IBM System Storage DR550
Version 3.0 ------17 March 2006
Page 114
IBM Storage Systems
Copyright © 2006 by International Business Machines Corporation
Complementary Products
IBM Tape Solutions
Connecting Tape to the DR550
To connect tape to the DR550, you may need to add components to the server and switch (if you
purchased the disk only configuration prior to 11 November 2005). These additional components
are standard as of DR550 Express V2.5. For the older disk only configuration, there is one available
slot in each server that can be used for host bus adapters to connect to the tape drives. You will
need to have IBM process an MES order to add p5 520 (9111-520) feature 5716. The adapter can
support a maximum of three tape drives.
The HBA will need to be connected to the 2005-B16 switch. Shortwave SFPs are provided with the
2005-B16. There are 4 SFPs reserved for tape. If additional ports are needed, they should be
ordered separately. You will also need to provide the cables to connect the 2005-B16 ports to the
tape drives. You can then order feature 5625 (25 meter LC/LC multi-mode cable) for each tape
connection if the tape is within 25 meters. If you need something longer, the cable can be
purchased from other suppliers. The fiber cable must be 50.0/125 micrometers for distances up to
300 meters, or 62.5/125 micrometers for distances up to 175 meters. The connection is a LC
connector type.
IBM’s 3592 (with WORM cartridges), TS1120 (with WORM Cartridges), TS3310 (with WORM
cartridges) and IBM’s 358x family of LTO libraries (with WORM cartridges) are ideal tape solutions
for data retention. With write once technology built into the cartridge and dual ports on the drive (for
higher availability), these tape drives provide non-eraseability along with high performance.
Whether you use the tape drives for backup of the DR550 (using SSAM commands such as “copy
storage pool”) or you choose to archive directly to tape, the data is permanently stored and cannot
be modified. Using a different tape cartridge (without WORM protection) will not guarantee the non-
erase capability that is featured in the DR550.
Single node tape attachment
Attaching tape to the DR550 (single node configuration) can be done with stand alone TS1102, LTO
Gen 3 or 3592 drives or with these drives placed within a tape library such as the IBM 3584. IBM’s
other tape solutions can also be attached in the same manner. Each port on the FC switch within
the DR550 is connected to port 1 on the drive.
