Tfinity® Exascale Edition Architectural Guide

Transcript

TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide April 2016 CONTENTS Contents .......................................................................................................................2 Abstract ........................................................................................................................4 Executive Summary.......................................................................................................4 TFinity Architectural Overview ......................................................................................4 Density............................................................................................................................................. 7 Scalability ........................................................................................................................................ 7 Modularity..................................................................................................................................... 12 Media Handling ............................................................................................................................. 13 Availability ................................................................................................................. 15 Dual Robots ................................................................................................................................... 15 Robotics Communication Failover ............................................................................................... 15 Power Consumption ..................................................................................................................... 16 Power Distribution ........................................................................................................................ 16 Redundant Power Supplies .......................................................................................................... 16 Dual Power Rails (Copper Rails / Carbon Brushes) ..................................................................... 17 Robotic Transporter .................................................................................................... 18 The High Performance TeraPorter (Vertical Robot Column) ..................................................... 18 The High Performance Transporter ............................................................................................. 18 High Performance Transporter: Tape Drive .................................................................. 22 Technology& Multi-Media Support.............................................................................. 22 LTO................................................................................................................................................. 22 TS1150 Technology....................................................................................................................... 23 Multi-Media .................................................................................................................................. 24 Cold Storage .................................................................................................................................. 24 MediaIQ ......................................................................................................................................... 25 SlotIQ ............................................................................................................................................. 25 BlackPearl Integration .................................................................................................................. 26 Custom Front Panels .................................................................................................................... 28 Power Supply Connections .......................................................................................... 28 TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 2 Dual AC 2 Power Unit ................................................................................................................... 29 Power Distribution Unit (PDU) ..................................................................................................... 29 BlueScale .................................................................................................................... 29 Common Management Interface ................................................................................................ 29 Library Status at a Glance ............................................................................................................. 31 Modular Virtual Libraries: Partitioning with Shared Library Services ........................................ 31 Capacity on Demand (CoD) .......................................................................................................... 32 Management and Reporting Features ........................................................................................ 32 Media Lifecycle Management (MLM) ......................................................................................... 32 Drive Lifecycle Management (DLM) ............................................................................................ 35 Library Lifecycle Management (LLM) .......................................................................................... 37 Data Integrity Verification ............................................................................................................ 38 Virtualization ................................................................................................................................. 39 EnergyAudit™ Power Monitoring Feature .................................................................................. 40 System Messages and Alert Reporting ........................................................................................ 41 Monitoring System Messages: Syslog Server .............................................................................. 41 Automatic Drive Cleaning ............................................................................................................. 42 Integrated Security – Encryption Key Management ................................................................... 43 Ensure Delete ................................................................................................................................ 44 Spectra SKLM Support .................................................................................................................. 44 Additional Support and Continuity Features ................................................................ 45 Assisted Self Maintenance ........................................................................................................... 45 Technical Account Management ................................................................................................. 45 Common Components ................................................................................................................. 47 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 49 Copyright ©2015 Spectra Logic Corporation. BlueScale, Spectra, SpectraGuard, Spectra Logic, TeraPack, T‐Finity, and TranScale are registered trademarks of Spectra Logic Corporation. ArchiveGrade, BlackPearl, IntraCloud, and nTier Verde are trademarks of Spectra Logic Corporation. All rights reserved worldwide. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. All library features and specifications listed in this white paper are subject to change at any time without notice. TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 3 ABSTRACT Extreme data growth and long data retention periods call for extreme storage responses. Spectra Logic has accepted the challenge by introducing the TFinity ExaScale Edition library which is not only the world’s largest library by a factor of nearly 3, but also the world’s first, Exabyte capacity tape library. Deploying the industry’s fastest, largest capacity tape technology in conjunction with a state of the art software management platform, TFinity ExaScale Edition outruns storage growth trajectories while doing so on a TCO that’s second to none. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The rate of data growth worldwide means the total amount of data created is projected to double every 24 months through 2020. 1 The rate of data growth tracks Moore’s Law stating that compute performance doubles every 18 to 24 months. The doubling of compute power and data creation is compounded by the fact that data is being kept for increasingly long periods of time due to a variety of business, legal, and regulatory reasons. As data growth accelerates and retention periods increase, the ability to economically store and retrieve data becomes a critical issue for many users. Spectra Logic’s answer to this customer dilemma is the introduction of the TFinity ExaScale Edition (EE) tape library – the world’s first Exabyte capacity storage system. TFinity EE is the world’s largest, single storage device comprised of up to 44 library frames and 40,000 TS1150 tape slots with room for as many as 120 tape drives. Because TS1150 tape cartridges can store up to 25 TB of compressed data, the 40,000 slot capacity of TFinity EE enables the library to store an Exabyte of capacity. Furthermore, the library’s dual, high performance robots, each of which can access every tape and tape drive in the system, deliver superior response times relative to competitor offerings including public cloud storage. TFinity EE is loaded with redundant systems and a variety of drive, media, and data health and integrity verification systems. Consequently, TFinity EE is not only the largest, highest capacity, best performing library in the market, but delivers the richest suite of features dedicated to ensuring your data is reliably written, indelibly retained, and accurately delivered back to you whenever you want it. The following paper provides additional technical detail about the many specifications, characteristics, and features of TFinity EE. In addition it will highlight several advantages of which users may benefit. TFINITY ARCHITECTURAL OVERVIEW The TFINITY library from Spectra Logic makes use of an exclusive architectural design delivering many, significant benefits to the user. This design, known as the TeraPack® architecture, is a patented method of implementing a drawer and cabinet construct for storing tape cartridges within a library. In doing so, the TeraPack architecture allows the TFinity ExaScale edition and related TSeries libraries from Spectra to optimally use the 3D interior dimensions of a library frame. IDC. “EMC Digital Universe Study with Research and Analysis by IDC.” April 9, 2014. Retrieved from http://www.emc.com/leadership/digital-universe/index.htm, on September 3, 2015. 1 TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 4 Traditional libraries put tape media into slots arranged vertically and horizontally along the interior wall of the library – typically in rows and columns. Those tapes are then plucked, one at a time, from the wall slot and transported to the drive for insertion. Tape cartridges shown stored horizontally in the library wall, stacked in columns, are picked one at a time and moved to the tape drive for read / write operations. Large number of robotics operations or moves are inherently required to transport large numbers of tapes either to / from tape drive or for library import / export purposes. The TeraPack architecture of TFinity uses TeraPack containers, like those shown in the figure below that houses tapes. These containers are recessed into chambers inside the library much the same way a drawer is recessed into a cabinet when closed. TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 5 By sliding a TeraPack full of tapes into a storage chamber on the wall, the TeraPack architecture utilizes the 3-dimensional space within the library frame, thereby increasing storage capacity per square foot. In addition, each robot operation can can move up to 10 tapes at a time to / from tape drives or for import / export purposes TS1150 tape TeraPack (left) contains up to 9 tape cartridges. LTO tape TeraPack (right) contains up to 10 tape cartridges. The TeraPack containers and the tapes within them make full use of the 3-dimensional storage space rather than the 2-dimensional space traditional libraries employ. Similar to the drawer, a TeraPack is extracted from its chamber when a tape is called for by an application. The TeraPack is then moved by the robot to the drive bay. While enroute the requested tape is pulled from the TeraPack so it can be positioned for insertion into the drive mouth upon arrival at the drive location. The unique design of the TeraPack architecture cannot be replicated by other vendors and constitutes a true competitive advantage that results in multiple benefits to the user. These benefits include reduced storage space requirements as well as faster, more efficient, and more secure media handling. TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 6 DENSITY Because TFinity and other Spectra libraries utilize the TeraPack architecture making full use of the 3-dimensional space within the frame, they can hold more tapes per square foot than competitors. The bar chart shown below demonstrates the density advantage that TFinity delivers relative to competitors because of its unique, patented design. It indicates the square footage required by each library in order to contain 4,000 LTO tape cartridges and 12 LTO tape drives. Figure 1 Required Data Center Floor Space for 4,000 Slot Tape Libraries *The IBM® TS4500 is a single robot system and has no redundant robotic option. As configured, this system requires HD CoD licensing at a significant cost premium. The average cost to lease co-located data center floor space may be calculated as a range of $55 - $83 per square foot per month 2, or $660 to $996 per year depending on power requirements. Consequently, the annual savings of TFinity’s industry leading density relative to its competitors can be significant over the lifetime of the library which, in many cases, exceeds 10 years. SCALABILITY TFinity EE’s TeraPack architecture lends itself to easy scalability since it’s very modular and comprised of numerous building blocks. TeraPacks are small modules or blocks that fit within large library frames which are effectively modules themselves that comprise the library. The tape drives are housed in sleds that are independent blocks which are located within modular drive bay assemblies within the library frames along with http://ongoingoperations.com/data-center-pricing-credit-unions/ Calculations based upon monthly rack space rental specified in data retrieved August 13, 2015. 