Untitled Document
Exabyte VXA-2 PacketLoader 1x10 1U
From STORAGE Magazine
Vol 4 No 06 - November/December 2004
Exabyte's New PacketLoader Release is Loaded with Pluses.
Exabyte has been busy over the past couple of years, heavily promoting its VXA
format as the best candidate to replace DDS; its latest autoloader strengthens
that case even more.
The PacketLoader impresses with its very low profile, for this is one of the
first 1U or 1.75in high system on the market. Capacity isn’t a casualty, as it
comes equipped with a single VXA-2 drive and the 10 internal media slots allow
it to deliver a native capacity of 800GB, using 230metre V23 cartridges.
Build quality is particularly good and the cartridge loading slot in the centre
is covered by a motorised door to keep dirt and dust at bay. Alongside is a
handy LCD display panel and control pad for manually configuring the autoloader
and tape drive.
It’s worth noting that the price includes an internal bar code reader which at
this price point is normally only offered as an optional extra. Web management
is worth considering as this offers good remote access. The additional internal
card provides a 10/100BaseTX Ethernet port and can be assigned an IP address
from the front panel.
The PacketLoader uses a simple internal design - a large toothed wheel sits in
the centre, with the cartridge holders arranged around its perimeter. Driven by
a small motor, it rotates in front of the VXA-2 tape drive mounted at the rear,
while a separate pusher arm in the centre loads tapes into the drive and pulls
them back into their slots. The main thing to remember with this arrangement is
that tapes must be placed backwards into the loading bay.
The browser management interface is a tidy affair, with the home page providing
plenty of status information. You can see at a glance what the loader and drive
are up to, whether the internal temperature is within acceptable tolerances and
if the front door is open or closed. An inventory table give a compete rundown
on the location of all loaded cartridges, along with details of their barcode
label. Full access to all configuration parameters is provided, so you could
lock down the local operator panel and manage the device entirely from a remote
location.
The SCSI IDs of the loader and drive can be modified, as can the loader
emulation, Ethernet, SNMP, FTP and email details. Access to both the front panel
and browser interface can also be password protected. A basic statistics screen
keeps you appraised of areas such as the number of cartridge and drive loads,
and you can initiate a full diagnostics on the autoloader as well.
To test data transfer rates, the autoloader was installed on a dual Xeon system
running Windows Server 2003, while backup software came courtesy of Computer
Associates’ Brightstor ARCserve r11 and Veritas Backup Exec 9.1. For general
performance testing, we asked the autoloader to secure an 8GB mixture of data on
the server and it returned average backup speeds of 402MB/min. Verification
speeds of 390MB/min were recorded and the test data was returned to its original
location by ARCserve at an average speed of 365MB/min.
Now that the battle-lines have been drawn over DDS territory, it looks like the
fight has come down to two contenders – Sony and Exabyte, with their respective
AIT and VXA formats. However, although AIT has the edge for speed and capacity,
Exabyte’s new autoloader is well worth considering as it looks better value than
the Sony AIT equivalent. It also offers solid remote management options and is
capable of easily outpacing DDS-4 and DAT72 for backup performance, as it is
more than twice as fast as these products.
Product: VXA-2 PacketLoader 1x10 1U
Supplier: Exabyte
Tel: 01452 563071
Web site: www.exabyte.com
Price: £1,525
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