A term that is beginning to appear in the industry these day's is “Integrated Virtual Tape Library (Integrated VTL).” It, however, has not received much attention but it has been around for over 10 years. Sun's Integrated VTL is its VSM (Virtual Storage Manager) and it attaches to mainframe computers. I could write pages on the value and benefits of VSM but will just reference its web site here.

So what are the basic concepts of an Integrated VTL? An Integrated VTL is the integration of tier 2 and tier 3 storage solutions. I wrote about storage tiers in the August, 2008, News Alert. The Integrated VTL combines disk arrays (tier 2) as a front-end to an automated tape library (tier 3). The disk arrays serves as a cache or buffer for the most active data before the data are migrated to the larger-capacity and lower-cost tape library. The disk arrays appear to the operating system as multiple tape drives (virtual tape drives).

Further, the Integrated VTL can store multiple virtual tape volumes on a single physical tape cartridge, enabling utilization levels to reach 80 percent or more on a single cartridge. The effective utilization of a single cartridge is even more important these days as its capacity has increased up to 1 TB of uncompressed data with the T10000B drive technology. This “stacking” of virtual volumes on a physical cartridge is an effective way to maximize the amount of data stored on the media.

An Integrated VTL also gives you options to easily define the conditions when your data are automatically migrated to the tier 3 tape library. The data can be migrated based on conditions such as file size, the tier 2 buffer utilization, the number of days since last accessed, etc. – conditions that are important for your unique environment. And note that this migration is done without going through the server – so zero additional server capacity is used to move the data from the tier 2 buffers to the tier 3 library. The Integrated VTL provides you with the advantages of fast backup and recovery on tier 2 disk along with the less expensive and dark green tier 3 tape archiving.

So it seems like an Integrated VTL has all the advantages you would want in your environment as it combines the best of both the disk and tape environments. For more information, read “Tape: The Digital Curator of the Information Age.”

Sun understands the importance of your data and gives you choices for both the mainframe and open systems both now and into the future.