2 TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 7 the TeraPacks. In essence, the library is an aggregation of small building blocks which may be combined to readily increase capacity at the TeraPack level (9 to 10 tape slots at a time) or at the library level by adding frames. Performance may be increased by simply adding tape drive modules within the library frames as well. With this architecture, there are effectively 7 types of building blocks which allow TFinity EE to be scaled up or down as needed. These basic building blocks consist of: • Tape Cartridges • Tape TeraPacks • Tape Drives • Base Library Frame • Drive Expansion Frame • Media Expansion Frame • Bulk TAP (TeraPack Access Port) Service Frame • Standard Service Frame These simple building blocks allow TFinity to contain as few as 90 TS1150 tapes to as many as 40,000 tapes and as few as 2 tape drives up to 120 ranging from the three-frame minimum configuration up to 43 frames at maximum capacity. TFinity can also accommodate mixed media configurations using any combinations of LTO, TS1150, and T10000 within the same library by making use of these same building blocks noted above. The library may be configured to house TS1150 and T10000 tapes which have a larger form factor than LTO yet still include smaller LTO tapes as well. The High Performance Transporter discussed later in this paper is capable of picking / putting both types of tape cartridges. As a result, TFinity can now support customers with multiple media types without requiring them to purchase a library dedicated to each type. Figure 2 below shows the maximum number of configurable LTO slots available in various libraries within the market space. TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 8 Figure 2 Maximum number of LTO slot available for tape libraries The TFinity ExaScale edition is in a class by itself with the ability to hold more than twice the number of LTO tape cartridges as the nearest competitor. Given the advent of LTO-7 technology available to all the tape libraries in the space, the storage capacity of LTO libraries has increased significantly over the previous generation of the LTO. This technology enables the TFinity ExaScale Edition library to store almost a full Exabyte of compressed data. Figure 3 Over all library native and compressed capacity using LTO-7 technology When looking at enterprise tape based capacity, the TFinity ExaSale Edition library can be configured to hold over 40,000 TS1150 tape cartridges. TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 9 Figure 4 Maximum number of Enterprise slots available in various tape libraries. * The i6000 does not support any enterprise tape technology As Figure 5 below shows, the TFinity ExaScale Edition is the only library in the world that is able to store a full Exabyte of data. Figure 5 Maximum Enterprise Tape Capacity of various libraries * The i6000 does not support any enterprise tape technology. The capacity numbers in Figure 5 above are based on the SL3000 and SL8500 configured with T10000-D technology, and the TS3500, TS4500, and the TFinity ExaScale Edition configured with TS1150 technology. TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 10 Library Max Compressed LTO Capacity PB Max Compressed Enterprise Tape Capacity PB SL3000 77 102 T950 150 190 SL8500 151 202 i6000 180 03 TS3500 301 380 TS4500 348 439 TFinity 802 1017 Table 1 Comparison of Compressed LTO and Enterprise Tape Capacities The unique architecture of TFinity and other Spectra libraries use the full height, width, and depth of the library interior, ensuring each library delivers a footprint and density advantage across nearly all configurations relative to the competition. FORM FACTOR Furthermore, the density advantage of TFinity EE is being provided within a standard, rack row configuration that conforms to data center best practice. Compared to the Oracle® SL8500, TFinity EE provides not only superior density in a smaller footprint, but does so without interrupting data center air handling or equipment servicing operations as shown in the comparative example below. 3 The Quantum i6000 does support any enterprise class tape cartridge technology. TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 11 In this plan view looking down from above, it’s evident that TFinity conforms to standard data center rack row design criteria while the competitor deviates from it significantly. As a result, TFinity affords not only greater density, but much more favorable data center ergonomics when it comes to serviceability and air handling. The architectural advantages offered by the TeraPack design accrue to both density and standard floor space layout. However, the advantages of this unique Spectra design extend well beyond those of density and footprint. MODULARITY TFinity’s uniquely simple design consisting of the building blocks noted in the previous section, make it highly modular and interchangeable. This fact is notable from the component level within frames e.g., TeraPacks, Drives, etc., up through the level of frame combinations needed to erect a complete library. TFinity building blocks include the base frame, drive and media expansion frames, as well as your choice of standard or bulk TAP service frames. In the 25-frame example shown above, the base frame and expansion frames, both drive and media, may be placed anywhere in the configuration as long as they are between the service frames. As a result, drive frames may be spaced throughout the configuration in order to reduce the travel time from any given slot location to a drive. Standard frame width is 29” with the service frames being 30” due to the end cap closing off either end of the library. All frames have a depth of 43.25 inches. The frame building blocks shown above allow users to construct libraries in a nearly infinite set of combinations in order to meet specific needs for capacity, performance, and location within their data centers. This building block mentality that enables flexible configurations also ensures that library expansions are easily completed. TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 12 Simply unbolting a Service Frame at the end and inserting more expansion frames between the service frame and rest of the library, then sliding them all together again, means users can quickly extend their library capacity and do so within less than a day in many cases. In some cases, it’s also possible to extend the library’s capacity by simply appending expansion frames to the library outside the current service frames, the attaching yet another service frame to the end of the expansion. Doing so allows the user to expand the library without taking it off line. However, it does mean that a lower density service frame (500 LTO slots) is now trapped within the configuration. MEDIA HANDLING TeraPack Access Port (TAP) The media TeraPacks around which the TFinity is architected enable not only great density, but also improved media handling. This is particularly true for media import / export functions. Rather thing picking or putting tapes one-at-a-time into an I/O slot, TFinity EE’s TeraPacks allow users to quickly place or retrieve up to 10 tapes at a time into the TeraPack Access Port (TAP) rather than loading / unloading tapes individually. For very large import / export operations, saving up to 90% of the operator’s time on a non-production task adds quickly. Bulk TAP Service Frame The base frame of TFinity EE includes two TAPs for even faster tape loads / unloads providing industry leading performance for media imports and exports. However, for customers with extremely large library configurations needing extraordinary import / export capability, TFinity EE also offers Bulk TAP Service Frames. Each Bulk TAP Service Frame gives the user the capability of putting or picking up to 14 TeraPacks at a time into or from a library. TFinity EE can accommodate a Bulk TAP Service Frame at either or both ends of the library delivering the capability of importing / exporting up to 280 LTO tapes within a few minutes. When exchanging hundreds of tapes in a library, doing so in batches of up to 280 at once rather than individually may save hours of operator time. The Bulk TAP Service Frame offers import / export capability for up to 14 TeraPacks at a time plus TeraPack storage for 500 LTO or 378 TS1150 tapes plus service space in which a TFinity EE robot may be serviced or replaced while the library is in operation. Storage & Transportation TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 13 Beyond the simplified and very quick import / export capability, the TeraPack design makes media storage and transportation outside the library fast and secure as well. Each TeraPack comes with its own hardened dust cover which can be put over the TeraPack and tapes upon its removal from the library. The top of the dust cover is designed to lock into place with the bottom of any other TeraPack. This means TeraPacks can be stacked on top of each other without sliding around while also ensuring the security and safety of the tape media contained within. The end result is a stackable set of TeraPack building blocks that optimize external shelf storage locally or at off-site locations. For off-site transportation, the TeraPacks with dust covers may be loaded, 2 each, into hard-sided Iron Mountain carrying cases. Doing so enables secure, easy transport of tapes to another location rather than dumping loose tapes into boxes that can readily allow tapes to be damage in transit. Iron Mountain TeraPack carrying case as well as LTO and TS media terapacks. TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 14 AVAILABILITY One of the key characteristics of an enterprise library is its ability to respond reliably and consistently when called upon to store and deliver data. Furthermore, it must store and serve that data back without error or corruption. Any system that does not meet these requirements is not considered an enterprise class offering. TFinity EE provides a range of features and attributes to ensure that it readily meets the definition of enterprise class. Many of TFinity’s critical availability attributes are related to the hardware architecture and will be discussed in this section. Several other TFinity EE availability features are found in the BlueScale® software discussed later in this paper. DUAL ROBOTS Automated tape libraries with a single robotic tape mover are, by their very nature, single-threaded systems. If the robot ceases to function, so does the library. Many users’ business operations cannot tolerate downtime in excess of a few minutes. Since library non-functional robotics systems often require more than a few minutes of troubleshooting, repair, or replacement, a single robot library will not satisfy users’ availability requirements. The high performance, dual robot design of TFinity EE delivers a level of redundancy unavailable in single robot architectures and heightens the system’s availability by ensuring that both robots are able to access all tape media and drives within the library at all times. Some enterprise class libraries with multiple robots are not configured in this manner. Consequently, when a robot fails in those libraries, users can lose access to the subset of tapes and drives serviced by that robot. In the case of TFinity, if a robot goes off line for some reason, the functional robot takes over servicing all tape drives and media within the library. As a result, the temporary loss of a robot does not leave tapes or drives stranded on a deserted island as it would with other library options. Dual robot configurations like that of TFinity EE deliver increased performance as well as better system and data availability. The library’s dual robot performance is discussed further in the High Performance Transporter section of this paper. ROBOTICS COMMUNICATION FAILOVER In order to keep the robots moving tapes between slots and drives they have to be receiving move commands from the host system. Should the communications path between host and robots fail, then having one, two, or multiple robots within the library becomes irrelevant since they will all cease moving due to lack of direction. TFinity EE addresses this issue by provide Robotics Interface Module (RIM) failover. With the installation of two or more RIMs within the library, all of which are connected to the host via Fibre Channel (FC) network, TFinity EE allows the enablement of primary and secondary RIM configurations. In this case, should the primary RIM, which is initially responsible for exporting host commands to the robot, become inoperable the secondary RIM will immediately take over command export duties to ensure the flow of host commands continues uninterrupted to the robots thereby preventing work flow interruption. TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 15 POWER CONSUMPTION As the quantity of data grows, so grows