I'm planning on implementing a SAN with two or more servers (W2K3 clustered) and using a serverless backup (tape library) architecture. What would be the best way to design this? What hardware would be needed? I?d appreciate it if you could diagram it out for me.
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Spend the $20 and buy my book "Storage Area Networks for Dummies". There is a whole chapter with diagrams on simple backup solutions using FC-AL hubs and shared tape drives. You don't need expensive software for a simple solution like this either. You can simply alternate access between the cluster nodes for backup, using the integrated Windows backup utility.
Since you are going to be using a cluster, you will require shared disk for the application resources (this can be a simple shelf of FC-AL based drives through a hub) and an HBA in each server for disk and another for tape (connected to another hub).
This should not run you more than a few grand to implement. Remember that when using hubs, always keep the disk traffic separate from the tape traffic by using dedicated loops for each.
Chris
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The views and opinions expressed by Christopher L. Poelker are his alone and not necessarily shared by Hitachi Data Systems.This was first published in April 2004
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