a SAN (storage area network)
without sending the data over the LAN or through a server.
Separately, Advanced Digital Information Corp. on Tuesday began shipping a new
Fibre Channel router that enables movement of data directly from disk drives to tape
libraries across the SAN with limited server intervention.
By transferring some of the bandwidth and intelligence required for backup to the
SAN, IT departments can free up the LAN for critical transactional data, observers
said.
A who's who list
Vixel, of Bothell, Wash., which makes Fibre Channel switches used in SANs, was
joined in its serverless backup initiative by NAS filer maker Network Appliance Inc.;
tape library makers Quantum/ATL Products Inc. and Spectra Logic Inc.; and backup
software developers Legato Systems Inc. and Veritas Software Corp.
The group certified an IT architecture that starts with a Network Appliance NAS filer
equipped with a new QLogic Corp. Fibre Channel host bus adapter. The adapter,
which is installed in an existing PCI slot, enables the filer to attach to a Vixel switch.
The switch, in turn, connects to a SAN with Quantum or Spectra Logic libraries on it.
The companies modified their hardware or software to work with the others and have
certified interoperability, but initially they will not offer the package as a bundle.
There is no formal process for other vendors to get their switches, filers or software
certified as part of the solution, said officials, who didn't rule out the possibility that that
could take place.
Single drive doesn't hack it
While limited to the vendors involved, this type of NAS-to-SAN connection is
necessary, said David Hill, an analyst at Aberdeen Group Inc. in Boston.
Dedicating an entire tape library to a small NAS filer could be a waste of resources,
Hill said. For larger NAS filers, the SAN connection relieves companies of a different
kind of burden.
"NAS filers used to be 50GB and now they're up to a terabyte, and a single tape drive
doesn't do the trick anymore," Hill said.
For its part, Advanced Digital Information is pursuing a different route in taking the
server, to some extent, out of the backup picture.
The company's new FCR 250 router seeks to nearly eliminate server CPU cycles
used for backup by sending out software agents. The agents, which follow extended
copy commands, allow the router to move data directly from disk drives to tape
libraries across the SAN with limited server intervention.
ADIC is also adding the extended copy command capability to its tape libraries. This
Spring, the company will offer its Scalar 100 technology as a standalone box that will
enable those tape libraries to act as NAS devices that could perform serverless
backup, said officials in Redmond, Wash.
While the FCR 250 is available now, priced beginning at about $9,000, no
applications are on the market yet that can take advantage of the extended copy
capability. Developers including Legato and Veritas are expected to add extended
copy command capabilities to their storage management applications later this year
after the Storage Networking Industry Association approves a standard for the
command.
Vixel is at vixel.com.
ADIC is at adic.com. |
