I've just inherited this HPE MSL6480 tape library and I'm looking to set it up for long-term archival storage. I have some hardware already organized: there's one base unit and two expansion units, all mounted in a rack. I also have six LTO 5 drives distributed among the units and enough LTO 5 tapes to get started.
Each unit has one magazine that holds up to 80 tapes. I've got two Brocade 300 FC switches and a few transceivers (specific models are 57-1000027-01 for single mode and 57-1000117-01 for multi-mode). Plus, I've got some Dell R630s and R730s, and I'm planning to dedicate one to control the tape library and manage data ingestion.
I'm already accessing the management UI of the library and am waiting for a serial cable for the switches. I have a potential password for the old switch config, which I hope to recover. The library seems like it hasn't been configured yet.
I'm looking for help on the following points: 1) What type of cabling do I need for the LTO drives? 2) Are my transceiver models correct? 3) What kind of controller card should I use to connect a server to the switches? 4) How should I connect my tape drives to the switches and my server? 5) What do I need to know for configuring the FC fabric? 6) Do I really need both switches, and what's the licensing situation for the tape library? 7) Any other concerns or potential pitfalls? I found some helpful guides but would love more input. Thanks in advance!
2 Answers
We actually still use tape drives for archival purposes in our setup. It's quite effective and keeps our cloud storage costs down. We employ a catalog from Deep Space Storage to manage the drive, allowing us to write to it just like you would with any other storage type. If configured correctly, tape still has its place in data management processes!
The two Brocade 300 switches you're using run at 8 Gb FC, which is just fine for your LTO 5 drives. With a setup like this, utilizing two switches gives you redundancy; if one fails, your data can still be managed through the other. Make sure each tape drive connects to both switches, and ideally, your servers should connect to each switch as well.
For Fibre Channel NICs, I'd recommend either the Qlogic QLE2562 or the HP HPAJ764A. Since you’re working with 8 Gb FC, a 16 Gb NIC like the LPe16002v3 isn't necessary and won't give you extra benefits. Remember, you’ll need a proper Fibre Channel NIC, not just a standard NIC with SFP transceivers.
As for the transceivers, any multi-mode fiber cables should work fine for short distances—OM1 or better is good. About the tape library licensing, older libraries often don’t impose strict limits, but it's good to double-check just in case about how many slots or drives you can utilize. When configuring the Brocade switches, use the web GUI for ease. You'll need to create a zone to connect your server's NIC to the tape drive, which is similar to setting up MAC addresses in networking.
Today, tape is still effective for managing long-term data costs!
Got it! So I should definitely utilize both switches since I have them. With the layout, does it make sense to connect the drives in a staggered way like ABABAB for balancing, or does it not matter? I’ll also look into getting a dual-port NIC for my server to connect to both switches.
Just be mindful of the connections. Make sure each drive has a direct link to each switch, even if the drives only have one port. It'll provide you protection against a switch failure.
That’s interesting! Can you explain how your catalog integrates with the tape drive? Do you use a specific OS or a driver for it?