User manual QUANTUM HANDBOOK

[. . . ] Quantum DLTtape Handbook ® TM Your Complete Guide to Today's Hottest Storage Technology Eighth Edition FROM QUANTUM CORPORATION i Notice Editor Peter McGowan g·m marketing communications Associate Editor Stephen Weekley Quantum Corporation Senior Writer Hank Giles g·m marketing communications Art Director Christine Koch Knockout Graphics Illustrator Steve Hussey Copyright ©1997, 1998, 2000, 2001 Quantum Corporation QUANTUM CORPORATION 501 Sycamore Drive Milpitas, CA 95035 1-800-624-5545 www. quantum. com or www. DLTtape. com Quantum and the Quantum logo are trademarks of Quantum Corporation, registered in the U. S. A. DLTtape, the DLTtape logo, Super DLTtape, and the Super DLTtape logo are trademarks of Quantum Corporation. Products mentioned herein are for identification purposes only and may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Quantum is not responsible for typographical, editorial, or pictorial errors in this publication. [. . . ] These products address the individual storage needs of low-, mid-, and high-end system users in the mid-range storage market. This range of offerings will make it possible to meet the needs of an expanding range of vertical market applications. Let's take a closer look at some of these vertical applications and how the DLTtape system is making life easier for a growing number of users in speciality markets. E-Commerce E-commerce is information-based business ­ the information is the business, and the key to success is making information available, accurate, and reliable. That usually means very large volumes of data must be available very quickly, and must be recoverable with absolute reliability. Storage systems must be able to provide the QUANTUM DLTtape HANDBOOK 10. 5 capacity, room for growth, speed, and (most importantly) reliability to support the e-commerce mission. DLTtape technology fits into the mission-critical e-commerce storage environment at multiple levels. For example, a business-to-business equipment auction house uses server-attached DLTtape drives for conventional backup of its Web-based and live auction data. The firm's IT manager explains that, "Loss of data would translate into a huge loss of business. I don't think there's a better option for avoiding a disaster from lost data than DLTtape technology. " DLTtape technology also fits in e-commerce in a number of roles beyond traditional backup. Terraserver. com sells satellite images from sources in the West and the former Soviet Union. DLTtape technology provides primary storage for much of the image data on which the business is built. Raw satellite image data, in-process data, and final processed image data are all stored on DLTtape cartridges in stand-alone drives and libraries. DLTtape technology is also used to store backup and archive copies of the image data. In other e-commerce applications, the sheer volume of data involved makes DLTtape technology the first choice. Called Alexa, the service suggests to users sites they may want to visit, based on analysis of the collected knowledge of which sites other subscribers actively visit. The key to Alexa's value is that it provides access to some 1. 2 billion Web pages, far more than other services offer. To protect that enormous asset, Alexa backs up its Web page data on DLTtape systems ­ to the tune of well over 100 DLTtape IV cartridges per month, just to back up new pages Alexa identifies as it relentlessly crawls the Web. Alexa also uses DLTtape systems to reliably store data that may not be available anywhere else ­ a huge archive of 10. 6 VERTICAL MARKET APPLICATIONS pages that have disappeared from the Web, leaving behind "This Page Not Found" messages. These "lost" pages have enormous potential value for academic and industry research ­ value protected by DLTtape technology. Working in the Data Mines Data mining is another good example of the kind of vertical application we're talking about. It usually involves taking huge blocks of information that the organization has had for years ­ typically customer account information ­ and finding new ways to look at it. [. . . ] A faulty data reading that does not recur if the same data is reread from the disk or corrected by ECC. A tape automation system that sequentially loads and unloads tape cartridges. Does not provide random access to cartridges or the data stored on them. A type of motor that moves in discrete amounts with each electrical pulse. [. . . ]