the storage to contain it and the power required to keep that storage running. With an estimated 90% of the world’s data having been generated within the past few years 4, the ability to store the data torrent and power the storage is of great importance. One analyst study concluded the cost of power consumption for disk storage was 238 times greater than that of tape. 5 In fact, the cost of the power consumption alone was greater than the total TCO for a comparable tape solution over a 12 year period in which data growth was assumed to be 45% annually – far short of the rate required to generate 90% of the world’s data in the past few years. POWER DISTRIBUTION Automated tape libraries are electrically driven. Without power, in part or in whole, the library will operate in degraded mode or not at all. Consequently, the power distribution system within the library becomes critical in that a failure in one part of the system can degrade the library or stop it from functioning completely. Some library vendors therefore chose to put a power supply into every component of the library that needs power e.g., tape drives, robots, fans, servers, etc. Doing so in such configurations means that a power supply failure at the component level results only in that component ceasing to function rather than the entire library. While this philosophy sounds good on the surface it carries with it two significant issues: 1) a power supply failure at the component level results in the component becoming inoperative until a service technician can come on site to replace the component and, 2) dedicated power supplies are not always running at or near maximum capacity in which case they are running inefficiently and wasting power. TFinity EE, and other Spectra libraries, utilize an electrical bus distribution architecture. Rather than having power supplies attached and dedicated to all the powered components within the library, TFinity aggregates power supplies behind an electrical bus. The aggregated power is then distributed through the bus to all the components within the library that require power. In this way, a power supply failure will not leave a component inoperative. Instead, the remaining power supplies pick up the slack by distributing power evenly through the bus. Furthermore, this aggregated bus architecture means that each of the installed power supplies is being run at a nearly optimal utilization rate resulting in efficient use of available power i.e., little or no power wasted. REDUNDANT POWER SUPPLIES The electric bus distribution system in TFinity EE enables an efficient, effective N+1 power configuration to serve power to the tape drives in the Drive Bay Assemblies (DBA). In this case, the library contains the recommended minimum number of power supplies “+1” additional. For example, a library with two DBAs would include one 5/12 volt supply per DBA +1 more power supply for redundancy. SINTEF. (2013, May 22). Big Data, for better or worse: 90% of world’s data generated over last two years. ScienceDaily.com. Retrieved February 18, 2015 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130522085217.htm 4 Clipper Group. (2010, December 23). In Search of the Long-Term Archiving Solution – Tape Delivers Significant TCO Advantage over Disk. Spectralogic.com. Retrieved February 18, 2015 from www.spectralogic.com/index.cfm?fuseaction+home.displayFile&DocID=3712. 5 TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 16 The power supplies are aggregated with total power being distributed or load shared across the bus to all the drives within the library. Providing N+1 power availability through a distributed system ensures there are sufficient power supplies to serve the entire drive population of the library without having too many underutilized power supplies wasting energy as would be the case if each drive had its own power supply. A redundant power option is also available to ensure the robots, fans, and servers within the base and drive expansion frames are properly powered. The base frame includes a 24 volt power supply which may be augmented with an additional 24 volt supply delivering power through an electrical bus to the robots, servers, fans, and interior LEDs within the library irrespective of frame type. With these types of redundant power supplies, TFinity EE can lose one or more power supplies and continue to function, without degradation, until replacement supplies can be installed either by the customer or by Spectra personnel. DUAL POWER RAILS (COPPER RAILS / CARBON BRUSHES) A distributed electrical bus architecture and redundant power supplies are not the only portion of the total electrical system providing redundancy. The power supply path to the robots themselves also provides failover capabilities to ensure there is no single point of failure within the power system. Power is supplied to the robotic movers within the library using a carbon brush and copper rail system arrayed along the bottom of the library. This system is an upgrade from previous aluminum rails in that that new copper rail / carbon brush combination exhibits a more consistent and sustainable wear pattern promoting greater power transfer uniformity and reliability over extended periods of time. There are two power rails (primary and secondary) along which the electrical brushes of the robot pass providing an electrical connection to the robots as they move along and above the rail. Should the primary rail fail as a power conduit, the secondary rail will continue to provide electricity to power the robot. A third, ground rail is also a part of the system. Should the ground rail fail, the alternate ground becomes the physical rail on which the robot actually sits and moves. Carbon brushes provide contact with the power rails to provide an electrical conduit serving the robotic motors on the transport column. Copper rails, primary and secondary, as well as a ground rail run the length of the library providing continuous contact points for the carbon brushes to deliver power to the robot motors on the transport mover. TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 17 ROBOTIC TRANSPORTER Each robot within the library carries a robotic transporter which is the mechanical component responsible for picking and putting both TeraPacks and individual tapes. TeraPacks are pulled from and placed into TeraPack chambers for storage along the sides of the library while individual tapes are also picked and put to and from the TeraPack and tape drives. The robotic transporter is responsible for both sets of moves. The moves of TeraPacks and tape drives may be a significant portion of the total time to data availability which also includes drive load, thread, and seek to the desired data block location on the tape. As a result, improving the performance of the robotic mover as well as the robotic transporter carried by the mover can significantly help overall library performance in terms of cycles or exchanges per hour. THE HIGH PERFORMANCE TERAPORTER (VERTICAL ROBOT COLUMN) The High Performance Teraporter will improve on the current Teraporter’s horizontal travel velocity. By employing larger motors and improved structural integrity, this new generation Teraporter will reach 80 inches per second within five to six library frames. This is an improvement of more than roughly 40% over the current Teraporter. Larger TFinity systems of more than nine frames will see the most benefit from the new Teraporter. THE HIGH PERFORMANCE TRANSPORTER The advent of spectra logic’s high performance transporter is more than an increment in performance- it is an evolutionary step in Terapack and tape cartridge handling. From the speed at which the transporter can perform its tasks, to the overall advanced technology it employs, the benefits of the new High Performance Transporter will have a very positive impact on Spectra Logic customers. High Performance Transporter – improving performance by up to 6 times. MORE RELIABLE SHELF SENSOR CALIBRATION When moving to a specific drawer within the library, the motion control software moves the transporter to a specific Horizontal Axis Position (HAX) and Vertical Axis Position (VAX). The system then uses a proximity sensor (referred to as a “Shelf Sensor”) on the transporter to find the physical marker for the target drawer. These drawer physical markers are referred to as “drawer flags”. Once the system has determined the actual location TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 18 of a drawer, it records this information for future operations. This puts a large dependency on the accuracy of the Shelf Sensor. Due to manufacturing and design constraints, the current generation Spectra Logic transporter has to calibrate its Shelf Sensor with the base of the transporter. This calibration enables the motion control software to adjust for shelf senor aiming errors and thus minimize HAX and VAX positioning errors. The motion control software performs this calibration on any transporter for which it has not yet calibrated the Shelf Sensor. This calibration can take 5-6 minutes per transporter. The new High Performance Transporter comes with its Shelf Sensor per-calibrated from the factory. This has a number of advantages including elimination of potential calibration errors due to shelf hardware variations, and faster system startup since the system does not need to spend time calibrating transporter Shelf Sensors. CAMERA BASED POSITIONING The High Performance Transporter has both proximity sensors and cameras. Both can be used for positioning although camera based position can be much more accurate. With proximity sensor based positioning, the motion control software moves the transporter past the target drawer’s drawer flag looking for leading and trailing edges. The system then calculates the center of the “flag” and then the offset to the center of the drawer. Proximity based positioning has been used for years and it continues to be an accurate method for robotic positioning; however the new High Performance Transporter takes positioning to the next level by employing camera based position. Using video camera and a target sight, the High Performance Transporter can not only determine the position of a shelf flag, but it can report back to the motion control software VAX and HAX positioning adjustments need to point at the center of the flag. Instead of searching for edges of a shelf flag, the HPT will enable the system to position more accurately and much more quickly. ADVANCED TERAPACK HANDLING The High Performance Transporter improves on the current generation transporter’s Terapack handling by employing an ingenious new TAX (Terapack Axis) mechanism. The current transporter uses a single tilting TAX plate that travels the length of the transporter tilting up at ether end to Current Generation TAX Plate engage the Terapack. This TAX plate requires 8 separate movements to fully move a Terapack from a drawer into the transporter. Figure 2 below shows the progressive movement of the TAX plate when picking a Terapack from a drawer. This very complex series of movements can take up to 7 seconds to complete. TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 19 Current Generation Transporter Terapack Pick The new TAX mechanism of the High Performance Transporter has 2 separate TAX fingers that move independently. To pull a Terapack from a drawer, the first TAX finger reaches out, engages the Terapack and starts to pull it into the transporter. When the Terapack is about halfway into the transporter, and while it is still moving, the second TAX finger engages the Terapack and both TAX fingers pull the Terapack together. Before the end of the pull, the first TAX finger disengages from the Terapack while the second TAX finger continues to pulls the Terapack the remaining distance into the transporter. This handoff occurs so quickly and seamlessly; that the Terapack never stops moving once the transporter has engaged it. Figure 16: Top view of High Performance Split TAX Fingers The Progression of the High Performance Transporter Terapack Pick This new mechanism improves Terapack pick and put operations from about 7 seconds down to less than 1 second. Over the 10,000 Terapack moves, the improvement can result in over 13 hours of saved move time. In addition to the performance improvement, the HPT’s split TAX fingers constantly engage the Terapack holding it in place within the transporter. This is not the case with the current generation transporter. Unintended Movement of a Terapack within the transporter can result in slot pick or put failures. The HPT eliminates unintended movement of Terapacks and virtually eliminates slot pick and put problems. TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 20 IMPROVED TAPE CARTRIDGE HANDLING The current generation transporter’s tape cartridge picker head employs a small finger (referred to as the PAX finger), to hook into a small notch found in tape cartridges. Once engaged, the picker head can pull a tape cartridge from a slot into the picker head. When putting a tape into a drive, the picker head reverses the action pushing the cartridge out of the picker head. One disadvantage of this mechanism is that it must be different for each tape cartridge type since different cartridge types have notches in different places. The High Performance transporter improves tape cartridge handling by implementing a new tape cartridge gripper. This new gripper, called the Gripper Axis or GAX, squeezes both sides of the tape cartridge firmly holding it in place. By holding the tape cartridge more firmly, the HPT enables more precise and reliable drive and slot put/pick operations. UNIVERSAL TAPE CARTRIDGE PICKER HEAD Another benefit to the new GAX is the HPT’s ability to handle multiple tape cartridge formats. The ability to pick different tape cartridge formats enables mixed-media support where one TFinity system can store LTO, IBM® TS-11x0, and