Get two DLTs to write data at the same time

[stevemoore]

Before I get stuck into this, I was wondering if anyone can help me before I start! Running Arcserve 6.61 on NT and using a TL891 tape library. Just about to add a second DLT drive to the library. The idea is to write to both at the same time therefore reducing (by 50%??) the backup window. Anyone already done this? I'd appreciate any tips or related info.

 

[ThevidiyaPaiyan]

The Basic Functionality of Arcserve supports this configuration.You can submit 2 jobs simultaneously provided you have 2 drives.
For eg:
JOB1 C DRIVE 1st Tape drive

JOB2 D DRIVE 2nd Tape drive

Make sure that you are running the Arcserve Tape library option.

 

[stevemoore]

tjanks for the prompt reply.
So basically set two seperate jobs to run at the same time?

 

[TheLad]

Yes, we don't have a library but have two DLT drives attached to the same SCSI card and we run two jobs. In essence it is the same thing as your query. Not too sure about NT but on NetWare you would create a device group for each tape drive... -----------------------------------------------------
"It's true, its damn true!"
-----------------------------------------------------

 

[Cyklops]

NT is working the same way. Normally you create two separate device groups - one for each drive - and have each job using their own device group. Two tape drives of the same vendor/model/firmware can be put in one device group and used for tape-spanning ( jobs that grow out of one tape continue on to the second drive ).

regards

 

[stevemoore]

Does this 'tape spanning' mean that you effectively stream to both drives at the same time?

 

[Cyklops]

No, tape spanning means that ARCserve will use the second drive when the tape on the first drive is full. Configured this way ARCserve will only use one drive at the time.
When you create two device groups and assign a drive to each group two jobs can run at the same time and both drives are used simultaneously. ARCserve cannot write one backup job to two tape drives at the same time. BrightStor Enterprise backup can do this.

regards

 

[CiscoGod]

Arcserve also has a Raid option, which you need to install that lets you have the two drives in a RAID 0,1 and three or more for RAID 5 config. We use RAID 0 and it has cut our backup time in a little more that half. You can set it up as RAID 1 if you want a duplicate copy of both tapes. Raid 0 is best for performance though.

Hope this helps.

Cisco_God