Can FAS3210 support more than 8 tape drives for NDMP purpose?

[sarpydog88]

Dear All,

Can FAS3210 support more than 8 tape drives for NDMP purpose?

Do I need a SAN Switch to connect FAS3210 and Tape drives?

How about the robotic control?
Is it good that FAS3210 own the robotic?

Thank you for any input.

Dennis

[radek_kubka]

Hi Dennis,

If you find a tape library which is supported, then yes, it can have more than 8 drives, but for this type of config you will need a 3rd party software to manage it.

This is the note from NetApp IMT, tape drives sections:

"Netapp builds support and qualifies only tape drives. A tape Library connected via FC, SAS or pSCSI would be considered supported with Data ONTAP if the following conditions are satisfied.

1. The tape library model is supported by the NDMP qualified backup application ( For tape library support contact the backup application vendor )

2. The tape drive within the tape library must be qualified and supported by NetApp. (Please refer to IMT for latest tape drive support matrix)"

Regards,
Radek

[pedro_rocha]

Hi Dennis,

It would be better to have a SAN to connect of all of those devices: netapp storage, tape drives and the media changer (robotic control). If you dont have it, you will need several FC ports to connect the drives and MC to the netapp controllers.

Yes it is ok that the netapp controller owns the media changer. And as Radek said, you better use a third-party software to manage that environment.

Regards,

Pedro Rocha.

[sarpydog88]

Thank you for great inputs.

Can I ask another question?

How many FC ports or SAS ports can use as NDMP port in FAS3210 storage?

Thank you

Dennis

[sarpydog88]

Thank you for great inputs.

Can I ask another question?

How many FC ports or SAS ports can use as NDMP port in FAS3210 storage?

Thank you

Dennis

[pedro_rocha]

Dennis,

You can find more information in here: https://library.netapp.com/ecmdocs/ECMP1141752/html/GUID-8611CE50-C78E-4DCF-934E-8B03B97F7515.html

The FAS3210A (2 controllers / 1 chassis) has 2 FC ports (4Gbps) and 2 SAS (6Gbps) onboard (on each controller). Additionally it has 2 PCIe expansion slots (on each controller ), which can be populated, in your case, with 4-port SAS adapters and 4-port/2-port FC adapters.

I don't know precisely, but I guess you could use them all for NDMP.

Regards,

Pedro Rocha.