potentially Oracle T10K cartridges 6. This allows customers to partition a TFinity into separate virtual libraries each supporting a different tape cartridge type 7. Instead of purchasing a separate library for each in-house media type, the customer can spread the cost of a TFinity across their complete tape inventory. High Reliability Axis Mechanisms The current generation of transporter employs spur gears and worm screws to articulate various axis. The HPT uses timing belts and toothed pulleys. The advantages these new mechanisms include: 6 • Virtual elimination of gear lash resulting in higher precision. • Less friction resulting is less wear and high attainable speeds. Spectra Logic does not support storage or use of Oracle T10K tape cartridges at this time. 7 Mixed media support allows for a partition to have a single type of media. All frames within the library must be TS11x0 (JAG) spacing. Both transporters within the system must be High Performance Transporter. Spectra Logic does not support mixed media with different transporter types. TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 21 PERFORMANCE COMPARISON The following table compares the performance of the current generation transporter to that of the HPT. HIGH PERFORMANCE TRANSPORTER: TAPE DRIVE First Generation Terapack Pick/Put High Performance Transporter 7 seconds < 1 second Slot Pick 3 seconds .5 seconds Slot Put 3 seconds .5 seconds SAX (Picker Head) Rotation 1 seconds .25 seconds TECHNOLOGY& MULTI-MEDIA SUPPORT The tape technology available within an automated tape library is often the defining characteristic of the solution. Library capacity and data rate throughput are almost completely predicated on tape technology. The usability, reliability, and availability of the tape technology housed in a library also are critical to a solution’s acceptance in the market. Consequently, the ability to choose from a number of tape technologies for use within a library like TFinity allows you to address increasingly large segments of the tape market by meeting a greater number of storage requirements. LTO Linear Tape Open (LTO) technology has become the most common tape technology in industry enjoying a market share in excess of 90% by unit volume. LTO is available from a number of vendors and provides a compatible format allowing interoperability among the drive and media providers in the space i.e., no vendor technology lock and ease of sourcing. Because LTO can be competitively sourced from a number of vendors it enjoys a relatively low entry point for acquisition as well as positive TCO benefits. In other words it’s economical, providing good value for the investment with plenty of flexibility. 8 8 Spectra Logic. “Tape Drive Technology Comparison”. October 2014. TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 22 LTO is the world’s best-selling tape drive technology. An open tape format, support for Linear Tape File System (LTFS), and multiple drive and media vendors ensure the technology can be readily sourced and easily used. TS1150 TECHNOLOGY TS1150 Technology delivers the highest capacity tape cartridge at 10 TB uncompressed as well as the highest uncompressed data rate at 360 MB/s. In addition, it also delivers vastly superior Bit Error Rate (BER) performance relative to alternative tape technologies as well as greater reliability as measured by load / unload cycle counts and MTBF hours. While the drive is an IBM proprietary format, it does command a nearly twothirds market share in the enterprise drive market. 9 The TS1150 tape drive is the world’s fastest and highest capacity tape technology available today. Streaming data at more than twice the speed (360 MB/s), packing four times as much data on tape (10 TB), and providing a BER three orders of magnitude greater (10-20) than LTO. TS1150 is the best performing drive and media technology in the industry. T 1 0 0 0 0 (T 1 0 K ) T10000, also known as Titanium, is Oracle’s proprietary enterprise tape drive. It delivers greater capacity and performance than LTO, but is not on par with TS1150. Its proprietary nature means there is only one source for the drives and media – Oracle. The library install base The T10000 tape drive is the nearest using Oracle® / Sun® / competitor to TS1150 in terms of performance StorageTek® drive providing roughly 80% the capacity and 70% of technology is extensive the data rate of TS1150. and may rightfully be called legacy. 10 However, these users are not deploying either the world’s number one drive either in terms of specifications or market share and availability TFinity will support T10000 tape drives for media migration purposes only. The drive technology will be installed and supported within a given TFinity library only for as long as required to migrate a user’s data from T100000 to 9 Ibid. 10 Spectra Logic. “Tape Drive Technology Comparison”. October 2014. TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 23 LTO or TS1150. Once the migration is complete, the T10000 drives will be removed in order to make room for the industry’s market leader in LTO or the industry’s performance leader in TS1150. MULTI-MEDIA By providing multi-media support with the High Performance Transporter (HPT), TFinity will allow users to consolidate their tape operations. Instead of using dedicated libraries for each drive type, users can put both the industry leading (by volume) tape technology (LTO) in the same chassis as the industry’s largest capacity and fastest tape technology (TS1150). Doing so means TFinity is one of only three libraries that can provide mixed media support to help users consolidate and streamline their tape storage operations. For users with T10000 tape technology who are subject to single-sourced drives and media that are not the industry leader in any category, the possibility of easily migrating off that technology to one of the leaders can be compelling. In addition to LTO and TS1150 support, TFinity and its HPT also support the T10000 tape drive and media for migration purposes. By allowing users to house T10000 tape drives and media within TFinity, Spectra offers the industry’s first tri-media support capability to streamline the migration process. With trimedia support users can easily move from T10000 drives and media to either LTO or TS and do so without requiring two libraries be operating simultaneously. For more information on choosing the tape technology that best meets your needs, please see the Spectra Logic white papers titled, “Tape Drive Technology Comparison” and “Options in Tape Technology” which may be found on the Spectralogic.com / resources / white papers page. SUMMARY The HPT brings a great deal of improvement to the table over the current generation of transporter. From more precise position mechanisms and higher speed Terapack and tape cartridge handling, to mixed media support, the HPT is a game changing improvement to the TFinity EE. Spectra Logic’s new High Performance Transporter enables the TFinity EE to reach its full potential through higher performance, high reliability, and almost infinite flexibility. COLD STORAGE Cold Storage is a cost saving features that enables the customer to create a separate “vault space” within the physical library. Tapes within this vaulted space are not managed by the customer’s backup software. Since most backup software vendors price their packages by the number of tape cartridges under management, many customers physically export long term tape cartridges from the library and place them into separate tape vaults. With Cold Storage, the customer does not need to remove these cartridges from the library, but rather keep them close at hand. Cold Storage has benefits beyond cost savings that include the timesavings to bring vaulted tape cartridges back into a data partition. Since vaulted tape cartridges are already within the TFinity system, moving then between a data partition and a cold storage partition is a logical move and not a physical move. Cold Storage partitions are not seen by the host software and have no associated tape drives. Tape cartridges within a Cold Storage partition are moved as far away from the drives as possible as to minimize space contention with normal data partition activity. A Cold Storage partition is very similar to a cleaning partition in the following ways: TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 24 • There is no exporting mechanism (i.e. not seen by the host) • There are no drives • There are no IE Slots • The partition may be associated with one or more data partitions but all partitions must use the same media type • There may be one Cold Storage partition per data partition. • The option for a Cold Storage partition will only appear if a drive type matching the media type exists in the library MEDIAIQ The SCSI protocol is a synchronous, request/reply protocol. For robotic tape moving requests, a host (backup software) can have only one outstanding request with a library (physical or virtual). Because of this, each partition within a TFinity has only one outstanding move it is servicing. MediaIQ encourages the host to send multiple requests to each virtual library (partition). In this situation, the TFinity system can optimize the move order in a way that minimizes movements and enhances performance. To encourage a host to send multiple move request to each TFinity partition, the system exports multiple interfaces per partition. The host will send a separate move request to each exported interface. Thus if the system exports 5 interfaces for a specific partition, the host will send one request for each and the TFinity will have 5 move requests within its move queue. The larger the move queue, the opportunity the TFinity will have to optimize the move request mix. The system is able to export the same partition on a maximum of 6 different interfaces. SLOTIQ SlotIQ relies on the fact that the host system is not aware of the actual physical layout of the internal tape inventory. The system uses this fact to virtualizes the physical location of tape storage slots in such a way as to minimize and optimize robotic movement while insolating the host from the details of the inventory. When servicing a slot-to-drive move, the system retrievea the source Terapack, retrieves the tape cartridge from the source slot, positions the transporter in front of the drive, and loads the drive with the tape. This leaves an empty slot in the source Terapack. Instead of returning the source Terapack back to a drawer, the system keeps the source Terapack in the transporter. When servicing a drive-to-slot move, the system leaves the tape cartridge in the tape drive, but responds to the host with a completion code that indicates a successful move of the tape cartridge from the drive to the destination slot. In essence, the tape drive has become a virtual storage slot. At this point, at least one transporter contains a Terapack with an empty slot created by the original slot-todrive move. When serving another slot-to-drive move, the system uses one of the transporters carrying a Terapack with an empty slot to store the tape from the drive. The system then returns this Terapack to a drawer and retrieves the TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 25 Terapack containing the source slot and loads the drive. As before, the system does not return this source Terapack to a drawer, but rather keep it in the transporter to facilitate the next drive unload. BLACKPEARL® INTEGRATION The BlackPearl gateway provides a unique S3 interface to tape. As such, it becomes an integral component of any large, tape-based object storage installation. Consequently, TFinity EE will be capable of provide a rackmount installation on top of the base or drive expansion library frames in which to house the BlackPearl gateway. Putting the BlackPearl directly on top of a frame delivers S3 interface to TFinity tape drives within their own dedicated partitions. BlackPearl is compatible with existing TFinity installations as an optional upgrade and may be ordered as an upgrade option on new TFinity EE. 11 IP INTERFACE For several decades, the link to tape has been dominated by SCSI commands and Fibre Channel interfaces. More recently, Serial Attached SCSI or SAS has become a common front end to tape. However, none of these are particularly well suited to an internet world dominated by GigE interfaces and simplified, web-based protocols. BlackPearl changes all that by offering a Gigabit Ethernet front end using S3 commands (popularized by Amazon) atop HTTPS to move data to and from tape as part of an object storage architecture featuring tape as a nearly infinite repository. With an internet protocol (IP) interface now available on tape, a variety of new users including social media and cloud storage providers that dominate the internet space are enjoying the economic and security benefits that only tape affords. Because an IP interface is so ubiquitous and easy to use, it’s becoming a standard for internal IT departments as well in which case they too, can optimize their high capacity, long-term storage environments with common internet-like practices. 12 In order to provide flexibility and genetic diversity within a storage environment it’s important to have an IP interface into a tape library. An IP-based tape Management platform like BlackPearl that can manage and utilize all types of writable media formats or tape drives within a library provides just such flexibility. A tape library such as TFinity EE can be segmented into logical partitions with each partition housing a different drive and media technology. BlackPearl then manages each of these partitions separately by characterizing them as individual storage domains. Then a data policy can be set for an individual domain or across multiple domains. These policies include rules for temporary or permanent data persistence, PUT and GET job priority 11 See Spectralogic.com / Products / BlackPearl for additional information. 