Computer Associates International (CA) has announced the general availability of a multi-vendor Fibre Channel backup solution, called Enterprise Library Option (ELO), which is part of CA`s ARCserveIT Enterprise Edition. ELO users can now enjoy enhanced scalability and efficient utilisation of storage resources by sharing high capacity, higher cost devices across Storage Area Networks (SANs).
ARCserveIT Enterprise Edition - along with the Enterprise Library Option and third party vendor hardware solutions - now creates a dedicated storage network. ARCserveIT, its Enterprise Library Option and the underlying SANs:
Improve backup and restore speed
Indirectly improve the performance of the enterprise IP/Ethernet network by off-loading storage traffic
Enable centralised management of storage for all applications and servers
Offer true scalability for growing enterprises
Provide the flexibility to share one or more libraries among multiple servers
ARCserveIT and ELO solve the dedicated storage device problem by enabling several devices from key vendors to be shared among multiple backup servers on the SAN. Increasing performance is as simple as adding another backup server to the loop. Increasing capacity is as simple as adding another tape library to the SAN. No additional increase in enterprise network traffic or rebuilding/ reconfiguration of the enterprise storage strategy is required.
The ELO was developed in co-operation with Compaq Computer Corporation, Emulex, Hewlett-Packard and other industry-leaders to ensure that ARCserveIT can provide optimal integration with each partner`s solution - ensuring high performance and reliability.
The ARCserveIT ELO allows customers to back up critical data via a fibre-channel-based solution. It represents the beginning of the era of flexible, high performance, LAN-free backup. ELO will make it possible for CA customers to dynamically share their tape libraries and tape drives between multiple servers - while giving each server the kind of data transfer performance now achievable only by direct SCSI channel connection.
Central management of multiple storage platforms - including SANs, network-attached storage and server-attached devices - under the TNG Framework provides multiple benefits for enterprise customers. For example, IT managers can easily manage, prioritise and queue backup jobs in an arbitrated loop. They can also reconfigure or re-direct backup jobs if a device fails, significantly enhancing overall performance and storage management.
ARCserveIT Enterprise Edition also adds additional data protection and data management to the Fibre Channel SAN. By using ARCserveIT`s new Fibre channel-aware options such as Disaster Recovery, Image, Data Migration and the free RAID technology, the benefits to the customer and their organisation using a comprehensive storage solution on this new platform invariably outweigh the investment cost.
Share
Editorial contacts