Serverless air gapping
Starline partner ATTO has designed an iSCSI-to-SAS bridge to be able to operate individual tape drives - without a server - over long distances via Ethernet.
Ethernet-to-SAS-adapter XstreamCORE 8100T from ATTO
From ATTO you will be getting the Ethernet-to-SAS adapter XstreamCORE 8100T this summer. In fact, the intelligent bridge offers much more than a simple adapter: the 8100 box enables remote sharing of SAS tape drives via 10GbE Ethernet networks.
The highlight: The sophisticated box achieves these services at lower costs and at higher speeds than a comparable solution with separate servers.
Intelligent iSCSI SAS bridge
- Remotely connect backup servers to Ethernet tape solutions
- Connecting SAS tape devices to iSCSI Ethernet
o Increased availability, performance, scalability and flexibility
o Cost-effective archiving - reducing server costs
o Long distance archiving - Hardware handles data transfer with extremely low latency
- Merging SAS tape drives as iSCSI targets
- Simultaneous provision of advanced management functions and diagnostic options
- Reduced need for expensive, power-hungry servers for networked backups
The XstreamCORE 8100T Bridge features two 10Gbps Ethernet ports. It supports up to 24 GB/s bandwidth and 6.4 million IOPS per controller. With a 1U rackmount form factor, four of them can be installed side by side in any standard IT rack.
The advantages: Compared to native Ethernet tape devices, this solution is more cost-effective because the administrator requires fewer switch ports overall. It is also more efficient as you can reduce power, cooling and cabling requirements.
Last but not least, the 8100 Bridge enables the separation of servers, storage and archive devices, which significantly improves the flexibility and scalability of the storage system.
Use cases:
- Virtualization and cloud computing
This XstreamCORE solution allows you to connect SAS tape libraries to virtual machines and cloud applications. This enables companies to use their tape drives across multiple locations. - Backup and archiving
The Bridge allows you to create and manage tape backups and archives. So you can reduce data backup and archiving costs while improving efficiency. - Big Data and Analytics
The XstreamCORE model enables the use of SAS tape libraries with big data and analytics applications. This can help companies process their data faster and more efficiently.
Early Response for Tape with SpeedWrite
SpeedWrite ensures that the paths between the host and XstreamCORE remain filled with data to significantly increase write performance to tape.
iSCSI Multipath
- Automatic path failover and failback
- Load balancing across multiple iSCSI links
Linux: dm-multipathing
Windows: MPIO
macOS: ATTO XtendSAN
Data & Availability
Dimensions: 103.5 x 30.5 x 240 mm (W x H x D)
Rack-compatible installation: Either four next to each other in 1U; <3U for side mounting. The ATTO XstreamCORE 8100T presented here will be available from Starline at the end of Q2 2024 for 3,270€ (gross). High-resolution photos can be found here.