12 Ibid. TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 26 status in BlackPearl, and default Checksum type. BlackPearl provides administrators the ability to create data policies and set default policies for S3 users as well as apply data storage policies to a bucket. A typical example would include writing to two types of storage media at the same time e.g., TS1150 and LTO7, each specified as its own domain. In this case, BlackPearl would utilize its Advanced Bucket Management function to create a data policy that writes copies of data to both the TS1150 and LTO7 partitions (storage domains) within a TFinity EE library. This means any data written to a bucket would have a copy of data on both kinds of technology within the library providing a flexible, diverse data protection and management system, all of which is enabled by an IP front end to the library. REPLICATION / FAILOVER BlackPearl affords a degree of site replication that was previously only available to tape users deploying expensive software applications that harbored the intelligence to replicate data to multiple sites. Not only was this middle-ware expensive, but it introduced a layer of complexity into the storage environment that was not necessary. The IP-based, object storage front-end to tape of BlackPearl also delivers data replication capabilities. As the gatekeeper to enormous amounts of storage behind it, BlackPearl can make multiple copies of your data and dispense those copies across different storage domains, and devices behind it. This functionality includes replicating objects from one BlackPearl to another BlackPearl unit or units at alternate locations (sites) in an Active-Active configuration. Should an object not be available from one BlackPearl because it was off-line, the application can request that object from another BlackPearl in the configuration, even at another location. The BlackPearl receiving the request will go ahead and provide that object back to the application in a seamless manner with no service interruption and very little latency. 13 CLUSTERING: PERFORMANCE & MANAGEMENT By clustering multiple BlackPearl units in front of large tape repositories 14, like TFinity, users can enjoy increased performance and take advantage of the massive speed afforded by tape’s streaming capabilities. The wide open IP network in front and high-speed FC links to tape behind BlackPearl in a clustered configuration allow for unmatched object ingest and retrieval while providing plenty of load-balancing across the BlackPearl units and tape drives preventing data bottlenecks. BlackPearl clustering also improves system management by ensuring that administrative, security, and configuration options are always available. Should one BlackPearl unit become degraded or inoperable, the aggregated architecture allows other BlackPearl units in the cluster to exercise full command and control of the object metadata, the object store behind it, and all managerial functions. Downtime can be completely mitigated while enjoying the full benefits of performance, capacity, and manageability even when a BlackPearl goes off line. 15 13 Roadmap item. 14 Roadmap item 15 See Spectralogic.com / Products / BlackPearl for additional information. TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 27 BLACKPEARL PARTITION A BlackPearl partition or partitions may be created within TFinity to house one or more “buckets” of data. Buckets are the BlackPearl naming convention used for grouping data by discrete user, application, title, date, or nearly any naming convention required by a user. Buckets are also configured with user accessibility privileges. Using BlackPearl buckets allows an administrator to subdivide a partition into buckets to facilitate readily definable access boundaries. This means access control can be provided to discrete data sets within a partition without having to allocate an entire partition in order to achieve the same level of access control. CUSTOM FRONT PANELS Many enterprise customers use their data center locations as high tech public / customer relationship viewing galleries. In these situations, users may wish to showcase their technology and promote their business. Given the size and prominence of TFinity installations, they provide a significant canvas on which to promote a business. The custom front cover option allows TFinity EE users with a 5-frame library or larger to display company logos or special images across the front of their library frames. Images must be of resolution high enough e.g., 150 dpi at 100% size to avoid pixelization issues. Spectra will make new front skins with customer images and install those custom covers at the customer site. TFinity Enterprise Edition also provides the option of having custom skins designed by Spectra in concert with customer input. In either case, customer provided artwork or Spectra generated graphics, the skin design will ensure future expansion of the library will be supported in the artwork. Custom Front Covers are available as an upgrade on existing TFinity installations, assuming the requirements in the previous paragraph are met, and may be ordered with new TFinity EE as well. POWER SUPPLY CONNECTIONS TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 28 The TFinity ExaScale Edition provides greater flexibility in connection to power supplies with the new dual AC power unit and the new optional Power Distribution Unit (PDU). DUAL AC 2 POWER UNIT The Dual AC 2 power unit is a complete replacement for Spectra’s previous Dual AC power unit. Data Centers that wish to provide AC power redundancy to their TFinity ExaScale Edition Library can now do so without the need for in-phase power. This enhancement provides installation flexibility, reduces installation costs, and speeds up installation time. POWER DISTRIBUTION UNIT (PDU) The new Power Distribution Unit (PDU) enables customers to easily power their TFinity ExaScale Edition Library with Delta or Wye configured three-phase power. The PDU comes with an optional web enabled power meter for monitoring and balancing the power load across library frames. In addition, the customer can receive alters regarding AC power loss. BLUESCALE BlueScale is the name given to Spectra Logic’s library management interface. It is common to all Spectra libraries including TFinity EE. It is a proven administration platform that has been running Spectra products across 16 years and many thousands of library installations. COMMON MANAGEMENT INTERFACE Many storage devices, including tape libraries, require multiple management interfaces to conduct all the functions the storage system offers. For instance, there may be one management interface for front panel interactions, a separate interface for remote interactions, and still others for specific functions like configuration, provisioning, reporting, or security. In some cases, separate management interfaces also require separate licensing, support contracts, operational procedures, and even dedicated servers external to the storage solution. All these requirements add complexity, cost, and potentially additional power consumption above and beyond what’s simply required for the tape library and associated drive. TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 29 Enterprise libraries like TFinity EE that combine these features, functions, and management interfaces into as few touch points as possible help to streamline the automated tape segment of the storage environment. In the case of TFinity, all management functions from configuration to administration to security to reporting have been incorporated within a common library management interface. This is true not only for front panel interactions but also for remote interface purposes. By combining all these functions within a single, intuitive user interface, TFinity and other enterprise libraries from Spectra eliminate the need for additional licensing, support contracts, procedures, and power consumption due to additional server requirements. The integration of all these functions represents a form of storage consolidation that’s unique in the industry. TFinity EE provides a graphical interface that is extremely easy to use, and that can be used to monitor and manage the library, either from the tape library’s front panel or remotely. Reporting is also straightforward, with the library status shown at a glance, as well as complete reporting available on library status, drive and media status, error messages, and more. The intuitive graphical interface is password-protected, and lets you remotely monitor and manage the library and complete tasks such as power-cycling the library from anywhere through a Web browser, with remote management optionally secured using SSL. The BlueScale interface ease of use is shown below. With four categories, and icons that make it easy to identify a task, the learning curve is minimal, even though the feature set is extensive and sophisticated. Guided configuration and other processes simplify even the most complex tasks. The BlueScale interface allows you to access the TFinity EE library’s many unique features, including drive and media lifecycle management, and integrated partitioning. These features require no external hardware or TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 30 software, minimizing data center space and power use, and minimizing task complexity for data center staff. A command-line interface that allows XML commands and scripting is also available for some TFINITY EE library operations. LIBRARY STATUS AT A GLANCE The Spectra library provides the status of the library at a glance, available through the front panel touch screen and remotely through a web browser. This highlights component status and information about any messages that require attention. Regardless of the menu and icon selected, the icon at the bottom of the screen indicates the potential significance of the error and contains a link to system messages. Adjacent to each component, an icon indicates the health of that specific component, including for example fans, drives, and robotics. X ML C O M M A N D S An XML command line interface can be used to provide automated support for operating and monitoring the library. When issuing commands, programming languages such as Java, Perl and Python can be used to send a series of XML commands to the library. In addition to sending XML commands, the programs can parse the XMLformatted data that the library returns as the command response and interpret any output generated by the command. *See Spectra Logic XML Command Reference Guide for additional details. MODULAR VIRTUAL LIBRARIES: PARTITIONING LIBRARY SERVICES WITH SHARED As an optional upgrade, Spectra TFinity EE supports library virtualization through a partitioning feature, Shared Library Services (SLS). Partitioning allows the Spectra library to connect to multiple interfaces and run multiple applications with multiple hosts, each potentially running a different operating system. By partitioning a Spectra Tape Series physical library into separate logical libraries, the library appears to the outside environment as multiple individual libraries. SLS lets data centers implement simple, integrated partitioning to handle multiple media or drive technologies. Other partitioning solutions involve complicated external partitioning servers, network connections, and proprietary client software. In contrast, SLS users can partition the Spectra TFinity EE library TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 31 quickly through the library’s easy-to-use graphical interface, which guides the user through the process of naming the partition, and associating drives and slots with each one. The partition is implemented, transparent to all applications in the networked environment. Partition geometry is stored in non-volatile RAM, where all information is retained, even if drives and interface modules are replaced. To create more than one partition in a library, purchase and enable the Shared Library Services (SLS)/Partitioning option. Each TFinity EE has a maximum of 16 data partitions and 1 cleaning partition. The size of a single data partition is only limited by the capacity of the entire library. Chambers in the entry/exit pool provide an interim storage location for media during import and export operations. Media is not accessible to backup software for writing or reading data while it is in the entry/exit pool. Storage chambers not assigned to a partition are in the free pool. These chambers can be assigned to a data partition or a cleaning partition. Media in the free pool is not accessible through the BlueScale user interface or the backup software until it is added to a partition. When you configure a partition, you assign a certain number of chambers to the partition. If the partition is a data partition, you specify how many chambers are assigned to the storage pool and how many chambers are assigned to the entry/exit pools. CAPACITY ON DEMAND (COD) The exponential growth of data means storage solutions have to be able to grow quickly, smoothly, effortlessly, and to great scale. TFinity EE offers 9 (TS1150) and 10 (LTO) slot Capacity on Demand (CoD) growth capability to help customers scale just the way they would like. Library users can buy only the capacity they need, when they need it, and add it to their library’s storage capability with a storage enablement key. Physical capacity is preinstalled in every library frame which allows for the simple addition of a key to BlueScale to enable an instant, granular capacity increase within the physically installed configuration. MANAGEMENT AND REPORTING FEATURES TFinity EE’s many built-in management and reporting features simplify the management and monitoring of your library. These include Media Lifecycle Management, Drive Lifecycle Management, Library Lifecycle Management, drive