Compatibility issue when adding tape capacity to a SAN

I have a Dell SAN with a 35F bridge and a 130T tape library (two DLT7000 drives). I would like to know if it's possible to add a Compaq TL891 tape library (two DLT7000 drives) on the same Dell 35F to increase the tape capacity of my SAN. Is there any compatibility problem?

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The 35F SCSI-to-Fibre Channel bridge has a single Fibre port and two SCSI busses. Since it's always best to hook up the robotics on a different SCSI bus than the tape drives in a library, that doesn't leave any connections open on the 35F to hook up the Compaq tape library. Compaq (HP) ships its own SCSI-to-Fibre Channel bridges. It may be a better idea to use a separate Compaq branded data router with the Compaq library.

By the way, the TL891 is a real nice little tape solution in my opinion. I used to fix them in a prior life. Using another bridge will not only offer you a solution that can stream data faster, you will have less of a hassel with support. The last thing you want on your hands is finger pointing when your backups stop working due to an intermittent hardware issue. "It's the bridge"... "No, it's the tape library"?etc.

Chris

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This was first published in March 2003

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