Potchefstroom University adopts ADIC storage model

Backing up your data within a particular timeframe is always necessary but as time goes by the amount of data stored on servers has probably increased considerably frustrating administrators who can no longer keep to a punishing schedule.

This was the case at the University of Potchefstroom, which has recently taken delivery of an ADIC Scalar 100 DLT tape library to meet its backup needs well into the future.

Riaan van der Walt, senior network consultant at the university, details the demands that led to this purchase. "Over the years the amount of data we stored, increased, and we began to see that what should have been a simple backup meant that we could not finish in the time frame we had originally specified," he says.

"In addition to this we had to look ahead to our storage and backup needs for the coming three to five years," he adds.

"The university was using a 10 slot tape library with one DLT 8000 drive to meet these needs which enabled us to backup 200GB of data at the beginning of last year. Now, using the ADIC Scalar 100 with its two DLT 8000 drives (expandable up to six) and Veritas` Backup Exec 8.5 for Netware, we can easily backup the 300GB this has grown to, all the while staying well within our backup window time frame," he says.

Van der Walt Adds that the two new DLT drives are capable of storing some 40GB standard and 80GB compressed. "As this is a 30 slot unit (expandable up to 60 slots) this means we can backup as much as 2.4TB compressed (expandable up to 4.8TB)."

While users are expected to back up their own machines, saving valuable data on their "home directories", the university is currently backing up eight Novell file servers and systems based on campus. Eleven Microsoft Windows NT and two OS/2-based servers are also catered to, as is a DEC Alpha running OpenVMS.

"The Scalar 100 DLT is particularly suited to backing up networks that are outgrowing stand-alone tape drives and 10-to 15-slot libraries," says Christo Conidaris Territory manager, MEA, at ADIC SA. With a minimum shipping capability of one drive and 30 cartridges, the Scalar 100 uses only14 rack units.

"Users can easily increase its performance and maximise capacity by adding drives and cartridge slots, scaling up to 6 drives and 60 cartridges without increasing the size of the library," Conidaris says.

"The Scalar 100 `s connectivity options also support network growth. Simple plug-in modules allow it to operate as a SCSI library or a FibreReady SAN library, " he says.