performance monitoring, power consumption monitoring through the EnergyAudit feature, Data Integrity Verification, integrated encryption key management and others. MEDIA LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT (MLM) When you use Spectra Certified Media, BlueScale Media Lifecycle Management (MLM) non-intrusively tracks approximately 40 criteria about each tape throughout its usable life. Through proactive health monitoring, MLM will identify potential issues before they arise. Further, you can track absolute values of tape usage from initial use (or the tape’s manufacture date) to identify tapes that are nearing end-of-life as specified by the manufacturer. You can remove these tapes before issues arise to ensure that all data written to the tape can be retrieved. MLM data lets you review the health of every tape in your library and generate reports about media health. These reports include summaries of media health across the whole library or within an individual partition. The easy-to-use MLM feature provides extensive reporting on media health, available capacity, compression ratios, load counts, write errors, and many other characteristics. TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 32 The table below provides a summary of the data points reported on by MLM for LTO and TS1150 tape drives and media. LTO and TS Technology LTO Only Media health Barcode Load count Loaded Cleans remaining Write protected Remaining capacity Current drive display Media type Number of cleans First write partition First write library Last write partition Last write library Encryption key expiration (BlueScale Encryption) Maximum capacity Soft write errors Soft read errors Remaining MAM capacity Date of most recent LTO CarbideClean Drive efficiency Media efficiency Drive status (last four) Lat four load device s/ns Date of first LTO CarbideClean® Media s/n Compression ration Exported Export user Drive s/n of first LTO CarbideClean Current partition Manufacturer Manufacturer data Tape generation Temperature of first LTO CarbideClean Born on date Encryption (BlueScale, None, Other) and BlueScale moniker Humidity of first LTO CarbideClean Last four load device efficiency Export time Drive s/n of most recent LTO CarbideClean ML M T A P E H E A L T H I C O N S Using Media Lifecycle Management, tape health is assessed using a wide range of features to produce a score reflecting tape health, and is shown at a glance through the use of icons: The media is in good condition (that is, the tape is healthy) and operating properly. The cartridge can be used for writing new data and reading previously written data. The media tape health is average, a state typically due to normal tape aging. Although you can continue to use the tape normally, for maximum reliability use the tape for restores only. TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 33 The media tape health is poor. This is calculated using a range of features, including media errors, tape age, and usage. Retire this tape cartridge. If this icon is displayed for a cleaning tape, the cleaning tape is at its end of life (maximum number of uses) and should be retired. Note that using a cleaning tape after it has been used the recommended number of times risks damaging the drive. This icon indicates tape health is unknown. ML M AND SPECTRA CERTIFIED MEDIA Media Lifecycle Management starts with packaged, bar-coded, guaranteed Spectra Certified Media and cleaning cartridges. Before shipment, Spectra Logic writes baseline data to the memory chip embedded in each cartridge. Throughout the life of the cartridge, every tape in Spectra libraries stores data that is continually collected and written to the tape’s memory chip (also called Media Auxiliary Memory, or MAM). When the tape is loaded into a drive in a Spectra library, MLM reads the information stored on the cartridge memory chip. MLM uses this information and the cartridge barcode to maintain a database of information about each cartridge in the library. This database includes information about the cartridge manufacturer, as well as data about the cartridge age, how many times it has been loaded, the most recent drives in which the cartridge has been used, and how many errors it has accumulated. It also records when the cartridge is exported from the library and by whom. If desired, you can save the reports to a USB key or email them to a previously configured mail user. In addition to generating reports, you can determine the remaining storage capacity for the media in the entire library or in a specific partition from the General Status screen. Cleaning tapes are important in maintaining drives, but it can be very difficult to track the number of times a cleaning tape has been used—and using a cleaning cartridge after its scheduled end-of-life may damage drives. With certified tape cleaning cartridges, BlueScale MLM tracks the number of times a cleaning cartridge is used. You can configure BlueScale MLM to notify you when a cleaning cartridge is approaching its maximum number of uses, so that you can remove it to prevent overuse. CARBIDE CLEAN MEDIA Additionally, Spectra Certified media is put through a unique cleaning process called Carbide Clean. Carbide cleaning extends the life of tape drives and media while also enhancing the performance and capacity of tapes. Spectra uses tape drives with special carbide bladed cleaning heads that remove any manufacturing debris that might come from the media factory. Removing this material before shipping the media means your drives don’t suffer undue wear from manufacturing residue. Cleaning tapes are important in maintaining drives, but it can be very difficult to track the number of times a cleaning tape has been used—and using a cleaning cartridge after its scheduled end-of-life may damage drives. With certified tape cleaning cartridges, BlueScale MLM tracks the number of times a cleaning cartridge is used. You can configure BlueScale MLM to notify you when a cleaning cartridge is approaching its maximum number of uses, so that you can remove it to prevent overuse. SAMPLE BENEFITS TFinity® ExaScale Edition OF R E P O R T E D ML M D A T A S T O R E D Architectural Guide IN TAPE MEMORY 34 Data Tracked by MLM ML M AND Benefit Media born-on date Notifies you when to discontinue using old tapes for critical information. Read and write error rates Detects degraded media prior to data loss. Last four tape drives that wrote to or read the tape Isolates drive from tape problems. Last read/write date Shows the age of the data on the cartridge. Remaining capacity on the tape Displays the tape’s available storage. The name of the library and partition in which the tape is used Ties off-site media to host and application. Number of uses (for cleaning tapes) Prevents overuse of cleaning tapes. Media quality Ensures your library has enough healthy media to ensure safe data storage. CONFIGURATION DATABASE BACKUP: AUTO SAVE FEATURE Data about the library, including its configuration and database of stored media and drive records, is backed up using the Auto Save feature. The library automatically saves this data to a flash drive on a library controller module, optionally to a USB device, or in an email, once a week and every time a partition is added or edited. This data can also be saved when changes are made and the system prompts the user to save the changes, and can be saved manually at any time. An external copy of the auto-save configuration file ensures that in the event of a disaster, you can recover the library configuration, the Media Lifecycle Management database, and the Drive Lifecycle Management database. DRIVE LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT (DLM) Drive Lifecycle Management provides data about drives that you can use to identify drives with issues before those drives affect ongoing library operations. Used in conjunction with Spectra Logic’s Certified Media, DLM, MLM, and LLM help you comprehensively manage your library and its drives and media across the life of each. Using the BlueScale interface, you can see icons indicating drive health at a glance: • The library’s general status screen shows a drive icon indicating drive health within the selected partition. • The drive screen shows a list of drives with an icon indicating the health of each. • The drive detail screen shows more information about each drive, including the health icon. TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 35 DLM gathers data each time a tape is unloaded from a drive. The data stored by the library includes the following information about the last 50 tapes unloaded: • Read/write errors, including soft and hard errors • Tape alerts • Flags generated while the tape was loaded in the drive • Recent errors or recent information posted through the drive’s single-character display The library uses this data to generate a report on overall drive health as well as health reports for individual drives. These reports, along with BlueScale drive clean, test, and resets, help you determine whether a problem exists with a drive, a tape, or another library component. DL M D R I V E T E S T S DLM drive tests include: • Drive test: Cleans the drive and then runs a read/write performance test using a scratch tape. • Drive reset: Power-cycles the drive, runs the internal drive diagnostics, and reinitializes the drive in the library. DL M D R I V E H E A L T H I C O N S The DLM report screen shows the health of each drive using these icons, so you can identify at a glance any drives that may require attention or retirement. The drive is in good condition (that is, the drive is healthy) and operating properly. The drive can continue to be used for writing new data and reading previously written data. The drive health is average, a state typically due to normal aging. Although you can continue to use the drive normally, for maximum reliability use the drive for restores only. The drive health is poor. This is calculated using a range of features, including drive errors, age, and usage. Replace this drive. This icon indicates that health status is unknown. To refresh the drive health data, use the Update button on the Drive Lifecycle Management report screen. For a detailed drive health report, select the drive detail screen, and select DLM. This displays the following parameters: Drive health status: Drive identifier and health icon TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 36 Tape summary: Barcode label information and media health information for the last 50 cartridges loaded into the drive Tape history: Detailed information about each of the individual tapes listed in the Tape Summary pane, and any Tape Alert flags or SCD codes posted by the drive while the tape was loaded in the drive Drive errors: Detailed information about errors detected by the drive, beginning with the most recent. This information includes the barcode of the tape loaded in the drive at the time of the error and the sense key, ASC, and ASCQ data reported by the drive for the error. DRIVE PERFORMANCE MONITORING The Drive Performance Monitor lets you get the most out of your library by ensuring that drives are performing at the highest possible throughput rate. Performance monitoring graphically displays the read/write performance of the drives in the library. Metrics can be tracked per individual drive or by tracking overall library throughput. LIBRARY LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT (LLM) BlueScale Library Lifecycle Management (LLM) tracks the library and its components across the library’s lifecycle. Through Hardware Health Monitoring, BlueScale tracks maintenance thresholds for key library components and notifies you when maintenance tasks are required to keep your library in optimum operating condition. TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 37 When a component reaches its maintenance threshold, the status bar displays a Maintenance Notification icon. You can then notify Spectra Support through the AutoSupport Phone Home feature, or you can view LLM data using the advanced utility LLM: View Data. This utility displays a report (which you can also save to a USB device) that shows the current status of the LLM counters. This includes information about the following: • Library serial number and name (if configured) • Information about key library components monitored by HHM, including the type of reminder generated when the component reaches its maintenance threshold • Transporter moves: Drive-to-drive moves, drive-to-slot moves, slot-to-slot moves, slot-to-drive moves, TAP-in moves, and TAP-out moves. Two additional utilities are available to set LLM counters. Typically utilities are used in conjunction with direction or consultation with SpectraGuard technical support. DATA INTEGRITY VERIFICATION PreScan: Once configured, the library automatically inserts each newly imported cartridge into an tape drive in the partition and checks the drive to determine the following: • Non-MLM-enabled tape • Broken or dislodged leader • Poor media health • Write protected When the PreScan operation completes, the library stores the tape health information into the MLM database. Then the drive ejects the cartridge, which is returned to its original slot. PostScan: After data is written to tape, a PostScan can be conducted to verify that the data written to the tape has no errors. Using either QuickScan or FullScan, the drive will scan each tape cartridge and confirm that there are no media errors on the tape by reading either a single length of one wrap of tape or the entire length of the tape, up to the end of the recorded data (EOD). The PostScan process is performed by the library independently of the backup application normally used to read and write data to the tape. The results of the scan are stored in the library’s media-health database. The user can set triggers to check the health of tapes over an interval of time, to ensure that the data is valid. You can also verify a specific tape’s data integrity manually/by request. Once PostScan is configured, the library identifies tapes to be loaded into a drive for scanning, following rules set up during configuration. For example, a tape can be added to the PostScan queue after a certain amount of time has passed or after a data read or write. When the drive is idle and other conditions met, the scan verifies that there are no media errors on the tape by reading the entire length of the tape, up to the end of the recorded data (EOD), (FullScan) or the single length of one wrap of tape (QuickScan). This process runs independently of backup software to confirm that data can be read from the tape. TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 38 After the PostScan completes, the library writes the scan date and pass/fail test result to the cartridge memory and updates the MLM database with that information and when (or if) the next scan should occur. The library also posts a system message showing that the cartridge has been scanned. The automatic PostScan verification process only checks MLM-enabled LTO data. You can also manually add non-MLM tapes to the PostScan queue for a PostScan check. QuickScan Using Global Spare— A Global Spare drive can be used to verify the integrity of all the data on a tape in a single wrap, from the beginning of the tape up to the end of first wrap or the end of recorded data (EOD), whichever comes first. Using a Global Spare drive avoids potential delays in normal operation while a QuickScan is being performed. Data integrity Verification consists of PreScan, QuickScan, and FullScan, providing multiple levels of integrity confirmation in the background for LTO data cartridges. Not all features of data integrity verification are available with media that is not Spectra® Certified media. VIRTUALIZATION Virtualization is common in today’s storage products. TFinity EE makes significant use of virtualization techniques to deliver a storage solution that is easier to manage while providing increased flexibility and reliability. The library employs virtualization in two significant ways that yield more than two distinct benefits. VIRTUAL ENTRY / EXIT POOL Libraries have mechanisms for importing / exporting tape media which are often referred to as In / Out (I/O) slots. These physical slots can accept a certain number of tape cartridges which are transferred by the robot from the I/O slot to a storage location in the library. After each I/O to storage slot move, the library must report the move complete prior to accepting the next move command from the host. Consequently, when dealing with large quantities of tapes being moved one-at-a-time it may take some time to work through one move command and physical move followed by a subsequent command and move. Spectra Logic TFinity EE’s terapack architecture allows up to 10 tapes to be moved at a time. More importantly, tapes may be physically inserted into the TeraPack Access Port (TAP) and immediately moved to a nearby Entry / Exit pool for fast, temporary storage while the library reports move complete to the host. In this way, tapes may be quickly imported into the library while the host is satisfied that all storage operations have taken place. Then, as a background task, the library will move tapes from the Entry Pool to their final storage location. By virtualizing the import to the host and making the virtual entry pool as large or small as needed, a nearly unlimited number of tapes can be imported into the library quickly, then put away at a later time as a background task. As an example, an administrator may have a requirement to import hundreds of tapes at once in order to satisfy a specific user project request. Libraries limited to a finite number of I/O slots e.g. 39, may require an operator to stand ready at the library to load 39 individual tapes, then wait for the library to complete 39 individual moves to storage location before loading another 39 types. Over hundreds of tapes, this may require several hours. In contrast, TFinity’s virtual entry / exit pool which can be scaled up or down as required, allows the same administrator to push tapes 10, 20, or even 140 tapes at a time (with Bulk TAP) into the library which immediately puts them into nearby temporary storage so more can be quickly loaded. Once the load is complete, the library will sort and store the terapacks from the virtual entry pool for delivery to their designated TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 39 storage locations as a background task. Consequently, rather than taking hours to load a library an administrator may load hundreds of tapes into a library within minutes then return to more productive activities. VIRTUALIZED W ORLD W IDE NAME World Wide Names (WWN) are used to identify library components like tape drives within a library. These names are used by Fibre Channel (FC) fabric devices and host software to route traffic between the drives and the host in order to read and write data. Generally speaking, the WWN is “hard wired” to the device. If you remove the device and replace it with a similar device, as in a drive-for-drive exchange, the new drive’s new WWN normally needs to be provided to the FC fabric. This often means reconfiguring the fabric and the host software to some extent to be aware of this change. Spectra Logic’s TFinity EE, and other Spectra libraries, abstract the WWN of the drive from its physical location in the library. Separating the physical ID and logical ID of the tape drive allows TFinity EE to offer significant advantages in terms of reliability and scalability as discussed in the following sections. GLOBAL SPARE DRIVES The global spare drive, unique to Spectra Logic tape libraries, keeps storage operations running even if a drive fails and no one is there to replace it. By virtualizing the WWN of a tape drive, it’s possible to replace a failed drive with an operable tape drive while still presenting the original WWN of the failed drive to both the Fibre Channel fabric devices and to the host software. This means a user with a failed tape drive can re-route traffic from the failed drive to an operating tape drive with the touch of a button without having to reconfigure network or application settings. To use the global spare drive option, install a spare drive in the library and configure the spare so that it is associated with some or all of the library partitions. If a drive in a designated partition fails, you can immediately login and switch to the global spare, so operations continue unimpeded. ENERGYAUDIT™ POWER MONITORING FEATURE EnergyAudit™, the BlueScale power monitoring feature, tracks power use over time and by component. Customers can use this information to adjust and optimize power use. Tracking this data becomes increasingly important as energy prices continue to climb. TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 40 SYSTEM MESSAGES AND ALERT REPORTING The Tape Series libraries provide the following methods of reporting status and errors: Reports • • • • DLM reports MLM reports Diagnostics Log files, as directed by Technical Support • Email alerts from LLM, sent from library by AutoSupport Phone Home feature Front Panel/Web Display • System messages • Status at a glance from front screen/website • EnergyAudit • Library capacity filled • BlueScale Vision Camera • Drive performance • System firmware versions Aggregate, PerInquiry Reporting • Syslog • CLI / XML MONITORING SYSTEM MESSAGES: SYSLOG SERVER To easily monitor all system messages, set up a Syslog server. Once configured, the library automatically sends all system messages logged by the library to a designated Linux server that has been configured to support Syslog. Syslog is a standard for forwarding log messages over an Internet Protocol (IP) computer network. It provides separation of the software that generates log messages from the system that stores the messages. Using the graphical interface, use Configuration->System, and in the clearly identified field simply enter the IP address of the Syslog server to enable the Syslog feature. The library transmits the messages to the Syslog server using the format: BlueScale_NN[PP]:(DD) MM Where: Variable Definition AA Indicates the importance of the message/severity level assigned to any message signaling an error. For example, 6 indicates an informational message, while 2 indicates a critical message. NN Indicates the configured library name. PP Indicates the ID number of the process performed by the library firmware when the message posted. DD Indicates the order in which this message was received. TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 41 AUTOMATIC DRIVE CLEANING Under normal operating conditions, the tape drives in the library do not require regular cleaning. Every time a tape is loaded or unloaded, the read/write heads are physically cleaned by a brush located within the drive. However, a tape drive may occasionally require additional cleaning with a cleaning cartridge. When the Auto Drive Clean feature is enabled, these cleanings are performed automatically, without requiring backup software to request the cleaning. You can also use this feature to manually start leaning a specific drive. After set up, drives are continually monitored to determine if cleaning is required. After a tape is unloaded from a drive, the library queries the drive to determine if it needs cleaning. If it does, the library selects a cleaning tape and initiates the cleaning. After the drive cleaning is complete, the library returns the cleaning tape to the cleaning partition and reports success. One of the adjacent screen shots shows a cleaning partition (Clean 1), and a data partition (Partition 1) that is associated with the cleaning partition. To manually initiate a drive cleaning, use the BlueScale interface to select the drive’s Clean option. When an expired cleaning tape is loaded into a drive, the expired tape is immediately rejected without completing the cleaning. The library flags the cleaning tape as expired and generates system messages notifying the user of the expired cleaning tape. If the cleaning partition contains additional cleaning cartridges that are still in good health, a cleaning that failed because the cleaning cartridge was expired will be reattempted the next time the host unloads a data cartridge from the drive. If a drive cleaning fails for any reason, the library generates system messages to notify the user of expired cleaning cartridges, completed automatic drive cleanings, and failed automatic drive cleanings. REPORTING OF SPECTRA CERTIFIED CLEANING TAPE STATUS Additional information about the health of the MLM-enabled cleaning cartridges is provided in the following MLM reports: Cleans Remaining, Born on Date, and Exported Media. Status of the cleaning tape is indicated through the use of the following icons: The cleaning tape health is good. More than 10 cleaning cycles remain on the cartridge. The cleaning tape health is average. From 1 to 10 cleaning cycles remain. The cleaning tape health is poor. No cleaning cycles remain. Replace the cleaning cartridge. You can use the Auto Drive Clean feature with only Spectra Certified Cleaning Tapes, or with all cleaning tapes. With Spectra Certified, MLM-capable cleaning tapes, the cleaning tape retains all usage information, regardless TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 42 of whether the tape is in the library or has been exported. With uncertified, non-MLM-capable cleaning cartridges, any data about cleaning tape use is lost when the cleaning tape is exported from the library. INTEGRATED SECURITY – ENCRYPTION KEY MANAGEMENT Security isn’t normally considered an area in which efficiency is a concern. This is particularly true since data encryption takes place within the storage device, whether it’s a tape drive or a disk drive. However, secure management of the encryption keys needed to drive the process at the device level is another matter. Most encryption key management solutions require one or more external servers dedicated to creating, storing, and managing keys. These servers require additional footprint, power, software licensing, and support contracts. Spectra Logic’s libraries, TFinity EE included, incorporate the key management function within the libraries’ internal servers. The key management function is part of the BlueScale library operating system common across all Spectra libraries. Because the Spectra encryption key management function is internal to the library, the added cost, power consumption, and complexity of connecting and managing an external server are eliminated. Streamlining the encryption key management process in this way can help improve the characteristics of a storage solution. The simplified key management platform is included within the BlueScale library management interface. The intuitive step-by-step process for generating and applying an encryption key is shown below. Encryption process in the BlueScale interface BlueScale encryption key management configuration entails selecting an encryption startup mode, creating an encryption password, creating and using encryption keys, and designating one or more partitions as encryption‐ enabled. The encryption password lets a superuser access the encryption features. After encryption is enabled, data is automatically encrypted as it is stored in any partition that is encryption enabled. The general steps for setting up and using BlueScale Encryption Key Management within the library’s BlueScale operating system include: TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 43 1) Creating an encryption key after logging into the encryption feature. This requires a moniker or name of your choosing that is used by the library’s internal key generator to create an AES-256 bit key. 2) Exporting a copy of the newly created key to a USB device for secure storage elsewhere. The copy of the key is encrypted automatically and can only be accessed by securely importing it back into a Spectra library. 3) Assigning the encryption key to one or more partitions within the library by using the BlueScale Encryption screen in the partition wizard. 4) Enabling the encryption feature within the partition(s) that have been set up for encryption. Once completed, all drives within the encryption partition(s) will receive the key and automatically encrypt / decrypt data using that key. This drive level encryption is transparent to host applications. Because encryption takes place at the drive there is little or no performance degradation. BlueScale Encryption Key Management is available in two forms: Standard and Professional Edition. Users who invoke Standard BlueScale Encryption Key Management will be able to use one key at a time within a Spectra library for all encryption operations. This level of encryption is generally sufficient for customers with minimum security requirements. Users who choose to deploy Professional Edition Encryption Key Management may utilize up to 30 encryption keys within the library at one time thereby allowing for key rotations as well as unique key assignments to partitions i.e., users or applications. Furthermore, Professional Edition Encryption Key Management provides additional security levels such as key splitting that requires multiple users to be involved in order for keys to be exported or imported from a library. ENSURE DELETE BlueScale Encryption Key Management may also be used to ensure deletion of critical data. By encrypting data with a BlueScale generated key, deletion of that key upon write complete effectively destroys the data. Both the key and data were generated and written respectively using AES-256 bit encryption. Without the key, the data cannot be read. Furthermore, given the strength of the key and the encryption used to write the data, it is nearly impossible for the encryption to be broken by brute force i.e., massive compute power. Consequently, writing the data with encryption and destroying the key ensures data deletion. SPECTRA SKLM SUPPORT Spectra Tape Series libraries have support for Spectra SKLM (Secure Key Lifecycle Manager). SKLM features include: • Centrally managed keys across multiple libraries and data center locations • Key per tape • FIPS-compliant key management to meet regulatory requirements • OASIS-compliant to meet industry standards TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 44 • Audit tracking • Complete key lifecycle management • Secure third-party data exchange ADDITIONAL SUPPORT AND CONTINUITY FEATURES A variety of TFinity EE library features may expedite issue resolution. These features help identify possible issues and let administrators address them before they interfere with ongoing library operations. The library also provides significant redundancy and failover capabilities, as previously noted, on-site repair options, and is backed by Spectra Logic’s around-the-clock support. This section describes several of TFinity EE’s built-in support features. ASSISTED SELF MAINTENANCE Spectra Logic provides a full range of support and maintenance services ranging from standard Next Business Day to 4-Hour On Site services. However, one unique offering that only Spectra Logic makes available for all of its libraries, including TFinity EE, is called Assisted Self Maintenance (ASM). ASM provides customers the opportunity to stock critical, customer replaceable units (CRU) on site. Should a library component become inoperative for some reason, the customer can take a CRU from storage and effect a replacement within minutes in order to get the library functioning properly again. DRIVE ROBOTICS LIBRARY CONTROL MODULE ROBOTICS CONTROL MODULE Gold level kits and can include a tape The ASM support is offered as Silver or drive, a power supply, Robotics Interface Modules, Library Control Module (LCM) / Robotics Control Module (RCM), and robotics transporter POWER SUPPLY depending on the kit type as shown below. With only a screwdriver and a few moments, any of these components may be replaced by the customer without need of Spectra Logic support assistance in order to get the library up and running again. Consequently, repair time may be reduced by as much as 95% relative to competitors’ support offerings. TECHNICAL ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT TFinity EE customers may also enjoy dedicated account support through Spectra’s Technical Account Management (TAM) offering. Professional, knowledgeable, full-time expertise and assistance is simply a call or TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 45 email away with a dedicated support manager available to you. Key attributes TFinity EE users can benefit from include: • Dedicated resource assigned to your account • Case sponsorship when you have open support tickets • Receives notification any time a case is opened • Ensures support cases advance in a timely manner • Escalating and involving appropriate resources as necessary • Reviews historical and environmental elements to ensure ideal case handling and avoid redundant trouble-shooting steps • Facilitates communication during escalated issues with all stakeholders • Makes certain your requirements/expectations are being met • Provides formal status reports to all stakeholders • Quarterly meetings reviewing opened cases and recent history of the account • Weekly proactive review of the library logs during monitoring periods following case resolution AUTOSUPPORT: PHONE HOME FEATURE Spectra TFinity EE has a Phone Home feature, AutoSupport, that can be configured to automatically create and send e-mail messages about issues or problems to designated e-mail users, including Spectra Logic technical support. The data included in these e-mail messages includes trace information, log data, a system description, and information about any message or issue. You can also elect to copy this same data to a USB device, if security concerns prevent the use of automatic outbound email. You can set whether some or all messages are sent, per severity level of the message. This easy-to-use and easy-to-administer feature helps identify issues before they turn into problems, and speeds the resolution of problems. If the site is set up to use SSL, the Phone Home service uses the secure connection; otherwise, the service uses the network. To set up and use AutoSupport, connect the library to an email gateway by connecting a 10BaseT/100BaseT Ethernet cable to the port on the library control module. Then enter the library’s IP address, subnet, and gateway address when you configure network settings. Log in with a superuser or administrator login to configure mail recipient profiles. Optionally, specify each mail profile to receive messages automatically as an AutoSend recipient, and select the message types the user will automatically receive. The superuser or administrator can also create a Spectra Logic technical support profile to send messages automatically to a Spectra Logic support engineer. TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 46 You can also configure alarms that automatically generate an AutoSupport Log (ASL) file and send it to designated users when critical events occur. Events that constitute alarms include a power supply failure or an interface controller failure, a drive failure, when a robotics unit is moved to a service bay, and removal of library panels. BLUESCALE VISION CAMERA The BlueScale Vision camera and web-based BlueScale Vision viewer lets you see the interior of the library to observe import and export operations, tape mounts, cartridge moves, and robotic operations in real time. To use the camera, after installation, simply log into the BlueScale interface using a web browser, then select the camera icon on the BlueScale status bar. This launches the web-based BlueScale Vision viewer. Using enhanced MPEG-4 technologies, which reduce network bandwidth requirements, the Network Camera can stream high quality video and audio directly to your PC or Internet browser. All mainstream Internet browsers support BlueScale Vision camera. R O L E -B A S E D U S E R A C C E S S The TFinity EE library supports role-based, granular user access. These passwordprotected users log in, and the level of access they have to library features depends on how the user has been set up. The following provide categorical access to the library and its management features: Superuser is the master user and can access all features. Administrator can access all features except user set-up information. Operator can import and export tapes and perform basic library functions. To increase security, use the session timeout feature that lets you specify the length of time that passes before an unattended session is automatically logged out. COMMON COMPONENTS TFinity EE is capable of repurposing many of its components. Many enterprise tape vendors deliver automated tape solutions that are siloed in that the critical components of one library within a vendor’s portfolio cannot be readily used in a different model of library from the same vendor. For customers with various sizes and models of tape automation solutions from one vendor within their environments, this prevents them from taking advantage of economies of scale in terms of support options, service practices, and upgradeability. Spectra Logic recognizes this fact and has moved energetically to address it by architecting its TFinity EE to have a large number of components that are common to other TSeries libraries like the T950 and T380. By allowing TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 47 customers to move, replace, and exchange parts readily among the enterprise library portfolio, users can take full advantage of economies of scale within the support infrastructure of their data centers. The enterprise family of libraries from Spectra Logic includes: • T200 • T380 • T680 • T950 • TFinity • TFinity ExaScale Edition These five libraries employ a list of common components that make up the critical operating system within a library. Any of these can be moved, mixed, and matched among the library family. The following list of parts may be readily used within any of the named Spectra solutions: • Robotic picker • Robotics Interface Module (RIM) • Robotics Control Module • Library Control Module • Tape drives • 12v and 24v power supplies • TeraPacks Aside from these components, the balance of a library is the external frame and skin which vary with the size of the library. By using common components throughout the library family, Spectra delivers to customers a set of solutions that have the same support inventory, service requirements, and operating procedures. No longer do users need to have a unique set of parts, manuals, tools, diagnostics, and procedures for each library type within their library fleet. As a result, the support and operating structure across multiple libraries is simplified and streamlined. Furthermore, the common pool of components across libraries enables a fast, easy scalability when moving from a smaller library within the family to a larger version like TFinity EE to meet increasing storage demands. In essence, the common architecture helps users streamline their current support efforts and operational activities as well as provide them an easy path to larger configurations in the future. TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 48 CONCLUSION Data that is expected to double in size every 24 months coupled with indefinite retention periods amount to very large scale, long-lasting storage problems. Issues with scalability, manageability, reliability, and economics can vary greatly as storage repositories grow in size and longevity. Fortunately, Spectra Logic has taken these factors into consideration with the development of the TFinity ExaScale Edition automated tape library. With size and scalability that is unrivaled in the technology field, TFinity EE ensures that storage repositories for end users and public cloud storage providers alike never lack for space. Delivering superior data availability and reliability through fault-tolerant systems and data integrity verification ensures that users can store all the data they want for as long as they want, while being able to retrieve it at will in pristine condition. TFinity EE’s management interface, BlueScale, condenses all this functionality into a single, powerful tool that simplifies manageability and adds to system reliability. Current and future TFinity customers may also upgrade to TFinity ExaScale Edition by adding to their existing TFinity many of the features discussed within this document. For instance, a TFinity user can move up to TFinity EE by adding the High Performance Transporter, Moving Holes, Cold Storage, Ordered Move Queues, Dual Bulk TAP, Custom Front Panels, and additional frame capacity. If you are facing an unrelenting torrent of data that can never be deleted and must always be safeguarded, there is no better guarantor of your data than TFinity ExaScale Edition. TFinity® ExaScale Edition Architectural Guide 49 Deep Storage Experts Spectra Logic develops deep storage solutions that solve the problem of long term storage for business and technology professionals dealing with exponential data growth. Dedicated solely to storage innovation for more than 35 years, Spectra Logic’s uncompromising product and customer focus is proven by the largest information users in multiple vertical markets globally. Spectra enables affordable, multi‐decade data storage and access by creating new methods of managing information in all forms of deep storage—including archive, backup, cold storage, cloud, and private cloud. For more information, please visit http://www.spectralogic.com. 303-449-6400 • 800-833-1132 • (Fax) 303-939-8844 • 6285 Lookout Road • Boulder, CO 80301 USA • spectralogic.com